How to Draw a Dragon tutorials are often way too complicated for young artists. This one keeps things easy with a profile of a simple dragon. Scroll down for more step by step drawing tutorials for even more skill levels.

Dragons are mythical creatures that appear in the folklore of many cultures all over the world. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably, but dragons in western cultures since the Middle Ages have often been depicted as winged, horned, and capable of breathing fire. Dragons in eastern cultures are usually depicted as wingless, four-legged, snake like creatures.

It’s not clear when or where stories of dragons first emerged, but the huge, flying serpents were described at least as early as the age of the ancient Greeks and Sumerians.

Children are often interested in drawing dragons at a young age, no doubt in part to the many movies and stories devoted to them. The catch is that because most dragons have so many details that they are one of the trickier things to draw. The long body with spikes and horns and clawed feet are quite a bit to take on when you are just figuring out how to make the pencil do what you want.

Not to worry, this dragon tutorial is designed to keep all those fun details, but add them in a way that is not overly confusing. By starting with a large curved body, and adding all the fun elements second, details are easy to see and understand where they need to go. It all adds up to a dragon lesson that works for a wide range of elementary students. There’s no reason why they can’t join in on the dragon drawing fun too!

Getting Started

The best way to get students off to a good start to any drawing lesson is to show them how to use guides as a reference point.

You may have noticed that all of the tutorials on this site have a dashed line running through the center of each step, both in the horizontal and vertical direction. If students make their own centered lines on their own paper, before drawing, they will have an easy reference to follow.

For instance, as seen in Step 1 below, this easy dragon body starts with a V shape above the center horizontal line, and to the left of the center vertical line. The rest of the mouth and nose then starts to take place around it.

Drawing skills have a lot to do with getting the right size and placement of lines on a sheet of paper, so having some visual reference points to get started, will always help anyone learn how to be a little more accurate.

So does that mean kids need to draw a big fat line down the center of their paper before they start? Goodness no, please don’t! That will most likely be hard to erase and distract from any finished art. No, simply fold the paper in half both ways, make a crease, and unfold. The beauty is that by the time the drawing is done and colored in, the creases will disappear.

And now, time for students to make their own dragon drawing.

Preview of the Step by Step Easy Dragon Tutorial

Open Draw an Easy Dragon Tutorial

Time Lapse Sketching of an Easy Dragon

Dragon Coloring Page

Open Dragon Coloring Page

MATERIALS

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Drawing Paper. Don’t substitute it with copy paper or construction paper. The surface will get fuzzy, erasing might cause holes, and the colors will generally not look as bright.

Pencil. The Ticonderoga brand are the most reliable, make nice dark lines when you need them, and are the easiest to erase. Buying the pre-sharpened ones will save busy teachers a lot of time.

Eraser. Large ones you can hold in your hand do a much better job than just the pencil tip erasers, especially when erasing leftover pencil lines after tracing.

Black Sharpie Marker. These fine point permanent markers make nice black lines, have a good tip for coloring, and never bleed when they get wet. Use them in areas with good ventilation and add extra paper underneath for table protection.

Prang Crayons. These are a bit softer than other crayons so they sometimes look like oil pastels. They also have a some nice brown shades that Crayola does not have in the smaller boxes.

Crayola Crayons. The reliable brand that always works well. The 24 pack has some of my favorite golden orange and yellow colors, and seem a bit richer than ones Prang has.