How to Draw a Common Garter Snake

In this quick tutorial you'll learn how to draw a Common Garter Snake in 5 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 Common Garter Snake.

Make sure you also check out any of the hundreds of drawing tutorials grouped by category.

How to Draw a Common Garter Snake - Step-by-Step Tutorial

Step 1: Start with an egg-shaped head, with the narrower end on the bottom. From the top end, draw a large S whose lower curve meets itself. Draw a small teardrop on the opposite side of the top end. Finally, draw a large curve which goes down from the bottom end of the head, under the S, and back up, ending when it meets the upper curve of the S.

Step 3: From the other side of the head, draw long curve that goes away from the body, bends up and over it, under it, finally ending near where it started. From the curve that closed off the first part of the body, draw another curve that goes under the body and meets this curve in a sharp point. Add a couple of curves in the loops of the body so it looks like the body is bending over itself.

Interesting Facts about Common Garter Snake

The common garter snakes vary in color but most have three light colored stripes that run down their entire body. The body color background could be black, brown, grey or olive in color. The stripes could be yellow, blue, white, greenish or a brown. The one stripe is centered while the other two stripes are on either side of its body.The average size of the common garter snakes is 18.1 to 53.9 inches in length and the males are normally smaller than the females. The males do have a longer tail though. A young snake is 4.1 to 9 inches in length.

Did you know?

• Garter snakes are not a threat to humans, they may bite but it is mild and non-poisonous.
• The snake controls insect and mollusk pests and welcome site to gardeners.
• Earthworms, amphibians, leeches, slugs, snail’s insects, small fish and crayfish are the main meal with some small mammals or baby birds occasionally eaten by the snake.
• Average wildlife span of a garter snake is around 2 years.
• They live in the Nearctic region through much of USA except the southwest.

Garter snakes are highly adaptive and can survive any environmental condition. The can be found in many places like meadows, marshes, woodlands and hillsides. They are also near water such as ponds, lakes, streams and ditches.