Simple Long Neck Dinosaur Drawing

How to Draw an Easy Dinosaur

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Now even young artists can learn how to draw an easy dinosaur. When kids are ready to draw something a bit more realistic, but not too complicated, this tutorial might be just right for them.

Almost every kid in the world goes through a dinosaur phase, when he or she eats, sleeps, and breathes dinosaurs. Sometimes this happens as young as age two or three, but usually it occurs around six or seven, when they are just starting to learn more about the world around them, and the history that it holds.

The good news is that kids at this age are like sponges, and love to absorb all the info they can about these creatures that lived so long ago. In fact, a recent study showed that being obsessed with dinosaurs can actually enhance kids' intelligence. That's great news when it comes to choosing books, videos and toys about them, but what about when it comes to drawing a dinosaur? A few ovals and rectangles might work for kindergarteners, but what if they are hoping to draw something with a little more detail?

This new easy tutorial is designed to help students at that crossroad, and will walk them through drawing a long neck type of dinosaur, complete with plates along the back, and solid and sturdy looking legs below. It's got a bit of a classic dino shape, without any of the more complicated dinosaur parts and poses.

Getting Started with Drawing Guides

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 theirown centered lines on theirown paper, before drawing, they will have an easy reference to follow.

For instance, as seen in Step 1 below, the curve for the neck and body starts in the center of the top left box, and continues down to the bottom of the right. It's important to draw that shape long enough and high enough on the paper so that there's room for the rest of the dinosaur. And when students get off to a good start, there's a better chance of them feeling successful by the time they are done.

Drawing skills are all about getting the size and placement of lines on paper, so having some visual reference point to get started, will always help anyone learn how to be a little more accurate.

So does that mean students need to get out a ruler 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 sheet of 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, on to the dinosaur drawing project.

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Preview of an Easy Dinosaur Tutorial

Recommended Materials

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 marker pens make nice black outlines, have a good tip for coloring, and never bleed when they get wet. Use them with good ventilation and add extra paper underneath to protect your tables.

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 unless you buy their larger boxes.

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