Hi!
I'm David Derrick, a Head of Story for an upcoming feature film at Walt Disney Animation
Studios.
Today, I'm going to teach you how to draw a lion.
When you're done drawing your lion, I want you to share it with your neighbors
by putting it somewhere where they can see, the balcony, the mailbox, the front door,
wherever to participate in National Geographic's Earth Day Neighborhood Safari.
Don't forget to snap a photo of your creation and share it using the hashtag #NatGeoEarthDayAtHome.
I can't wait to see your drawings!
Okay, let's draw a lion!
Thank you for joining me.
I am only going to use a Sharpie, but I'm going to draw slow and I hope you guys can
follow along.
Use whatever drawing tool you are most comfortable with - a pencil, a marker, charcoal.
So when you draw a lion, the first thing I usually start with is the head.
I'll try to feel out where the top of that head will be and I'll kind of lightly draw
a rough shape.
Now down the middle of that lion will be a line.
It goes right down the middle of their forehead dividing it nicely.
Then, right below it, you'll have the eye and you have a big mark right here to look
for it's called the zygomatic arch.
And they have nice, big muscles right there above their eyes.
Lions are amazing creatures, very powerful, very stunning, very beautiful and it's really
a treat to draw them with you guys.
They have a nose almost shaped like a bird flying away, like these are wings.
Now, when I draw, I try to imagine what's going on underneath.
There's a big mouth, full of teeth.
You want to make sure that mouth feels like it has kind of some roundness to it.
And you can put the whiskers spot, so that they kind of curve around.
Now lions they have little black lips that sometimes a lot of people don't draw or notice,
but then in the corner they have very loose gums and lips that hang down.
That means they can open up their mouths really wide and can stretch.
And then the chin right there.
I'm going to look for the zygomatic arch right here, kind of show me where it is and then
where the ears go up here.
There are two parts to the ear.
There's a little curve here and then a second bigger curve shape there that folds and then
here we do the ear kind of facing the other way, so we won't see that fold and then there's
hair that radiates from the inside outwards like that.
And then we'll kind of draw a light line back here and I'm going to try and feel the backbone
like that.
Now, think about shapes when you draw.
Try to think in volumes, even though it's flat, try to think in three dimensions.
So, I try to imagine kind of the shape of a tombstone right here.
And that's where the shoulder blade right here is and then the humerus goes down right
here.
And that will make kind of a little bump right there where their chest is.
And then you'll have their elbow right here.
Now from the elbow, go down to the wrist.
Now lions, like your cat at home will have five digits in the front.
And they will have four digits in the back.
Lions are what you call digitigrades meaning they walk on their toes.
We are different, we are called plantigrades, that means we walk on kind of the palms of
our feet.
So, I have the nice shape of the spine and I have a nice shape right here for the ribcage.
And I'm thinking about the pelvis, the hips and then from the hips you have the long femur
that goes down right here to the kneecap.
And a lot of people don't realize that the kneecap is all the way up here and that kneecap
will have a little bump and it will go back in space like that to the ankle and then really
to the bottom of the foot, that's what those bones are right there.
And then like I said before, they're walking on their toes.
So they have four toes in the back and they have five toes in the front like I said.
I'm drawing the opposite leg on the other side.
Make sure the tail feels like it comes right off the spine, because it does.
And the tail is full of bones and muscles, so it's not floppy.
It has some mass to it.
And then at the end, there's a nice, big tuft of hair at the end of their tail.
So, I mentioned before that this is a male lion.
I haven't drawn his mane yet.
I wanted to show you his entire body, so we draw a mane kind of right around like a ring
right around his face.
And I won't worry about drawing all of the hair.
We'll kind of rough in his shape and then on the edges, I will indicate the hair.
Then, there'll be a second layer kind of radiating out and that will build on top of the other
layer.
So right now, I'm just drawing in a little more detail on that mane, little more detail
on the face.
Like your house cat, lions have whiskers.
So don't forget to kind of indicate those, not quite a cat without them.
Then if you have maybe some watercolors or some crayons or some pastels you can add a
little bit of color to your lion.
Lions are very simple in their coloration.
They're kind of a beautiful yellow tawny color, so I'm taking just some basic watercolor and
I'm going to put a basic tawny coat on him.
I'm just using one brush, but if you have different brushes you can use those too.
I'm just trying to indicate some of the form that we were talking about, not trying to
flatten out, but maybe even accentuate it.
Now a lot of times they'll have kind of darker hair on their outer mane, so I'm going to
kind of a darker brown right there.
And then, kind of use that to shade right here.
Lions really are majestic.
I've had the good opportunity to draw them in the wild and at zoos and every time I do
I get to see them in the wild or even at a zoo, they do take my breath away.
And they are wonderful, amazing creatures that deserve our respect and protection.
And I hope that in the way that we plan for the future and treat wild animals and wild
places that we think about important animals like the lion.
So, thank you for joining me.
I had a lot of fun drawing with you today and I hope that everyone will enjoy wildlife
too.
Thank you so much!