How to Draw Children

Reviewed by Jeanine Hattas Wilson

Last Updated: September 21, 2025

Children can be a bit more complicated to draw than other subjects. The trick is to simplify the facial features and body lines as much as you can; by doing so you'll avoid making your kids' faces look old rather than young. This tutorial will help you draw two little girls of different ages.

1

Draw ovals for the heads.

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Draw an oval with guidelines on the right side of the paper. Draw another, slightly rounder oval with guidelines to the left of this, leaving plenty of space between them.

2

Use rectangles to form the bodies.

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Sketch the bodies and body positions using geometric shapes. Draw a vertical rectangle for the torso and a horizontal rectangle for the lower body, connected to each other and the head by a curved line (like a spine). Draw straight lines for the hands and legs, with circles for joints, and rectangles for the hands and feet.
- Make a taller body for the right head than for the left head, since this is the older sister/friend of the pair.

3

Outline the children’s bodies.

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Create the shape of the body on the sketched “skeleton." Draw the face and ears, but don't include features like the eyes and mouth just yet. Add the rest of the body to the “skeleton.”
- Don't detail the hands or feet too much at this step (same as the faces).

4

Add the first child’s facial features.

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Draw the child’s eyes, nose, and mouth. Start with the girl on the right:
- Make big eyes (following the horizontal guideline) and eyebrows above them, with a small triangular shape for the nose and a horizontal curved line for the mouth.
- Give her a bob hairstyle with bangs.

5

Add the second child’s facial features.

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Give the smaller girl eyes, a nose, and a mouth. However, make her eyes bigger and for the nose draw a flat oval. Change the hairstyle as well. Draw bangs and shoulder-length hair.
- If you want your girls to be sisters or very close friends, you can actually give them more similar hair/facial expressions--it's all about the choices you make for your drawing.

6

Draw the children’s clothes and hands.

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Add details to the girls’ clothes and hands. Then, carefully erase the “skeleton” lines.
- Draw a sleeveless dress for the bigger girl and a dress with short sleeves for the smaller girl. Add collars for both of them, but draw them in different styles.
- Make crinkles on both dresses.
- Finish up with the shoes.

7

Tidy up your drawing.

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Darken the children’s outline. Then, use the illustration as a reference, or color them as you wish. When you’re done, carefully erase all the sketch lines.

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I would like to learn how to draw Native American children from the period of the 19th century. Can you help?

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Do your research and look for multiple reference photos of Native American children so you can get a feel for the style of dress and similarities between facial features. Use your reference photos to draw your own artwork based on the photos.

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Tips

People are often the hardest to draw, even in simple sketches like this, so don't give up if yours doesn't look right on the first try.

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Draw your nose underneath and in between your eyes.

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Do not give up! Keep trying.

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