How to Draw a Ballerina

Draw a ballerina standing in a ballet pose by creating the structure of the body position first.

Ballerinas are professional ballet dancers that are usually most identifiable by their accentuated tutus, colored tights and ballet slippers. In visual arts, they are often painted or photographed positioned in various ballet poses. Ballerinas are required to balance and dance on the very tips of their toes and move in an elegant fashion. You can draw a ballerina in a dance position on her toes by following a few guidelines and by creating the structure of the ballet pose first.

Things You'll Need

• Pencil
• Paper
• Eraser

Instructions

1. Draw the frame of the ballerina by first drawing a medium-sized circle for her head. Add a slightly tilted line coming from the bottom of the circle to mark the neckline.

2. Position the pencil at the end of the neckline and draw another circle that is the same size as the head to represent the ballerina's chest.

3. Place the pencil at the bottom of the chest circle and draw another tilted line to represent the waistline. From the end of that line, draw a slightly larger circle as the lower part of the ballerina's torso. You should how have a head, a neckline, a chest, a waistline, and the lower part of the torso drawn.

4. Draw one long line down from underneath the lower end of the body and one long line extending outward to the side. This represents the ballerina's legs as she balances on one leg and extends the other outward.

5. Draw two short lines extending outward from the chest circle to represent the arms of the ballerina.

6. Add more structure to the ballerina's limbs by drawing sausage-like shapes on the legs and extended arms. Add two each to the legs and two each for the arms.

7. Thicken the neckline by drawing it in with two lines. Draw hair blowing outward in the wind from the head circle of the ballerina by adding wispy lines from the head.

8. Sketch in one eye and an ear on the head. You are looking at the side of the ballerina's face rather than the whole face all at once. Add a nose where it fits appropriately underneath the eye.

9. Sketch five extended fingers and a hand on the end of each arm. Add a sausage-like shape that is slightly smaller than the rest of the leg shapes to the end of each leg. These are the ballet slippers.

10. Draw a widespread dress-like shape that covers the entire lower part of the ballerina's body and extends outward. This is the ballerina's tutu.

11. Fill out the chest of the ballerina by drawing in an arched upper body shape around the waistline and chest circle. All original frame sketches should now be drawn in with fuller body parts at this point.

12. Add finer detail to the ballerina by drawing in ruffles on the tutu, shaded areas, or patterns. Remember to outline the ballet slippers on the feet and draw a few crisscross lines up the legs to add the ties to the slippers. Erase any sketch lines from the original frame that are still visible.

Tips & Warnings

• Use a photo of a ballerina as a reference. This will help you get the shape of the body right as it stands in a ballet pose and will give you the opportunity to add finer detail and shading.

References

• "Drawing How To Draw": How to Draw Cartoon Ballerinas with Easy Step by Step Drawing Tutorial