In this quick tutorial you'll learn how to draw an African Skink in 8 easy steps - great for kids and novice artists.
The images above represent how your finished drawing is going to look and the steps involved.
Below are the individual steps - you can click on each one for a High Resolution printable PDF version.
At the bottom you can read some interesting facts about the African Skink.
Make sure you also check out any of the hundreds of drawing tutorials grouped by category.
How to Draw an African Skink - Step-by-Step Tutorial
Step 1: Let's draw an African skink! Draw a sideways letter V. Here's a tip: turn your page on its side to draw your V, making sure the tip isn't pointy. Last, add a little hump at the top for the forehead.
Step 2: Add a short line across the bottom for the mouth, and an oval with a circle in it for the eye. Here's a tip: make the corners of the eye extra pointy!
Step 3: Draw a line across the back and a line along the bottom. There's your skink's body!
Step 4: Draw the front leg by tracing a short line that goes across the top, then goes down toward the claws. Here's a tip: make the claws short and pointy.
Step 5: Draw just the front paw on the other side of the body since the rest of the leg is hiding!
Step 6: Trace along the bottom for the belly, ending with the hind leg. Trace a thick oval with the claws being much longer than the ones in the front.
Step 7: At the back, draw a long, skinny and pointy tail. Here's a hint: the shape of the tail looks like a question mark!
Step 8: Draw lines along the entire back of the skink for pattern. There's your African skink!
Interesting Facts about the African Skink
The African Skink looks a bit like a skunk, but it’s actually a lizard! It shouldn’t be a surprise from its name that the African skink makes its home in East Africa.
Did you know?
- The African skink’s diet consists mostly of small insects, like crickets, mealworms, beetles and moths.
- Only growing to a maximum of 20 inches long, the African skink is one of the smaller species of lizards.
- Commonly, African skinks can be seen without their tails. This is unfortunately due to predators. While the skink without a tail is lucky to have escaped its captor, it may end up losing its tail in the process.
- African skinks are known by a bunch of different names, including the African Striped skink, the African Orange-Sided skink, the African Rock skink, the African Blue-Sided skink and, of course, plain old African skink.
- African skinks can live between 5 and 10 years.
- You can keep African skinks as pets! They can be kept in 10 gallon tanks, but 20 gallons or larger is better for them.
African skinks like warmer temperatures during the day (80-85 degrees Fahrenheit) and slightly cooler temperatures at night (75-80 degrees Fahrenheit). This is important to remember if you will be taking care of one.
How To Draw An African skink – Step-By-Step Tutorial