How to Draw a Stegosaurus

1. Begin the cartoon stegosaurus outline by Drawing the head. Use three curved lines - one for the top of the head, one for the bottom, and one for the mouth.

Enclose an almond-shaped eye and shade a round pupil inside it. Use short lines at the corner of the mouth and above the eye.

2. Extend long curved lines from the back and bottom of the head to outline the neck, back, tail, and chest. Detail the head with short lines, contouring around the eye and outlining the beak.

3. Use curved lines to trace the rectangular legs. Enclose small, rounded triangle shapes to indicate the toenails. Connect the legs with a curved line, outlining the belly.

4. Continue sketching the rectangular legs, using curved lines. Enclose small, rounded triangle shapes to indicate the toenails.

5. Extend a long curved line from the back of the leg to the tip of the tail. Enclose the final rectangular leg, with small, overlapping triangular toes.

6. Draw the bony plates on the stegosaur's back, erasing as necessary. Each plate should be a rounded pentagon or five-sided shape.

Notice that the plates are very small on the neck, growing larger the further along the back they are, then growing smaller once more near the tail.

7. Continue to draw successively smaller pentagon-shaped plates along the back and tail. Use "V" shaped lines between the plates to indicate a second row partially hidden behind the first.

8. Continue the second row of plates along the tail. Then draw the curved, triangular spikes on the tail, erasing as necessary. Begin texturing the plates with curved lines.

9. Continue texturing the plates with curved lines. Contour the dinosaur's skin with short lines at the base of the head, knees, ankles, shoulders, and hips.

Your stegosaurus outline is now complete. Color your cartoon dinosaur.

Were stegosauruses green, gray, or brown, as they are often depicted? Or were they brightly colored like modern lizards? Did they have spots or stripes? No one knows for sure, so the choice is yours.