How to Draw a Turkey Picture

You can draw a picture of a turkey.

By tracing the outline of your hand, you can create a basic shape that can be transformed into a turkey picture. The thumb becomes the head of the turkey, and the palm becomes its body. The fingers become the turkey's tail feathers. This method is particularly helpful for people who are not artistically inclined or who find drawing difficult. This turkey drawing is a great project to do with the kids around Thanksgiving day.

Things You'll Need

• Paper
• Graphite pencil
• Colored pencils

Instructions

Drawing for Kids

1. Place the hand you don't write with on a piece of white paper, and lightly trace its outline in graphite pencil.

2. Lift your pinky finger and move it slightly outward. Trace the finger to add a fifth tail feather to the turkey picture.

3. Go over the outline of the palm and the bottom three-quarters of the fingers with a dark brown pencil.

4. Create a rounded shape at the bottom of the palm to complete the turkey's body.

5. Trace over the tips of the fingers in black pencil. Trace over the thumb in red.

6. Draw a beak and a gobbler in red.

7. Use a dark brown pencil to draw a line connecting the top of the turkey's body to where the fingers meet the palm.

8. Draw overlapping feathers on the turkey's body, starting at the base of the neck and working your way to the back of the body. Add additional tail feathers between and behind the ones you've already created.

9. Draw an eye, and draw some simple feet underneath the body.

10. Draw black lines down the center of the tail feathers, then draw bold, thick dark brown lines going across the tail feathers.

11. Color the feathers with browns, oranges, reds and rust colors.

12. Color each feather individually to create texture. Follow the direction of the semicircular lines you created when you drew the feather outlines. Go over the feathers again to darken them slightly.

13. Create light hash marks on the tail feathers with a rust-colored pencil. Make sure these lines go in the direction of the feather strands. Create a thick black band at the top of each feather with a slight curve at the top.

14. Color in the turkey's eye in black pencil.

15. Color the turkey's head red, and color the feet and the beak yellow.

Tips & Warnings

• Make several basic turkey picture outlines for your children to color while you're making Thanksgiving dinner.