Drawing a Baby Dragon using Letters and Numbers with Jeff Mack

Big Idea
Drawing pictures can be fun and easy, especially when you break down your image into smaller component parts.   In this activity, author and illustrator, Jeff Mack, will guide you in drawing a baby dragon just by using various letters and numbers.  Below is a step by step instruction on how to draw the dragon.  You can also watch the video above and follow along with Jeff directly.

NOTE: Each step below will show how and where a letter or number should be drawn.  Each step will be highlighted in light blue.

GRADE
K-3

THEME
Art Activity

LENGTH
This 10-20 minute activity will show how you can draw images using smaller component parts. In this activity, we will use letters and numbers to draw a baby dragon.

DISCIPLINE
Art, Writing, Numbers, Letters

VOCABULARY
Fantasy, Imagination, Dragons

STEP 1:
The letter and numbers you will use in this activity are C, O, U, T, i, w, J, v, m, 2, and the dot from the “i”.

STEP 2:
Draw the letter “C”. This will be the nose of the dragon.

STEP 3:
Draw another letter “C” (sideways) and connect it to the previous letter “C”.  This will be the top of the head of the dragon.

STEP 4:
Draw the letter “0” under the last “C” you drew.  This will be the dragon’s eye.

STEP 5:
Add the dot of the “i” in the  letter “O” to complete the eye of the dragon.

STEP 6:
Add the letter “U” under the nose to create the dragon’s mouth.

STEP 7:
Add the letter “T” by connecting it to the bottom of the dragon’s mouth (letter “U”) as shown below.

STEP 8:
Add two sideways letters “i’s” (without dots) below the letter “T”.  If you are familiar with your math, they will look like a big “=” equals sign.  This will be an arm of the dragon.

STEP 9:
Now add a sideways letter “W” between the two “i’s”.  This will be a hand and fingers of the dragon.

STEP 10:
If you want, you can make it look like the dragon is holding something.  Just for fun and without using any letters or numbers, we will add a baby bottle like the one the baby dragon is holding in Jeff Mack’s book “Just a Story”.

STEP 11:
To give the dragon some depth, we will add another letter “i” (without dot)  above the top of the dragon’s arm.  This will represent the other arm of the dragon.

STEP 12:
Now we get to draw a number!  Let’s add a backwards number “2” just under the arm of the dragon.  This will be the knee, leg, and the top of the foot of the dragon.

STEP 13:
Let’s add another letter “i” (without the dot) under our backwards “2”.  This will be the bottom of the dragon’s foot.

STEP 14:
Let’s add another sideways “W” between the top and bottom of the dragon’s foot.  This will be the dragon’s toes.

STEP 15:
Now we are going to add a backwards “C” to the bottom of the foot of the dragon.  This will be the back of the foot  and ankle of the dragon.

STEP 16:
We are almost done!  Now let’s add a backwards “J” to the head of the dragon.  This will be the dragon’s back and the top of the dragon’s tail.

STEP 17:
Guess what?  We are going to add another backwards “J” to the ankle of the dragon and connect it with the end of the previous backwards “J”.  This will be the bottom of the dragon’s tail.

STEP 18:
Well, right now our baby dragon looks more like a baby dinosaur.  We just need to add a couple things to turn this dino into a dragon!  First we will add a bunch of upside-down “V’s” to the dragon’s back and tail.  These will be the spikes of the dragon!

STEP 19:
We need one more upside-down letter “V”.  This will be the top of the dragon’s wing.

STEP 20:
Now we need a lowercase letter “m” to add in between the ends of the upside-down letter “V”.  This will be the bottom of the dragon’s wings.

STEP 21:
We made it!  One last thing.   We need to add another letter “i” (without the dot) down the middle of the wing.  This just makes the dragon’s wing look more “wingy”!

Now that you have a completed drawing, you can color it in and add other things to your image.  You can put clothes on the dragon?! You can put it in a forest or even next to a castle!  What about having it breath fire or having smoke come out of its nose?

If you have followed along, your dragon will look something like this.  Don’t worry if it doesn’t look EXACTLY like this.  That is what is so great about drawing.  Even though we are all drawing the same thing, what we draw is unique to us and that is what makes art so special!

Book Credit:

Just a Story

Available at your local library and bookstore.  Also available online.

Published by Neal Porter Books / Holiday House, September 2020
JUST A STORY copyright © 2020 by Jeff Mack.
Reproduced by permission from Holiday House Publishing, Inc.