How to Draw a Cactus: Easy Step by Step Drawing

Our cactus drawing starts as usual with a simple shape. Draw half of a long oval at the top. Then extend the sides of the oval with two straight lines and close the shape with a curve at the bottom.

Here we are drawing a fairly short and stubby cactus so that it fits the square space on the webpage. But since Saguaro cacti are usually narrow and tall, feel free to draw your cactus narrower and taller.

In the next step, we are marking out the ends of the two “arms” of the cactus. Draw a small oval left of the main cactus body, with a small circle on the body. We will join these shortly to make one “arm”.

Then draw another slightly larger oval on the other side. This one will not need the bottom end circle, as the arm will join from behind the cactus body.

As promised, it is time to connect the “arm” ends drawn above with simple curved lines. Join the left oval and circle on the sides to draw the smaller arm, that attaches from the front of the cactus.

Then draw two curves from the sides of the larger oval to form the other arm, that attaches from behind.

Again, our arms are quite short and stubby – if you have drawn a tall cactus body, feel free to draw these longer as well.

Finally, draw a sand dune for our cactus to stand on. That is a small hill behind the cactus and a random squiggle on the front.

The final sketching step is to mark out the fold lines on the cactus body.

Start with the half-circle mark around the small arm. Then draw the two lines that fold around the arm end. Finally, draw all the other lines, that just follow the shape of the body and arms.

That is the cactus sketch done.

With the sketch complete, it is time to outline our cactus drawing. Start by outlining the small arm first. Then draw the cactus body, breaking the line where it is hidden behind the arm. Finish the cactus by outlining the thick arm.

Similarly for the ground, start with the dune line at the back, and break the line for the part hiding behind the cactus. Then outline the front squiggle. We have added another half-oval to suggest a small dip around the cactus base.

This is a simple step – we are just outlining the fold lines on the cactus body, exactly following the sketched lines.

Finally, let’s add the most important feature of any cactus – it’s prickly spikes! Draw them as short straight lines.

Start by drawing the prickles around the outer shape of the cactus, and notice how the line direction changes following the shape. Then add a few more spikes onto the inner body.

Here is the completed cactus drawing after we have erased the sketch lines.

Our usual final step is to colour in the drawing. The cactus body is coloured in shades of green, with dark “shading” along the body fold lines and a lighter green in between. The top of the cactus and arms, as well as the highlight on the side, have some yellow mixed in.

The sand dune is a golden yellow, with some darker yellow patches to add some structure to the sand.

Finally, add a nice blue sky. Here we are cheating, the sky is not drawn with coloured pencils, but with watercolours, which create interesting random “cloud” patches.