Welcome to another drawing tutorial. This time I will teach you how to draw a wolf in 6 different ways and in 3 different styles. From realistic wolfs to cartoon wolfs and even a fantasy style wolf or I should say a dire wolf, I will teach you step by step how you can draw some cool wolfs. So sharpen your pencil and get ready, because we are going to start with our first wolf.
REALISTIC WOLF SIDE VIEW
Let´s begin with the wolf´s side view. Remember to follow the tutorial step by step.
STEP 1: Draw the body
- First of all, you should start drawing the wolf’s body. As you can see in the image, the body is divided into two parts. The front part will be the chest cavity area where the neck and the front paws will be placed.
- The back part of the body is the hips area. The back paws and the tail will be attached to this part.
STEP 2: Draw the Back Paws and the Tail
- On this second step, we will draw the back paws. Pay attention to how the paws are built in 5 different parts.
- Drawing the tail will be the other part of this step. But as you can see, the basic shape of the tail is quite easy to draw.
STEP 3: Draw the Front Paws
- Once you know how to draw the back paws, drawing the front paws will be quite easy.
- Always remember to divide the wolf’s paw into 5 parts and draw them from top to bottom.
STEP 4: Draw the Head and the Neck
This step will be divided into 2 parts:
- First, you will draw a couple of lines coming out of the body. This two lines will represent the animal’s neck.
- The second part will be to draw the wolf’s head. Try to keep the shapes as simple as you can. You can draw the ears almost as triangles and the head can be almost hexagonal. The main facial features will be present( mouth, eyes, nose) but also represented in fairly simple manner.
STEP 5: Draw the Wolf’s Outline
- Now it’s time to draw the wolf’s outline. You should follow the dummy you built on the previous stages and draw on top of it.
- Because of the wolf’s fur, remember that the outline should be irregular and with little curvy spikes coming out randomly, representing the tufts of fur.
- Also, you should darken the nose and the eyes so you can create some contrast.
STEP 6: Detailing the Wolf
- After you are done drawing the wolf’s outline, you should start focus on the body details.
- Drawing fur will be probably the most common detail you are going to draw a Wolf. One good tip is to draw the lines of fur following the shape of the underlying muscle or bone.
- Also adding some hatching on the paws on the back. This hatching ( parallel lines )will help you to create some depth and create two separate planes, the front, and the backplane.
REALISTIC WOLF 3/4 VIEW
Now we are going to step up our game and play a little bit more with the perspective. We are going to draw our next wolf in a 3/4 view. Let´s begin!
STEP 1: Draw the body
- The first step like we did before will be to draw the body. You gotta draw it in two parts.
- The larger part will be the chest area and the smaller one the hips.
STEP 2: Draw the Back Paws and the Tail
- Once the body is in place drawing the back paws will be the next step. The back paws will be attached to the sides of the hips. Is better, if you divide the leg into parts so you can draw it successfully.
- The tail will be placed on the back of the gluts. You should draw it quite schematically. You will add strains of fur and make it more irregular when detailing the drawing.
STEP 3: Draw the Front Paws
- Drawing the front paws is even easier than drawing the back paws.
- Like you can see on the drawing above the leg is divided into three parts. You can divide it into more parts but I don´t find it necessary as long as you keep it simple.
STEP 4: Draw the Head and the Neck
- Drawing the head is probably the trickiest part. You should draw the neck first so you can establish a good base for your head to sit on.
- When drawing the wolf´s head I will draw the cranium, the ears, the nose, and the jaw as separated parts. Draw them in a simpler way, almost as geometric forms.
STEP 5: Draw the Wolf’s Outline
- As we did when we were drawing our previous wolf, the outline of the wolf should be irregular because of the random tufts of fur covering the whole body.
STEP 6: Detailing the Wolf
- The work method here is similar to the previous wolf.
- Pay attention to the muscles under the fur. When drawing the fur you should do it following the shape of the muscles under it.
REALISTIC WOLF HOWLING
This is our third and last realistic wolf. A wolf howling is one of the most classic images of wolves you can find. This is why I wanted to include on this list of wolf drawing tutorials.
STEP 1: Draw the body
- Check how this time the body is not horizontal and goes in a diagonal descending line from right to left.
STEP 2: Draw the Back Paws and the Tail
- Because the wolf now is sitting down, the paws will be bent. Also, the tail will be not hanging like in the previous tutorials. This time will be laying on the floor.
STEP 3: Draw the Front Paws
- The front legs will be fully extended supporting the upper part of the body.
STEP 4: Draw the Head and the Neck
- The head will be placed almost in a vertical line.
- You need to draw the neck first so you can use it as support for the head.
- The Head will be divided into 3 parts: the nose, the head, and the ears.
STEP 5: Draw the Wolf’s Outline
- The outline should be irregular because of the fur. Draw the fur tufts like short curved spikes.
STEP 6: Detailing the Wolf
- The mouth is probably the biggest difference compared to the other wolves we’ve been drawing previously.
- When detailing the wolf’s mouth, draw the teeth a little bit curved to the inside so you can make them more believable.
- The fur, like we did when detailing the previous realistic wolves, should follow the main shapes of the muscles and bones under it.
CUTE CARTOON WOLF
This is the first of two cartoon-style wolves we are going to draw next. This first one is the cute one. Obviously, the proportions will change dramatically compared to real wolves. Let’s start with the tutorial.
STEP 1: Draw the body
- The body will have a big chest and very narrow hips.
STEP 2: Draw the Back Paws and the Tail
- The paws will be very short and simple. This will help to make our wolf look cuter.
- The tail will be very big, bigger than the legs and almost the same size as the body.
STEP 3: Draw the Front Paws
- The front paws will be even shorter than the back paws.
STEP 4: Draw the Head and the Neck
- The head will be huge and the ears very visible.
- The head should have the same size as the body. This is a key element if we want to make our wolf look really cute.
STEP 5: Draw the Wolf’s Outline
- When drawing the outline of a cartoon wolf you should limit the number of fur tufts.
- The cartoon style is basically a simplification and exaggeration of realistic shapes. So when drawing the fur, just draw a few tufts and make them big and visible
STEP 6: Detailing the Wolf
- The detailing process here is quite simple.
- Keep the drawing clean and without too many lines inside the body.
- The eyes should be big and vivid.
MEAN CARTOON WOLF
This is the second wolf of our pair of cartoon wolves. This wolf will be different compared to the previous one. If the cute wolf was small, rounded, and friendly looking, this wolf will be slander, taller and mean looking.
STEP 1: Draw the body
- The body will be longer compared to the cute wolf.
STEP 2: Draw the Back Paws and the Tail
- The back paws will be taller and similar in proportions to the ones of real wolves.
- The tail will have similar proportions too.
STEP 3: Draw the Front Paws
- The front paws like the back paws will be longer and closer too real-life proportions if we compare them with the cute wolf paws.
STEP 4: Draw the Head and the Neck
- Here is where the proportions move away from the real-life proportions of a wolf.
- The head will be quite big, not as big as the cute wolf’s head, but at least 2 thirds of the body.
- The ears, in contrast, will be smaller and triangular. Triangles are usually identified as signs of danger. So if you include them in your drawing it will give to your wolf a meaner and more bad ass look.
STEP 5: Draw the Wolf’s Outline
- The outline, as we did with the cute wolf, should be simple and clean.
STEP 6: Detailing the Wolf
- The most amount of detail should be drawn on the face.
- Big eyes, big nose, and even bigger mouth. All these are crucial for giving our wolf this mean look.
- The eyes are half closed and looking with a twisted look.
- The clinching teeth will also give to our wolf a more aggressive look.
FANTASY WOLF OR DIRE WOLF
This the last wolf in our list. This wolf or dire wolf will be drawn in a more fantasy typestyle. The proportions will be quite realistic, but with some exaggerations.
If you like to draw fantasy creatures, don’t forget to check our Fantasy Drawing Tutorials section where you will find many tutorials about Knights, Dragons, and other fantasy creatures.
STEP 1: Draw the body
- The body is the first part where we can appreciate the exaggerations we were speaking about.
- The chest will be quite big compared to the hips.
STEP 2: Draw the Back Paws and the Tail
- The back paws and the tail will have similar dimensions and proportions compared to the real wolves.
STEP 3: Draw the Front Paws
- The same we said for the back paws we can say it for the front paws.
- If you were reading any of the realistic wolves tutorials, you already know when drawing the paws, you should divide the paws into five parts. This will make your drawing process easier.
STEP 4: Draw the Head and the Neck
- The neck should be drawn quite thick so we can give to our wolf a powerful look to our wolf
- The head will be rounded and smaller compared to the chest and the neck. This will give the impression our wolf is big and strong.
STEP 5: Draw the Wolf’s Outline
- The outline like with the realistic wolves should be very irregular and spike because of the fur.
- In this case, the fur tufts will be bigger and exaggerated so the wolf looks terrifying.
STEP 6: Detailing the Wolf
- Detailing this bad boy will be our last step.
- Like with the realistic wolves, the fur should follow the shape of the muscles and bones under it.
- The mouth with the clinching teeth makes our wolf look really aggressive. Also, around the mouth, I drew some scars to make it look badass.
- I draw the eyes full white. Obviously, I did it on purpose so the animal looks fearsome and terrifying.
