With this step by step drawing lesson, you’ll be creating this wolf drawing.

To begin, look for the large shapes that make up the wolf. For example, the body of the wolf is a large oval. Draw this oval on your paper first, making sure it is the right size and in a good position for the size of your paper. If this oval is too big or you draw it too high or too low, your wolf will run off the edges. Draw these initial sketches very lightly in case you need to make changes as you go along.

Now that you have the body “shape” in place, continue by adding the other shapes you see, such as an oval for the tail and a rectangle for the neck. The face of the wolf looks like a semi-circle to me, and the nose and mouth like small rectangles. You may draw your shapes a little differently than these — there are no right or wrong shapes when your sketching out the animal. Draw what you see — they’ll all come together when we add the more solid lines.

Remember, draw these shapes lightly; these are guidelines, and many of them will be erased when the drawing is finished.

Now your ready to add the lines you see. Notice where the lines curve, how they curve, and where they connect to each other. For example, the place where the top of the nose meets the head is even with the eye. The curved line indicating the far back leg actually ends at the haunch of the closer back leg. The tail touches the curve of that same leg.

These lines will not follow your “shapes” exactly — the shapes are just to serve as guidelines.

You’re almost finished! Now add the missing details to your drawing: some fur, the nose, and a lower tooth. As a final step, go back and erase those guidelines.

Congratulations! You did it!

Note: If you are working on this wolf drawing with a child eight or under, you might find she has a hard time understanding the concept of drawing the basic shapes first and erasing the lines later. In this case, just help her follow the shape of the lines, paying close attention to where they connect to each other.