How to Draw a Snake?

Step by step

1. Draw the centre line. With a light pencil, draw a long flowing S-shape across the page. Draw it in one confident motion rather than short sketchy strokes — the smoothness matters.
2. Thicken the body. Draw a line either side of your centre line, widest just behind the head, staying fairly even through the middle, then tapering to a point at the tail. A snake is thickest around a third of the way down its length.
3. The head. At one end, draw a rounded wedge or blunt triangle. It should be slightly wider than the neck. Different species vary — vipers have broad triangular heads, while a rat snake's head is narrower and more rounded.
4. The eye. A circle with a pupil placed near the top of the head. Use a vertical slit pupil for a viper or python, or a round pupil for most non-venomous species.
5. Mouth. A curved line from just under the eye along the side of the head. A slight upward curve at the end gives that faint smiling look snakes have.
6. Tongue (optional but instantly recognisable). A thin line from the front of the mouth, forked into two points at the end.
7. Nostril. A tiny dot near the tip of the snout.
8. Belly scales. Along the underside, draw a series of horizontal bands running across the body, closer together on the curves.
9. Body scales. Cover the back with rows of small overlapping U or diamond shapes, following the curve of the body. Don't cover the whole snake — suggest scales in a few areas and let the rest stay simple.
10. Pattern. Add markings — diamonds for a rattlesnake, bands for a coral or milk snake, blotches for a python.
11. Outline, erase and colour. Ink the final lines, remove the guides, and shade along the lower edge of the body to make it look round rather than flat.

The single most useful tip: make the scales follow the curve. Rows of scales should bend with the body, not run straight across it. Straight rows on a curved body immediately look wrong. Curve each row slightly in the same direction as the body at that point.

Drawing a coiled snake

1. Draw a spiral from the outside inwards as your guide.
2. Thicken it into a tube, remembering that the coils overlap — the parts nearer you cover the parts behind.
3. Bring the head up out of the centre of the coil.
4. Shade underneath each overlapping coil to create depth. Without that shading a coil just looks like a flat spiral.

A cobra, for something more dramatic: draw the body rising vertically in an S, then add the hood as a wide flattened oval behind the head, with the classic markings on the back of it.

Common mistakes

• A uniform-width body, which looks like a hose. Vary the thickness and taper the tail properly.
• Scales drawn straight across a curving body.
• A head the same width as the body — it should be distinct.
• Too many scales, which flattens the drawing and takes hours. Suggest them.
• No shading, leaving a flat ribbon rather than a rounded body.
• Drawing the S-curve in short scratchy strokes.

Shading for roundness: pick a light direction and shade the opposite side of the tube along its whole length. Because the body curves, the shaded side swaps as the snake winds towards and away from you — following that properly is what sells the three-dimensional form.

Making it easier: for a very simple version, draw the S-curve, thicken it, add a rounded head with one eye and a forked tongue, and colour it in with simple bands. That takes two minutes and still looks like a snake.

Materials: a pencil for the light guide lines, a fineliner for the outline, and coloured pencils or markers. Greens, browns and yellows suit most species, and a darker shade of your main colour works better for shading than grey or black.

Nearby questions in this topic include How to Draw a Turkey? and How to Draw Bluey?.

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