How to Draw a Hood: Easy 10-Step Guide for Beginners

Ready to add some mystery to your character designs? This tutorial is perfect for artists ages 6+ looking to master fabric folds and head shapes. Grab a pencil, an eraser, and a piece of paper to follow along with these simple, guided steps.

10 Steps

🎯 Final Result

Colorful, finished drawing of a person wearing a hoodie, used as the main tutorial cover.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Sketching the Head and Neck

Pencil sketch showing the basic oval head shape, neck lines, and shoulder outlines.

Start by sketching a soft, rounded shape for the head and two curved lines for the neck. Teacher's Tip: Keep your pencil pressure light so you can easily erase the top of the head later when we add the hood.

Step 2: Defining the Hood Opening

Sketch of an inverted teardrop shape overlaid on the head to define the hood opening.

Draw an inverted teardrop shape to create the hood opening. Tip: Make sure the bottom of the teardrop points toward the chin area to give the hood a natural, draped look.

Step 3: Outlining the Hood

The outer edge of the hood is drawn with parallel lines and the inner head lines are erased.

Add a parallel curved line around the outside of your teardrop shape to form the thickness of the hood. Now, you can carefully erase the lines of the head that are hidden inside the hood.

Step 4: Adding Fabric Folds

Hood drawing with added curved lines to represent fabric folds and texture.

Draw a few soft, curved lines across the surface of the hood. Tip: Think of these as small 'valleys' in the fabric; keeping them curved makes the hood look like soft cloth rather than stiff plastic.

Step 5: Drawing the Face

Detailed facial features including eyes, nose, and mouth drawn inside the hood opening.

Sketch the eyes, nose, and mouth inside the hood opening. Tip: Start with the eyes first to establish the expression, then draw the nose and mouth slightly below them.

Step 6: Adding Hair Details

Hair strands added around the forehead and neck area using pointed curved lines.

Use small, pointed curved lines to draw hair peeking out from the hood. Tip: Vary the size of these points to make the hair look more natural and less like a solid block.

Step 7: Drawing the Zipper

Close-up of a zipper detail added to the bottom of the hood opening.

Add a small zipper detail at the base of the hood opening. Draw a small rectangle with a circle above it to represent the pull tab.

Step 8: Sketching the Shoulders

Shoulder lines added to the drawing to complete the upper body silhouette.

Extend long, sweeping curved lines from the neck to create the shoulders. Tip: Make these lines flow naturally from the hood to show how the garment sits on the body.

Step 9: Refining the Details

Final line art refinement showing inner ear detail and shading lines.

Add final touches like the inner ear and extra shading lines inside the hood. This adds depth to your drawing and makes the fabric look thicker.

Step 10: Coloring Your Masterpiece

Finished, colored illustration of a character wearing a hood.

Time to bring your character to life! Use your favorite colors. Tip: Try using a darker shade of your main color in the folds to create a realistic shadow effect.