How To Draw a Baby Dragon

Looking for drawing inspiration? Test your art skills by learning how to draw a baby dragon breathing fire. It's easier than it sounds, and so much fun too! Quickdraw has made a video tutorial for you to watch and also laid out the drawing instructions step by step below. Don't forget to follow Quickdraw on YouTube for more crazy art ideas.

Step 1: Drawing a dragon with pencil

This is a difficult animal to draw, so be patient and don’t worry, because we’ll get there together! Starting with the dragon’s head, draw a circle at the top of the page.
Add some guidelines to help if you want.

Now, we need two straight lines going down, one from the centre of the circle, and the other from the right edge.
A shooter base line along the bottom, and then a diagonal line to join back up to make a long triangle.
On the other side of the triangle, draw a curved line from top to bottom. This is going to be our baby dragon’s belly.

Ok, let's start on our dragon's mouth. Mark out a small circle on the left of the head.
Then the eye, in the centre of the head like this. A semi circle dimple for the eye to rest on.
Back to the mouth now, draw a curved line through the middle of that small circle.
And on the bottom half, we’ll make this into a bottom jaw that joins up to the belly.

At this point it’s sometimes useful to run out all of the inside lines that we don’t need anymore. You should be left with the head, eyes, and mouth.
Adding in some minor facial details, the lip, eye and nostril.
Hmmm. maybe another small nostril on the outside. And how about a small flame for our fire-breathing dragon? Yes of course.
We’re going to change the shape of the head slightly, creating a bump and erasing the original line like this.
Then in that open space under the new bump and above the mouth we can draw in the second eye.
Here come the dragon horns… two small stumps poking through.

Our baby dragon needs a flappy ear. It can be shaped like a large cone, or a giant mouse’s ear.
Then inside the ear, some large veins. Two or three semi circles to the edge.
Let’s work on the body now, smoothing out that line going from the neck down to the back.
InWe want to replace the original triangle shape with a curve.
Same goes for the bottom of the belly, smooth out that line too.

Here’s a fun part. The chunky leg. Draw from inside the body like this, and then extend that line outside the dragon’s body to make an egg-shape.
Now for the foot, facing upwards. Create a slim, curved triangle next to the egg. Then, by rubbing out those inside lines you’ll be left with a perfectly normal looking baby dragon’s leg… if that is such a thing, haha!
Some final detailing on the foot and leg, and we’re all good there.
On the left, the second leg now.
Looking great so far boys and girls. Now some detail on the belly. In the middle of the dragon’s neck draw a curved line all the way down to the top of its leg.
Some tidying up with the eraser like so.

Now for a tiny arm halfway down the belly. It’s a bit of a zigzag shape, and smaller than the legs.
At the same height, draw a second arm over on the left hand side.
Our baby dragon needs a pair of baby wings. They will sit on the back, between the arm and ear. In fact, they will have veins like the ear also.
Lastly, the dragon’s tail. A nice, smooth s-curve snaking all the way from our dragon’s leg to make an arrow. Remember, the start of the tail is very thick and it gets thinner at the arrow tip.
Oh, one final detail… belly lines. As many or as few as you like.

Step 2: Inking your dragon with pen

Oh boy, that was challenging but so very rewarding. Let’s get inking with our black marker.
Go over the outlines like this. If you’re unsure or not too confident about which lines to follow, don’t stress. You can watch press pause at any point to catch up.
Excellent work boys and girls. Leave the black ink to dry for a minute then grab the eraser and run out all of the pencil lines underneath. Or, for all you rebels out there, move straight to the colouring in part.

Step 3: Colouring in your dragon

Speaking of which, collect up a few colours you would like to use for your dragon. It’s easier with lighter shades because you can still see the black ink lines nice and strong.
The only other colour rule is, keep the flame red or orange. But other than that guys, go crazy and be creative with your colouring in.
Let’s enjoy some fun dragon facts whilst we make our masterpiece…
If you are a fan of the Harry Potter movies you will have seen the characters talk about dragons often. They say that the heart string of a dragon can be used as the core of a wand. And a wizard or witch who trades and sells dragon eggs is called a dragon dealer. But this is wrong and against the law.
Oh hey, here’s a silly dragon joke for you too…
Why can’t dragons go ice skating? Because if they breathe fire, the ice melts! Haha.
Ok guys keep going, that’s looking good. Enjoy you’re colouring and we’ll check back in when you’re done.

More animal drawing ideas right here...

Helpful tips and ideas

How long does it take to draw a baby dragon?

If you are copying the baby dragon drawing in this tutorial then allow yourself up to 30 minutes. That's how long Quickdraw's video is, which includes instructions or what art materials to use and how to ink and colour your dragon cartoon. Of course, you can go quicker if you leave out some of the details, like the dragon's claws and horns.

Can I choose my own colours?

In the example on this page the main colours used are purple and green. There are no rules about which colours can or can't be used, and you should let your imagination guide you on creating a magical piece of artwork!

What other dragons can I learn to draw?

Drawing cartoon dragons is great fun. Your sketch can be something you make up from scratch, or one of your favourite dragon characters from TV, the movies or even a book series. Maybe you already have one in mind. How about Elliott from Pete's Dragon, Mushu from Mulan, Blazey in Onward, or Sisu in Raya and the Last Dragon?

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