how to draw a chameleon

Easy How to Draw a Chameleon Tutorial and Chameleon Coloring Page

How do you draw a chameleon with all his intricate parts and rainbow coloring? Well, if you are just starting out, this simple step by step version might work best.

• Jump to Chameleon Coloring Page

**Chameleon Drawing**, colored with crayons

Chameleons are fascinating lizards that can change the color of their skins for camouflage, or to signal their mood to other chameleons. Most prefer to live in warm places that vary from the desert to the rain forest. Their long, sticky tongues can fire out in a fraction of a second!

This fun and easy chameleon tutorial works great for younger elementary students, especially those that are just learning how to draw. The simple shapes and bright colors are perfect for their abilities and imagination.

Working with Drawing Guides

The best way to get students off to a good start to any drawing project is to show them how to use guides as a reference point.

You may have noticed that all of the tutorials on this site have center guides that are showing as both a vertical line and a horizontal line. If students make lines like those on theirown paper, before drawing, they will have some extra help in seeing where to begin.

For instance, as seen in Step 1 below, the chameleon's head is sitting just to the right of the vertical line, just above the horizontal one. The body then lines up to the left of the head.

Drawing skills are all about getting the right size and placement, so having some visual reference point to get started, will always help anyone learn how to be a little more accurate.

So does that mean students need to use their pencil to draw big fat lines down the center of their paper before they start? Goodness no, please don't! That will most likely be hard to erase and distract from any finished art. No, simply fold the paper in half both ways, make a crease, and unfold. The beauty is that by the time the drawing is done and colored in, the creases will disappear.

And now, on to the chameleon drawing project.

Preview of the Step by Step Chameleon Tutorial

Materials for a Chameleon Drawing

Pencil. The Ticonderoga brand are the most reliable, make nice dark lines when you need them, and are the easiest to erase. Buying the pre-sharpened ones will save busy teachers a lot of time.

Eraser. Large ones you can hold in your hand do a much better job than just the pencil tip erasers, especially when erasing leftover pencil lines after tracing.

Black Sharpie Marker. These fine point permanent marker pens make nice black outlines, have a good tip for coloring, and never bleed when they get wet. Use them with good ventilation and add extra paper underneath to protect your tables.

Prang Crayons. These are a bit softer than other crayons so they sometimes look like oil pastels. They also have a some nice brown shades that Crayola does not have unless you buy their larger boxes.

Crayola Crayons. The reliable brand that always works well. The 24 pack has some of my favorite golden orange and yellow colors that seem a bit richer and warmer than the ones Prang has.

Time Lapse Drawing of the Chameleon

Here's a new option for busy teachers and parents. You can now easily download this drawing as a coloring page with the red button below. Just click to open it as a PDF, and save it to your desktop. You'll have a free coloring page that you can print as often as you want, for whatever kind of project you want. Use it for younger students that want in on the coloring fun, or as a full size visual aid for those that are following the drawing tutorial. For many more fun things to color, please see my COLORING PAGE GALLERY It's never been easier to see and download so many all in one place!