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A super cute and easy giraffe drawing and painting idea with tutorial and step-by-step instructions on fabric for adults and kids to enjoy!
This tote bag with giraffe drawing and coloring using sharpies is going to put a smile on anyone’s face. It is cool to carry around for shopping and art classes. With a little bit of creative you can create this colorful giraffe on any surface but it looks adorable on a bag with slings.
Let’s get started, there is a video at the end:
Material
Canvas tote bag – you can use any cotton tote bag, fabric bag, string bag, shopping bag, or even a sack.
Cardboard or paper – to place inside the tote bag when painting so that the paint doesn’t transfer on the backside and create a mess.
Acrylic paints – brown and white to paint giraffe body. You can also use White gel pens for details and fine designs. You can use fabric paints for best results.
Black pens or micro pens for outlining. Available in a variety of sizes for different thickness. Use it on dry paint to avoid damaging the tip of your pen. (optional)
Permanent markers – sharpies, Permanent markers or metallic markers for doodling and fine detail drawing. I am using sharpies brush tip for coloring and extra fine tip for giraffe face details. You can use any other markers of your choice just make sure they don’t wash away. You can also use acrylic paint markers.
Acrylic sealer – to spray the bag and allow paint to stay after washing. Only hand wash.
Fabric medium – optional to add to acrylic paints to make them fabric friendly.
Easy Giraffe Drawing and Painting Instructions
Give your bag a quick wash and iron it before starting to allow paint to be absorbed nicely.
How to draw a giraffe?
Slide a paper sheet inside the tote to stop the paint from smudging on the backside. With the help of a pencil sketch and outline the body and legs of the giraffe such that the neck aligns with one of the tote bag’s handle. On the other side of the handle draw the giraffe’s face.
Roughly outline the entire giraffe to visualize the size that you want before focusing more on the details. Once you have the legs and body of the giraffe exactly where you want them on your canvas, then use the pencil to make proper curves and legs. When working with giraffe face, make the outline first and then include the eyes, mouth, and neckline to make it look realistic.
You can either freehand draw the giraffe like I did or use giraffe clipart. Make sure to read the usage instructions, print, and trace on your bag with carbon paper.
What Paints to use on fabric?
There are 3 ways to paint on canvas totes:
1) Fabric paints – there are many options.
2) Acrylic paints mixed with fabric medium.
3) Acrylic paints once dried sealed with acrylic sealer.
Tip: It is also recommended that you heat set the paint on low setting on the reverse side of the tote or place a fabric on top and iron to set the paints into the fabric.
How to paint a giraffe?
Squeeze out brown and white acrylic paints side by side on your palette. Make a mix color in between and use a combination of shades and water to paint the body of the giraffe with a paint brush to make it look natural and realistic. You can also paint it one color if you like.
The more ideal choice for painting on the fabric is fabric paints but since this tote bag is made of canvas I used the acrylic paints I had handy. Let it dry.
To make our giraffe colorful and striking use a rainbow of colors or you can choose your own color palette before starting to make art on giraffe’s body. I chose to make a variety of shapes and color them in keeping in mind how the color wheel moves across the colors. This gives it an abstract art vibe.
You can make polka dots, stripes, plaid, hearts, stars, and what not! The ideas are endless just bounded by your creativity.
Start from the giraffe’s neck with darker to lighter shades of green, blue, purple, pink, yellow, orange, red, and then repeat the sequence on the giraffe’s body.
I used a black outline marker to draw the features on the giraffe’s face. The video has step-by-step instructions that you can follow to make this basic giraffe face drawing. I used a variety of brown shades to add slight neck and face outline and make the face more elegant like a giraffe.
Let it dry for a while and then use a acrylic sealer to coat and seal your giraffe painting.
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial.
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