How to Draw an Elephant
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Draw one big oval for the chest and nothing else yet.
The chest oval should take up around a third of the body's length on its own.
Drawing on paper instead?
We straighten and clean up the photo for you. Paper counts exactly the same.
About this drawing
An elephant is the one animal where you draw the ears and the trunk before you worry about anything else being right - they are so identifying that a grey mass with a good trunk reads instantly. But the part beginners miss is the legs: columns, dead vertical, with flat round feet, holding a body that should look genuinely heavy.
Like every four-legged animal on this site, it is built from two masses and a spine: a ribcage, a pelvis, and one curve joining them. Get those three right and the rest is placement.
Step by step
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Step 1
Draw one big oval for the chest and nothing else yet.
The ribcage is the largest single mass in almost every four-legged animal, and drawing it too small is the most common structural error in the whole category. Draw it in one motion and make it bigger than feels right.
Watch out Drawing the chest small to leave room for everything else.
Check The chest oval should take up around a third of the body's length on its own.
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Step 2
Add a second, smaller oval for the hips.
The gap between the two masses is information: it is most of what separates a long animal from a compact one. Decide the gap deliberately rather than letting it happen.
Watch out Butting the pelvis directly against the chest.
Check You should see clear space between the two ovals.
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Step 3
Join the two ovals with a single spine curve.
One continuous curve, drawn in one pass. The spine sets the whole animal's attitude, and a spine assembled from three short strokes reads as three different animals stitched together.
Watch out Drawing the spine as separate flat segments.
Check The curve should touch both masses without a corner.
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Step 4
Put the skull in, and mark the line from chest to head.
Note where the neck leaves the chest before you place the skull - on most animals it comes off the front of the chest mass, not the top, and that single angle carries the species.
Watch out Hanging the head above the body instead of in front of it.
Check The neck guide should leave the FRONT half of the chest oval.
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Step 5
Build the neck out of two lines so it has width.
A neck is a solid with real thickness, and on most animals it is thicker than you think - nearly as deep as the head itself. Two curves, one over, one under.
Watch out A thin stick neck, which makes any animal look fragile.
Check The neck should be nearly as thick as the head is tall.
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Step 6
Draw the topline and the belly to join the masses up.
This is where the animal stops being two eggs. Let the topline follow the spine you already drew and keep the belly line taut - a sagging belly is a decision, not an accident.
Watch out Ignoring the spine curve you drew and inventing a new back.
Check The topline should agree with the spine curve underneath it.
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Step 7
Draw the belly line underneath.
The belly is a separate decision from the masses: it hangs below the line joining them, sagging most midway, and how much it sags is part of the animal - taut on a deer, generous on a cow. Draw it as one curve, not two arcs meeting.
Watch out A straight line between the ovals, which reads as a table.
Check The belly should dip below both mass bottoms at its middle.
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Step 8
Close the silhouette at both ends.
Two curves seal the body into one shape: down the front of the chest into the belly, and from the top of the hips around the rump to meet it. Without them the animal has no front or back and the legs float - this is the step that turns parts into a body.
Watch out Leaving the ends open because the ovals suggest them.
Check You should be able to trace the whole body without lifting your pen.
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Step 9
Run the front legs down from the chest mass.
Legs are chains of segments with a joint at each bend, and every leg bends somewhere. Draw joint to joint in straight strokes first; curves come later if at all.
Watch out Straight tube legs with no joints, which read as furniture.
Check Each front leg should bend at least once.
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Step 10
Put in the hind pair, bending backwards at the hock.
The hind legs fold the opposite way to the front pair - the hock points backwards. Compare their length against the front legs rather than judging them alone.
Watch out Back legs bending the same way as the front ones.
Check Front and back feet should reach the same ground line.
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Step 11
Add the ears.
Ears attach further back on the skull than feels natural, and their shape is one of the strongest species signals you have. Draw the second by comparing it to the first.
Watch out Planting the ears on top of the head like handles.
Check Both ears should attach behind the midpoint of the skull.
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Step 12
Put in the snout, the eye and the nose.
The muzzle projects forward from the lower half of the head mass. Its length relative to the skull is the proportion to measure - it is the one that changes species when you get it wrong.
Watch out A muzzle pointing down instead of forward.
Check The eye should sit in the top half of the head mass.
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Step 13
Draw the tail and any remaining features.
Detail is suggested, never itemised. Put the marks where they identify the animal and stop early - texture spread evenly everywhere flattens the drawing back out.
Watch out Covering the body evenly in fur marks.
Check Step back: the big shapes should still read first.
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Step 14
Press harder on the keepers; erase the ovals underneath.
Press harder on the outline and the face, leave the small marks light, and erase the construction ovals. That weight difference is what makes the drawing look decided.
Watch out Going over every line at the same weight.
Check The outline should be clearly darker than the interior marks.
What it looks like finished
The same drawing with every guide erased and only the lines you meant to keep, at the weight you meant them to be. If yours still has centre lines and blocking-in shapes in it, this is the step you have not done yet - and it takes about thirty seconds.
Yours will not look like this, and it is not supposed to. This is the construction with the scaffolding taken away, not a drawing somebody made to be admired - the point is to show you which of your lines were guides.
What this one actually teaches you
The skill under the subject is comparison: each new part is judged against one already on the page, never against your idea of the animal. That habit is what fixes proportion everywhere.
The elephant teaches weight, which is a drawing quality rather than a fact: vertical column legs, a belly that sags slightly between them, and feet that spread where they meet the ground. Every choice either adds weight or takes it away.
Practise these: Line confidence Proportion Value range
What you need
Anything that makes a mark. On paper, press lightly for the first few steps - most of what you draw early is scaffolding you will erase.
If it's going wrong
If it looks like a rhino, the ears are too small. An African elephant's ear is nearly the size of its whole head - draw it bigger than feels sensible.
If the trunk looks like a hose, it needs weight at the top: the trunk is thick where it leaves the face and tapers along its whole length, with a few cross-wrinkles.
If it does not look heavy, the legs are bent. Elephant legs are straight vertical columns - any bend at the knee makes the mass above look inflatable.
Print the steps
Take it away from the screen. The step sheet prints on one page.
Questions people ask
- How do I draw an elephant's trunk?
- Thick where it leaves the face, tapering the whole way down, with a few cross-wrinkles and a slight S-curve. A constant-width trunk reads as a hose.
- How big should an elephant's ears be?
- Nearly as big as the head itself, and attached along the side of the skull rather than the top. Bigger than feels sensible is correct.
- Why does my elephant not look heavy?
- The legs are bent or tapered. Draw them as straight vertical columns with flat, spreading feet, and let the belly sag slightly between them.
- How many steps does it take to draw an elephant?
- Twelve here: two body masses, the spine, the head and neck, the silhouette, four legs in two pairs, then features, detail and line weight. About 16 minutes at a comfortable pace.
- Where do the legs attach on an elephant?
- To the two masses, not the outline - front legs to the chest oval, back legs to the pelvis. Legs hung from the belly line are why animal drawings collapse.
- Can a beginner draw an elephant?
- Yes - the construction is two ovals and a curve, and there is a finish-early step marked partway through that leaves you with a complete drawing rather than an abandoned one.
- Do I need to draw fur on an elephant?
- Only at the silhouette edge, and only where the coat is genuinely long. Fur drawn all over turns any animal into a rug.
- What should I practise before drawing an elephant?
- Five minutes of ellipses or line control. The whole build is ovals and committed curves, and warm hands make it a different exercise.