For my birthday I got an amazing book about animals. The illustrations in it are so beautiful and detailed and inspired this snake drawing exercise.
When I was looking at pictures of snakes, I noticed their scales form a beautiful pattern and they have amazing colors as well.
This inspired me to create this snake drawing exercise which combines pattern drawing and coloring. They are both mindful activities, because of the repetitive motion, which is almost meditative.
It will help you focus on the present and distracts you from worries and the list of things you still have to do that day. A little moment just for you.
Please let me know if this exercise helped you relax, I’d love to know.
You can find a small video of this exercise on my Instagram @thecreativecooldown
Supplies used:
Bristol paper (Hahnemüle), colored pencils (Faber-Castell polychromos), fineliner no. 1.0, 0.1 (Copic).
Alternative supply suggestions:
For this exercise, you can use a regular pen or a pencil to draw the snake and its pattern as well. If you want to add color, use whatever you have, such as crayons, markers, watercolor. You can even use a pencil to color your snake and just add various shades of grey.
Instructions
1. Draw the outline of your snake. You can make it as complicated as you’d like. You can either just draw 2 parallel lines that meet on both sides and add some dots for eyes on one end or make it really detailed and focus on drawing its head and shape.
2. Start drawing your pattern just below its eyes. Draw small semicircles next to each other. When you start the next row make sure it is shifted halfway in a horizontal direction. This means that the semicircle starts in the middle of the semicircle below. It is a bit like a brick pattern.
3. Continue with this pattern until you’ve reached the end of its tail.
4. Now it’s time to add color. Choose a few colors that combine well together and start coloring. You can just add rings of color or color a specific pattern. It’s up to you. I have chosen to give my snake dark green and yellow rings and added a pattern with brown and light green in between. Now you’ve completed your snake drawing exercise!
If you liked this exercise, you might like my Taming the mane of the lion exercise as well.
