How to Draw a Tortoise Step by Step
This guide shows how to draw a tortoise in 12 steps. It provides detailed, illustrated examples and straightforward instructions.
Because tortoises are fairly detailed animals, this guide can be more challenging than some other tutorials here on EasyArtGuides. However, to make things easier, the examples are done in a simplified art style and the steps provide a very comprehensive breakdown of drawing the tortoise’s various parts.
Start the tutorial in pencil and make light lines that don’t leave marks when erased because you will likely need to make some adjustments as you go through the steps. You may also have to erase little bits of the drawing when working on the face. Darken your lines once you are done adding all of the tortoise’s parts (before coloring).
Step 1 – Draw the Top of the Tortoise’s Shell (the Carapace)
Generally, it’s a good idea to start a drawing with the largest and most important parts of the subject. In this case begin by outlining the largest visible part of the tortoise: the top of its shell. This area is called the carapace.
Make both the top and bottom of the outline fairly rounded, with little bumps on the sides to indicate the rim that tortoise shells tend to have around their edges.
Step 2 – Define the Bottom of the Shell
Define the bottom of the shell (called the plastron) with a single curved line and leave big gaps on each side between it and the carapace.
Step 3 – Draw the Head & Neck
Coming out of the front of the shell, draw the head. Define it with a bit of a bump at the upper front end (nose area) and make it wider toward the back until it starts transitioning into the neck. Make the neck narrower than the head and draw it to be curved slightly upward (as is common for tortoises).
Step 4 – Draw Shell’s Leg Openings
On the bottom part of the shell, draw the openings for the legs. Define these with a pair of curves each (as shown in the example). First, draw one inward-angled curve running down from the carapace. Next, add a second curve starting from slightly above the end of the first one. This should run along the shell’s bottom.
Drawing the leg openings in such a way—one curve cutting into the other—will hint at their rounded edges. It will also help show the thickness of the shell.
Step 5 – Draw the Legs (Foreground First)
Add the legs coming out from the openings in the shell. Start with those in the foreground (closer to the viewer). Draw the front leg bent forward, and the back leg with a backward pointing curve in its overall shape. Make both legs thicker as they go down, and draw their bottoms to be somewhat rounded. Also, draw some wrinkles around the upper area of the back leg (inside the shell opening). Tortoises often have wrinkly skin in that area. You can indicate the wrinkles with a pair of curved lines.
After drawing the legs in the foreground, draw those in the background. Position their outlines higher up and make their visible sections somewhat follow the shape of the corresponding areas of the foreground legs.
The reason you want to draw the legs in such a way is to account for “eye level.” Because the tortoise is drawn as though the viewer’s eyes are above its legs, the ones in the background will appear higher up than those in the front.
Step 6 – Draw the Tail Coming Out of the Back of the Shell
Add the tortoise’s tail coming out of the back of its shell. Make the tail narrower as it goes out, and give it a pointy tip on the end. Also, draw it with a wave in its overall shape.
Step 7 – Draw the Face
Draw the tortoise’s face starting with the mouth. Next, draw the eye, followed by the nose.
You can see the step-by-step breakdown of drawing the face above. As per the illustration, do it as follows:
- Mouth: Draw the mouth near the bottom of the head (erase a little bit of the head’s outline).
- Eye Outline: Outline the eye to be shaped like that of a person and position it near the head’s upper area.
- Eye Iris: Draw a fairly round iris inside the eye’s main outline.
- Eye Highlight: Add an oval highlight overlapping the iris (erase a little bit of the iris’s outline).
- Nose: Position the opening of the nose near the forward bump in the head, and draw it with an oval shape that has a small break in its outline.
For drawing the eyes of a person (in a cartoon style), see:
8 Examples of How to Draw Eye Expressions
Step 8 – Draw the Claws on the Feet
Add the claws along the feet. Draw four on the back foot and two on the front foot. As the back leg is turned more toward the side, more of its claws are visible. The front leg is facing more forward, so only a couple can be seen.
Step 9 – Draw the Shell Pattern Along the Top
After you’ve drawn out all of the tortoise’s body parts, you can draw the pattern along its shell.
First, make a line in between the main part of the carapace and rim. Next, draw the plates that comprise the shell (called the scutes) along the bottom of its main area. Follow this up by drawing the ones along the top. Finally, draw the segments along the rim. Make these wider near the middle of the shell and narrower along the sides to help show the shell’s curvature.
Once you are done with the shell plates, you can trace over your drawing with darker lines. Either do so by pressing harder on the pencil or by using a thin black marker.
Step 10 – Draw the Shell Pattern Along the Bottom
Draw the shell pattern along the bottom, starting with the upper row of segments and finish by defining the lower row.
Step 11 – Color the Tortoise
An easy way to get the colors similar to those in the example is with colored pencils. Fill in each part of the tortoise drawing as follows:
- Shell top (carapace): Brown
- Shell bottom (plastron): Yellow
- Body: Yellow-green (with a bit of grey)
- Claws: Yellow (with a bit of grey)
- Eye (iris): Black
You can add the yellow-green by applying the corresponding colors in layers. You can add the little bit of grey in the same way (using a regular pencil).
Step 12 – Apply Some Shading to the Tortoise Drawing
For the last step, apply some basic shading to the drawing. To do so, darken the following areas of the tortoise:
- Inside of the nose
- Bottom of the head/neck
- Bottom of the carapace
- Underside of the upper part of the front leg
- Shell opening near the back leg
- Sides of the shell openings around the legs
- Bottom of the tail
- Background legs
An easy way to create the shadows is to simply go over the colors with a regular pencil.
Conclusion – A Good Drawing Approach Can be Very Helpful
Animals can be fairly challenging to draw. To make things simpler, the examples in this guide provide a very detailed breakdown of drawing a tortoise. As shown throughout the steps, a good approach to creating artwork of such an animal is to start with its shell and to then add the larger parts of its body. Afterward, you can add the smaller details and the shell’s pattern.
If you like these kinds of easy-to-follow, step-by-step art guides, also be sure to try the following:
