How to Draw a Scary Clown for Beginners (Step-by-Step Tutorial)

27 March 2026

Last updated: 15 August 2026

Learn how to draw a scary clown using simple shapes, clear facial proportions and gradual shading. This beginner-friendly tutorial takes you through the drawing one stage at a time, from the basic structure of the head to the disturbing details that give the finished clown its character.

You’ll build the face around dark, hollow-looking eyes, a rounded clown nose and an exaggerated grin filled with sharp teeth, before adding the distinctive hair, facial details and deeper shading.

Rather than aiming for perfect realism, this drawing uses recognisable facial structure with deliberately exaggerated features. The widened smile, darkened eyes and strong contrast push the expression away from an ordinary clown and towards something much more unsettling.

As the drawing develops, you’ll see how small changes in shape, proportion and value can dramatically affect the expression. You’ll also build the shading gradually, keeping the process manageable while adding more depth and definition with each stage.

By the end of the tutorial, you’ll have created a complete scary clown portrait while practising techniques that can also be applied to creepy faces, distorted characters and other horror drawings.

Tools You’ll Need

You don’t need a large collection of drawing supplies for this tutorial. A few basic graphite tools are enough to build the sketch, develop the darker features and add the final shading.

HB or 2B pencil
Use this for the initial sketch, guidelines and lighter details. Keeping these early lines light will make them easier to adjust or erase as the clown develops.
4B pencil
A softer pencil is useful for deepening the darkest areas, particularly the eyes, hair, mouth and stronger shadows. It will also help create the contrast seen in the finished drawing.
Eraser
Keep an eraser nearby for removing construction lines, correcting shapes and lifting small areas of graphite where you want to restore lighter values.
Blending stump, tissue or cotton bud
Use a blending tool to gently soften graphite and create smoother transitions between light and shadow. This is particularly useful when shading the face, nose and surrounding features.
Drawing paper
Regular sketching paper is perfectly suitable. Smoother paper will produce cleaner, softer shading, while paper with a little texture will leave more of the graphite grain visible.

You don’t need to use these exact pencil grades, either. Work with the graphite pencils you already have and concentrate on controlling how light or dark you make each area.

Before You Start: Quick Tips

Before starting the first step, keep these few things in mind. The early stages are about building the structure, so there’s no need to commit to dark lines or detailed shading just yet.

Keep your first lines light
Sketch with very little pressure at the beginning. You’ll be adjusting the shape of the head and positioning the facial features as you work, so light lines are much easier to correct or erase.

Build the main shapes before adding details
Concentrate on the head, facial guidelines, eyes, nose and mouth before moving on to the teeth, wrinkles, hair and darker shading. Getting these larger shapes in place first will make the later steps much easier.

Check the placement of the features as you go
The eyes, nose and mouth work together to create the clown’s expression. Take a moment between stages to check their position and proportions before making your lines darker.

Don’t worry about making everything perfectly symmetrical
The drawing should still have a clear underlying structure, but small differences between either side can make the face feel more natural and unsettling. You can refine anything that looks noticeably out of place as the drawing develops.

Once the basic structure feels right, you can gradually introduce darker values, sharper details and stronger contrast to transform the simple sketch into the finished horror clown.

Step 1: Draw the Head and Neck Outline

Start by sketching the basic shape of the head with light pencil lines. As shown in the image, the top of the head is broad and rounded before the sides gradually taper inward towards a small, rounded chin.

At this stage, concentrate on getting the overall silhouette in place rather than making the outline perfectly smooth. Keep your pencil pressure light, as you may want to adjust the proportions once the facial features are added.

Next, draw two short lines down from beneath the jaw to form the neck. Allow these lines to curve slightly outward near the bottom before extending them into two simple sloping lines for the shoulders.

You should now have the same simple head-and-neck structure shown in the image. Leave the inside of the face completely blank for now – the facial features will be positioned in the next steps.

Step 2: Add the Face Guidelines

Now add a few simple guidelines to position the clown’s facial features. Keep these lines light because they’ll eventually be erased.

Start with a vertical guideline down the centre of the face, running from near the top of the head towards the chin. This gives you a centre point to work from and helps keep the features balanced.

Next, draw three horizontal guidelines, matching the placement shown in the image:

The upper line marks the general position of the eyes.
The middle line helps position the nose.
The lower line marks the area where the mouth will be placed.

Notice that the three horizontal lines sit within the lower half of the head, with the eye guideline being the longest. This leaves plenty of space above the features for the clown’s large forehead, which is an important part of the finished character’s proportions.

Don’t press heavily or worry about making the guidelines perfectly straight. They’re simply a framework for placing the features accurately in the next steps.

Step 3: Add the Eyes, Nose, and Mouth

Now you can use your guidelines to build the clown’s main facial features. Keep the shapes fairly simple at this stage – the darker details and shading will come later.

Start with the eyes along the upper horizontal guideline. Draw two wide, curved shapes with slightly pointed outer corners. Keep them positioned on either side of the centre line, leaving a generous gap between them for the nose.

Next, draw a large circular nose in the centre of the face. Position it over the vertical guideline, with the middle horizontal guideline passing roughly through its centre. The oversized nose immediately begins to establish the clown-like proportions of the face.

For the mouth, draw a wide upward-curving smile beneath the nose. Extend both corners upwards into small pointed ends, as shown in the image. Then add a second curved line underneath to create the lower edge of the open mouth.

At this point, the expression should already be clearly visible, but avoid adding teeth, pupils, shading, or other details just yet. Concentrate on matching the size and placement of the basic features before moving on.

Step 4: Add the Ears and Hair

With the main facial features positioned, you can now start building the clown’s distinctive outer silhouette by adding the ears and exaggerated hair.

Draw a rounded ear on each side of the head, positioned roughly level with the eyes and nose. Keep the ears fairly narrow and allow them to project slightly beyond the sides of the face. You only need the basic outer shapes at this stage – finer ear details can be added later.

Next, sketch the clown’s large sections of hair extending from both sides of the head. Begin just above and behind each ear, then work outwards using a series of sharp, irregular points.

As shown in the image, the hair spreads wide rather than upwards, creating two large, uneven shapes on either side while leaving the top of the head completely bald. Vary the length and direction of the points so the hair feels irregular rather than carefully arranged.

Don’t try to make both sides identical. The slightly different shapes help give the clown a stronger, more unsettling silhouette.

Keep the hair as a simple outline for now. You’ll add the darker values and finer details as the drawing develops.

Step 5: Add the Teeth and Remove the Guidelines

Now you can give the smile its sharp, unsettling teeth and clean away the construction lines from the earlier steps.

Inside the mouth, draw a row of small pointed teeth along the upper edge, followed by another row along the lower edge. Keep each tooth roughly triangular, with the points extending towards the centre of the mouth. They don’t need to be identical – slight differences in their width and angle will make the smile feel less uniform.

Follow the curve of the mouth as you add the teeth, allowing them to become slightly smaller towards the corners. This helps them sit naturally within the shape of the grin rather than looking like a flat row.

Once the teeth are in place, carefully erase the vertical and horizontal facial guidelines. Remove any remaining construction marks running through the eyes, nose and mouth while keeping the features themselves intact.

You should now have the complete basic outline of the clown: bald head, pointed side hair, simple ears, empty eyes, round nose and a wide mouth filled with pointed teeth.

Keep the drawing relatively clean at this stage. The main structure is finished, so the next steps can concentrate on developing the darker details and giving the clown its final sinister appearance.

Step 6: Add the Face and Ear Details

With the main structure finished, you can start adding the smaller lines that give the clown’s face more definition.

Start beneath the eyes. Draw a curved line underneath each eye, following the lower edge of the eye shape. Let these lines extend slightly beyond the eyes towards the outside of the face. This creates the distinctive lower-eye shape visible in the finished drawing and begins to make the expression feel more intense.

Next, add short curved lines from the inner corners of the eyes towards the sides of the nose. Keep these subtle rather than heavily outlined. Together with the lower-eye lines, they help connect the eyes and nose and give the centre of the face more structure.

Move across to the ears and add simple curved inner-ear lines. Follow the general shape of each ear rather than filling them with lots of detail – a couple of carefully placed curves are enough to suggest their structure.

Keep these new details light and controlled for now. The darker values will come later, so at this stage you’re simply building the shapes that will support the final shading.

Step 7: Add the Forehead Lines and Hair Texture

Now you can add a few stronger character details to break up the smooth areas of the face and hair.

Start on the forehead by drawing three uneven, gently curved horizontal lines. Place them across the upper-middle area of the forehead, following the rounded shape of the head. The lines don’t need to match each other exactly – keeping their curves slightly irregular gives the face a more aged, unsettling appearance.

Keep the forehead lines fairly light and tapered towards the ends. They should be clearly visible without becoming as strong as the main outline of the head.

Next, add texture inside the hair. Draw several long, loose lines that sweep outwards from the sides of the head, following the direction of the existing pointed hair shapes. Vary the length and curve of these lines rather than spacing them evenly.

You don’t need to fill every section. Leaving some open space between the marks keeps the hair readable while giving it more movement and a rougher, wilder texture.

At this point, the clown’s basic linework is almost complete. The forehead creases and additional hair marks give the character more personality while preparing those areas for the darker shading still to come.

Step 8: Add Light Shading (HB Pencil)

Now you can begin adding very light shading to give the clown’s face more depth. Use an HB pencil with gentle pressure so the shadows stay soft and can easily be built up later.

Start beneath the eyes. Add a thin layer of soft shading underneath each eye, following the shape of the lower eyelid. Keep the edges faded rather than creating a hard outline.

Next, add some subtle shading around the sides and underneath the nose. This begins to separate the round nose from the rest of the face and gives it a little more form.

Add a small amount of shading around the corners of the mouth and beneath the smile. Keep this fairly restrained for now – the darker shadows around the grin will be developed in the later stages.

You can also lightly darken inside the ears, following the inner curves you added earlier. This helps the ear structure stand out without needing heavy detail.

Finally, add a soft shadow directly beneath the chin and onto the upper neck. Make the area closest to the chin slightly darker, then gradually reduce your pencil pressure as you move downwards so the shadow fades smoothly into the neck.

Keep in mind:

This first layer should remain light and buildable. You’re establishing the main shadow areas rather than trying to create the finished values straight away. There’ll be plenty of time to drag this poor clown further into the darkness later.

Step 9: Deepen Your Shading (2B Pencil)

Now that the first layer of shading is in place, you can begin deepening selected shadow areas with a 2B pencil. The aim isn’t to make everything darker – it’s to strengthen the areas that need more depth while keeping the softer HB shading visible.

Start around the eyes, gradually building a darker tone inside and beneath them. Keep your pressure controlled and allow the shading to fade outward so you don’t create a harsh edge.

Next, deepen the shading around the sides and underside of the nose. You can also add a little more tone across the nose itself, while keeping some areas lighter to maintain its rounded shape.

Work around the mouth and corners of the smile, adding slightly darker shading where the grin meets the cheeks. This will begin to make the smile feel more pronounced without overpowering the teeth.

Add more depth inside the ears and where the hair meets the sides of the head. Keep the outer sections of hair lighter for now so there’s still a clear difference between the darker roots and the lighter ends.

Finally, strengthen the shadow beneath the chin and along the upper neck. Keep the darkest area directly beneath the chin, then gradually lighten your pressure as you move down the neck.

Blending Tip

Where your HB and 2B shading meet, use light pressure and small circular motions to soften the transition. You can use your HB pencil to gently work across the edges rather than adding another heavy layer.

Think of it as joining the values together, rather than covering one layer with another.

Keep it soft:
At this stage, the drawing should still look fairly light, smoothly blended and lower in contrast. You’re gradually building depth before introducing the much darker values later.

Step 10: Build Up Darker Shading for Depth

Now you can push the darker areas further and create stronger contrast between the shadows and the lighter parts of the face. Continue using your 2B pencil, but build the values gradually rather than pressing heavily straight away.

Start with the eyes, darkening the recessed areas while allowing the shading around them to remain softer. The centre can become noticeably darker now, but let the surrounding tone fade gradually into the face.

Next, strengthen the shading around and across the nose, keeping some variation in value so the nose still appears rounded rather than completely flat.

Deepen the shadows around the mouth and beneath the smile, particularly near the corners and directly below the lower edge of the grin. Keep the teeth relatively light so they begin to stand out against the surrounding values.

Move on to the hair and add much darker shading where the hair meets the sides of the head. Gradually reduce the pressure as you work outward, leaving the ends considerably lighter. This creates depth without turning each section of hair into one solid dark shape.

Finally, deepen the shadow directly beneath the chin. This should now become one of the darker areas of the drawing. Gradually fade the shading as it travels down the neck so there isn’t a hard line between shadow and untouched paper.

Keep building gradually: The drawing should have noticeably more contrast than Step 9, but you still don’t need your darkest possible values yet. Leaving room to go darker will make the final stages much easier to control.

Step 11: Strengthen the Deepest Shadows (4B Pencil)

Now it’s time to introduce a 4B pencil and strengthen the darkest areas of the drawing. Rather than darkening everything you shaded in the previous steps, concentrate the 4B only where you want the strongest shadows.

Start with the eyes. Gradually darken inside each eye, then build a softer shadow around the upper and lower edges. Keep the surrounding shading lighter so the darkness fades into the face rather than ending with a hard outline.

Next, deepen the corners and inside edges of the smile. Add darker graphite between the teeth where needed, but keep the teeth themselves much lighter. This stronger contrast will make each tooth easier to distinguish and give the grin much more impact.

Add another layer to the nose, concentrating the darker value toward the lower and central areas while leaving lighter graphite around it. This helps maintain its rounded shape.

Move on to the hair closest to the head, making these inner sections considerably darker. Let the graphite become progressively lighter as you move outward through the hair so the individual tufts remain visible.

Strengthen the deepest parts inside the ears, while keeping the outer ear shapes lighter, then deepen the shadow immediately beneath the chin. Allow this shadow to soften as it travels down the neck.

You can also slightly strengthen the ends of the smile, but keep these marks controlled so they still connect naturally with the shape of the mouth.

Keep it controlled
The 4B pencil can produce much darker values than the pencils used in the previous steps, so you don’t need heavy pressure. Build the graphite gradually and reserve your darkest values for selected areas, particularly the eyes, mouth and deepest shadows.

If an area becomes too dark

If you accidentally lose some of the lighter values, gently lift a little graphite with your eraser rather than rubbing the area completely clean. Removing only a small amount will bring some light back while preserving the shading underneath.

Step 12: Blend the Shading and Soften the Transitions

Now that the darkest values are in place, it’s time to blend the shading and soften any harsh transitions. The aim isn’t to blur everything together, but to create smoother changes between the light, mid-tone and dark areas.

Using a blending stump, tissue or cotton bud, gently work over the shaded areas using small, controlled movements. Avoid pressing too firmly, as this can push the graphite into the paper and make the drawing look muddy.

Start around the eyes, carefully softening the graphite surrounding the sockets. Blend outward into the lighter areas of the face while keeping the centres of the eyes dark. This preserves the hollow appearance you created in the previous step.

Next, blend around the nose, cheeks and mouth, smoothing any obvious pencil marks without losing the shape of the features. Be especially careful around the teeth so their lighter values remain separate from the darker mouth.

Move on to the hair closest to the head and the inner ears, gently softening the graphite while keeping some of the original pencil texture visible.

Then blend the shadow beneath the chin and down the neck, allowing the darkest area beneath the jaw to gradually fade into the lighter graphite below.

Finally, use whatever small amount of graphite remains on your blending tool to very lightly tone the forehead and upper face. You only need a faint layer here. This prevents these areas from appearing completely white while still preserving the lighter values.

Important: Don’t Blend Everything Equally

Keep the blending light and controlled. Your darkest areas should remain dark, particularly around the eyes, inside the mouth and beneath the chin.

If you blend these areas too heavily, you’ll flatten the contrast you worked to build in the previous steps. Soften the edges of the shadows rather than trying to remove the shadows themselves.

Step 13: Refine and Sharpen the Details

After blending, some of your smaller details may have become soft or slightly blurred. Now we’re going to bring back definition without losing the smooth shading underneath.

Using a sharp 2B pencil, carefully work back into the areas that need more definition. You can use a 4B for the very darkest details, but keep it limited to places where you genuinely need the extra depth.

Start with the eyes. Darken the centres again and reinforce some of the deepest shadow immediately around them. Keep the outer edges softer so the eyes still look sunken into the face rather than appearing as two heavily outlined shapes.

Next, return to the mouth and teeth. Strengthen the corners of the smile and carefully darken the small spaces between individual teeth. Keep the teeth themselves lighter so they stand clearly against the darkness inside the mouth.

Refine the nose by strengthening its darkest areas while leaving some of the softer blended graphite visible. This keeps the nose rounded rather than turning it into a flat, dark circle.

Go back into the hair closest to the head and restore some of the darker pencil texture that was softened during blending. You can also reinforce a few individual strands farther out, but avoid filling the entire hairstyle with the same dark value.

Finally, sharpen the deepest parts of the ears and the shadow beneath the chin, while allowing the surrounding graphite to remain softer.

Keep the Details Selective

Don’t redraw every line in the sketch. Concentrate on the features you want the viewer to notice most: the eyes, grin, nose and strongest shadows.

Leaving some edges softer than others will create more depth and stop the finished drawing from looking heavily outlined.

If any of the lighter areas have become too grey after blending, leave them alone for now – we can bring those highlights back with the eraser in the finishing stages.

Step 14: Clean Up and Strengthen the Edges

Your shading and main details are now in place. This step is about cleaning up the drawing and making the important shapes easier to read.

Start with your eraser and carefully remove any stray graphite that has travelled outside the edges of the head, hair and neck while you were shading and blending.

Don’t try to erase every tiny mark. Concentrate on areas where smudged graphite is making the silhouette look unclear.

Next, use a sharp 2B pencil to strengthen some of the important edges:

Head: clean up the outer shape without creating a heavy outline.
Hair: redefine some of the pointed outer strands and strengthen the darker areas closest to the head.
Ears: clarify the outer shape and a few of the inner folds.
Neck: tidy the edges while keeping the shadow beneath the chin soft.
Mouth and teeth: sharpen any areas that became unclear, particularly the corners of the smile and spaces between the teeth.

Refine the Eyes

The eyes are one of the strongest features in this drawing, so give them one final check.

Keep the centres dark, then lightly strengthen the lower edges and the soft shadow above each eye. Avoid drawing a hard outline all the way around them – the surrounding shading should still help create that hollow, sunken appearance.

Don’t Outline Everything

The goal isn’t to trace over your entire drawing.

Some edges should stay soft while others are more defined. This contrast helps the face feel more three-dimensional and keeps all that shading you’ve built up from being flattened by heavy outlines.

Once you’re finished, step back from the drawing and check the overall silhouette. The eyes, grin and nose should attract attention first, while the surrounding edges support them rather than compete with them.

Step 15: Add Highlights & Make Final Adjustments

Your drawing is almost finished. Now you can make a few small adjustments to the highlights and shading to bring everything into balance.

Use your eraser to gently lift small amounts of graphite where you want to restore light:

Nose: lift a small highlight to strengthen its rounded shape.
Teeth: carefully lighten a few areas so individual teeth remain visible against the dark mouth.
Forehead and upper face: lift a little graphite if necessary to keep these areas lighter than the eyes and lower face.

You don’t need bright white highlights. You’re simply creating a little more separation between the light, mid-tone and dark areas.

Check Your Darkest Shadows

Before calling the drawing finished, look at the overall balance of your shading.

The eyes and mouth should remain among the darkest areas, while the shadow beneath the chin should clearly separate the head from the neck.

If the neck feels too dark or heavy, gently lift some graphite further down the neck while keeping the area directly beneath the chin darker.

Take One Final Look

Step back from your drawing rather than judging it from close up.

Check that:

The eyes and grin immediately draw attention
The nose still has enough highlight to look rounded
The teeth remain visible within the dark mouth
The forehead and cheeks haven’t become too dark
The neck shadow gradually becomes lighter as it moves downward
No single patch of shading looks noticeably harsher than everything around it

If something looks slightly uneven, make small adjustments rather than adding another heavy layer of graphite.

Once the light and dark areas feel balanced, you’re done.

Those last subtle changes can make a surprisingly big difference to the finished drawing.

Final Thoughts

And there we have it – your creepy clown is complete.

From the first light sketch lines to the final shadows and highlights, you’ve built the drawing gradually, adding shape, depth, contrast and detail along the way.

If your finished clown looks a little different from mine, that’s completely fine. Small differences in the proportions, expression and shading are what give a drawing its own character.

Some stages may have felt trickier than others, particularly building and blending the shading. Those techniques become much easier with practice, so don’t worry about getting every transition perfect on your first attempt.

What started as a few simple pencil lines has now become the sort of face that looks like it knows exactly where you live while still insisting it’s “just here to entertain the children.”

Keep experimenting with different expressions, deeper shadows and stronger highlights. You can use the same basic process to create completely different creepy characters simply by changing the features and lighting.

Most importantly, enjoy seeing how far the drawing has come from that first rough sketch.

Stay spooky, and keep those pencils sharp.