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Snakes are one of the most-drawn animals, if not the most drawn animal. They're considered to be very simple, with no legs or special muscles that need to be defined. There's only a head (without ears!) and a long tail—what can go wrong?

So, welcome to the perfect start into the world of animal drawing: a guide to drawing snakes! I'll show you how to draw both venomous and harmless snakes, and how to draw their scales and patterns realistically. We won't focus only on one species, but rather will look at the techniques you need to draw any part of any type of snake. Aafter going through this tutorial, you should be able to draw most varieties of snakes almost effortlessly.

1. Snake Bodies

Basic Anatomy

Let's start with some basics about snakes' anatomy. We tend to see think of snakes as made mostly of a long tail, but the truth is, the majority of a snake's body is actually a long chest.

The outwardly harmless belief that a snake body is mostly made of a tail leads to entirely incorrect drawings of snakes. Even as one of the simplest animals, snake drawings still suffer from a too-cursory knowledge about their makeup. Instead of seeing them as a constantly tapered tail, it's better to imagine them as a string of beads—which confirms closer to the curved rib shape that actually makes up the snake's body. "Neck" beads are a bit narrower than "chest" ones", and then they get smaller and smaller, but not very rapidly. In contrast, if you think of a snake as just a long tail, you'll likely sharply taper its entire length.

Snake as a tail versus snake as beads — The differences in body tapering if you draw a snake as beads instead of just a tail

The length and width of the "neck" and "chest" segments depend on the species. Some will have no neck at all, while others are so slender the chest will not be noticeable. If you're drawing a snake without focusing on the species, you can experiment here. Remember—snakes don't need to be always perfectly slender, and sometimes they look fat and clumsy!

moving beads in snake body — The string of beads method makes it easier to draw snakes in motion

The "string of beads" method is very useful in creating 3D poses. If you have problems with imagining the sides, you can use cubes instead of balls.

3d bead snake body — Turning your bead snake body into a 3D drawing

You can make the 3D very easy to draw by adding more circles between those building the pose. This way you'll get a sense of volume, and the sides will be easier to define.

full upright snake body — An upright snake body with the extra circles to give its body volume

What about snake's famous hoods, often seen in cobras? They're actually a snake's body, flattened by straightened ribs. That means the hood's width is dependent on the normal width of the body, and it can't be as wide as you may like it to be.

snake hood — A snake's hood drawn proportionally to its body

Movement Types

To create a believable pose, we need to know how snakes move.

1. Serpentine movement - the classic movement of a snake. The animal use its strong body to push on terrain crimps (or just uses the terrain as a whole, if it's rough enough to create resistance).

2. Concertina movement -the movement where the snake folds and expands regularly, like a concertina or accordion. Snakes use this method when climbing or coming through narrow tunnels.

3. Caterpillar movement - this movement works similarly to a vertical concertina movement. Slight horizontal concertina may occur as well during this movement.

4. Sidewinging movement - this method is very efficient on slippery or hot surfaces (like desert). The snake pushes itself with a swaying motion of the raised coils, which makes it move somewhat sideways.

2. How to Draw a Snake's Head

Shape

Step 1

I'm going to show you three views of the snake's head at the same time: side (1), front (2) and top (3). This way, you'll be able to easily compare them to understand this form in 3D.

Start with a flattened ball. In addition to the center line, there should also be a line placed at one third of the diameter.

circle for snake head — Draw a line in the center and at 1/3rd diameter height of the circle

Step 2

We next need to define the jaws and cheeks. The arrows in the diagram below show you the flow of this shape.

Step 3

Add another, bigger ball behind the main one. This way, we'll elongate the skull properly.

additional head ball — Add an additional ball to the head.

How much larger should this second ball be? Generally, venomous snakes have more triangular heads, with a clear neck endpoint, so you'll want a much larger second ball. Nonvenomous snakes typically have narrower heads so the second ball only needs to be a bit wider.

Step 4

You can now easily outline the contours.

adding snake head contours — Outline the snake head contours

Step 5

The eyes are placed close to the narrower tip of the skull.

Step 6

Now, smile! The snake's smile—or mouth, rather—should be wide and well defined. Add small nose holes appropriately as well.

snake mouth — Add the snake's mouth and nostrils

Step 7

With all the guide lines, you can easily sketch the rest contours. Don't forget about a small hole between the lips that lets the tongue slip out without opening the mouth!

outlining snake face — Add the contours of the rest of the snake's head

Step 9

If you're adding a bottom view to your snake, use the top view circles to create the bottom one, and just forget about the eyes and nose.

bottom of snake head — The bottom of the snake head retains generally the same shape

Scales

If simply redrawing the scales at random doesn't satisfy you and you want to remember rules about their placement, here's a few tips. Keep in mind that not all snakes are the same, and their scales may vary as well. What I'm showing you is a general pattern, especially common for nonvenomous species.