The benign appearance of the giraffe is somewhat deceptive.
Giraffes are the world's tallest land animal, and are one of the iconic animals of Africa. Known as gentle giants, the giraffe is rarely preyed upon by other animals because of its great height and ability to defend itself with a lethal kick. A giraffe normally has a rather calm expression, and capturing this will be one of the most important aspects to bring out in a drawing. Drawing the giraffe's face in proportion will also be challenging.
Instructions
1. Sketch a rough outline of the giraffe's head and face. Begin from the bottom of the left ear, and work in a clockwise direction to sketch the top of the head, including the giraffe's two horns, and then move across to the right ear. Roughly sketch the right side of the giraffe's head down to the animal's rounded mouth, and then sketch the left side of the face.
2. Use the sketch of the giraffe that is already in place to assist you with your drawing. Begin by drawing from the bottom of the giraffe's left ear upward. Draw the left side of this ear so that it curves to a point, and then draw the curve of the right side of the ear down to the giraffe's head. Start drawing the left side of the head and then draw the two rounded horns, which should be drawn curving inward onto the top of the head. The top of the head, between the horns, should be slightly curved downward.
3. Work from the base of the right side of the right horn, and draw the right side of the head, which should slant down to the giraffe's right ear. Again, draw the right ear similarly to the left, curving it to a point.
4. Portray the giraffe's soft, expressive eyes, beginning with its right eye. Draw its thick eyelid, and add its long eyelashes. The right side of the eyelashes should slightly protrude. Use one dark shade to depict the giraffe's actual eye. Draw the giraffe's left eye. The left side of these eyelashes should protrude.
5. Draw the right side of the giraffe's face down to the tip of its long nose, curving to a prominent rounded tip. Place two nostrils just above the tip of the nose. Draw the left side of the giraffe's face up to its left ear.
6. Add just below the tip of the giraffe's long nose its small, rounded chin. The line in between will form the giraffe's mouth. Add a tongue peeking out from underneath the right side of the mouth.
7. Put reticulated markings to the giraffe's face, working from the bottom of the face up to the top of the animal's head. Shade in the rest of the giraffe's face to complete the drawing. The darker shades will be in the ear, and the lightest shades will be on the side of the face, and just under the ears and over the eyes.
