How to Draw a Snake Face: Easy 9-Step Tutorial

Ready to bring a slithering reptile to life? This tutorial is perfect for young artists ages 7+ who want to master reptilian features. All you need is a pencil, an eraser, and a piece of paper to start building your snake’s character from the eyes down to its forked tongue.

10 Steps

🎯 Final Result

A vibrant, finished drawing of a green snake face with fangs and a forked tongue.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Sketching the Piercing Eye

Close-up sketch of a snake's almond-shaped eye with a vertical slit pupil.

Start by drawing a sharp, almond-shaped eye. Add a narrow triangle inside for the pupil. Teacher's Tip: Keep your lines light; snakes have intense expressions, so a slightly angled eye helps make it look more alert.

Step 2: Defining the Brow and Snout

Drawing the upper brow ridge and the rounded front curve of the snake's snout.

Draw a curved ridge above the eye to create the brow, then sketch the front curve of the snout. Teacher's Tip: Think of the brow as a small 'roof' over the eye to give your snake a grumpy or focused personality.

Step 3: Shaping the Upper Jaw

Outlining the upper jawline and adding two small oval nostrils to the snout.

Extend the line from the snout to form the upper jaw and add two small ovals for nostrils. Teacher's Tip: Keep the nostrils small and close to the front tip to maintain the snake's sleek profile.

Step 4: Adding the Fangs

Sketching two sharp, curved fangs extending from the upper jaw.

Draw two sharp, curved triangles hanging from the upper jaw. Then, sketch the lower jaw line. Teacher's Tip: Make the fangs slightly curved rather than straight to give them a more natural, menacing look.

Step 5: Connecting the Jaws

Defining the lower jaw and the corner hinge of the snake's mouth.

Outline the lower jaw and add a small curved line at the corner of the mouth to show the hinge. Teacher's Tip: This hinge detail makes the snake look like it can actually open and close its mouth.

Step 6: Drawing the Body Outline

Adding long, curved lines to define the snake's neck and belly.

Extend long, flowing lines from the back of the head to form the neck and belly. Teacher's Tip: Use long, sweeping strokes to make the snake look smooth and flexible.

Step 7: Adding the Forked Tongue

Sketching a forked, Y-shaped tongue extending from the snake's mouth.

Draw a 'Y' shape inside the mouth to create the forked tongue. Teacher's Tip: Keep the tongue thin and pointed to make it look realistic.

Step 8: Adding Scale Texture

Adding small, curved scale details along the snake's jawline.

Add short, curved lines along the jaws to suggest scales. Teacher's Tip: Don't draw every single scale; just adding a few here and there gives the illusion of texture without cluttering the drawing.

Step 9: Final Details

Finalizing the drawing by adding contour lines and cleaning up guide marks.

Add final contour lines to the belly and mouth area to complete the look. Teacher's Tip: Erase any overlapping guide lines now to make your drawing look clean and professional.

Step 10: Bringing it to Life with Color

A fully colored, vibrant green snake face drawing.

Time to color! Use bright greens for a tropical viper look or earthy browns for a garden snake. Teacher's Tip: Use a darker shade of your main color to shade the underside of the jaw for extra depth.