How to Draw Doodles on an Elephant Drawing

Draw some colorful doodles and designs on an easy elephant drawing as you follow along with this tutorial.

It’s time to start thinking about spring. Can you feel it? Winter is coming to an end. The sun feels a little warmer, the wind doesn’t bite as hard, and those days are getting longer.

And that calls for something a little colorful and fun. Want to try an elephant? All dolled up to celebrate? That seems fitting.

This week, we’ll search out our playful side to decorate an elephant drawing with some colorful doodles. This tutorial is a little more involved than some of the tutorials you find here. It will be just as fun but might take a little longer.

As you paint, draw, and doodle, think about sunny days, fresh air, and celebrations.

Are you ready?

Gather your supplies.

A finished elephant drawing with doodles and tools needed for the tutorial.

Basic calligraphy supplies with Sumi Ink or Ziller ink
Basic Watercolor supplies
Winsor & Newton Cotman Sketcher’s Pocket Box
Payne’s gray watercolor, I like Winsor & Newton Cotman for practice
Metallic Pink & Blue and White gelly roll pen
Dr. Ph. Martin’s iridescent ink (brass, crystal mint, sequins blue)
micron pen

Read the tutorial for extra tips and tricks or jump to the video.

Elephant Drawing

To start, let’s draw a foundation for the whole piece with elephant, doodles, and designs. Some of these markings will act as the background sketch so I know where to place color or space designs. I’ll be able to see it through the watercolor better in ink, and the top layer of color will hide it completely.

Sketch it in pencil first.

Here are some steps and doodle ideas to get you started.

Follow these steps to draw an elephant. Then add doodles to use later. If you want these ideas and steps in printable form, you’ll find it with How to Draw printable worksheets.

Draw the outline and some of the designs with a calligraphy pen and ink. Finish the designs with a micron pen.

When the ink is dry, erase the pencil marks.

Elephant drawing in ink — Go ahead and draw all of the doodles, so you can see them through the paint. Some you will use as guides later.

Watercolor Background Layer

Paint the gray part of the elephant next. I love Winsor & Newton’s Payne’s Gray, but you can use the gray you like best. Leave white any area that you want to paint pink or green (or any other color).

Hint: You can paint right over many of the designs if you want or leave white areas like I did. The gel pens and metallic ink show up on this gray just fine. But pink or green watercolor will not look nice over the gray.

Paint some of the bands on the trunk, head, and back of the elephant pink. I let the pink gently touch the gray because I wanted a little bit of color bleed. If you don’t like this, wait to paint the pink areas until the gray parts are dry. (Unfortunately, I missed adding this section to the video.)

pink watercolor bleeds on an elephant — It’s okay to let the watercolor bleed a little bit, if you like that style.

pink and gray elephant dry — It’s okay to let the watercolor bleed a little bit, if you like that style.

The trunk needs another color. Let’s use green.

Paint the first layer of the water spraying in the air. Think about how water might look as it sprays.

Let it dry completely.

Draw some Doodles and Designs

Try to think about what colors you want and where you want them before you go over the designs with your gel pens and metallic ink. I’ll walk you through what I did.

Start with a white gel pen. Accent the edges of the head and back coverings, add dots to dangle from the head piece and strings from the back piece. Imagine them holding pieces of gold (you’ll draw them later). A few of the little flowers need a white center, and don’t forget the white beads on the ears.

Accent the flower doodle drawings with a pink gel pen.

Draw green metallic stems for the flowers with your calligraphy pen and ink, and add a few lines of blue gelly roll to the elephant’s trunk.

Finally, add gold accents with a calligraphy pen and brass colored ink.

Adding gold accents to a drawing — A few gold accents dress this elephant up.

The elephant looks decked out in those doodle drawings. She’s definitely ready to celebrate.

Now, it’s time to paint one more layer of water on that spray.

Let it dry completely … and you’re finished! Look at that shimmer!