Sketch your guiding circles lightly so you can go back and erase lines as needed.
The top quadrant is the highest quarter in the wider end of the head. Taper the egg shape down to become the lion’s muzzle. If you feel comfortable drawing the facial features, you don’t need to draw the guidelines.
There’s no need to draw 4 lines because 1 of the lion’s legs will be hidden by the leg that’s next to it.
You now have a basic outline for the lion.
You can make the eye and nose as detailed or simplistic as you like.
It may help to look at a reference photo when you’re adding details to your drawing.
To draw a female lion, skip this step. Think about how the hair falls around the lion’s face and make the hair near the top of the head point up more before it curves down to the side. Make the hairs near the bottom of the mane vertical since they’re hanging.
Remember that 1 of the front legs won’t be visible so you don’t need to draw it.
You can erase the guidelines and circles once you’re done with this step or leave them if you want the lion to have a sketched look.
You can keep the triangle pointed or round the edges to make a smoother looking nose.
The upward curves will make your lion look like it’s smiling.
If you’re drawing a female lion, you might want to leave out the whiskers but make dots above the mouth.
Make the eyes as expressive as you like. You could leave the circles very simple or sketch eyebrows and eyelashes, for instance.
Skip this step if you’re drawing a female lion.
Keep in mind that you won’t see most of the lion’s body in this position. To draw the paws, make 3 half-circles in a row.
If you prefer, draw the tail so it curves around and lies in front of the lion on the ground.
