Sloth Drawing Ideas

How to draw a sloth step by step

A sloth is one of the friendliest animals to draw because its whole body is made of soft, rounded shapes. The trick is drawing the head and body first, so the arms and legs have somewhere to attach.

1. Draw a rounded circle for the head, slightly flattened at the bottom.
2. Add two small round ears near the top of the head, and mark two dark patches around the eyes, which is the sloth’s most recognisable feature.
3. Draw a short, blunt snout in the middle of the face with a small round nose on the end.
4. Add a large, rounded body below the head. Sloths are soft and a little chubby, so keep the shape rounded rather than sharp.
5. Draw the long arms and legs last, each ending in a curved paw with long claws. For a hanging sloth, curve the arms up and over a branch.

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 sloth should you start with

If this is your first sloth

Start with the sloth sitting in a round pose or the one resting on a branch. Both use simple rounded shapes with nothing else on the page, so you are only thinking about the head and body first. There is no branch angle or prop to worry about yet.

If you have drawn animals before

Try the sloth wearing a scarf, the one holding a flower or the one with a backpack. The sloth stays simple and you are adding one small prop, which is a good way to make a drawing feel finished without much more difficulty.

If you want a challenge

The sloth hanging from a branch is the hardest here, because the whole body hangs upside down while the arms curl around the branch. The sloth looking at a crescent moon is a step below it, since you are also adding a small night scene. Draw the branch and the curved arms first in both, and the rest follows.

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 sloth look like a sloth

• The face is too sharp. A sloth face should be soft and rounded, with gentle dark patches around the eyes. Sharp angles make it look like a different animal.
• The arms are too short. Sloth arms are long, especially for hanging poses. Short arms make the drawing look stiff and unbalanced.
• The claws are missing. A few curved lines at the end of each paw are what make the hands read as sloth claws rather than plain paws.

Hanging or sitting sloth

Same drawing, different pose. For a hanging sloth, curl the arms up and over a branch and let the body relax downward. For a sitting sloth, tuck the arms and legs in close to the rounded body, resting the paws on the lap or on a small prop like a book or a basket.

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 balloon, party hat and flower crown drawings all suit birthday cards. If you want to use one in something you sell, write to us first.