How to Draw a Gorilla Step by Step (Easy for Beginners)

Gorillas look huge and tricky, but a sitting one is mostly a big rounded body with a tall head on top. Get the crest, the heavy brow and the long arms right and nobody will mistake it for a bear. This lesson shows you how to draw a gorilla step by step, ending with a gentle silverback who's about to eat his banana.

How to draw a gorilla step by step - finished colored gorilla drawing — Sitting on the grass with a banana and one arm propped on its knuckles: this calm silverback is where the twelve steps end up.

In each picture, the lines for that step are drawn in blue. Everything from the earlier steps turns gray, and the faint blue construction shapes stay until you erase them in the ink step.

Quick overview
⏱️ Time: about 40 minutes, coloring included
🎯 Level: easy to medium, good for kids around 8 and up
✏️ Steps: 12
🦍 You'll draw: a calm silverback gorilla sitting in a three-quarter view, holding a banana

Charcoal Grays and a Banana Yellow for Your Silverback

A regular pencil for light sketching
An eraser that doesn't smear
A black fineliner or thin marker
Colored pencils or crayons in grays, black, brown, yellow plus green
A sheet of plain paper turned sideways

No gray pencil? Use black with very light pressure for the gray parts and press harder for the black ones.

How to Draw a Gorilla Step by Step

Step 1: Sketch a ground line, a body oval and a head circle

When I teach this one, I begin with a long ground line near the bottom of the page. Sit a big, slightly tall oval on it for the body, a little left of center. Then add a circle for the head on the upper right of the oval, overlapping it. On a gorilla the head looks small next to that huge body, so keep the circle to about half the oval's width.

💡 Tip: Press lightly. These shapes get erased before you color.

Step 2: Add the crest point and the arm and leg lines

Above the head circle, draw a tent shape whose peak sits toward the back of the head. That's the crest, the tall ridge adult male gorillas have on top of their skulls. Next come stick lines: one bent arm from the shoulder down to the middle of the oval and back up to the right, one long straight arm sloping down to the ground, and a bent leg with its knee raised.

💡 Tip: Treat each stick line as a bone. Just show where the bends are.

Step 3: Outline the tall crested head

Starting low at the back of the neck, draw up over your tent point and slope down the front toward where the face will be. The back of the head bulges out past the circle and the top rises well above it. Finish with a small oval ear on the side of the head. I keep it tiny, because gorilla ears hide in the fur.

💡 Tip: Make the crest taller than feels right. It reads better that way.

Step 4: Draw the face mask and the heavy brow

On the front of the head, draw a rounded face shape that bulges forward a bit at the muzzle. Across its top, add a thick brow ridge like a ledge sticking out over the eyes. In my experience this is where the drawing starts to say gorilla, so give the brow real weight. It should look like a shelf, not an eyebrow.

💡 Tip: Let the brow stick out past the face on the right side.

Step 5: Shape the round back and belly

Trace around the body oval with a firm line, but change it as you go. Push the back up into a high, rounded hump behind the head and let it curve down to a wide rump on the ground. Add a short belly line under the chin, and stop where the arms and leg will cover the body.

💡 Tip: Keep the back line smooth. Bumps there look like lumps, not muscle.

Step 6: Draw the arm holding the banana

Follow the bent stick line. The upper arm hangs from the shoulder, the elbow rests low in front of the belly, and the forearm rises toward the face. I make the forearm thick, almost as wide as the upper arm. Add a rounded hand near the chin and a curved banana poking out of it, tip pointing up and forward, away from the face.

💡 Tip: Draw the hand as a mitten first. Add the finger lines later.

Step 7: Add the bent leg and the flat foot

Most of this leg hides behind the arm, so draw only what shows. Add a short curve for the top of the thigh, then the front of the shin coming down below the hand. On the ground, draw a long flat foot with its toes pointing right, plus two toe lines. Gorilla feet are wide, almost like hands.

💡 Tip: Only draw lines you can see. Skip the parts behind the arm.

Step 8: Draw the long arm resting on its knuckles

Gorillas walk and lean on the knuckles of their hands, and this pose shows it off. From behind the face, run the far arm down and to the right along your straight stick line. It's long, reaching all the way to the ground. At the bottom, draw a big rounded fist sitting on the ground line with three short knuckle lines.

💡 Tip: Check the arm length. A gorilla's arms are longer than its legs.

Step 9: Give him gentle eyes, a broad nose and a calm mouth

Tuck two small eyes right under the brow, the far one a little smaller. A soft curved lid over each one makes the face calm instead of angry. Between them, the nose starts narrow and spreads into two wide nostrils. Under that goes a long, slightly smiling mouth and a short chin curve.

💡 Tip: Draw the lids drooping a little. That's what makes him look gentle.

Step 10: Mark the silver saddle, the fur and the grass

Grown male gorillas get silver-gray hair across the back, which is why they're called silverbacks. Draw one long curve from behind the head down to the rump to separate that saddle from the darker fur. Then scatter a few short fur strokes. A spiky grass tuft at each end of the ground line finishes the scene.

💡 Tip: Curve the fur strokes the way the body bends. Straight ones look stiff.

Step 11: Ink your lines and erase the guides

Go over every line you want to keep with the fineliner. I start with the head and work down and outward, so my hand never drags across fresh ink. Leave the oval, the circle, the tent and the stick lines in pencil. Once the ink is dry, erase those guides.

💡 Tip: Give the brow and crest one confident stroke each. Wobbly ones show.

Step 12: Color your gorilla

Use dark gray for the fur on the head, body, near arm and leg. The far arm and a band along the bottom of the belly get black, which pushes them back. Fill the saddle with a light silver gray. All the bare skin is gray, the brow and nose black, the eyes brown. The banana is yellow and the grass green.

💡 Tip: Color the saddle last and lightly, so it stays paler than the fur.

When a Gorilla Turns Into a Bear or a Teddy

A round head with no crest. Without it the head turns into a bear's. Let the skull rise into a peak at the back.
A thin eyebrow line instead of a brow ridge. Gorillas have a thick, bony ledge over the eyes. Draw it as a solid shape that sticks out.
Arms the same length as the legs. That looks like a person in a costume. The arms should reach the ground even while he sits.
Wide-open round eyes. Big white eyes make the gorilla look startled. Keep them small and dark, tucked under the brow with a soft lid.
Coloring everything solid black. You lose every line you drew. Use dark gray for most of the fur and save true black for the shadows.

Moving Your Gorilla Into a New Scene

Swap the banana for a leafy branch, since wild gorillas mostly eat plants. You can also add a baby riding on his back, or skip the silver saddle for a younger gorilla with an all-dark coat. If you'd like a bigger, wilder ape next, the King Kong drawing tutorial is fun, and the sloth drawing step by step lesson gives you a slower rainforest neighbor to draw beside him.

Silverback Gorilla Coloring Page and Printable Steps

The free gorilla coloring page shows a colored silverback at the top for you to copy, with a key telling you which color goes on which part, and a large outline below with space for a jungle. The step-by-step PDF guide holds all 12 steps with pictures and tips.

🎨

Free PDF

Gorilla 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 Gorilla 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.

Silverback Steps Stacked on a Single Pin

How to draw a gorilla step by step - all 12 steps on one page (Pinterest) — Every gorilla step in one tall image, ready for your Pinterest board or the printer.

Every one of these is a step-by-step tutorial, so you can follow along picture by picture, the same way you drew the silverback.

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Gorilla Questions Young Animal Fans Ask Me

What is the easiest way to draw a gorilla?

Start with a big oval for the body and a smaller circle for the head. Add a pointed crest, a thick brow and long arms that reach the ground, then outline around those shapes.