How to Draw Zentangle Animals

Zentangle and doodling are such forgiving drawing techniques, which is why I love Zentangle for kids. They get to spend time making these cool patterned drawings that always look good, with the added benefit of focusing and relaxing them.

In my book, I included several Zentangle ideas for kids, but I wish I had added in some Zentangle animals! No matter, that's what the blog is for, eh?

Here are loads of Zentangle animals for you to gaze upon, draw inspiration from, and then of course be inspired enough to make your own. I know many of these are pretty extraordinary examples of Zentangle magic, so I've also included links for places to download your own printable templates or outlines.

Head over here to find a free printable of beginner Zentangle patterns.

Zentangle Animal Ideas

Elephants

Hello, Zentangle elephants. You are a perfectly-shaped animal to draw inside of, what with your enormous body and curvy trunk.

I've noticed a lot of these have mandala-like designs radiating forward from the elephant's butt. (Elephant butt, heh.) Click each image

Sophia Dei Illustration Sophia Dei Illustration BrikaBrak Designs BrikaBrak Designs Alexandra Nicole Alexandra Nicole Design Best Studio Design Best Studio MD Designs MD Designs Timestorm Timestorm Nadiya Art Nadiya Art BioWorkZ BioWorkZ DJ Penscript DJ Penscript Designed For You Designed For You Tierre3012 Tierre3012 Easy Peasy and Fun Easy Peasy and Fun

Here's a tutorial for how to draw an elephant head and a cute elephant for younger kids to draw.

Here are some free printable elephant outlines to use for your own tangle designs:

3/4 view elephant walking forward

There are a ton of printable elephant templates here to print out

Giraffes

Giraffes here:

BimBim BimBim Design Stack Design Stack BioWorkZ BioWorkZ Roman Poljak Roman Poljak BioWorkZ Million Feed Million Feed

Whole giraffe side view outline

Straight-on giraffe head outline

Giraffe coloring pages – maybe you could trace some to use if there's too much detail.

Zentangle Birds

Pro Am Crafts Pro Am Crafts Chloe Chloe Faye Halliday Faye Halliday The Quilt Rat The Quilt Rat tier tangle tier tangle Iain MacArthur Iain MacArthur Banar Designs Banar Designs Banar Designs

Here are some free bird outlines to pick from – I sorta like the pigeon. 🙂

Zentangle Insects

Insects lend themselves perfectly to Zentangle, with their cute symmetrical little bodies and cool legs sticking out all over the place.

Rosalind Monks Rosalind Monks Emily Brooks Emily Brooks Bleeken Bleeken Alex Konahen Alex Konahen Diana Pryadieva Diana Pryadieva Squidoodleart Squidoodleart

Sea Creatures

Sea creatures are the BEST. In fact, I have my own sea creature printable outlines in my shop for you to tangle in.

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Patchesface Patchesface Indujournals Indujournals Design Kids Design Kids Andrea Larko Andrea Larko Tumbleweed TexStyles Tumbleweed TexStyles Craft Foxes - The Aquarium Craft Foxes – The Aquarium Rachel Rachel Bleeken Bleeken TopVectors TopVectors Faye Halliday Faye Halliday Design Kids Design Kids Golden Spider Golden Spider

Even More Zentangle Animals!

I couldn't stop; once you start looking, you find so many amazing examples of Zentangle animals being made out there.

Hejnum Hejnum CTOCOPOK CTOCOPOK True North Images True North Images Coloring Rocks Coloring Rocks Cheryl Stieghorst Cheryl Stieghorst BioWorkZ BioWorkZ

Animal Zentangle Resources

Patterns: As mentioned above, here are some free printable zentangle patterns, and you can also take so many great ideas from the images above.

Outlines: I've included lots of links for animal outlines or templates to get you started, including my sea creatures outlines pack I have in my store. You can always do a Google search for animal outlines and see what you find!

How to Draw Animals: Artists Network has these animal drawing tutorials– probably better for kids making animal Zentangles.

The Graphics Fairy (I love her site) has this cute how to draw an owl tutorial, with links to birds, dogs, frogs, and squirrels.

Zentangle Supplies

Don't forget to stock up on your supplies! I recently ran out of ink in 2 of my pens within a day of each other, only to find I didn't have any backup pens in the house. TOTAL BUZZKILL.

Sakura Pigma 30062 Micron Blister Card Ink Pen Set, Black, Ass't Point Sizes 6CT Set Sakura Pigma 30062 Micron Blister Card Ink Pen Set, Black, Ass't Point Sizes 6CT Set Buy Now Zentangle Sourcebook Zentangle Sourcebook Buy Now Helix 360 Degree Angle and Circle Maker with Integrated Circle Templates, 6 Inch / 15cm, Assorted Colors (36002) Helix 360 Degree Angle and Circle Maker with Integrated Circle Templates, 6 Inch / 15cm, Assorted Colors (36002) Buy Now The Great Zentangle Book: Learn to Tangle with 101 Favorite Patterns The Great Zentangle Book: Learn to Tangle with 101 Favorite Patterns Buy Now Neenah Cardstock, 8.5 Neenah Cardstock, 8.5 Buy Now One Zentangle A Day: A 6-Week Course in Creative Drawing for Relaxation, Inspiration, and Fun (One A Day) One Zentangle A Day: A 6-Week Course in Creative Drawing for Relaxation, Inspiration, and Fun (One A Day) Buy Now