Image: Momjunction Design Team
Learning about animals and wildlife is an integral part of childhood and a huge part of growing up. When your child receives useful tips that simplify how to draw an elephant for kids, it can enhance your child’s drawing skills and make them want to try out more sketches.
An elephant can be a little complex to draw. Drawing the trunk, big ears, tusks, and big body can be challenging, but your children can master it with some practice. Here are some easy ways to teach your children step-by-step how to draw an elephant.
Key Pointers
- Draw a cartoon elephant by starting with a circle and incorporating features like eyes, head, and tail.
- Create a simple elephant by drawing the tusk, chest, and forehead.
- Guide children in drawing a square cartoon elephant by sketching a round square, a backward S for the snout, and the body.
- Easily draw a front-facing elephant by starting with a head circle and adding various details.
Cartoon Elephant
Image: Momjunction Design Team
This drawing of a cartoon elephant is simple and fun, making it a perfect choice for beginners and younger artists.
How To:
- Tell your child to draw a medium-sized circle and attach a large-sized oblong to it.
- Now he has to make the elephant’s trunk from the bottom of the circle. Have him make the ears by making a broad, inverted C shape from the right side of the circle.
- Now tell him to draw the limbs by making a set of parallel lines at the bottom of the oblong.
- Now he has to make eyes by drawing a small circle and the brows using small strokes of pencils. For the protruding tooth, tell him to draw a curved line and make a few strokes on the upper part of the trunk.
- Now ask him to draw the whole head and ears by using the outline.
- Now comes the sketching part. Tell your child to sketch the outlines and limbs that he has drawn.
- Just the tail is left now. For the tail, ask your child to draw two curved lines and make a few hairs at its ends. Tell him to draw the elephant’s nails by making three inverted U’s
- Erase the unnecessary lines and your elephant is ready! This cute elephant drawing for kids is simple to teach using the images.
Quick factA Simple Elephant
Image: Momjunction Design Team
The simple elephant drawing involves slightly more detail in terms of shape, with curved lines and realistic proportions. This is a good choice for intermediate artists.
How To:
- Tell your child to begin by drawing the forehead of the elephant.
- Ask him to draw the outline for the tusk.
- Now he has to make the lower chest and back.
- For the legs, ask him to make a thick outline of the legs from the center of the body.
- Have him make the tail, underbelly, and the trunk.
- Finish the feet of the first two legs.
- Now draw the remaining two legs.
- Lastly, draw the ears, eyes, and feet to complete the drawing of the elephant.
Square Cartoon Elephant
Image: Momjunction Design Team
With its quirky curved trunk, this square-shaped cartoon elephant is great for getting younger kids interested in drawing.
How To:
- First, ask your child to draw a part of the round square. Do not make the bottom line. And the right line should be about half the size. It will be the elephant’s body.
- Now from the right line, have your child draw a backward S. It will be the elephant’s snout.
- Make another backward S 3 cm from the first S to complete the nose. From the bottom of the first ‘S’ draw the tusk and the elephant’s mouth.
- Now ask your child to draw the elephant’s ears and eye.
- Tell your child to draw the first front leg from the ears of the elephant. The leg should not be straight. It should be slightly slanted, to give an illusion that the elephant is walking.
- Next, have him draw the first back leg and the second front leg.
- Now tell him to make the belly by joining the legs from first to the second back leg.
- Lastly, draw the tail and the toenails of the elephant.
- Finally Color It.
Quick TipFront Facing Elephant-Head
Image: Momjunction Design Team
The elephant head may seem simple, but it has realistic details and complex shapes, making it more suited for kids in more advanced stages of drawing.
How To:
- Tell your child to draw a medium sized circle and a bigger oval shape for the head.
- Ask him to make two arcs from the intersection of the circle and oval. He even has to make a wavy line from the bottom of the circle for the trunk.
- Now your kid has to make the tusk and trunk of the elephant. Tell him to make just the outline. It can be filled later on.
- Have him draw the ears of the elephant from the top intersection of the circle and oval.
- Now have your child add the details of the elephant and erase the excess lines to form a cartoonish representation of the animal.
Note
- These tutorials are just for guiding how to draw a cartoon elephant for kids’ purposes. The drawing cannot be exactly identical.
- Tell your child to begin with light pencil strokes so that he can work into the shapes that he wants. After completing the drawing, he can give some dark strokes to it.
- Kids can even add color or shading to complete the picture.
Tips And Tricks For Drawing Elephants
Your child has now learned four ways to draw an elephant. However, if they still need more assistance, you can further simplify the process with the following tricks and hacks.
Tip 1: Explain a shape with an example. For instance, ask your child to think about a bean bag that is kept sideways when creating the body.
Tip 2: For a difficult curvy shape, draw the shape on a piece of paper yourself and then ask your child to trace it a few times to get an idea of how to move their wrist.
Tip 3: Have them practice each shape on a different piece of paper a couple of times before making it on the elephant.
Tip 4: Use washable markers or crayons to facilitate quick clearing and multiple tries.
Illustration: How To Draw An Elephant For Kids: Step-By-Step Tutorial
Image: Stable Diffusion/MomJunction Design Team
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What other animals can a child draw alongside an elephant to create a scene?
A water hole from where animals such as giraffes, deer, zebras, and elephants are all drinking water can be a beautiful image. Including animals such as lions, monkeys, birds, and elephants with trees and greenery in the background can depict a jungle.
2. What are some common mistakes to avoid when drawing an elephant?
Some common mistakes that children make while drawing elephants include not getting the proportions right, not including enough details such as wrinkles in the face and body, and not making the body look sufficiently muscular or powerful by making it too round or square. Children may also get the size and position of the trunk, ears, and legs wrong.
3. Can children use different drawing tools to create different effects when drawing an elephant?
The drawing can be made more vibrant and realistic by using different tools and techniques, such as using a different drawing or coloring paper, marker to outline and create a bold and graphic effect, using graphite pencils or crayons to shade and create shadows, adding texture using charcoal, and using different colors like gray to make the painting come to life.
4. How can children use shading to give their elephant drawing more depth?
Identify the light source and shade the area where the light can’t reach or looks darker. Making the lines used for shading darker and thicker at appropriate places can add more depth to the drawing. Use different shading techniques to create the illusion of wrinkles and folds.
5. What fun facts about elephants can children incorporate into their drawings?
A drawing that depicts an elephant eating food will help the children understand how the elephants use their trunks for the purpose. Drawing a group of elephants with characteristics unique to a particular gender, such as long tusks in males, will help the children differentiate between a bull, cow, and calf in a herd without the traveling experience of a safari.
Drawing is a skill that can help channel your child’s imagination towards a productive path and give life to it. This guide on drawing an elephant for kids can help your children learn about the animal, different body parts, their functions, and some facts using fun and creativity. It can also pique their curiosity about the art of drawing and painting. So go ahead and help them get started with the help of the simple steps. You may also download some elephant coloring pages and give them to your child to practice and have fun indoors.
Infographic: Easy-to-draw Elephant Designs For Children
Elephants are the largest land animals that surely intrigue children. Drawing an elephant can be a fun activity for children. Go through the infographic below and help your child draw an elephant in simple steps.
Illustration: Momjunction Design Team
Let’s learn how to draw a cute Elephant! Follow along step-by-step and you’ll be able to draw your own Elephant in no time!
Community Experiences
Join the conversation and become a part of our nurturing community! Share your stories, experiences, and insights to connect with fellow parents.
Read full bio of Erin DeCarlo
Read full bio of Sagari Gongala
Read full bio of Harshita Makvana
