How to Draw a Panda

Hey guys! It’s Sean – I’m an artist-instructor with Da Vinci Eye. Today, we’re going to learn how to draw a panda.

I’ll be drawing this on my tablet for you to easily see, but feel free to use a pencil and paper. You can also follow along with this tutorial step-by-step using Da Vinci Eye App for iOS and Android. The app lets you trace along with my drawing to help become more comfortable and understand exactly what I do.

So let’s do this! Remember to start out light, so using little pressure with the pencil, draw three trapezoids in the shape of a tree.

Now, starting with the top, I want to give my Panda a pear shaped face.

For this guy, I’m also going to add some tufts of fur on the top of the head.

Next we put in the ears and color them in real quick, a triangle nose and two small oval eyes.

Now we take the nose and extend out the mouth and muzzle.

We’re aiming to have the muzzle extend up and form the characteristic black fur around the eyes. Don’t hesitate to raise your eyes and place them in a different spot; I do this all the time.

Before we move into the second section, we need to get the Panda some bamboo to eat.

Since the panda is actively eating, we can assume the bamboo will be broken partly in half. Hence we should make one side of the bamboo more slanted than the other. I also put in some leaves to make it read better to the eye.

Now that we have the bamboo, this indicates where the paw grabbing it needs to be.

We can also extend the shoulder down to the arm and add a second line coming down from the hand. Make sure to erase any overlap while we’re here!

For the other arm, I had mine more relaxed. The biggest thing to remember here is to stay mostly within your trapezoid section. It’s okay if the arm extends a bit past like mine does, but don’t go as far as to hit the ground.

For the third section we put in two paws that are facing towards you.

That way you can put in the toes and padding underneath. Then put a slightly curved line between the two feet to connect everything.

 

Now here’s the fun part – coloring in and cleaning up!

As you can see, the Panda has a very distinct coat patterning…

As a final note, I always like to add in some environment. So here I get the Panda some ground to sit on and do some abstract lines to show bamboo growing behind him.

I use an oval to show the segments of the bamboo, but I’m not trying to add too much detail or pushing the pencil into hard. The background is there to enhance the character, not distract from them.

And as always, don’t forget to sign your art! You did a great job. 🙂

If you want to find more of my artwork, follow me on Instagram at @Phoenix.Animations. Be sure to check out the Da Vinci Eye app, as well as subscribe here for more tutorials.

You can also watch the tutorial on how to draw a panda below. Have a great day, and we’ll see you next time!