How to draw an ostrich — easy step by step drawing ideas

Ostrich drawing ideas always get a giggle in the studio, because an ostrich is a very funny-looking bird. It is a big fluffy feather duster balanced on two long stilts, with a neck like a periscope and a tiny head on top wearing enormous eyelashes. Children adore it. Learning how to draw an ostrich is really learning how to draw a fluffy ball, two sticks and a long bendy line, and it comes out charming every time.

I like this tutorial for children who enjoy a bit of silliness in their drawings. The proportions are so extreme — giant body, tiny head, absurdly long neck and legs — that there is no such thing as getting them wrong. If the neck is too long, it looks more like an ostrich. If the body is too fluffy, it looks more like an ostrich. It is the most forgiving bird on the site.

In this tutorial we will build a cheerful black-and-white ostrich in six easy steps, following the practice sheet below. I will share the pro tips I use when teaching it, the mistakes that trip up nearly every beginner, and quick fixes for when your ostrich starts looking like a chicken or a flamingo. Grab a pencil and a black crayon, and let us draw.

The 6 steps to easy ostrich drawing ideas

Step 1 — Draw the body

Start with the body, in the lower middle of the paper, leaving lots of room above it for the neck and below it for the legs. Draw a big round shape, a little wider than it is tall, like a plump ball or a fat egg lying on its side. Then go around the outline and make it bumpy — little soft scallops all the way round, like the edge of a cloud — so the body looks fluffy.

Make the body big; it is the largest part of the ostrich by far, and everything else is thin and long. Keep the pencil light; you will darken the keeper lines at the end.

Step 2 — Add the neck and head

Here is the step that makes an ostrich an ostrich. From the top left of the body, draw the neck rising straight up: two thin lines close together, curving very slightly forward as they go, and reaching up at least as high as the body is wide. Keep the neck the same thinness all the way up — it is a bare, skinny neck, not a fluffy one.

On top of the neck, draw a small round head, only a little wider than the neck itself, like a small ball on a stick. That tiny head on that huge neck is the ostrich's whole look. If the neck feels too long or the head too small, they are exactly right.

Step 3 — Add the face

Now the ostrich gets its personality. On the small head, draw two big round eyes side by side, filling most of the head, with a small white shine dot in each — and give each eye three long curved eyelashes sweeping up and out. Ostriches are famous for their lashes, and they make the face instantly sweet and a little bit glamorous.

Below the eyes, at the front of the head, draw a short, flat, rounded beak like a small duck bill, with a line along the middle to split it. Add a soft blush circle on each cheek. That is the whole face, tiny and expressive on top of the tall neck.

Step 4 — Add the legs

From the bottom of the body, draw two long thin legs going straight down: each one a pair of lines close together, with a small bump at the knee about halfway down, reaching down at least as far as the body is tall. Ostrich legs are long and skinny, like the neck, and they hold the big fluffy body high off the ground.

At the bottom of each leg, draw a big foot with two thick toes pointing forward — ostriches have just two toes, and they are large and rounded. Make sure both feet sit on the same imaginary ground line so the ostrich stands evenly. Long legs and big two-toed feet are the last piece of the ostrich shape.

Step 5 — Add the wing and tail feathers

On the side of the body, draw the wing: a rounded shape like a soft cloud lying against the body, with a scalloped edge, taking up about a third of the body. This will stay white when you color, against the black body. Add a few short curved lines inside it for feathers.

Then, at the back of the body, draw the tail: a fluffy tuft of feathers sticking out and up, drawn as a cluster of soft rounded bumps, like a small cloud or a pompom attached to the back. This will also stay white. Keep both fluffy and rounded — there are no sharp feather tips on a cartoon ostrich.

Step 6 — Finish and color

Darken the lines you want to keep and erase the light scaffolding underneath — the part of the body hidden behind the wing, and any ground line you sketched. Then color: fill the body solid black, leave the wing and tail feathers white, and color the neck, head, legs and feet a soft pinkish-tan or peach. The beak is a slightly darker tan.

Add pink to the blush cheeks and leave the shine dots in the eyes uncolored so they sparkle. Then give your ostrich somewhere to be — golden savannah grass, a big orange sun, a little bush, an egg on the ground beside it. Sign your name in the corner; every finished drawing deserves a signature.

Common mistakes to avoid

A short neck

This is the mistake that turns more ostriches into chickens than any other. A normal bird neck on a fluffy body is just a big hen.

Make the neck at least as tall as the body is wide, thin all the way up, with a tiny head on top. If it feels too tall, it is correct.

Short or thick legs

Stubby legs make the ostrich look like it is sitting down, and thick legs make it look like a penguin. The ostrich stands tall on skinny stilts.

Draw the legs as long as the body is tall, thin, with a small knee bump, ending in big two-toed feet on one ground line.

A head that is too big

A big head with a big face makes the ostrich look like a normal bird with a long neck. The ostrich's head is comically small.

Keep the head only a little wider than the neck, and let the big eyes and lashes fill it almost completely.

Troubleshooting

“My ostrich looks like a chicken”

Lengthen the neck and the legs until each is at least as long as the body is wide, shrink the head, and make the wing and tail fluffy white clouds against a black body. The neck alone usually fixes it.

“My ostrich looks like a flamingo”

The body is probably too slim and the beak too curved. Make the body a big fluffy ball, give it a short flat beak, and color it black with white feathers rather than pink.

“I ran out of room”

The body was drawn too high or too low. For this drawing, let the neck or legs run off the edge — it can look funny and dramatic. Next time, draw the body in the lower-middle of the page and leave room above and below.

Key takeaways

FAQ

What age is this ostrich drawing tutorial for? The six-step version works from about age 5 with a grown-up nearby, and most kids around 7 and up can follow the sheet on their own. An ostrich is a fluffy ball on two sticks with a long neck, which is simpler than it sounds.

How long should the neck be? Very long: at least as tall as the body is round, and thin all the way up. Together with the long legs, that neck is what makes an ostrich look like an ostrich. If it feels too tall, it is right.

What materials do we need? A pencil, an eraser, paper, and crayons or markers in black for the body and a pinkish-tan or peach for the neck, legs and face. The wing and tail feathers stay white, and pink for the cheeks is a nice extra.

How is an ostrich different from an emu or a flamingo? An ostrich has a big fluffy black-and-white body, a long bare pinkish neck and legs, and huge two-toed feet. An emu is shaggy brown all over, and a flamingo is slim and pink with a curved beak.

That is your ostrich! Whether it came out tall and elegant or wonderfully wobbly, you built the biggest bird in the world out of a fluffy ball and a few long lines — and that belongs on the fridge. Keep the sheet handy, draw an ostrich racing across the savannah, and come back tomorrow for a new tutorial.

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