Lion Drawing Ideas

How to draw a lion step by step

A lion is mostly about the mane. Get a full, rounded mane around a simple face and body, and the drawing reads as a lion even with very few other details.

1. Draw a circle for the head, then surround the top and sides with a larger, uneven circle for the mane.
2. Add short, rounded ears peeking out from inside the mane, and a wide muzzle at the bottom of the face.
3. Draw an oval body behind the head. For a sitting lion make it a rounded triangle, wider at the base. For a standing lion make it a long horizontal oval.
4. Add sturdy legs and large paws. Front paws are often shown together on the ground for a sitting pose.
5. Finish with a long tail ending in a small tuft, curved around the body or resting beside it.

Darken your final lines at the end and rub out the guide shapes. That last step is what makes a drawing look finished rather than sketched.

Which lion should you start with

If this is your first lion

Start with the simple sitting lion or the easy sitting lion for beginners. Both face forward with nothing else on the page, so you are only thinking about the mane and the body. The standing lion is also forgiving, since it has no props to fit in.

If you have drawn animals before

Try the lion wearing a crown, the lion with a bow tie or the lion holding a balloon. The pose stays simple and you are adding one small prop, which is a good way to make a drawing feel finished without much extra difficulty.

If you want a challenge

The roaring lion and the jumping lion are the hardest here, because the mouth or the whole body moves out of a resting position while the mane still has to read clearly around it. Draw the head and mane first in both, and let the rest of the pose follow from there.

What you need

An HB pencil, plain paper and an eraser. A 2B pencil helps if you want darker final lines. Nothing on this page needs a tablet, a light box or special paper, and none of these were drawn with any.

Three things that make a lion look like a lion

• The mane is too neat. A lion mane is uneven and a little shaggy at the edges. A perfectly round, smooth mane starts to look like a hood instead of fur.
• The face is too narrow. A lion has a wide, flat muzzle. Narrow it and the face starts to look like a dog or a fox.
• The paws are too small. Lion paws are large and heavy compared to the legs. Small paws make the whole animal look lighter than it should.

Lion or lioness

The simplest difference on paper is the mane. A male lion has the full mane shown in most of these drawings, framing the face and running down over the shoulders. A lioness has no mane at all, just a smooth head and neck the same width as the body. If you want to draw a lioness, copy any pose here and simply leave the mane off.

Ways to use these drawings

Copy any of these by hand, or download and print them for yourself, for your children or for your classroom. They work as colouring sheets, tracing practice, a warm up before a bigger drawing, or line art for a card. The lion holding a balloon, the gift box and the lion wearing a crown all suit birthday cards. If you want to use one in something you sell, write to us first.