What's a big cat with stripes that doesn't meow? It's certainly not Garfield! Here's a quick tutorial on how to draw a tiger!

Method 1
Method 1 of 2:

A Full Body Tiger

  1. 1
    Draw a few basic shapes to start. Sketch the head using a large circle and within that draw another to serve as the snout. Add circular facial guidelines to help you with features in subsequent steps.[1]
  2. 2
    Draw two round-cornered triangles for the ears and another smaller set of triangles inside that. Draw a diamond shape for the nose and an inverted "Y" shape for the mouth. Add in two small circles for the eyes.[2]
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  3. 3
    Draw three ovals as guides for the body. Draw a small one for the neck and two large ones for the body.[3]
  4. 4
    Add in three large ovals for each leg. Put a small circle for each foot, with small ovals for the paws.
  5. 5
    Add in two lines for the tail. They should be thicker at the base, tapering off to a slightly rounded end.
  6. 6
    Sketch in the details. Add fur, whiskers, and claws. Don't forget the tiger's trademark stripes!
  7. 7
    Outline the image and color it in! Make sure all excess guidelines are erased, and use mostly orange/brown with darker stripes for the body.
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Method 2
Method 2 of 2:

A Tiger (Head View)

  1. 1
    Draw a circle for the main section of the head.[4]
  2. 2
    Draw an inverted triangle with two lines at both sides for the nose.[5]
  3. 3
    Draw two circles for the upper mouth.
  4. 4
    Draw a series of ovals for the lower mouth and ears.
  5. 5
    Draw curves on both sides of the head of your tiger.
  6. 6
    Draw the eyes with circles attached to curved triangles.
  7. 7
    Based on the outline, draw the tiger head(make the jagged lines when drawing the tiger to make it look like fur).[6]
  8. 8
    Add stripes to the tiger.
  9. 9
    Erase the unnecessary outlines.
  10. 10
    Color your tiger!
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Community Q&A

  • Question
    Do you need any drawing experience to draw a tiger?
    Community Answer
    Community Answer
    Not really, no! You may find it a bit difficult if you've not drawn much before, but if you follow the instructions and practice drawing every day, you'll get your tiger done better than you probably thought you ever could.
  • Question
    How can I draw it cuter and attacking?
    Community Answer
    Community Answer
    To make it cuter, enlarge the eyes and just make them look nice -- not super mean. To make it attacking, try to find out how to draw the rest of the body and have it lying down on whatever you want it to be attacking, with claws out and mouth open, exposing its teeth.
  • Question
    How do I draw a realistic tiger?
    Community Answer
    Community Answer
    Add lots of detail and don't press hard with your pencil. Then, you can rub it out easily without leaving marks.
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About This Article

wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, 40 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. This article has been viewed 547,071 times.
138 votes - 58%
Co-authors: 40
Updated: September 16, 2021
Views: 547,071
Categories: Drawing Cats
Article SummaryX

To draw a tiger, sketch the head using a large circle, then draw another circle inside of that one to serve as the snout. Add 2 round-cornered triangles for the ears, a diamond shape for the nose, an inverted Y shape for the mouth, and 2 small circles for the eyes. For the body, draw a small, vertical oval for the neck, and 2 larger ovals for the tiger’s chest and body. Each of the 4 legs should be made of 3 long ovals, then add on a long, slightly rounded tail. Use these guide lines to help you sketch in the tiger’s fur, whiskers, claws, and stripes! For tips on drawing just the face of a tiger, read on!

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