How to Draw a Penguin

If you can draw basic shapes, you can definitely draw a penguin. They're very fitting for winter or Christmas time designs, but penguins are so enjoyable that they easily fit in other designs throughout the year. They're great to use for decorating kids' clothes, baby room décor, cards, and so much more.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to draw a baby penguin by sketching the head, body, and face using basic shapes.

Once the sketching is done, we'll draw the actual penguin and color it in. Lastly, we'll end with some shading. Shading adds depth, bringing your character to life.

You can use anything you have on hand to draw and color the penguin. But if you'd like to follow along in Procreate, we'll be using a Procreate stippling brush and Procreate fur brushes.

Turning on Procreate drawing assist for symmetry can make drawing the penguin much easier.

Step 1 - Sketch the Head, Body, Flippers, and Feet Using Basic Shapes

Draw a circle. The size will depend on how big you want the head to be.

Draw a large oval touching the bottom of the circle.

Trace both the head and body shapes to form one shape. As you trace the shapes, flatten out the bottom, like in the following image.

Erase the circle and oval. Draw two long ovals connected to the sides of the body for the arms or flippers, as they're called for penguins.

Another option is to draw the ovals in a more horizontal direction for flippers that are up in the air.

Draw three small overlapping circles for each foot. Then draw upside-down triangles inside the circles for the claws.

Step 2 - Sketch the Face Using Basic Shapes and Lines

Now we need to draw shapes and lines to define where the black and white areas of the face are. Looking at the images in this step will help if you get confused.

In the head area, draw two vertical ovals next to each other with space in between for another shape. Then draw a football shape (that's not touching the ovals) in between the bottom of the ovals. Draw a curved line across the body shape near the top of the flippers to divide the head and body.

Next, draw a curved line from the right side of the left oval to the left corner of the football shape. Repeat this step (mirrored) with the other oval and the other corner.

Draw another line connecting the left side of the left oval to the line dividing the head and body. Repeat this step with the other oval on its right side.

The newly drawn lines are green in the following image.

Erase the lower portion of the ovals and the top line of the football shape. The following image shows the parts to erase in red.

The finished face shape is shown in the following image. Draw the eyes in what will become the white area (inside the green outlined area) and the beak in what will become the black area (outside the green outlined area).

Step 3 - Draw the Actual Penguin Following the Sketch and Color It In

Following the sketch lines, draw the actual penguin. Then erase the sketch lines.

This baby penguin is an Emperor penguin. Its head is black and white with a gray beak. The body of the penguin is gray. We made the flippers a lighter gray and the feet a darker gray with black claws.

Color in your penguin with any medium you like. In Procreate, we used the Rough Edge Ink brush to create a textured edge while drawing the outline of the penguin.

Step 4 - Add Shading to the Body, Flippers, and Face

You can leave your penguin with flat colors, or you can add shading to your penguin.

You want to add shading to the sides of the body, on the underside of the flippers, and on the lower body area near the feet to make it look as if the penguin has little legs underneath its feathers. You can also add a little shading to the sides of the face if you'd like.

Step 5 - Add Feathers to the Body, Flippers, and Face

This is an optional step you can do if you're using Procreate. Penguins have feathers, but their feathers are short and so closely packed together that it can be hard to tell. Sometimes the feathers even look like fur.

In Procreate, select the Fur 10 brush. On a new layer, draw following the edges of the penguin's flippers, body, and head with a matching color to make it look as if the penguin is fuzzy. Then select the Fur 11 brush and a darker grey, and brush over the body to add a fuzzy look.

Lastly, you can take it one step further and add some fun accessories to your penguin, like in the first image of this tutorial. You can add glasses, a cane, an umbrella, etc.

Now that you knowhow to draw a penguin, you can learn to draw a turtle, learn to draw a flower, or learn to draw a pumpkin.