How to Draw an Alligator Step by Step (Easy Side View)

An alligator is really just a long log with a smile, which makes it one of the friendliest reptiles to sketch. The tricky parts are the snout and the legs, because a wrong snout turns it into a crocodile and wrong legs make it look like a lizard on stilts. Below I'll walk you through how to draw an alligator step by step, starting from two ovals and a curved tail line. You'll end up with a cheerful green gator strolling along with its spikes up and its teeth showing.

How to draw an alligator step by step - finished colored alligator drawing — Spikes up, smile on: this walking gator is where your two ovals end up after 12 steps.

Bright blue marks the lines you add in that step. Gray lines come from earlier steps, and the faint blue ovals and sticks are soft guides that disappear in step 11.

Quick overview
⏱️ Time: about 35 to 45 minutes with coloring
🎯 Level: easy, fine for kids around 6 and up
✏️ Steps: 12
🐊 You'll draw: a smiling alligator walking on four short legs, side view

Supplies for a Swamp-Ready Sketch

A regular pencil for soft guide lines
An eraser that doesn't smear
A black fineliner or thin marker
Colored pencils or crayons in olive green, dark green, pale yellow-green and cream
A sheet of paper turned sideways

Turn the paper sideways before you start, because this animal is about four times longer than it is tall.

How to Draw an Alligator Step by Step

Step 1: Sketch a ground line and two ovals

Draw a long ground line near the bottom of the page. Above it, sketch a big oval for the body just left of center, then a flatter head oval overlapping it on the right, about three quarters as long. I keep both ovals off the ground so the legs have room.

💡 Tip: Press so lightly that you can barely see the lines. They're only scaffolding.

Step 2: Add a tail curve, stick legs and an eye circle

From the left side of the body oval, swing a long curve out to the left, dipping a little and lifting at the end. Under the body, draw four short bent sticks, each with a little foot line pointing forward. Put a small circle on top of the head oval, near its back end, for the eye.

💡 Tip: Alligators have short legs, so stop the sticks well below the oval and keep them stubby.

Step 3: Draw the head with a wide, round snout

Start at the neck and draw the top of the head, rising toward the eye circle and then running almost flat to the front. Round off the tip in a big, blunt curve, then bring the chin back along the bottom of the oval. I leave a small gap on top where the eye bump will sit. That rounded tip is what tells people this is an alligator and not a crocodile.

💡 Tip: If the snout ends in a point, widen the tip curve until it looks like the end of a spoon.

Step 4: Outline the back and belly

Go around the top of the body oval with a gentle arch from the neck down toward the tail curve. Then draw the belly along the bottom, leaving gaps where the near legs attach. I let the back sit a bit higher than the head, which gives the gator its heavy look.

💡 Tip: Let the neck dip slightly where the head meets the body. A straight join looks stiff.

Step 5: Finish the long tapering tail

Follow your tail curve with two lines that start wide where they meet the body and slowly come together. Make the tip rounded and lifted a little, like the gator is flicking it. Most beginners make the tail too short and thin. In my drawings it's nearly as long as the rest of the animal, and it stays thick for the first third.

💡 Tip: Draw the upper edge first, then match the lower edge to it so the taper stays even.

Step 6: Add eye bumps, an eye and the nostril

Trace over the eye circle so it pops up like a little dome, and add a smaller bump behind it for the far eye ridge. Inside the dome, draw a white oval eye with a pupil leaning toward the snout and a shine dot. At the snout tip, add a small bump with a nostril dot. Real alligators keep eyes and nose on top so they can peek out of the water.

💡 Tip: Point the pupil forward. A gator looking where it walks feels friendly instead of sneaky.

Step 7: Give it a smile and small teeth

Draw the mouth from the snout tip back toward the eye, curving down slightly in the middle and turning up at the end into a little smile corner. Hang four small triangle teeth from that line, spaced evenly. Keep them tiny. Big fangs make the face scary, and we want this gator to look like it's having a good day.

💡 Tip: Stop the mouth under the eye. Running it any farther back makes the grin look strange.

Step 8: Build four short, bent legs

Around each stick, draw a thick leg that bulges at the top and narrows at the ankle. Each foot is a flat rounded shape pointing forward, with three short claws peeking out the front. The near front leg reaches forward and the near back leg steps back, so the gator walks. The far legs show only partly.

💡 Tip: Draw the near legs fully first. Then you'll see how little of the far legs is left to draw.

Step 9: Line up spiky scutes along the back

Scutes are the bony ridges on an alligator's back. Draw a row of small triangles standing on the back line, biggest over the middle of the body and shrinking down the tail. I leave the head bare and space them about one triangle apart, so the row looks neat.

💡 Tip: Draw the tallest spike in the middle first, then shrink the rest toward each end.

Step 10: Draw the belly line and stripes

Run a soft line along the lower body, from under the tail to the neck, where it joins the mouth. Everything below it becomes the pale belly. Inside that band, add short stripes across, like the plates on a real gator's underside. A few stripes are enough; filling the whole belly makes it busy.

💡 Tip: Keep the belly band narrow on the tail and a little wider under the chest.

Step 11: Ink the lines and erase the guides

Go over every keeper line with your black fineliner: the outline, the eye, the smile, the teeth, the legs, the claws, the scutes and the belly stripes. Skip the ovals, the tail curve and the stick legs. Wait a minute for the ink to dry, then erase all the pencil underneath.

💡 Tip: Ink the long tail lines in one slow stroke each so they stay smooth.

Step 12: Color your alligator

Olive green goes on the head, body, tail, eye bumps and the two near legs. Use a darker green for the scutes and the far legs, which makes them sit behind the body. The belly and lower jaw get a pale yellow-green. Leave the teeth and eye white, color the claws cream, and fill the pupil and nostril with black.

💡 Tip: Color the big green body in long strokes going the same way, from tail to snout.

Croc Snouts, Stilt Legs and Other Gator Slip-Ups

A pointy, narrow snout. That's a crocodile shape. Alligators have a wide, rounded U-shaped snout, so keep the tip blunt and fat.
Legs that are too long. Long legs turn the gator into a lizard. The belly should stay close to the ground, with only a short leg showing below it.
A skinny little tail. The tail is huge on a real alligator. Start it as thick as the back end of the body and make it long.
Eyes on the side of the head. Put the eye in a bump on top of the head, so it sits above the head line.
Scutes all the same size. Same-size spikes look like a saw. Let them grow toward the middle of the back and shrink down the tail.

Fun Ways to Change Your Alligator

Once the basic gator works, try a version swimming with only its eyes and snout above a wavy water line, or one lying flat on a log in the sun. A baby alligator is the same drawing with a bigger head and shorter tail. For other swamp and river animals to keep it company, try the frog drawing tutorial or this easy turtle drawing step by step lesson.

Free Alligator Coloring Page and Printable Steps

The alligator coloring page shows a colored gator at the top to copy and a key that tells kids which green goes where, with a big outline underneath. The step-by-step PDF guide has all 12 steps with pictures and tips. Both fit Letter or A4 paper.

🎨

Free PDF

Alligator Coloring Page

1 pageUS LetterColor key

Black outlines with a colored example and the color names at the top. Ready to print and color.

⬇️ Download Coloring Page

✏️

Free PDF

Step-by-Step Alligator Drawing Guide

7 pagesA4All 12 steps

Every step picture with its instructions and tips, to keep beside your paper while you draw.

⬇️ Download Drawing Guide

📱 On a phone? Tap a download button, then open the file and choose Share → Save to Files or Print. On a computer, the PDF opens or saves straight to your Downloads folder.

Pin the Gator Steps

How to draw an alligator step by step - all 12 steps on one page (Pinterest) — Every step of the walking alligator on one tall image, ready to pin or print for later.

These are complete step-by-step tutorials, mostly animals, and each one starts with a few light guide shapes.

Family Drawing: Draw a cartoon family holding hands, with a red balloon and a puppy at the end of the row, in this family drawing tutorial.
Polar Bear Drawing: The how to draw a polar bear step by step lesson sits a chubby bear on a cracked ice floe, back paws turned up.
Parrot Drawing: A red, yellow and blue scarlet macaw perches on a sloping branch in the parrot drawing tutorial.
Snow Leopard Drawing: Stretch a pale snow leopard out on a mountain rock with this snow leopard drawing step by step guide.
Butterfly Drawing: Learn the mirror trick with an orange butterfly seen from above in the easy butterfly drawing tutorial.
Cat Eye Drawing: The how to draw a cat eye lesson shows a slit pupil for day and a wide round one for night.
Simba Drawing: Draw a playful lion cub with a tilted head and amber eyes using the Simba drawing step by step tutorial.
Chalk Art: Take it to the sidewalk with this chalk art tutorial for a hopscotch grid, a rainbow and a smiling sun.
Leopard Drawing: A cartoon leopard sitting tall, with a cream chest and tidy rosettes, is the goal of the leopard drawing step by step lesson.

Questions Kids Ask About Drawing Alligators

What is the easiest way to draw an alligator?

Start with two ovals for the body and head and a long curve for the tail. Drawing the outline around those shapes is much easier than drawing the whole long body in one go.

How do you tell an alligator drawing from a crocodile drawing?

Look at the snout. An alligator's snout is wide and rounded like a U, while a crocodile's is narrower and more pointed like a V. Crocodiles also show more lower teeth when the mouth is closed.