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Dino Drawing Ideas

One dinosaur to draw per press, with the feature that makes it that dinosaur.

Dino Drawing Ideas

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  1. A Stegosaurus side onKite-shaped plates stand upright along the back in two staggered rows. The tail ends in four spikes.

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Meat-eaters 16

  • A Baryonyx on a riverbank A long, low, narrow snout and a huge claw on the first finger of each hand. It is known to have eaten fish.
  • A Carnotaurus head with its two horns Two thick horns stand above the eyes on a very deep skull. The name means meat-eating bull.
  • A Compsognathus beside a chicken Full grown, it was about chicken-sized. Draw both in side view on the same ground line.
  • A Dilophosaurus head in profile A pair of arched crests runs along the top of the skull. The name means two-crested lizard.
  • A feathered Velociraptor next to a turkey The two were roughly the same size. Give the Velociraptor feathers on its arms and a long tail.
  • A Giganotosaurus too big for the page One of the largest known meat-eaters on land. Let the nose and the tail run off opposite edges.
  • A Microraptor gliding on four wings Long feathers on the arms and on the legs make four wings. One fossil shows the feathers were probably glossy black.
  • A Pteranodon gliding overhead Not a dinosaur: a flying reptile. Its beak has no teeth, a crest stands on the head, and the wings are skin.
  • A Sinosauropteryx with its long banded tail Its fossil feathers preserve a banded tail. Draw the tail very long and ring it light and dark.
  • A Spinosaurus at the water's edge Tall spines on the back likely held skin between them like a sail. The skull is long and low, like a crocodile's.
  • A Tyrannosaurus head from the front The snout is narrow and the back of the skull very wide, so both eyes can look forward.
  • A Tyrannosaurus side on, head and tail level The body is about parallel to the ground, the tail balancing the head. Each small arm has two clawed fingers.
  • A Velociraptor foot with its big curved claw One claw on each hind foot is enlarged and sickle-shaped. Make it clearly bigger than the rest.
  • An Allosaurus in mid-stride The hands are small beside the big legs, with three fingers each. Hold the long tail out as a counterweight.
  • An Archaeopteryx perched on a branch About the size of a magpie, with feathers like a bird but also teeth, clawed fingers and a long bony tail.
  • One Tyrannosaurus tooth, standing on its root Thick and curved, more like a banana than a dagger. Shade one side to make it round.

Long-necks 14

  • A Brachiosaurus feeding from a treetop It is thought to have fed on leaves well above the ground. Tilt the head down into the branches.
  • A Brachiosaurus side on, its back sloping like a slide The front legs are longer than the back legs, which is unusual. The back runs downhill to a shortish tail.
  • A Brontosaurus under a storm cloud The name means thunder lizard. Four thick legs, a long neck, and one cloud with a bolt behind it.
  • A Diplodocus curling its whip of a tail The tail narrows steadily to a thin lash. Draw it in one S-shaped stroke before adding thickness.
  • A Diplodocus head, close up The small peg-like teeth point forward and sit only at the front of the jaws. Leave the back of the mouth empty.
  • A Diplodocus side on, neck and tail held level Front legs a little shorter than the hind legs, so the body sits level. The tail thins to a whip.
  • A Diplodocus skeleton drawn as a bridge Neck and tail reach out from four sturdy legs. People have compared the skeleton to a cantilever bridge.
  • A herd of long-necks as a row of arches Overlap the necks like croquet hoops. Make the far ones smaller and paler.
  • A long-neck from the front, neck coming toward you The head is large and near, the body small and far. The neck is a short, fat curve between them.
  • A Mamenchisaurus, mostly neck The neck made up nearly half of its whole length. Measure it against the body and tail before you ink.
  • An Amargasaurus with spines down its neck Two rows of tall spines run down the neck and back, taller than on any other long-neck.
  • An Apatosaurus flicking its tail The tail may have cracked like a whip to make a loud noise. A few short lines at the tip show the snap.
  • An Argentinosaurus with a tree for scale One of the largest land animals known, but only from a few bones, so the outline is yours to choose.
  • One long-neck leg, drawn like a tree trunk A straight column with a few creases at the knee and short claws at the bottom. No animal above it.

Plates, horns and crests 15

  • A Kentrosaurus with spikes on its tail Small plates run down the neck and back, then turn into spikes over the hips and tail.
  • A Pachycephalosaurus in profile The skull roof is a thick dome. Bony knobs edge the back of it, and short spikes sit on the snout.
  • A Parasaurolophus calling across a valley The hollow crest is thought to have worked as a sounding chamber for low calls. Add rings of sound.
  • A Parasaurolophus head with its long crest The crest is a long curved tube that sweeps up and back from the skull. Draw it in one stroke, then double the line.
  • A Protoceratops, small with a big head A proportionally large skull with a neck frill on a short, stiff neck. The name means first horned face.
  • A Psittacosaurus with bristles on its tail The beak looks like a parrot's, which gives it its name. One fossil keeps a row of bristles along the top of the tail.
  • A Stegosaurus from behind and above From here the two rows of plates show as staggered, never side by side. The four tail spikes come first.
  • A Stegosaurus side on Kite-shaped plates stand upright along the back in two staggered rows. The tail ends in four spikes.
  • A Styracosaurus head with its crown of spikes Four to six long spikes stand out from the neck frill, and a single horn rises from the nose.
  • A Triceratops facing you One horn on the nose, one over each eye, and a big bony frill behind. Its frill is solid, with no holes.
  • A Triceratops head, three-quarter view The name means three-horned face. Turn the frill so the far brow horn peeks out behind the near one.
  • An Ankylosaurus seen from above A broad body covered in armor plates, bony half-rings on the neck, and a wide, low skull with horns at the back.
  • An Ankylosaurus tail club A large club of bone at the end of the tail. Draw the tail as a handle and the club as a rounded knob.
  • An Iguanodon holding up one thumb Each hand has a large thumb spike. The first restorations put that spike on the nose by mistake.
  • Two Pachycephalosaurus facing off, domes lowered The thick skull suggests they butted heads as bighorn sheep do. Stop the picture just before they meet.

Eggs, babies and fossils 15

  • A baby long-neck walking in an adult's shadow Only the legs and belly of the adult fit on the page. The baby's back is level with its parent's knee.
  • A baby Triceratops with stubby horns Babies in drawings get a big head, short horns and a small frill. Keep the legs short too.
  • A Baryonyx claw lying across two open hands The claw on its first finger measured about 12 inches along its curve, the length of a school ruler.
  • A dig square with one bone half uncovered String on four pegs marks the square. Lay a brush and a trowel beside the bone to show its size.
  • A fossil footprint with a child's boot beside it Draw the boot print first, then the dinosaur print around it, several times larger.
  • A hatchling with half the shell still on its back A zigzag edge shows where the shell broke. Big head, big eyes, small everything else.
  • A Maiasaura at her nest of hatchlings The name means good mother lizard. Fossil nests suggest the young were fed while still in the nest.
  • A mounted skeleton with its tail held off the ground Old Tyrannosaurus mounts stood upright, tail dragging. Draw the spine level instead, then hang the ribs.
  • A nest of eggs seen from above A ring of earth with eggs inside. Shade each egg on the same side so they all sit in the same light.
  • A page of field notes with one bone sketched Draw the bone, a scale bar under it, and a line pointing to each end. Write today's date in the corner.
  • A parent sitting on a nest of eggs Oviraptor means egg thief, a name given by mistake. Related fossils sit over their own nests, arms around the edge.
  • A row of hatchlings following a parent Each one is a smaller copy with a bigger head. Let the last one fall behind.
  • A small skeleton lying in a slab of rock Draw the broken edge of the slab first. Keep the bones pale and stipple the rock around them.
  • An egg cut open to show the baby curled inside Tail wraps over nose. The curve of the back follows the curve of the shell.
  • Two trackways crossing, one large and one small A fossil trackway is the row of prints left by one animal. Space the large prints farther apart.

Cute and funny dinos 12

  • A Brachiosaurus looking in at an upstairs window The neck comes in from outside the frame. Inside the room, someone small holds out a leaf.
  • A Pachycephalosaurus turning down a bike helmet Its skull is the helmet. Show the shopkeeper holding one out and the dome already shining.
  • A Parasaurolophus in a marching band, playing its crest No instrument needed: the crest is its own horn. Give it a sheet of music and a puffed cheek.
  • A Spinosaurus as a sailboat, hatchlings aboard Only the sail and the head show above the water. The passengers hold on to the spines.
  • A Stegosaurus with socks drying on its plates One sock per plate, pegged on. The plates stay upright in their two rows under the washing.
  • A Therizinosaurus trimming a hedge with its claws It likely ate plants, and its claws are the longest known of any land animal. Draw each as one long curve.
  • A Triceratops with a doughnut on each horn Three horns, three doughnuts. Push the doughnut on the nose horn down the farthest.
  • A Tyrannosaurus trying to clap The arms are far too short to meet. Draw the effort: eyes shut, a few lines where the clap should be.
  • An Ankylosaurus knocking in a tent peg with its tail The club comes down like a mallet. The Ankylosaurus looks back over its armor to aim.
  • An Argentinosaurus on a seesaw, a herd on the other end The plank bends. Count how many small dinosaurs it takes and leave the heavy end on the ground.
  • An Iguanodon giving two thumbs up Its thumbs really are spikes. Point both straight up and add a wide, pleased beak.
  • Hatchlings using a Diplodocus tail as a jump rope The tail makes one big loop. Catch one hatchling in the air and one waiting its turn.

How it works

Each of these dinosaur drawing ideas names the animal and the part to get right: two fingers on a Tyrannosaurus hand, a sail on Spinosaurus, front legs longer than the back on Brachiosaurus. Eggs, fossils and funny dinos are here.

Read the full guide

Start with the shape that names it

Most dinosaurs can be told apart in silhouette. A Stegosaurus is a hill with plates in two staggered rows and four spikes on the tail. A Triceratops is a frill with three horns. A long-neck is one curve from nose to tail tip, set on four legs. Draw that shape small first, then again larger with the details.

  • Draw a Tyrannosaurus level, tail out to balance the head. Upright with a dragging tail is how it used to be shown.

Questions and answers

What is the easiest dinosaur to draw?

A Stegosaurus side on: one low arch, with the plates and tail spikes added last. A Brachiosaurus side on, its back sloping like a slide, is as plain. Easy, under More filters, holds 23.

Did Velociraptor have feathers?

Yes. One fossil arm bone carries quill knobs, the points where feathers were anchored. It was also small, about as big as a turkey.

Is a Pteranodon a dinosaur?

No. Pteranodon was a pterosaur, a flying reptile closely related to dinosaurs but not one of them. The list holds one, gliding overhead, and its hint says so.

What dinosaur has a long neck?

The long-necks are the sauropods. The 14 here include Brachiosaurus, Diplodocus with its whip of a tail and Mamenchisaurus, whose neck is nearly half its length.

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