On our site there are many lessons associated with the ancient world and with ancient civilizations. For example, we drew an ancient Greek warrior and a Roman legionnaire. Today we will continue this subject, but this time we want to draw an inanimate object.
The Sphinx is a creature that was in the myths of many ancient civilizations. In ancient Egyptian art, this is an animal with a lion’s body, a human head or a head of a falcon or ram. In ancient Greek mythology, this monster with the head of a woman, paws and the body of a lion, the wings of an eagle and the tail of a bull, the character of the legend of Oedipus.
The Great Sphinx located in Giza, Egypt is perhaps the most famous. It is thought to be over 4,000 years old. The Sphinx, although ancient, remains a popular culture icon. It is a symbol of Egypt.
Would you like to draw the mysterious Sphinx? Create along with these simple 9 drawing steps. This lesson only takes about 30 minutes and includes a pdf you can easily print or download. The pdf lesson even contains a “coloring book” page with just the line art. This accompanies perfectly with crayons or colored pencils.
Get a thrill out of creating a simple Sphinx drawing and remember to add some personal details. The goal is to arrive at a finished drawing of the famous Sphinx as it looked in ancient times. The drawing will take 9 steps in total as we continue to create each part moving closer to the final artwork.
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And now you can draw this strange thing. Professional artist, photographer and sculptor. Co-founder and co-owner of Drawing For All. Has been drawing and studying art since childhood, and is an expert in the field of fine arts.
How to Draw The Great Sphinx step by step
Materials You'll Need
- Pencil
- Eraser
- Paper
- Crayons or colored pencils
- Printable PDF (optional)
Click the link below to view or download this drawing lesson. The PDF is a printable drawing lesson for Sphinx Drawing (easy).
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Now, let's dive into the step-by-step drawing process:
Step-by-Step Drawing Instructions
- Sketch the Face: Begin by sketching the Sphinx's face. Use curved lines to outline the face and ear. Detail the inner ear with a "3" shaped line.
- Draw the Headdress: Draw the Sphinx's headdress or crown. Enclose a curved trapezoid on top of the head, noting the curved line at the center. Enclose a triangular shape on each side of the face. Notice that the lower point is replaced with a short straight line.
- Outline the Head: First.draw an oval to outline the head of the Sphinx. Draw an elongated rectangle attached to the head to form the beard. First, draw an oval above the head.
- Facial Features: First, form the eyes by drawing a line with a circle attached to it. Next, draw a line above the eyes to add the eyebrows. Then, draw some rounded shapes for the blank eyes and then draw a neutral mouth.
- Front Legs: Use a series of curved lines to sketch the Sphinx's forearm and paw. Then, draw the start of the front legs that lie on the ground and extend quite far before the Sphinx. You can finish off the base of the other front leg along with the base of the rest of the body in this step.
- Body Outline: Form the outline of the body below the head. Then, draw some rounded shapes for the blank eyes and then draw a neutral mouth.
- Chest Detail: Draw a rectangle on the Sphinx's chest.
- Tail: Draw a curved line and double it back upon itself to form the Sphinx's curved tail.
- Final Touches: Draw a circle within a circle at the center of the crown, and connect it to the bottom with a pair of short, curved lines. This forms the uraeus, or symbolic cobra. Draw straight, vertical lines across the top of the crown. Then, use curved lines to detail the face.
Coloring Your Sphinx
Time to color our easy drawing of the Sphinx!
- First, fill in the eyes with a black crayon.
- Next, color the headdress with yellow and blue crayons.
- Now, shade the beard with a darker blue crayon.
- Then, use a brown crayon to color the doorway.
Now move to the angular cat torso of the sphinx, drawing it as in our example. We got to the last step of the lesson about how to draw a sphinx, in which we will need to draw shadows. Let’s start working with the details and use clear lines.
Once this is done, you could also add some extra touches like a background. The drawing of the Sphinx that we created in this guide focuses on just this landmark, but there are a few others surrounding it. You could even show the city of Cairo in the background to show off how close the Sphinx actually is to the city.
The Sphinx is a major tourist attraction, and thousands of people travel to see it each year. They would likely be quite small in the image, so they wouldn’t need a lot of detail.
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This Sphinx drawing we created shows it back in its glory days, and it even has its nose! You could draw a version that looks more like its present day counterpart to show the contrast between the two.
There are so many interesting facts and statistics about the Sphinx, and these could be added to the drawing as well! These could include details such as the age of the structure and how it was built.
When you have finished the drawing, you can also add your own ideas to personalize it even further.
Did you solve the riddle of the Sphinx? What has one voice but is one-, two-, and three-footed? The answer is a man.
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tags: #Egypt
