How to draw a frog: 23 interesting ways

How to draw a cartoon frog with colored pencils

What you need

• Paper;
• a simple pencil, colored pencils or felt-tip pens.

How to draw

This is the easiest way that is suitable for both children and those who do not know how to draw at all.

Draw with a pencil or marker half circle slightly beveled shape. Draw a short, slightly curved line from it, and draw a second similar semicircle, but mirrored. These will be the outlines of your frog's eyes.

Draw two smaller circles inside the semicircles. These will be your frog's eyes.

Inside the shapes, draw one or two smaller circles - these will be highlights, they will add expressiveness to the look of the frog. Such details make even cartoon drawings look lively and naturalistic.

You can also add a small crescent shape at the bottom of the eye to give it some volume.

Then shade the rest, being careful not to spoil the shape of the highlights. This will be the pupil of a frog - in amphibians they are large and fill almost the entire eye.

Repeat the same with the other eye of the frog. The main thing to remember is that highlights must be identical: there is usually only one light source. In our example, in both eyes, we draw a large highlight on the left, and a smaller highlight on the right.

Draw a curved line between the frog's eyes for the mouth. In our example, it is small and smiling, but it can be made wider - then your amphibian will look more realistic.

Just above the mouth, put a couple of points - these will be the nostrils.

From the outer ends of the semicircles, draw two curved lines down to represent the body of the frog. Draw neatly, in short segments. Make sure the lines are symmetrical. Do not close them: we still have to draw the paws.

Draw three fingers on each paw of the frog, as shown in the image. Usually these amphibians have five-fingered limbs, but we will not overload the drawing.

Draw two slightly curved lines representing the front forearms of the frog. Then draw a line between the legs to show the belly. Make sure that it continues the contour of the frog's body without overlapping the legs.

Draw an oval in the center of the picture - this will be the abdomen of our amphibian.

Draw a curved line across the lower left side of the frog's body to represent the knee.

Draw the fingers on the back leg of the frog. Remember, since the foot is tucked in, they should be hidden by the forelegs and body, so only a couple of toes will be visible.

Draw the second leg on the right in the same way.

To make the frog more interesting, draw some round spots on its sides. Most importantly, do not place them on the stomach and chest, because these parts are usually not colored in amphibians. You can also add spots on the paws.

Draw an oval under the frog with a small cutout on the side - this will be the water lily leaf on which it sits.

To make the frog not bored, draw a midge next to it. This is an optional step, but why not?

The resulting contour, in principle, already looks like an excellent full-fledged drawing. But if you want, you can paint over the frog, adding liveliness to it. For example, the body can be made light green, the spots on the sides are dark green, and the abdomen is yellow.

Most importantly, do not forget about two rules: do not paint over the dark outlines with color to make the work more accurate, and leave light highlights on the belly and upper part of the frog's eyes. This will make her body more voluminous. The skin of amphibians is moist, so highlights should be readable.

The full version of the drawing process can be viewed here.

What other options are there

If it is difficult for you to draw without a draft and the shape of the body of an amphibian is not so smooth and symmetrical, try building a frog from geometric shapes with a pencil. Then it remains only to circle the finished contours with a marker. How to do this, you can see here.

This example shows how to draw a frog with large eyes - they give it a more comical look.

And here we draw a frog-princess in the crown.

Finally, an option for those who want to portray something simple, but at the same time not causing associations with children's squiggles. Here the artist shows how to draw a stylized tree frog in a minimalistic manner. Good balance between simplicity and realism.

How to draw a cartoon frog with a felt-tip pen

What you need

• Paper;
• a simple pencil or marker.

How to draw

Another option for beginners is a cartoon frog sitting sideways to the viewer. Similar drawings can be done with a pencil, pens, markers and felt-tip pens.

Draw a circle in the upper left corner of the sheet with a pencil. Place a smaller oval in it. In the oval is another circle. This will be the eye of our frog.

Paint the frog's pupil black, leaving the highlight area intact. Then draw a curved line from the eye to represent her upper jaw.

Draw the lower jaw and chest with another curved line.

Draw half an elongated oval to make the frog's back.

Draw the back leg of the frog. To do this, you need to depict a strongly elongated oval - this will be the thigh. Please note: the figure should not close where the thigh connects to the knee.

Draw the front paws. To make them look more voluminous, the middle finger on them should be slightly longer and thicker than the rest. In our example, the artist depicted webbing between the fingers, but this is rather an overkill: real water frogs have them only on their hind legs.

Start drawing the fingers on the frog's hind legs. Each consists of a round tip and two straight lines that connect it to the foot. Draw a couple of fingers on the foot that is closer to you, and do not finish the third one: it will be hidden by the body. You also need to draw under the abdomen part of the finger of the other - the far, hidden paw from us, so as not to create the impression that we have only half of the frog in front of us.

Depict the hind leg, which is in front of the audience, by drawing a curved line - it will represent the foot of the frog.

With the final touch, add a few spots to the frog on the sides and limbs, and also draw the outline of the eye that is hidden from the observer. This will add volume to the frog.

You can color the frog if you wish. Her body should be made green, and the spots and membranes yellow or dark green so that they stand out. You can see more about how to draw such a frog here.

What other options are there

Another simple drawing, which is made with a simple pencil on paper. A child can cope with it, but at the same time, the frog already looks quite believable.

And here the artist shows how to draw a cartoon frog with felt-tip pens. You will need only three colors: black, green and light green.

How to draw a realistic frog with a simple pencil

What you need

• Paper;
• simple pencils with hardness H2, HB;
• simple pencils with softness B2, B4;
• eraser;
• shading (a paper pencil to smooth out the tone) or a cotton swab-tupfer.

How to draw

In this example, we will draw an exotic individual.

Draw a primitive, an isosceles trapezoid, to estimate the size of the frog on the sheet. It is best to use a hard pencil like H2 for this.

Outline the top of the frog's head with a short, slightly curved line.

Draw the left (from your point of view) eye of the frog and the crease below it.

Draw the right eye and crease in the same way.

Mark the pupils with two ovals.

Draw a curved line under the eyes for the frog's mouth. Under it, mark the chin, and a little higher, with a couple of dots, the nostrils.

With two curved lines sketch out the frog's left leg. The elbow should be slightly set aside to the left.

In the same way, mark the right paw with two curved lines. Her elbow will be set aside to the right.

Draw the frog's fingers on the right paw - these are small ovals, each of which is connected to the brush with two short lines.

It will be easier to understand how the frog is located in space if you draw the outline of the leaf on which it sits. To do this, draw a curved line coming out from under the front right foot.

Draw the right hind leg, consisting of a line bent almost at a right angle (these are the knee, lower leg and foot) and a pair of halves of ovals - the tips of the fingers on the sheet. Remember that the leg is mostly hidden by the body.

Draw the left hind leg in the same way, marking the knee and lower leg with a curved line. Draw a couple of frog fingers - these are circles connected to the foot with lines. But do not draw all the fingers - they are hidden behind the sheet.

Now finish the frog's front toes - as you can see, she holds the left paw hand slightly turned to the right.

When the sketch is ready, carefully draw the outlines of the frog with a softer pencil, such as HD, and then erase the primitive and bad strokes.

When the sketch cleaning is completed, draw all the accidentally erased fragments again.

Draw large pupils and shade them with H4 or another soft pencil. Don't forget to highlight the frog's eyes.

Start painting the skin on the frog's head as shown. Use an HB pencil or another softer one. Make the skin on the forehead, around the eyes and on the cheeks of the frog gray by applying neat shading to it. Don't press too hard on the pencil. Remember that the skin is wet, which means that it also needs to be left with highlights. Do not shade the left side of the muzzle - the light falls there, and it should remain bright.

Draw a chin, highlight the mouth and folds on the frog's neck. Don't forget to place a small shadow under the amphibian's chin to make it more voluminous.

Draw the legs of our frog. She will have small stripes on her forearms, which should be hatched with a less dark shade. Remember that in places where the paws are in contact with the armpits and abdomen, you need to leave a shadow.

Draw the frog's hind legs in a slightly less dark tone to show their distance from the observer. Don't forget to leave highlights on the fingertips of all paws - this way you will demonstrate their volume.

Draw a leaf on which the frog sits. It begins and ends outside the boundaries of our drawing - we see only a part of it, on the bend of which the frog sits. But do not pay much attention to the leaflet - it is enough to indicate that it is. Draw along it with a pencil, overlaying lines in the direction of its growth.

Don't forget to put a shadow under the leaf.

This step is optional, but will add realism to the work. Take a paper pencil or cotton swab and smooth out the transitions between tones on the frog's skin where they look too sharp. This will make her look more natural.

Another optional step is to create a background. In principle, the frog can be left on a white sheet. But if you want to highlight the figure of an amphibian, you can shade the background. An H4 pencil and other softer options are suitable for this.

Work on the shadows on the frog's body again to make them more distinct. In order not to smear the drawing, place thick white paper or a transparent file under your arm.

Take the feather again and go over the freshly drawn shadows. Just be careful not to smudge too much.

You can see the full drawing process here.

What other options are there

Frog in the technique of photorealism, made with a simple pencil. A lot of attention is paid to details here.

A more complex drawing with an abundance of details, detailed shadows and halftones.

Excellent work in the genre of photorealism, made using graphite and charcoal pencils.

How to draw a realistic frog with colored pencils

What you need

• Paper;
• hard pencils H2 and HB;
• black pencil or soft pencils B2 or B4;
• a set of colored pencils;
• eraser.

How to draw

In this example, we will draw a frog sitting sideways to us, but this time we will make it colored. Let's choose a poisonous exotic individual from the poison dart frog family, known for its bright color, to experiment with colors.

Start by building a primitive: draw one circle in the center of the sheet, and place another, smaller one, a little higher on the right. This will be the head and body of the frog. Draw with a hard H2 pencil, barely touching the paper with the lead.

Connect the circles with lines. Draw a short arc for the face of the frog.

With straight lines sketch out the guides for the frog's front paws. Two lines at a right angle are the elbow, and the strip below is a blank for the thumb and little finger. The same foot, but half hidden behind the body, is located on the other side of the frog.

With two curved lines, mark the hind leg of the frog. The second one does not need to be drawn, because it is hidden behind the body.

Draw a circle at the top left of the muzzle - this will be the frog's eye. Inside it, mark the pupil and two smaller circles - highlights.

Draw the face of the frog. Outline her mouth and the crease where the jaw attaches to the skull. Define the ear cavity and nostril. Draw the outline of the eye, which is not visible to us.

Draw the front legs of the frog. Note that her hands are slanted slightly inward, and the outstretched thumbs look back - this is how poison dart frogs usually sit.

Draw the back leg of the frog - the one that is visible to us. Note that her knee is slightly set aside.

Draw the resulting contours of the frog's body with a softer pencil, for example HB, and erase the primitives used in the construction with an eraser.

Draw spots of various shapes and sizes on the body of the frog. Please note that they should be less on the muzzle and chin.

Color in the spots with the black pencil from your kit. An H4 soft pencil will also work. Do hatching neatly and evenly and do not go beyond the edges.

Draw in brown the side, chin and part of the frog's face.

Paint with yellow those fragments of the skin of the frog's back that are not occupied by black spots. Orange color the sides and part of the back. Most importantly, do not forget to leave highlights: a large one - on the back of the frog, a little smaller - on the lower jaw and on the muzzle.

Draw the chin of the frog properly with red and brown. It should be darker than the rest of the muzzle. Just do not accidentally paint over the glare.

After you have outlined the main colors on the body, you need to make them thicker. To do this, go over the frog again with orange, yellow and red pencils. Don't paint over highlights. To make the transitions between colors more natural, you need to intensively fill the central areas with one color or another. On the border, it is worth walking with less pressure.

Paint over the frog's eye with dark gray - the pupil should be darker. And don't forget the glare.

Add the lower part of the frog shadows with a brown pencil, but don't push it too hard. Fill the sides of the animal with orange. Make the legs blue. Don't forget to leave highlights on them to show their shape and the moisture of the frog's skin.

Make the frog's knees and thighs darker using a dark blue or purple pencil. Draw the spots on the body again - they should be distinct.

The final touch: draw a shadow under the body of the frog and its fingers to get rid of the feeling that the amphibian is floating in the air.

The frog is ready. You can watch the entire drawing process in the video below.

What other options are there

Another great example of working with colored pencils, this time a little more difficult.

Painstaking drawing with special attention to detail.

A slightly simpler option - for those who are not yet very skilled in complex hatching and tone mapping.

How to draw a realistic frog with oil pastels

What you need

• Pastel paper, watercolor is also suitable;
• hard pencils HB or H2 for sketching;
• soft pencils B6 or B8 for detailing;
• white pencil;
• correction pencil;
• eraser;
• paper shading-pencil or cotton buds-tufters;
• oil pastel.

How to draw

In this example, we will try to draw a frog in color with oil pastels. Let's start with a simple pencil sketch - preferably a hard one, H2 or HB, so as not to be too conspicuous. Draw a raised oval for the frog's head.

Draw two curved lines - this will be the neck and body of the frog. Do not try to make them continuous - better draw them in fragments to show the folds of the skin on the amphibian's body.

Draw the front paw of the frog. To show the elbow, draw two lines, a straight line and a curved line, converging at an angle. Then with another line draw the forearm. Do not try to work out the fingers - just indicate their direction and number. We will depict a three-toed frog.

In a similar manner, draw the back leg of the frog. Draw an elongated oval - this is the thigh. With two broken lines sketch out the shin tucked under it. With four short strips, indicate the contours and direction of the fingers, as shown in the figure.

Draw a circle on the muzzle - this will be the eye of the frog. With another semicircle, indicate the contour of the second eye of the frog, which is hidden from us. Outline the mouth of the frog with a line.

Draw a shadow and wrinkles on the frog's belly.

Work on the frog's fingers. Each of them is a small oval that connects to the hand or foot with short lines.

Draw two straight lines - this will be the stem of the flower on which the frog sits. Remember that it is located behind the muzzle, so as not to accidentally cross out the amphibian's physiognomy with a line.

With semicircular lines, mark the flower on which the frog sits, but do not get hung up on it too much.

Go over the drawing with an eraser to remove bad lines.

Make the sketch clearer by working on the lost lines. In addition, you can add details - for example, a few leaves on the right so that this corner does not seem empty. Outline them with smooth curved lines.

Now the sketch is ready. Let's start coloring it. Let's put a background around the frog and the flower using green shades.

Use paper shading or a regular cotton swab to smooth out the graininess of the background. Just don’t drag a dirty tupfer around the background, otherwise the drawing will turn out to be sloppy.

Using black chalk, apply shadows on the background, then smooth them out with feathering - this will add volume to the picture.

Use greens and yellows to tone the leaves, stem, and frog.

With a blue tint, mark the pattern on the abdomen and sides of the frog.

Add magenta and red to the frog coloring.

Fill the eyes with red, paint the tips of her fingers with orange. Yellow and pink shades are suitable for a flower.

The edges of the petals should also be worked out in orange.

Blend the colors and smooth out the transitions between them with a cotton swab or feathering.

Work out the small details on the flower and the shadow under the frog's fingers with the same pink chalk that was used to set its tone, but with a slightly lighter pressure. Draw the fine structure of the petal with a white pencil.

Work out the pupils and shadows around the frog's eyeballs with a simple B6 or B8 soft pencil.

With the same simple B6 pencil, work out the shadows on the body of the frog. They should be on the folds of the limbs and in places where they are attached to the body, as well as at the behind the ear cavity and under the chin, where skin folds gather.

Work on the small details of the frog, blending the remaining fragments with grain. Mark more obvious shadows under her fingers, where they are in contact with the flower, and make more noticeable the features of her muzzle - her mouth and nostrils.

With white chalk, mark the highlights on the surface of the frog's skin and add another highlight on her eye to show its volume. With the same chalk, you can add drops of water to the flower.

Drops of water also need to add shadows - this can be done with a soft simple B6 or B8 pencil.

With a correction pencil and the same B6, you can add more highlights on the foliage and flower.

Don't forget about the glare in the frog's eye. In addition, you need to mark the white highlights on the drops falling from the vegetation.

Now the frog is ready. You can view the full process here.

What other options are there

Here is an even more detailed and complex work done in the technique of photorealism.

Despite the realism and apparent complexity, even beginners will be able to repeat the drawing with due care. The main thing is to cope with the sketch.

How to draw a realistic frog in watercolor

What you need

• Watercolor paper;
• simple pencils H2 and HB;
• eraser;
• watercolor and brushes for it;
• two glasses of water.

How to draw

Sketch with a simple pencil. A hard pencil like H2 is suitable for this. It is better to fix the result with a softer lead - HB. Mark the shape of the frog's face with an oval. Then show the eyes with two more ovals.

Indicate with a curved line where her mouth is located. Draw the fingers as shown in the picture.

Mark the nostrils with two black dots and draw ovals around them. Then draw the contours of the eyes with two symmetrical curved lines. On the right side of the forehead and on the tip of the muzzle, indicate highlights with ovals - this way the skin will look more realistic.

Now go over all the contours of the amphibian with a softer HB pencil to make the sketch more distinct.

In addition, do not forget to draw the pupils in the eyes and leave small circles on them - these will also be glare. Remember that they need to be barely noticeable, so that later they turn out to be natural.

Now that the sketch is ready, let's start coloring. Apply a little water to the face of the frog with a damp brush to ensure an even application of the tone.

Start applying a light green tone to the muzzle. Please note that in the center the paint should be applied a little thicker, because there will be a shadow.

Paint the top part of the frog's head, where the highlight will be, with light touches of the brush with a bluish tint. Cover the darker parts of the muzzle - on the left and in front - with a new layer. This time in rich green.

Remember to rinse the brush every time you change tone. And you need to do this in another bank, or the work will come out dirty.

Mark with brown a light shadow under the chin of the frog.

Let's start painting the paws. Apply a rich green tone to the outer surface, and make the inner parts of the hand, palm and fingers light green.

Draw the contours of the frog's fingers with a brownish tint, and the folds of the paws with a bluish tint.

In dark green, almost black, draw shadows under the body and paws of the frog.

Draw a leaf with a rich green tint. Remember to leave a light stripe between its halves so that it resembles a real plant. Paint only with a slightly damp brush and apply the tone from top to bottom, in the direction of leaf growth. This will show its shape.

Mark the frog's mouth with brown paint and darken in the place where its breast casts a shadow on the finger.

Add gray to the frog's eyeballs, and a slightly more saturated shade of gray to its nostrils. To get the right color, you need to strongly dilute the black pigment. Experiment with this on a separate sheet. And remember: you need to check the colors not on the palette, but on paper.

With gentle touches of a thin brush, paint the pupils of the amphibian with rich black paint. Be sure to leave white highlights and patterns in them, typical of tropical frogs. And draw circles in those places where the eyeball touches the skin stretched around the orbit, so the eyes will be deeper and more voluminous.

Only a few finishing touches remain. Make the tone on the face of the frog a little darker to show its volume, and paint over with greenish tints those places that you missed earlier. Indicate the skin above the eyes with rich green. Just be careful, do not overdo it, so as not to spoil the existing work.

To prevent the frog from looking lonely hanging in a vacuum, put a light background around it with light green paint. This will favorably emphasize the contours of her body.

You can see the entire process of drawing a frog here.

What other options are there

Here they show you how to draw a tree frog in a lighter and wetter manner.

This option is for lovers of minimalism and those who are just experimenting with watercolor. There is less attention to detail here.

And here is a work from a perfectionist artist, made in the technique of photorealism. In the course is not only watercolor, but also ink.