Table of Contents
Watch the video: How to Draw Stitch from Lilo & Stitch by NicPro
If you’ve ever wanted to capture Stitch’s mischievous grin and big, expressive features, this is your guide. We follow the NicPro lesson closely—from first guidelines to confident shading—so you can move at your own pace and finish with a lively portrait you’ll be proud to sign.
What you’ll learn
- How to place clean, symmetrical guidelines and convert them into a balanced head oval.
- A reliable order for features: mouth, nose, eyes, then ears.
- How to refine details like folds, hair tufts, teeth, and tongue without over-darkening.
- Line weight strategy and simple shading choices that create depth fast.
Gather Your Art Supplies For this lesson, you need paper and a pencil. The instructor draws with a 0.7mm mechanical pencil fitted with a 2B graphite stick. That combo gives you precise lines and smooth shading range without switching tools. Keep an eraser handy for cleanup.
Pro tip: Keep your pencil sharp and your touch light during the early stages—reserve pressure for the final line weight and shading pass. magnetic embroidery hoops
Establishing Stitch's Basic Structure Drawing Guidelines Start by creating a clean crosshair. Lightly draw a vertical line down the center of the page, then a horizontal line across it. These reference lines keep everything balanced while you place features.
Quick check: If your crosshair drifts, your features will fight symmetry later. Keep stroke pressure low so you can erase cleanly.
Sketching the Head's Oval Shape Use the center point to mark the top, bottom, left, and right limits of the head. Connect those marks with soft arcs to form an oval (the circle doesn’t need to be perfect)—the goal is placement and proportion.
Watch out: A tiny tilt can make Stitch feel off-balance. If the oval slants, lightly correct the arc instead of pressing harder.
Blocking Out Facial Features and Ears Nose and Mouth Placement Lay in the top edge of the mouth as a smooth curve across the lower half of the head shape. Above it, rough in a large oval for the nose. Keep the shapes light; you’ll refine soon.
From the comments: One viewer shared a tip for checking circle measurements by comparing distances with fingers—simple and surprisingly effective for quick symmetry checks. Use any non-marking method that helps you confirm your proportions.
Eye and Ear Outlines Shape the eyes so they curve around the nose—big, rounded forms that taper slightly toward the inner corners. Add small highlight circles near the top of each eye. Trace the bottom half of the head slightly inside to suggest the lower jaw contour.
Next, establish ear placement: draw vertical guide lines up from the sides of the eyes, then sweep in elongated ear curves. The ears flow out from the head and taper back into the jaw area with a natural arc.
Tip for consistency: If one ear looks stiffer, re-curve the outer edge, not the connection point, to keep the head silhouette intact.
Refining Stitch's Details Clean Up and Prepare to Refine Erase the original crosshair and any stray construction lines. This reveals the core shapes so your refinements don’t get muddy. Keep only what you intend to develop.
Adding Hair, Folds, and Teeth Nose: Trace the top, then “pinch” the bottom so the nose subtly narrows, rounding the tip. Lightly suggest nostrils with half-ovals—don’t go dark yet.
Eyes: Firm up the outer contours and add a soft fold across the top of each eye. These upper folds make the expression feel more alive.
Hair: Pop a few strands above the brow, bending across and back—just enough to cue texture.
Mouth and teeth: Curve the mouth upward at both ends. Place two large upper fangs near the sides, thicker at the top where they meet the gum. Add two smaller inner fangs (half-ovals), then tuck shorter side teeth so they layer behind. Along the lower mouth, add a few small teeth and vary the size so they don’t look uniform. Define the tongue with a central fold.
Shaping the Ears Give the outer ear a smooth, confident arc, rounding the tip. Add a notch along the top edge, bending in and then back out, and sketch an inner fold that dips toward the head before turning along the lower ear. Repeat on the other side, mirroring overall proportions rather than obsessing over perfect duplication.
Adding Depth with Contrast and Shading Applying Varying Line Weights Begin contrast work at the nose: deepen the outline, especially the bottom curves, and darken the nostrils. This immediately builds priority in the face.
Brow: Thicken the eyebrow line above each eye and taper it toward the nose. This tapering creates direction and flow. Darken the irises around the highlights—not over them—to keep the eyes bright.
Mouth: Add weight to the bottom edge, tapering toward the corners. Reserve the heaviest lines where forms turn away from light or overlap, so teeth and lips separate clearly. embroidery machine hoops
Shading Techniques for Features Teeth: Thicken lines along the top edges to suggest a shadow from the upper lip, and add a bit of thickness along the bottom to anchor the forms. Keep tooth surfaces mostly light so the mouth interior can read as the darkest region.
Interior mouth: Darken around the teeth and tongue, leaving negative space on key edges so the silhouette stays crisp. Lightly shade the tongue to separate it from the black of the throat.
Nose: Apply a medium, even shade after establishing the outline. Keep gradients gentle so the surface looks rounded without becoming patchy.
Ears: Leave most ear surfaces lighter than the mouth interior but slightly heavier than the face line. This balances the composition without competing with the facial focal points. magnetic embroidery hoops for brother
Final Touches and Completing Your Artwork Cleaning Up and Signing Your Piece At the end, the instructor tightens shadows and contrast, then signs the artwork. This last pass is about restraint—enhance edges that fade or flatten, keep highlights clean, and leave subtle marks that suggest volume rather than covering everything with tone.
From the comments
- Pace concerns: A viewer noted the pace felt fast. If you need more time, pause between steps: place shapes, check proportions, then proceed. The structure of the lesson (guidelines → oval → features → cleanup → refinement → shading) is designed for pausing at natural checkpoints.
- Pencil info: Another comment asked for the pencil details—the video specifies a 0.7mm mechanical pencil with a 2B graphite stick.
- Community encouragement: Multiple commenters praised the clarity and accessibility of the approach—keep practicing and celebrate each finished stage.
Troubleshooting
- My circle looks lopsided: Redraw only the weak quadrant, using the guideline marks as anchors. Work in short arcs instead of one long stroke.
- The eyes don’t match: Check distances from the vertical centerline and the nose. Adjust the inner corners first; small corrections there bring quick symmetry.
- Teeth look too uniform: Nudge sizes and angles slightly. Keep top edges a bit heavier; it instantly adds depth and breaks sameness.
- Shading feels flat: Strengthen the darkest darks in the mouth interior and under the nose. Keep highlights clean around the eye reflections.
Practice plan
- Pass 1: Draw only the guidelines and head oval three times on a single page.
- Pass 2: Add nose and mouth placement, then erase and repeat.
- Pass 3: Do the full sequence and stop before shading. Assess proportions and edges.
- Pass 4: Do a rapid line-weight pass without full shading—train your decision-making about where to thicken lines.
Micro-lessons to revisit
- Nose pinch and rounded tip: It’s subtle but powerful for character.
- Eye folds: Keep them soft and slightly tapered.
- Ear notch: A quick in–out bend that adds personality.
- Tongue fold: A gentle curve that separates it from the throat.
Checklist before you sign
- Highlights in eyes remain untouched and crisp.
- Bottom mouth edge reads heavier than the sides.
- Nose edges are clean, with a medium, even fill.
- Teeth have varied line thickness and are not uniformly spaced.
- Stray construction lines are fully erased.
Wrap-up You’ve built Stitch from the ground up using simple, reliable steps. The secret isn’t a perfect circle—it’s a confident sequence, light construction, and a purposeful finish. Keep this workflow handy for your next character portrait.
Side quest for multi-crafters If you also dabble in machine embroidery, you might enjoy exploring tools popular in that world—many artists switch mediums for logos, patches, and fabric portraits. Research terms like magnetic hoops for embroidery machines, mighty hoops, or dime magnetic hoop to understand how fabric is stabilized and positioned for stitch work. No need to buy anything for this drawing—this is just a cross-craft curiosity to spark ideas.