How to Draw a Simple Alien

Written by Ian in How to Draw Last Updated April 19, 2022

Why Draw an Alien?

If you are looking for an exciting and unusual subject to draw, then you can’t go wrong with a drawing of an alien. Drawing aliens can be both fun to do and challenging as they can be depicted in a variety of ways.

In this post, I want to describe how to draw a pure Alien and other possible inspiration on how you could develop this idea further on paper or in a sketchbook.

What Equipment do You Need to Draw an Alien?

How to Draw a Simple Alien
How to Draw a Simple Alien

To begin drawing an alien, you really don’t need lots of specialist equipment and materials. A simple sketchbook and pencils with color pencils if you intend to add color is required. If you are looking to create a highly detailed illustration in graphite when good quality paper and premium drawing pencil will help you create a better drawing, which will have a long life span.

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Alien Drawing Ideas

If you are looking for visual reference ideas to help you create an alien drawing, then the internet or science fiction books are a good start. Consider what type of picture you want to draw here. You may want to create an original drawing that is different from anything people have seen before. Alternatively, you may wish to interpret ideas or drawings of aliens that you have seen before is another possible creative avenue you can follow.

Cute Aliens

One of the most popular forms of alien to draw is the innocent cute alien, and this is an excellent character for children or beginners to attempts. The lack of details and the simple features of this character make it easy and straightforward to draw.

Scary Aliens

Scary aliens are quite a different proposition. If you are looking to create a more detailed and realistic response here, then you will definitely need reference and source images to refer to when creating a drawing.

Drawing a Simple Alien Ideas

The most straightforward approach to drawing an alien is to draw a basic front view. Onto, which, you can draw the basic features of the alien head. These could have a human appearance with two eyes, or on a single eye.

Start Drawing Basic Outline of the Head

The most straightforward approach to beginning your drawing od an alien is to draw an elongated oval shape. This will represent the outline of your alien, which could be altered at a later stage.

Draw with a continuous faint line when you draw this shape as this will cut out any unnecessary erasing of drawn lines if you make a mistake. Due to the fact that an oval is a simple regular shape, you can also add additional details to the head of the alien at a later stage.

Draw a Centerline 

Drawing a center strength down the middle of your initial shape will help you maintain the symmetry of your alien drawing. Even if the head of your alien is an elongated or irregular alien head, a centerline will help you compare and locate the various features of the head and face.

Draw the Proportions of the Full Body Alien

There are many ways you can draw an alien head, for example, it could be directly attached to the body without a neck. 

But, now that the outline shape of the head has been drawn. Progress onto drawing the neck. With a simple front view. For the more elongated alien creature or short, thin neck attached to an elongated torse will work well.

Features of the Alien Face

Probably the main features of an aliens face that you notice first of all are the eyes. These can be drawn larger than usual at an angle, it will result in an insect-like appearance.

  • To achieve this effect, make a mark on your centerline and draw two symmetrical lines at an angle. 
  • The outline of the eyes can be drawn around these lines.
  • Alternative ways to depict these are one single large alien eye in the center of the head.
  • Other valid approaches are to draw three eyes next to each other or have two tentacles draw over the top of the head with eyes draw at the ends of them.
  • The eyes can be drawn in different sizes and emphasize their appearance; you should outline them with a solid dark line.
  • To finish the eye, add shading, making it dark, and draw a highlight. This should be left white. This will give the added benefit of making your alien appear more lifelike.

Draw the Arm and Legs

Your simple can remain armless if you wish to convey a basic bloblike appearance. However, drawing arms will add character to the alien figure you are trying to represent.

  • Draw the arms in a simple long and elongated manner, bending them at the elbow is always best as it will make them appear more mobile.
  • Experiment with drawing the arm in various positions.

Next Draw the Feet

The feet of your alien can be drawn directly onto the body of your alien or at the end of the legs if you have drawn a more elongated figure.

Coloring the Aliens Skin

To add color to your draw, you will first need to select appropriate colors. The simplest method to add color is using color pencils. Within every standard set of coloring pencils, you will be able to access different shades of the same color.

  • To begin adding color to your drawing, select different shades of green and lay them out on the desk in front of you.
  • Using the side of the lightest shade of green begin adding color onto the head and the body of the alien.
  • To start layering and blending colors onto your drawing with slightly darker shades of green. This will add depth to your picture and make it look more three-dimensional.

Adding Surface Details to Your Alien

After you have created an initial layer of color onto the surface of your drawing, you may want to add further detail over the initial layers of colored pencil.

  • Consider adding texture in the form of drawn scales or patterns on the head and body of the alien.
  • Accentuate the head and the eyes of the alien by adding layers of shadow onto the forehead of the alien. This will give the head a bulky appearance and make it have more of a visual impact.
  • Texture can also be applied to your drawing by creating small areas of any area shadow next to a scales or patterns you have drawn.

Details You Can Add to Your Drawing

If you are looking to create a more detailed and highly finished drawing, you could consider a number of options. Here are some ideas that may help you.

  • Give you alien an Insect like appearance. This could be similar to the hostile alien creature from the movie.
  • You could focus on a portrait of an alien which entirely focuses on the face and teeth. 
  • Tentacles are another option that can be drawn off the top of the side of an aliens head. Additional details can easily be added to these features by adding eyes to the end of the tentacles.
  • Hands, fingers, and tails all features which, if you are looking to add more detail to your drawings and give them a more authentic appeal.

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Ian

Ian Walsh is the creator and author of improvedrawing.com and an Art teacher based in Merseyside in the United Kingdom. He holds a BA in Fine Art and a PGCE in teaching Art and Design. He has been teaching Art for over 24 Years in different parts of the UK. When not teaching Ian spending his time developing this website and creating content for the improvedrawing channel.

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How to Draw a Simple Alien