How to Draw a Giraffe

When we travel, we might find ourselves wanting to draw the landscapes and animals we encounter. Today, I will teach you how to draw a giraffe.

These animals are large and fascinating, so why not draw them. It is noticeable that the giraffe has an extremely long neck, which enables it to eat the high leaves in the trees. And endlessly long legs, which enable it to run quite fast. Regarding trees, there is an article on how to draw a tree on our blog, I recommend you take a look ;)

Interestingly, the giraffe has to do the splits to be able to drink. But how can we draw all that?

First, we are going to observe this animal that can be found at the zoo, because if we do not observe, we do not understand the animal's shapes. We must think in simple shapes to gradually move on to the details.

Then I will talk to you about proportions and anatomy because in my opinion, this is a crucial point in order to be able to draw giraffes as well as animals in general because simple shapes apply to everything; you just have to observe and synthesize... Then after that we can start drawing a giraffe.

THE PROPORTIONS OF A GIRAFFE DRAWING

Here are the proportions we can use for a giraffe. For our reference, we will use 5 heads and 3 heads (represented by circles, and ovals). This means:

- for the head, we'll draw it with 3 circles,

- the neck with 5 circles,

- the abdomen with 3 circles,

- the front and back legs with 5 circles

- the tail with 5 circles.

For the face, there is a space of 1 circle between the two eyes of the giraffe.

Here are more details on the different proportions for the head and body of the giraffe.

The entire head and the distance between the two eyes.

 

And the body of the giraffe.

Here are the proportions I suggest to help you.

BREAK DOWN THE DRAWING INTO SIMPLE SHAPES

Now that we have looked at proportions, I'm going to talk to you about simple shapes for constructing a giraffe. Indeed, when we start to draw, we tend to want to draw the details. No, definitely not! That step comes at the end!

As I said at the beginning, we need to think in simple terms.

So here's a good example: the body is represented by a diamond for the head, cylinders for the neck, abdomen, and legs, a rectangle for the pelvis, circles for the joints, and triangles for the hooves.

Take the time to properly visualize these different simple shapes. Experiment, use reference images, find your way of representing a giraffe geometrically and simply.

This step is very important, as the rest of the drawing will rely on it, including the details. Detailing something with dubious proportions is not helpful and will not highlight your details, no matter how beautiful and precise they are.

So, once again, test, draw, sketch, and… take your time :)

THE ANATOMY OF A GIRAFFE

Now that we know these proportions and simple shapes, a bit of anatomy won’t hurt to better understand the animal that is the giraffe.

It is important to note that the giraffe's neck is very flexible, allowing it to make sweeping movements with its head. The giraffe is a perissodactyl, meaning it walks on its toes (yes, you can also learn vocabulary on Dessinidgo).

The body weight is supported by the middle toe. We can also see some bones protruding from some limbs, which explains the bumps on the animal or the possible hollows it may have, especially around the pelvis.

Here is roughly what you can use as a base. Again, feel free to do some tests on your side.

Now that the foundation has been set out, we can draw our giraffe. It is easier to begin with a reference model, as shown here.

To begin, I deliberately chose an image with a giraffe facing us. This will limit the notions of perspective for now. However, you are entirely free to choose another reference image if you wish.

DRAWING STEP BY STEP

So we're off, take a sharpened pencil. First, we will draw simple shapes with light strokes.

An initial oval for the head.

We will then position the giraffe's skeleton: the spine, the upper legs, the pelvis and the lower legs. The skeleton will be represented by simple lines and circles will be used to mark the joints.

We will then place simple shapes to construct the body of the giraffe. These simple shapes correspond to the animal's simplified muscles. For now, we will leave the head as a simple oval.

A large cylinder is drawn for the neck, and for the abdomen, we will use a rectangle that we will round off later.

I agree that, for now, it looks more like a gadget straight out of Star Wars, but it's through these stages of simplification that we have to go through in order to achieve a precise and consistent result later on. As surprising as it may seem, simplifying shapes allows for a more complex output in the end.

We continue with the upper and lower limbs, and we will represent them with rectangles of varying lengths. The leg joints will be represented by ovals. For the hooves, we will use triangles for now.

DETAILED BODY OF THE GIRAFFE

Now that all the important shapes are in place, we will replace them with slightly rounder shapes and be more precise in our drawing. By using a darker line, we will define the shapes of the giraffe using rounded edges and curves. Let's start with the neck and the top of the animal's back.

 

 

We continue with the giraffe's legs and hooves, using the same types of curves as before.

 

The first step has just been completed!! Bravo!

 

DRAWING THE HEAD

Let's now zoom in on its head to better understand what's happening. Once again we will start with light lines to define the giraffe's head. We will place a first oval for the top of its skull, draw a fairly large circle for the middle of the head and finally, its muzzle will be represented by a finer oval.

In the next step, we will draw a line to mark the center of its face. After that, we will draw a circle in the middle of the face in order to position the eyes which are located at the ends of its face.

For the eyes, we are going to place two triangles using the small circle previously drawn at the center of the giraffe's face. Finally, we will add an oval for its muzzle.

The same applies to the horns and ears. The nostrils will be represented once again by small triangles.

The main features are set! Now for the facial details. Once the eye sockets are well defined (which can be defined by smaller triangles), we move on to the eyelids. Similarly, for the muzzle, we can start rounding it off.

More and more details are appearing in order to finalize the head, such as the hairs on the muzzle, the ears, and the eyelashes.

Now we can remove the construction line to keep only the lines that finally define our giraffe!!

This part has been done well. Congratulations again.

THE GIRAFFE'S HOOVES

We are going to tackle the giraffe's hooves. First, we drew triangles. If we zoom in on them, we can see that the hoof is in two parts. Which we will once again split into two other triangles. I suggest a photo that will allow us to visualize everything I am talking about. Initially, we have a triangle that encompasses the hoof.

 

And secondly, we will have a first triangle that will divide the foot in half, we will be able to distinguish the part that is covered by the giraffe's muscles and fur and the horny part of the hoof.

Then divide in two to have the separation in the middle of the hoof.

 

Now we just need to apply what we've just seen to our drawing!

 

We draw triangles in the middle of the joints depicted above.

 

Here is the result at the halfway point. We end up with a giraffe with good proportions that already looks pretty good, doesn't it? :)

DRAWING FUR

Now that our giraffe is correctly constructed, let's move on to its coat. We can see that the giraffe has short, thin hairs pigmented from yellow to beige and brown. Let's observe how it looks before drawing it.

 

We can see that the giraffe's coat goes in several directions since the hairs follow the shape of the muscles.

A little glimpse of fur on the head. The same goes for the rest of the body!

We start by placing the most visible fur shapes with lines and then draw the fur in the form of rounded lines. Add the whiskers, hair on the horns. Do the same for the ears.

For the spots on the giraffe's body, the shapes vary. Once again, it's important to observe carefully when drawing, but once you understand how its spots are randomly structured, you can rely a bit more on your instincts :)

And here is our tall giraffe!

Get your pencils, and have fun.

Do not hesitate to ask us any questions in the comments section below ;)

 Writer and illustrator: Laure-Hélène Vivaux