Learn How to Draw a Unicorn!

As a relaxing exercise, would you like to learn how to draw a unicorn? It's not too difficulte either because unicorn drawings takes what you know about a realistic animal from nature and adds a few extra details to it!

Unlike a lot of made up animals, unicorns are one of the few creatures that were not created from human fear. Instead, we see these creatures as mysterious and beautiful.

Description wise, it is frequently portrayed as a horse with a spiral horn and cleaved hooves. However, depending on your preferences, it can also take the form of a small goat.

Let's get started on your lesson on how to draw a unicorn!

1. The gesture sketch

You should start learning how to draw a unicorn with building up the form! With simple circles and lines, start creating the legs, body, head, etc.

It's ok to use a reference if you're not familiar with the form of your animal. However, try to deduce all the shapes of your reference.

That way, you can make up your own poses without having to rely on set pictures for references.

As you are doing this, also keep track of each muscle groups. Since it is a mammal, you will see familiarizes with the human form.

Try to match the muscles of the human form to the animal.

When you are done your sketch, create another layer underneath it. This time, we are going to fill it with a light grey color at 100% opacity.

Once it is filled, merge the two layers together. That way, you will have a nice base to work from as you create the details.

2. Blocking in form

Now that you have a good solid base for your unicorn drawings, this step will require you to block in all the major planes, muscles, and shadows.

Remember, we are not working on the details just yet! This step in how to draw a unicorn is to help you see how the form will come to life.

Anyway, pick a hard chalk brush and start to fill in chunks of muscle here and there along with sections of shadow.

Make sure you enable the option to preserve transparency on your unicorn drawing. That way, you will not accidentally block in shapes outside of the layer's boundaries.

The major parts that you can focus on are bringing the shoulder blades, the neck tendons, thighs of the animals, cheeks on the forehead, and the curvature of the stomach.

The whole idea is to rough out the form as much as possible as we are going to smudge the gesture sketch and the blocked in forms to create convincing musculature.

Make sure to clean up your unicorn and erase out any gesture lines that are out of place.

3. Adding details

There are many ways of learning how to draw a unicorn with the proper details! For the most part, you will still be blocking in more detailed shapes.

The difference is that you are using smaller chalk brush sizes to get the desired result!

At the same time, you will be using your smudge brush a lot in conjunction with your chalk brushes.

Every time you smudge, point the brush in the direction of your muscles. Do not just arbitrarily smudge in random patterns!

For instance, flow with the curvature of the shoulder blades, the stomach, and the neck muscles.

Remember to keep your layers transparency option preserved. This will be extremely helpful when you work on the details of the horn.

Moreover, it is helpful for glazing large areas of shadow on the underbelly, underneath the chin, and the opposing limbs.

As for the mane and the tail, smudge it just lightly while repainting of the hair strands with a smaller brush. You can disable the transparency options in this case.

Near the end, work on bits of rim light on the outer perimeters of your unicorn to highlight your creature and reduce the cartoon effect from your gesture drawing.

Lastly, use smaller brushes as you work on fine details like the eyes, nose, and other facial features.

Depending on how comfortable you are, consider a background to place your unicorn!

4. Lighting effects

Finish off your background if you decide to do one by using whatever tools you feel comfortable with as we are going to add in a light source to highlight your unicorn drawing.

On a new layer, begin to glaze areas of light and darkness with a round brush. You should set this layer's opacity to around 50% to balance out shadows and lighting with details.

Make sure to constantly sample colors around the areas with your eyedropper tool so you can get colors that match the composition's palette.

In some instances, you may need to erase parts of the shading to reveal some details underneath or to further create additional textures.

The important objective here is to look at rim light and how it should highlight your unicorn.

When you are done, use any other additional tools that can enhance the overall composition.

For example, you can copy the entire picture, merge it all on one layer, and balance out the contrast with your drawing software's internal color management settings.

Of course, it is never done till you feel like it. Working from general to specific will make sure your unicorn drawings are something that you can step away from anytime.

You can always come back and make minor changes here and there.

I hope you enjoy this lesson on how to draw a unicorn using simple references and the most basic art tools. I look forward to your creations on this site's gallery!

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