How to Draw a Skull

What You’ll Learn in This Skull Drawing Tutorial

• How to draw a human skull sketch
• How to draw human skull details
• How to finish and shade skull drawings

1. How to Draw the Base for a Human Skull Drawing

Step 1

Let’s begin this skull drawing step-by-step tutorial by drawing a circle. It doesn’t need to be perfect, and feel free to draw it with many lines. Find its center, too. You’ll be able to refine your skull sketch later on.

Step 2

Draw a line under the circle, using the length of its radius.

Step 3

Divide this line into three sections. Skull drawing is easy once you mark the placement of the different features.

Step 4

Create a skull outline for the jaw by drawing a square “bucket” under the circle. 

Step 5

Draw two ovals in the bottom third of the skull outline. This will be the chin.

Step 6

Connect the ovals with the rest of the lines.

Step 7

Draw two huge leaning ovals in the lower half of the circle.

Step 8

These ovals are not eye sockets yet—their shape is too simple for this. Let’s fix it. Draw a curve crossing both ovals, leaving some space for the eyebrow area.

Step 9

Connect this curve with the sides of the skull outline.

Step 10

Draw another curve on the bottom, leaving a similar amount of space below.

Step 11

You can outline the eye sockets now by giving them some space on the sides.

Step 12

Draw a curve from the corner of the eye socket towards the other socket, going through the chin. This will be the mouth area.

2. How to Draw Human Skull Details

Step 1

Now we’re ready to take this simple skull drawing to the next level. Draw a teardrop shape between the eye sockets, at the bottom of the circle. This will be the nose.

Step 2

Make the nose more detailed. 

Step 3

Draw a curve across the mouth, through the mark between the first two thirds.

Step 4

We need to add more details to the mouth. First, define the front of the upper jaw with two curves.

Step 5

Draw the border of the lower teeth.

Step 6

Connect the teeth area to the chin.

Step 7

Draw the border of the upper teeth now.

Step 8

Finish the borders of the teeth area with these curves.

Step 9

We need to add the details to the lower jaw, too.

Step 10

Add the final curves to the skull.

Step 11

Divide the teeth area into separate teeth. Now it looks more like a sketch of a skull.

3. How to Finish and Shade a Skull

Step 1

Let’s finish our human skull drawing. If you’re drawing traditionally, you can put a new sheet of paper over it, or simply draw with a darker medium now.

Outline the eye sockets.

Step 2

Outline the nose. Don’t forget about the nasal bridge on top.

Step 3

Add more detail to the edges of the eye sockets.

Step 4

Outline the teeth. They’re slightly tapered towards the bone.

Step 5

Add some details under and over the teeth.

Step 6

Outline the lower jaw.

Step 7

Outline the upper part of the skull.

Step 8

This is already going from a simple skull drawing to something more detailed! Add more fancy details, if you want to be even more accurate.

Step 9

You can shade the drawing if you want. Start by darkening the darkest parts…

… then cross-hatch the shadow areas.

Finally, thicken some of the lines to make the effect more striking. And that’s it—your drawing is done!

Good Job! You Finished Drawing a Human Skull!

Skull drawing can be a breeze if you have the right knowledge to do it. I hope this tutorial gives you all the tools you need to create successful drawings of your own.