How to Draw a Dog Face

Reviewed by Jeanine Hattas Wilson

Last Updated: May 12, 2021

Throughout time, the family dog has been a symbol of steadfast loyalty and unconditional love. But capturing that essence on paper can be a little tricky. You can write about it, but a dog's face is so expressive that sometimes the only way to avoid using 1,000 words is to draw a picture. This article will show you how!

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Lots of Detail

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Add also a vertical and horizontal line on the circular shape to serve as your guidelines. Make sure to use them as they will really help.
Draw an upside down heart and a triangular shape with two cutout holes.

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Remember to make the eyes as glossy as possible by drawing squiggly lines within his pupils.
Use a black pen or marker to ink over your penciled sketch. After outlining your drawing, clean it up by erasing your penciled sketch and guidelines.

Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Line Drawing

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Add small legs but no arms.
Make sure none of the stick's body parts or dots touch the circle.
These should be almost touching each other but not quite. They will be the eyes.
This will be the rest of the face.
They can be floppy, pointy, however you want them!

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Question

Why is there a bow on the dog? What if I don't want the bow on it?

Community Answer

The bow is just an optional stylistic choice made by the artist for this article. If you don't want your dog to have a bow, don't draw one.

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How do I draw a realistic looking dog face?

Community Answer

Use lots of detail, like shading and highlighting.

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How do I make a drawn dog face more lively?

Community Answer

Make the eyes rounder and add some shine - this will create a happier and more lively look. You can also try drawing the dog with different action poses.

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There are some stories that can be used to remember how to draw the second dog's face:
- There was a man (stick figure) had six children (three on each side). They would go to a park to play (circle). They had two rooms facing the park (eyes with the pupils). To travel from their home to the park they would walk a short distance (semi circle). There was a river on both sides (ears).
- There was a man who had no arms (stick figure) and because he had no arms he cried and cried (dots around man). To cheer himself up he went to the fair and went on a Ferris wheel (circle), two haunted houses (eyes), and got two cotton candies (pupils). Then he went over a hill (top of head), went to a hot dog stand, and got two hot dogs (ears).
- There once was a man (stick figure) who had bees chasing him (dots), so he jumped into a lake (circle). When he got out, he saw two caves (eyes and pupils) in the side of a hill (semi-circle) with two waterfalls coming off the side of the cave (ears).
- There was a man with no arms (nose) who fell in a pond (muzzle). It started to rain (whiskers). He ran up a hill (top of head) and went to McDonald's (eyes) and he ordered two burgers (pupils) and fries (ears). Then he was happy (tongue).
- There was once a man with no arms (nose) bees were chasing him (dots) so he hid in a cave (circle). He died, so he was buried at a graveyard (eyes). There were a holes in the gravestones (pupils) so all of the man's family were there (semi-circle), and they were crying (ears).
- There was a man with no arms (Stick figure nose). He died, and was buried, (muzzle), then some flies came (dots). They gave the man 2 graves and colored in a rainbow on the bottoms of both (eyes w/ pupils). Then A BIG rainbow came (semi circle). And finally some cars came to visit the grave (ears).
- There once was a man with no arms. He was really gross so he had flies all around him (dots). One day he went up a hill (muzzle) and he went up another (top of head). There were two pools at the top (eyes with pupils). There were also slides there. He slid down one side (ear) and the down another (other ear).
- One time there was a man(stick figure) who was very clumsy so he cried a lot(dots). Once, he cried so much, he made a lake(circle)! So then his dog and cat died so he put up grave stones(eyes),but the words were all squished together(pupils). He went up a hill,(semi-circle) and went down slides!
- There was a man (Nose and mouth), who had 6 children (dots). They all drowned (muzzle). The two oldest ones got a nice grave (eyes), while the younger 4 got 2 small graves to squeeze into (pupils). The father got a big grave watching over them all (Semi circle). At the funeral, many tears were shed (ears).
- There was a man (Nose/Mouth) who had 6 children (dots) so he bought a pool (face), the pool sprung a leak (tongue) so they moved to the mountains higher and higher, (each eye) and even higher (face)when rocks fell (ears) they moved inside the caves (pupils)!
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