This hedgehog drawing comes from Rob at Art for Kids Hub, who draws side by side with his daughter. You start with one tiny eye and a pointed snout, build a fringe of zigzag spikes around the face, then wrap a big spiky back around the whole animal. The finish uses oil pastels: dark brown spines and a soft tan face that fades to white.
It is a cartoon hedgehog, so the shapes stay simple. Most kids six and up can follow it, and younger ones can stop at the line drawing.
Hedgehog drawing supplies
You need paper, a black marker and something to color with. Turn your paper horizontal. The hedgehog is long and low, and it needs the width.
The video uses oil pastels because they blend. Press hard for dark color, press lightly for pale color, then rub a white pastel over the top to smooth it out. Soft colored pencils do the same trick on a smaller scale. Crayons work too, though the blending is rougher.
Pastels smudge. Put a scrap sheet under your hand while you color, and keep the black marker outline thick so it survives the coloring.
The zigzag line is the whole trick
A hedgehog is mostly one shape: a big rounded hump. What makes it read as a hedgehog and not a mouse is the edge. Draw that hump as a line of small, quick zigzags and it turns prickly right away. Keep the zigzags short. Long, slow ones start to look like grass or fur.
The coloring repeats the idea. Short brown strokes going the same direction as the spines give the back texture without drawing every quill.
Sizing and showing off your drawing
Fill the page. Rob's hedgehog takes up most of the sheet, and that leaves room to color the spines without crowding the face. A finished pastel drawing looks great taped to a window or framed in a kids' room. It also makes a sweet birthday card for anyone who loves hedgehogs.
Make your hedgehog your own
- Add a bow on the head, the way the daughter does in the video.
- Curl it into a ball: a zigzag circle with only the nose and feet poking out.
- Give it an apple or a leaf stuck on its spines, a classic storybook look.
- Draw a baby hedgehog next to it, smaller with fewer spikes.
Want a fall version? Set it in a pile of leaves using our leaf drawing steps.
Common hedgehog drawing problems
- It looks like a pig. Rob's daughter noticed this too. Make the snout longer and more pointed, and keep the nose circle small.
- The back looks flat. Make the hump taller than the head. It should rise high and drop down at the tail end.
- The face spikes cover the eye. Start the zigzags a little above the eye, not on top of it.
- The coloring looks muddy. Do the dark brown first, then the light colors. Wipe your pastel on scrap paper when you switch.
Hedgehog drawing ideas to try next
Woodland animals use the same tricks. Try a squirrel with a big fluffy tail, a raccoon with its striped mask, or a slow and sleepy sloth. If you like hedgehogs off the page as well, crochet a hedgehog to sit next to your drawing.
