We draw a snake. How to draw a snake with a pencil step by step

What You'll Be Creating

Serpent Often draw. They are considered very simple, with no legs or special muscles to define. There is only a head (without ears!) And a long tail - what could be simpler?

So, welcome to the perfect start to the world of animal drawing: snake drawing guide! I'll show you how to draw venomous and harmless snakes and how to realistically draw their hashes and patterns. We won't focus on just one look, but rather look at the techniques needed to draw any part of any type of snake. After completing this lesson, you will be able to draw most varieties of snakes with almost no effort.

1. The body of snakes

Basic anatomy

Let's start with some basic snake anatomy. We tend to think that most snakes are made up of long tails, but in fact most of the body of a snake is a long chest.

1-head, 2-thoracic, 3-tail

The seemingly innocuous belief that a snake's body is primarily made up of a tail leads to completely wrong drawings of snakes. Even being one of the simplest animals, snake drawings still suffer from too superficial knowledge about their device. Instead of thinking of them as a constantly tapering tail, it's better to think of them as a string of beads, which is closer to the curved rib shape that actually makes up the snake's body. The neck beads are a little narrower than the chest beads, and then they get smaller and smaller, but not very quickly. On the contrary, if you think of a snake as a long tail, you are most likely narrowing it dramatically.

Differences in tapering of the body if you draw the snake as a bead and not just as a tail

The length and width of the "neck" and "chest" segments depend on the species. Some will not have a neck at all, while others are so thin that the chest will not be noticeable. If you are drawing a snake without focusing on the views, this is where you can experiment. Remember: snakes don't always have to be slender, sometimes they look fat and awkward!

The bead method makes it easier to draw snakes in motion

The bead string method is very useful when creating 3D poses. If you have trouble imagining the sides, you can use cubes instead of balls.

The transformation of the body from balls into 3D drawing

To make the 3D scene easier to draw, you can add more circles between those that create the pose. This way you will get a sense of volume and it will be easier to define the sides.

Straight snake body with extra circles to give volume to the body

And what about the famous snake hoods that are often seen on cobras? They actually represent the body of a snake, flattened by straightened ribs. This means that the width of the hood depends on the normal width of the body, and it may not be as wide as you might think.

Snake hood, elongated in proportion to the body

Movement types

To create a believable pose, we need to know how snakes move.

1. Serpentine movement- the classic movement of the snake. The animal uses its strong body to push off the terrain (or simply uses the terrain as a whole if it's rough enough to resist).

serpentine movement

2. Accordion movement- a movement in which the snake regularly folds and expands, like an accordion. Snakes use this method when passing through narrow tunnels.

Concertina movements

3. Track movement- this movement works like the vertical movement of an accordion. A small horizontal harmonica may also occur during this movement.

caterpillar movement

4. Lateral movement- this method is very effective on slippery or hot surfaces (for example, in the desert). The snake pushes itself with a swinging motion of the raised coils, which causes it to move somewhat to the side.

Lateral movement

2. How to draw a snake head

The form

Step 1

I will show you three types of snake head: side view (1), front(2) and above(3). This way you can easily compare them to understand the shape in 3D.

Start with a flattened ball. In addition to the center line, there should also be a line located one third of the diameter.

Draw a line in the center and at a height of 1/3 of the circle's diameter

Step 2

Add cheeks and jaws

Step 3

Add another, larger ball behind the main one. Thus, we will properly lengthen the skull.

Add an extra ball to the head.

How much larger should this second ball be? As a general rule, venomous snakes have more triangular heads, with a distinct neck end, so you'll need a much larger second orb. Non-venomous snakes tend to have narrower heads, so the second ball should be slightly wider.

Changing the width of the second ball depending on the type of snake

Step 4

Now you can easily outline the outlines.

Snake head outline

Step 5

The eyes are placed close to the narrow end of the skull.

Step 6

Now smile! The snake's smile - or rather the mouth - should be wide and well defined. Also add small holes for the nose.

Add the mouth and nostrils of the snake

Step 7

With all the guide lines, you can easily draw the rest of the paths. Don't forget the little hole between the lips that allows the tongue to slip out without opening the mouth!

Add outlines for the rest of the snake's head

Step 9

If you are adding a bottom view of your snake, use the top view circles to create the bottom and just forget about the eyes and nose.

The lower part of the snake head retains the same shape

Scales

If you're not comfortable drawing scales just at random and want to remember the rules about placing them, here are some tips. Keep in mind that not all snakes are the same and their scales can also vary. What I show you is general pattern, especially common for non-poisonous species.

Step 1

Let's start with mostly vertical lines. Right under the eye, two on the sides and three more next to the nose. (Watch all views to see exactly what you're drawing so you can easily remember it.)

General direction large head scales Large head scales, outline

Step 2

Now, let's move horizontally. Draw a line from the nose to the eye, then divide it into four new ones. The front of the head needs some little tweaks.

Main horizontal lines Scales Main horizontal scales of the head, outline

Step 3

Now, back of the head. Immediately after it, rows of normal scales begin.

Direction of neck scales Outlined neck scales

Step 4

The bottom view of the head needs a different approach:

Standard scale outline on the bottom of the snake's head

Step 5

If you don't want to learn all those arrows by heart, here's a colorful diagram for you. Once again, keep in mind that each snake is different and you can modify these shapes accordingly.

1-side, 2-front, 3-top, 4-bottom

Step 6

Poisonous snakes (and some non-poisonous python snakes in particular are very prominent) can have heat sensitive pits on their heads. You can think of them as large nose holes made from scales. You can find them anywhere near the nose, and in a line on the top or lower lip(not necessarily everywhere at the same time, as shown below). They allow the snake to feel the temperature ( infrared light) to determine your body heat.

Venomous snakes also have smaller, denser scales on their heads, similar to those on the rest of their bodies. They are easier to draw as they are often quite chaotic. You can make the head less "smooth", with high nostrils and strong eyebrows to give the snake a more aggressive look.

Heat-resistant pits on the snake's head

Eyes

It's time for some details. Generally, venomous snakes have slit pupils, while non-venomous snakes have round pupils. Their eyes are round on their own, but may appear sharper due to their "eyebrow" scales. Use it for an evil look!

Venomous snake eyes with unambiguous, venomous eyebrows

The snake eyes come in an incredibly large array of colors. Basically anything you can imagine will look good on your modified views as long as you stick to a round shape and a proper pupil.

Be creative with your snake eye colors

Jaws

Snakes have the most interesting jaw design of any animal (with the possible exception of the moray eel). Let's start gradually. First, the fangs (if any) must be curved inward so that the snake does not bite itself (snakes are not immune to their own venom!).

Make sure the snake's teeth are pointing inward

Secondly, between the upper and lower jaws there is a bone that is loosely connected to them. This gives the jaw a huge range of motion. Snakes with long and strongly curved fangs (such as vipers) can "retract" them - bend the tip of the mouth to highlight them more clearly.

Snake jaws can open very wide to show fangs.

But that's not all: each jaw is divided into two (connected by an elastic ligament), and each can move independently. Now it is obvious how snakes can swallow prey much larger than their head!

Snake jaws have a wide range of flexibility

Details

Let's take a good look close-up heads:

1. fangs- sharp as needles, often covered with thick resin. Only poisonous snakes have it!
2. Poison duct- the poison passes from his gland right through the hollow fang. It can then be transferred into the victim's body during a bite. Some species are capable of spitting venom through their fangs.
3. Glottis- an opening that is part of the respiratory system. It allows the snake to continue breathing when it swallows, and can also create a hissing sound.
4. Language- long, thin (but not flat) and shiny. The snake uses it to "lick" the air, so it is used as an additional sense organ. To process "taste", the tongue must touch a special organ inside the mouth, so it slides in and out. The tip is forked to create two independent tips, each receiving a slightly different signal from its side (just like how two eyes work). The pose shown below is impossible as the tongue only slips out of its sheath when the mouth is closed.
5. Cheeks- these strong muscles control the movement of the jaws. Draw them the way they deserve, thick and strong.

Each of the sections of the snake's head, as described above

3. Scales and patterns

The scales are where the snake's simplicity ends. Now the brave artist must be patient and draw each scale one by one, and then shade them equally. No, I'm not going to show you some magic method to avoid this work, instead I'll show you how not to waste time by finishing with a flat pattern.

Scale structure

We have already described and sketched the structure around the head. In addition, fairly regular and already well-known scales are found in neat, ordered rows. Dorsal scales cover the entire back and sides, while the rest of the space is occupied ventral wide oblong plates covering the entire abdomen, parallel throughout the body. They can be as wide as the body (covering the entire width of the abdomen) or narrower. If they are narrower, they may not be visible from the side.

1-side, 2-bottom

Of course, there is a place where the belly ends and the tail begins. This place is defined anal plate(colloquially, the butt of a snake). Here are the differences between the poisonous (left) and non-poisonous (right) species:

• Poisonous snakes have one anal plate, and the scales under the tail are located just behind it.
• In non-venomous snakes, the anal plate slipped off, and then the other scales also separated.

1-belly, 2-anal plate, 3-tail

The scales themselves are not very difficult to draw and you have probably seen the mini tutorial in the image below. Cross some lines, they'll draw scales between them - we've all done this. The problem is that this trick gives us very flat scales, so we need to change it.

The initial appearance of cross lines and their transformation into scales

Here are the steps to follow to create a scale outline that looks real in relation to the body of the snake.

Step 1

The trick is to bend the original line a little, in both directions, in the opposite direction. So instead of drawing a slanted line, you just need to draw an elongated S (or integral symbol) and intersect it with a mirror image.

Draw a small figure S instead of a straight line... ...then intersect it with a mirror image

Step 2

Other lines should copy the bend. Just repeat this shallow curved line pattern along the body of the snake.

Continuing the curve

Step 3

If you now draw the scales on the grid, you will see that they get smaller, closer to the edge, giving them the receding look that a 3D snake body should have. It's all!

Now your scales will have the correct curve

However, this method becomes quite problematic when it comes to curves on the snake's body. Here is a workaround for this issue. At first it may seem strange, but try it and you will see how it works:

1. Draw guides in the usual way on straight sections
2. Draw set parallel lines between pink line from A and blue line from B
3. Do the same between the blue line from A and the pink line from B
4. If you did everything right, the scales should now follow the curve. The tightening of the lines inside the curve should now look natural.

Steps to Draw Scales Correctly on a Curved Snake

Textures

Typically there are two various types scales - smooth(1) and kilva(bordered, 2). Smooth scales are shiny (but not wet) and are usually rounder than keeled scales, which are rougher and sharper in appearance.

Smooth and keeled scales

There is special kind keeled scales raised in such a way that they look spiky.

Smoother and more spiky keel scales

The scales are connected only to the skin, but not to each other. Therefore, when the skin is stretched (3 - when swallowing a large prey or even when moving), the scales move away from each other. Some less slender snakes may have tightly fitting scales on the head and neck (1), and there is a small distance between them along their body (2).

Different distance between the scales with dense (1), somewhat parted (2) and stretched (3) skin

patterns

Once you have trouble sorting scales, you can add colors to your snake. Pattern options are endless! Although most animals are dully painted for camouflage, snakes proudly display their bodies to the world, announcing how dangerous they are and not to be messed with. Finally, you can use saturated bright colors without departing from realism.

Here are color patterns that work well.

Plain

This can be the base for a template or just a template. Use whatever color you want for the whole body.

Ordinary plain color can work great

Modifying this template should blend it gently with other colors. You can make the head darker or the belly lighter, as you wish.

Blend two or more colors gently for a good color effect

Rings

Rings go around the body. They can be single-color or multi-color (bands with borders).

Straight rings appear as stripes

Cross ranges are variations of the rings. They also pass around the body, but do not cross the abdomen.

Cross bands include multiple colors

Spots

These are small spots of color on individual scales.

Spots give snakes a more camouflaged appearance.

stripes

They run the length of the body, straight and regular.

Stripes run the length of the body

blots

They can be very irregular, varying in size, and distributed randomly throughout the body.

Inclusions give you more more possibilities for variations...

Almost every template allows you to change the contrasting borders.

... with borders, shapes and sizes to play with

We have already drawn various animals, for example, a horse and a lot. Now let's deal with slippery and extremely dangerous snakes. I confess that I am very afraid of them. But next year is the year snakes and we simply have to draw them in our lessons. To begin with, let's take a closer look at the main part of the snakes - the head and fanged mouth. And although the drawing is color-coded at the end, it seems to me that the step-by-step sketches turned out better than the final one. Here we will consider the details in drawing dangerous snakes and maybe my advice will be useful to you in the future when drawing. It's funny, but the length of snakes can vary from 10 cm to 12 meters! They have an internal skeleton, this can be a real discovery for someone.

Step 1.

Here I will give you examples of how snake heads can differ. Upper snake usually big size, and the second - small, but also dangerous reptiles.

Step 2

If we look at the structural features of the head, we can see short nose and large and close-set eyes.

Step 3

I will add a few more options for the shapes of the snake head. As you can see, they can have several options for expressions and you can choose what you like best.

Step 4

Now I will try to simplify drawing for you and show you how to draw a snake's head in parts in simple three steps. You can easily draw all the options and then choose the one you like for the main drawing. Poisonous snakes have large and sharp, backward-curved poisonous fangs on the upper jaw. There lies the main danger!

Step 5

Let's start our drawing. Draw the shape of the snake's head and then add a midline for the level of the eyes and the proportions of the head drawing.

Step 6

Let's start drawing the main lines. First, the top of the head and the top of the mouth. Note the groove at the top of the head.

Step 7

Now draw the back of the head and the lower part of the jaw. The lower jaw is long and looks extremely dangerous.

Step 8

Draw the expressive eyes, then add the openings of the nostrils. After you get it, draw the detailing for the shapes and bulges on the head.

Step 9

Draw an outline around the snake's mouth, as in our drawing, and then add the eyeballs and pupil slits. Add arched lines at the back of the mouth for the tongue.

199 people are interested per month, and even a lot of people want to know how to draw a viper in stages ... with a pencil. How to draw a viper for kids!

What a popularity! I wonder why it is so attractive to the people? Do you like to draw snakes? Or maybe posters are drawn for safety, so that in the summer in the forests people can distinguish a viper from a snake? But there is something in this. If we have only these two snakes and are found, then, of course, I would like to distinguish poisonous vipers from non-poisonous snakes by sight.

We'll talk more about the snake, but today our heroine is a viper. What is characteristic of her appearance? Strong, long muscular body, triangular (trapezoid) head. And the most salient feature- usually vipers have a zigzag pattern on their backs.

How to draw a viper step by step

We have already studied how to draw a snake, and now the most important thing for us is to convey the beautiful, graceful twists of a long torso - really meanders. And along the entire length it is necessary to monitor the uniformity of thickness. Oddly enough, but (for children) it is very difficult (remember how). It’s the same story with a snake: not having the habit of trying to see the whole image as a whole, children sometimes don’t notice that snakes they often get “sometimes wider, sometimes narrower” models. But this is not our style, we will draw consciously.

Well, the shape of the snake body was conveyed well and correctly - we can say that we got the coloring of the Serpent for coloring under the viper.

Now this is the most zigzag pattern.

Here the joke is that the body of the viper is cylindrical - almost round in cross section, and not flat. And take this volume into account when distributing the pattern ... so lazy! Whether it's a matter - you draw a conditional "snake" for yourself with ridges and zags from side to side - beauty! And this one - the real one - also has a belly on the turns, and the pattern is only on the back ... Moreover, this pattern is distorted along the viper's twists and strives to move on its side. Here you have to think carefully about how to draw it all believable. Well, we think so. Thinking and drawing

There is nothing difficult in the lesson on how to draw a snake in stages with a pencil. Drawing snakes is pretty easy. Of course, I cannot know in what angle you need a reptile drawing, but this way of drawing you can draw a snake in any angle.

How to draw a snake step by step

I'll start the lesson draw a snake from the fact that in its structure, the snake is quite simple. Her body is elongated without limbs, and that is why it is not difficult to draw snakes.

Take a simple marking pencil with the letter "...B" (soft) and swipe wavy line which you see in the figure below. Draw an oval to this line. It's more like a computer mouse).

Next circle this wavy line on both sides and connect with the head of the snake. Try to keep the thickness of the body on both sides the same. The figure below shows everything well. At this stage, try to draw the head of the snake correctly.

Now take the eraser and delete the line that was the basis for drawing the body of the snake. Draw the eye, tongue of the reptile. The second eye is not visible in the drawing, but designate it as a "hump". Draw a line for the snake's mouth.

At this stage, you can finish the drawing. And you can also draw patterns on the snake's body. You, of course, saw the snake not live, so in the photo. You must have paid attention to what beautiful patterns awarded the nature of these reptiles. So go ahead, decorate the snake beautifully!

Even a child can draw a snake with a simple pencil. To do this, you just need to strictly follow the instructions that are attached below.

Cold-blooded reptiles are often depicted in various comics. For those who are going to test themselves as an artist, it is worth starting training with a snake. Many comic book creators admit that they are the most interesting and entertaining to draw. Can focus on different fantasy characters from folk tales or legends, like the Serpent Gorynych or the Basilisk, the lizard demon, and so on. But for starters, it's best to learn how to draw an ordinary crawling reptile. What do you need to start the lesson? You will definitely have to get an album or, in extreme cases, separate sheets for drawing, simple pencils high quality, erasers. To begin with, along the entire perimeter of the sheet, the artist draws the head of the snake itself. It looks like an elongated oval. The oval should be divided into two parts, of which the upper one will be larger than the lower one. In the same drawing, you need to start drawing the first bulges on the head. Be sure to pay attention to the fact that the jaw of the snake is convex. Down from the oval falls another, long and narrow. As a result, it will become the lower jaw. The snake will have an open mouth.

The most expressive of reptiles are their insatiable and predatory eyes. They are not too narrow. On the contrary, the eyes of the snake are wide open, they look very predatory and are ready to attack a small and defenseless victim. Accordingly, it is in them that the deceit and other character traits of the reptile should be emphasized. Not only the eyes are the mirror of the soul of this reptile. The snake must have flared nostrils. They are drawn, as a rule, in the form of two small semicircles on the sides on the upper jaw.

All unsuccessful pencil movements must be erased immediately. They should not interfere or take up space in the picture. Those lines that are successful need to be made more detailed. They can be hatched, outlined, expanded, added shadows, and so on. Circle the edge of the mouth with a thicker pencil. The artist should not hesitate and lead with a firm and confident hand. An unsuccessful drawing can be erased at any time. Eyeball will have to be made larger. For this, the contours are also outlined with a dark thick stylus. The pupil itself is drawn with a thin pencil.

The snake should have a tongue sticking out of its mouth. This effect can be visually achieved by drawing an arch under the upper jaw. After the tongue, you will have to focus on the fangs. Like everyone predatory beast, in a snake they are powerful and sharp. At the same time, the tongue becomes more detailed with pencils and an eraser. The whole snake literally consists of a head and a neck. You can't draw one thing and forget about the other. The neck can be done in the upper right corner, if the muzzle itself looks to the lower left, and vice versa.

After all the details are drawn, you need to erase the unsuccessful or extra lines from the drawing. In addition, after the artist has passed the rubber band over the sheet, he must make the remaining lines more dark color. The tail didn't fit in this image. You can try to create a more primitive drawing, where the snake will sleep, twisted into rings. Only the tail can give out in it this particular reptile in this position.

Children will draw a snake thanks to the following tips:

• first you need to create a skeleton in a reptile;
• behind the second line of the skeleton, another appears, parallel to it, a few millimeters further;
• to a round head, details such as eyes and a tongue protruding from the mouth will have to be added;
• snakes often have spots all over their bodies, which are randomly located.

Since drawing it is quite simple, then after a few workouts with different types reptiles, you can learn a technique that immediately uses a pen instead of a pencil. This image is not deleted. She immediately remains on the sheet. But it turns out a more elegant image.

Artists try to draw the skin of a snake to make the drawing realistic. Having broken the entire body of the snake into sections, shadows are applied to it in different directions. The image is voluminous.

For those who first decided to draw a snake, you should open a picture from a book or find it on the Internet. It's best to draw from a photo first.