Draw a Turkey in Easy Steps

There are two species of turkey, both of which are large birds: the wild turkey, native to eastern and central North America, and the ocellated turkey, native to Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula.

The common turkey is a domesticated version of a wild turkey that has become a popular food source.

Due to their unusual appearance, there has been a great demand for a free turkey drawing tutorial.

To that end, we've compiled a comprehensive drawing guide for the Thanksgiving bird, condensed into a mere nine bullet points and supplemented with some basic images.

Enjoy yourself, and let your imagination run wild.

Let's get started on that Turkey drawing!

Step 1

The first step is to draw a perfect circle slightly above the center of your paper. Then, add some featheriness to the crown by sketching a slanted, curved W-shaped line.

Don't forget to use light strokes when sketching out your ideas. That way, if you decide you don't need a certain line in the outline down the line, you can simply delete it. In addition to keeping your drawing neat and refined, this also helps.

Two, sketch the turkey's top half and bottom half.

Draw the turkey's body directly under its head; it should be long and thin at the top and wider at the bottom.

The illustration above shows that the underside of the turkey's body should be round.

The body, if drawn accurately, should resemble the shape of a vase.

Third, sketch out the turkey's two legs.

Ink two skinny legs in a straight line under the turkey's torso. A foot with three claws at the end of each leg is an essential detail.

Make sure the turkey's feet and legs look as similar as possible.

The fourth step is to sketch the turkey's wings.

Create a curve on either side of the turkey's body and enclose it.

The curved line should trace the shape of the turkey's body, making it look like it has two sets of wings perched perfectly still on its sides.

Phase 5: Next, Sketch One-Half of the Feathers

The turkey's back feathers are its most defining characteristic, so it's time to draw those now.

Spread out, it's especially lovely, so that's what we'll be depicting here.

Starting on the left side of the turkey's body, draw a scalloped line that curves upwards until it reaches the turkey's head. This is the midpoint of the feather outline.

Complete the Feather Outline (6th Step)

It is necessary to repeat the prior step until the feather outline is a complete circle, as shown in the above illustration.

The outline of the figure must stretch from one side of the turkey's chest to the other, covering its entire upper region.

Completed at this point is the outline of the spread feathers.

Detail the Spreading Feathers 7

To finish the outline we just drew, add several straight lines coming out of the middle and ending at the apexes.

Keep in mind that the lines you draw must adhere to the outline you created.

Step 8 - Finish by Adding Finer Feather Details

Inside the outline, draw two identical figures parallel to each other. The figure should, like the one we drew before, encompass the entire top half of the turkey's head and body.

A tiny space like the one depicted here should be left between the feathers and the outline of the figure.

Draw the Turkey's Face (Step 9)

Finish off your turkey by giving it some facial details.

Next, outline the turkey's eyes by drawing two slanted ovals inside the turkey's head. Next, make two tiny circles for each eye.

Next, cover up everything but the innermost circles of the eyes in black. This creates a stunning effect and gives the eyes a sparkling appearance.

Simply add a small curve to the underside of an irregular rectangle to create the beak. You should round off the beak with an elongated, curved figure.

This comes together to form the turkey's snood, which is one of the bird's most defining characteristics.

Congratulations, you've managed to draw a turkey! The most fun part, coloring the turkey, has finally arrived!

Turkeys can be found in a wide range of colors, but white is usually the most prominent, with black or dark grey often appearing on the back, wings, and tail feathers.

In the above image, you can see that we've given the turkey a very basic color scheme. To add some vibrancy to the turkey, we used a variety of brown shades.

To color your turkey however you like, feel free to use any color you like. Enjoy yourself as you watch the turkey come to life as you change its hues.

There are 4 more ways to give your turkey drawing personality.

Improve the appearance of this turkey in a few simple ways.

The Thanksgiving turkey has become an icon representing the holiday itself. This is why we believe a Thanksgiving twist on this turkey sketch is in order.

Either by drawing a cornucopia or by including typical Halloween treats, such as pumpkins, would work. The addition of orange leaves would not only look beautiful, but would also help to convey a sense of autumn in this picture.

In addition to the turkey, what other Thanksgiving trappings could you add to this picture?

We decided to keep the turkey's design fairly simplistic, and the end result is a very endearing cartoon bird. Altering some of the design's specifics could provide you with a more elaborate image.

The beak, wings, and feathers on your turkey won't look quite right, but studying photos of actual birds can help.

As an alternative, you could still draw it in a cartoony fashion, but take a totally new tack. Which artistic direction do you prefer for this photo?

No matter what style you use to draw this adorable turkey, it would benefit from having a background.

A farm or other natural environment are two possibilities, but you could also go with something more abstract.

For some more imaginative settings, this turkey could be at a mall or an arcade. Where else besides a Thanksgiving dinner table could you possibly find a home for this turkey?

We covered the fact that turkeys don't have a lot of vivid hues in our tutorial on drawing a simple turkey.

You can still have fun experimenting with various art supplies and mediums, even if you stick to these drabber hues.

For a one-of-a-kind turkey, you can also use bolder, brighter hues. In addition, combining different art supplies to give the colors and tones a more lively appearance is a lot of fun.

Draw a Turkey Now That You've Finished!

With this turkey drawing guide, we hope you had a wonderful time getting creative this Thanksgiving. Drawing a turkey might pique your interest in drawing other birds.

You can find step-by-step guides for drawing a variety of birds, such as a peacock, hummingbird, and many others, in our "How to Draw" book.

You should be proud of yourself for creating such a wonderful turkey drawing.

You can share your success by posting your artwork on our Facebook and Pinterest pages.

Stop feeling ashamed. It's clear that you put in a lot of effort into your drawing because it looks fantastic.

Send us a picture of your brightly colored turkey.