Here, you can learn to draw a hedgehog. Although the style is cartoonish and simple, if you follow all the steps accurately, your drawing will come to life and appear realistic.

In this tutorial on how to draw a hedgehog, I will show you how to depict a simplified version of this animal. There will be few details and complex shapes.

This is done so that even the most inexperienced artist can cope with the task, and create a beautiful and convincing drawing of a hedgehog.

By the way, do not forget that you can always open or print a PDF version of this lesson to distribute to your students or children. To get it, just scroll down the page.

So let’s get down to the lesson!

Materials

Pencil
Paper
Eraser
Coloring supplies

Time needed: 30 minutes

How to Draw a Hedgehog

Sketch the muzzle and lower body.
The first step involves drawing a simple, curved line that starts to form the basic body shape of the hedgehog. This line curves gently downwards and then back up in a slight arc, setting the foundation for the body. There is a noticeable curve at the front that forms a protrusion for the nose. Hedgehogs are very nosey guys, in fact.
Sketch out the upper body.
In the second step, the upper part of the hedgehog’s body is outlined, delimiting the area where the quills will later be located. Note the prominent cutout near the head. This is where the ear will be located in further steps.
Draw the limbs.
The third step introduces the libs with short, simple lines at the base of the body. These lines are drawn to represent the basic positioning and stance of the hedgehog’s feet, giving a sense of stability and grounding to the animal. Although the libs are simplistic at this stage, they give completeness to the drawing.
Draw the outlines of the hedgehog’s spikes.
Step four adds texture to the hedgehog, beginning the transformation from a basic outline to a more realistic creature. Small, jagged lines are sketched along the top and back of the body to represent the spiky quills. This texturing is a key feature in capturing the essence of the hedgehog and starts to bring dimension.
Detail the hedgehog’s face.
By the fifth step, the face starts to take shape. A small eye and a nose are added. The eye is a simple dot, placed towards the front of the face, and the nose is a small upside-down triangle at the end of the snout.
Add more spikes.
The sixth step enhances the quills’ detail by adding small lines within the previously drawn jagged outline, helping to depict the layered and dense nature of the hedgehog’s quills. These lines are crucial for creating the illusion of depth and thickness.
Erase the guidelines.
Create a clean, orderly appearance that captures the natural texture of a hedgehog’s body. Refine all final contours, check proportions and individual lines. After that, start coloring this cute hedgehog.
Color the hedgehog.
In my example, the body of the hedgehog is colored a warm brown, with darker shading on the quills to create contrast and highlight the texture. The face remains lighter to draw attention and give life to the hedgehog’s expression. You can experiment with other colors and choose shades to suit your taste.

So, this was a lesson in drawing a hedgehog. Don’t forget to download the PDF version of this manual, which includes the steps of this instruction, a coloring page, tracing worksheet, and grid drawing worksheet.

Hedgehog Drawing Worksheets