How to Draw a Dog (Labrador Retriever)

Please PAUSE the video after each step to draw at your own pace (scroll down to see the final labrador retriever drawing).

For the first few steps, don’t press down too hard with your pencil. Use light, smooth strokes to begin

Step 1: Draw two circles next to each other as a guide for the labrador’s body. One circle should be a bit bigger than the other, and they don’t have to be perfect. They’re just guides.

Step 2: Draw a guide for the dog’s head above and to the right of the bigger circle. The guide for the head is just a smaller circle with an arc to the right of it.

Step 3: Draw in the rest of the lab’s body by connecting all the shapes with a few lines.

Step 4: Draw guides for the labrador retriever’s legs as curved lines under the big circles.
Step 5: The dog’s tail is a curved line on the left side of the body.

Step 6: Draw a small U-shaped line on the inside of the dog’s head as the ear.

That’s it for the initial sketch! From this point on, press harder with your pencil to get a more defined sketch.

Step 7: Draw the labrador’s eye. It’s basically a triangle pointing left. Draw a circle inside of it as the pupil and shade it in.

Step 8: Tighten the shape of the dog’s ear by using quick, short strokes to represent fur.

Step 9: Draw the labrador retriever dog’s nose as a square with rounded corners on the tip of the muzzle. Inside that shape, draw an oval and shade it in for the nostril.

Step 10: Using the initial lines as guides, draw the rest of the lab’s muzzle. The mouth starts near the bottom of the nose and turns left toward the circle. The lower jaw sits right below it.

Step 11: Using the initial guides, draw in the rest of the dog’s head using quick, short strokes for the fur.

Step 12: Using the guide, darken the labrador retriever’s tail by drawing quick short strokes to create fur.

Step 13: Draw the lab’s hind legs by using the initial guide lines. To get the structure right, sketch them in lightly at first. Draw quick, short strokes all around the guide line.

Dogs walk on their toes. The hock (the joint that angles back) would be their ankle. Keep this in mind to get accurate-looking labrador retriever legs. Use the same method to draw the dog’s other leg hiding on the other side.

Step 14: Using the guides again, draw the front legs. Sketch lightly at first, then draw quick, short strokes all around the guide line. Don’t forget the labrador retriever’s other leg peeking from behind.

Step 15: Draw in the rest of the dog’s body with quick, short strokes using the initial lines as guides.

Step 16 (optional): You can stop here for a sketchy look or erase as much as you can of the initial lines for a cleaner look. Don’t worry about erasing all of them. It’s okay to leave some behind.

Step 17 (optional): Add some shading to give your labrador retriever drawing more dimension and volume. Pick the direction of the light source when shading so that the shadows are consistent with it. Vary the pressure on your pencil to get different degrees of tonal value.

Step 18 (optional): Labrador retrievers can be white, but you can add more value throughout the body for further detail. Just add value using quick, short strokes throughout the body to represent fur and the folds of the skin. It’s a good idea to use reference when drawing this labrador retriever dog in to be as accurate as possible.