How to Draw a Brain

Short answer

• To draw a brain, build it in layers. For a simple cartoon brain, draw a large bean shape, add one curved swirl near the bottom, then fill the inside with a few wavy lines that do not all connect. For a more careful side view, draw a wide oval for the cerebrum, tuck a small flattened oval under the back of it for the cerebellum, drop a short stem down from the middle for the brainstem, draw the two deepest grooves first, and only then fill each section with long, winding fold lines. Draw lightly at first, fix the outline before you add detail, and ink or darken the lines only when the shape already reads as a brain. That layer order is the whole method. Most drawings that look wrong go wrong early: the outline is too round, the cerebellum sticks out behind the brain, or the folds are added before the big grooves that organize them. Get the outline and the grooves right, and the folds almost draw themselves.

Before You Draw: Choose Your View

A brain looks very different from each side, so pick one view before you pick up a pencil. Beginners should start with the side view, because it shows all the parts a reader expects in one picture: the large folded cerebrum on top, the smaller cerebellum tucked under the back, and the brainstem dropping down from the middle. The side view is also the view used in most school diagrams, which makes it the easiest version to label and to compare with a reference picture.

The cartoon view is a different goal, not a failed side view. A cartoon brain keeps only the bean outline and a few folds, and it is meant to be read at a glance, on a card, a poster, or a notebook cover. The top view, seen from above, shows two matching halves divided by a center line. The front view is the hardest of the set, because the two halves must match closely and the stem must sit exactly in the center, so save it for a third attempt.

Turn the paper sideways for a side view brain, which is much wider than it is tall, and use plain paper if you plan to ink the result. You need very little equipment: an HB pencil for light guide lines, a softer 2B pencil for the final outline, a kneaded eraser, a fine black pen for inking if you want one, and colored pencils for color. Hold the pencil near the end for the first lines: a grip near the end keeps the pressure light and the lines loose, which is exactly what guide lines should be.

The Simple Cartoon Brain in Eight Steps

The cartoon brain is the fastest route to a finished drawing, and it teaches the hand the two shapes that matter most: the bean outline and the winding fold line. Work large, at least as wide as your hand, because small drawings force tight, cramped folds that read as scribble. Draw every step lightly until the last step, when you darken the lines you want to keep.

Step one: draw a large bean shape, wider than it is tall, with a slight inward dent along the bottom edge. The dent stops the shape from reading as a plain oval. Keep the top curve high and smooth, and let the two ends stay rounded rather than pointed.

Step two: add a swirl near the bottom. Place your pencil near the dent, then draw a half circle that curves up into the center of the shape. This swirl is decorative in a cartoon brain, not a real groove, but it gives the eye a center to rest on. Keep it open at one end, so it reads as a curl rather than a closed circle.

Step three: add two or three wavy lines from the outline inward. Start each line at the outer edge and let it wander toward the swirl, bending as it goes. Do not force these lines to meet the swirl or each other. Lines that stop just short of another line look like folds; lines that cross everywhere look like a knot.

Step four: add several short, unconnected squiggles through the empty spaces, varying their length and curve. Some can hug the outline, some can float in the middle, and some can bend back in a soft U shape. The variety is the point: real folds are not evenly spaced or evenly sized.

Step five: thicken the outer outline with a firmer line, letting it wobble slightly rather than tracing a perfect curve. A slightly uneven outline reads as organic, while a perfectly smooth outline reads as a balloon. Do not thicken the inside lines yet. The outline should be the boldest line in a cartoon brain.

Step six: darken a few of the fold lines, choosing the longest ones and leaving the shortest squiggles light. This contrast creates depth without any shading: the dark lines sit forward, and the light lines sit back.

Step seven: add a face only if you want a character brain. Two small ovals for eyes on the upper half, plus a short curved line for a smile, turn the diagram into a character. Keep the face small and centered, and do not let the eyes cross a fold line if you can avoid it. A brain without a face is just as finished as a brain with one.

Step eight: color the brain. Pink is the usual cartoon color, and a single flat coat is enough. If you want a little more life, color the outline area slightly darker than the center, or leave a small uncolored patch near the top as a highlight. Do not shade every fold, because heavy shading fights with the simple outline that makes the cartoon work.

Check the result from arm’s length. A good cartoon brain reads as a brain from across a table. If it reads as a cloud, add more dent at the bottom and more wobble to the top. If it reads as a scribble, erase the shortest squiggles and keep only the longest, calmest lines.

The Side View Brain, Step by Step

The side view is the main drawing in this guide. Plan on 30 to 45 minutes with color, and less in pencil. Decide at the start which way the brain faces, and do not change direction halfway through. This guide faces the brain to the left, so the front is on the left side of the page and the back is on the right. If you prefer a brain facing right, mirror each left and right instruction.

Step one: sketch one wide oval, filling most of the page width and leaving a band of empty space underneath it. This oval is the cerebrum, the large folded part of the brain, and it should be about one and a half times as wide as it is tall. The cerebellum and the brainstem will hang below this oval later, which is why the empty band matters.

Step two: add a small oval and a stem line. Under the right end of the big oval, sketch a small flattened oval that tucks partly behind the big oval. This marks the cerebellum. Just in front of it, draw a short line straight down, tilted very slightly to the right. This marks the path of the brainstem, and drawing it now keeps the stem from drifting later, when the page is already full of fold lines.

Step three: reshape the cerebrum outline. Go around the big oval with a firmer line, changing its shape as you go. The front on the left should stay full and round. The underside should curve gently back from the front like the bottom of an egg. The back on the right should narrow to a soft point, not a sharp tip. Near the front of the bottom edge, make a tiny notch, with the rounded tip of the temporal lobe tucked just below it. This notch anchors the most important groove in the drawing, which you will add in step six.

Step four: tuck in the cerebellum. Trace the lower part of the small oval, drawing only the part that shows below the cerebrum. The top of the cerebellum hides behind the cerebrum, so do not draw a full oval outline here. Keep the back end of the cerebellum a little in front of the pointed back of the cerebrum, so the cerebrum overhangs it. A cerebellum that sticks out behind the cerebrum breaks the layered look of the arrangement.

Step five: draw the brainstem. Follow the stem line down with two outlines, one on each side of the line. Bulge them out at the top for the pons, the rounded bump on the front of the stem, then narrow them into the thinner medulla below, and finish with a flat end. The back edge of the stem disappears behind the cerebellum, so do not draw it as a separate full shape. Add one short curved line across the stem where the bulge ends. A flat bottom end reads clearly as a cut stem rather than a dangling tail.

Step six: draw the lateral sulcus. This is the most important line in the whole drawing. Start at the notch from step three and draw a smooth line up and back, ending a little past the middle of the brain. This deep groove separates the temporal lobe below it from the lobes above it. Press a little harder here than for the fold lines, because this groove is deeper than a fold, and it should stay the boldest interior line in the finished drawing. Once this line is in place, the brain already reads correctly, even before a single fold is added.

Step seven: add the central sulcus and the lobe borders. From the top of the outline, a little forward of the middle, draw a slightly wavy line down to the lateral sulcus. That line is the central sulcus, marking the border between the frontal lobe in front of it and the parietal lobe behind it. Then carry a thin line back from the end of the lateral sulcus, and drop another thin line from the top near the back down to the bottom edge. Those two thin lines box in the occipital lobe at the back. Keep these border lines thinner than the two real grooves, because they are mostly guides for coloring and labeling.

Step eight: draw folds on the frontal lobe. Start at the outline and draw a smooth, winding line that wanders across the frontal lobe, bending like a slow river. Add more fold lines about a finger width apart. Some lines can end freely with a rounded turn, and some can run into a neighboring line or into the outline. The spaces between your lines become the folds: you are drawing the grooves, and the raised folds are the shapes left between them. Keep the gaps roughly even, and keep the curves round rather than sharp. Sharp corners read as cracks, while round curves read as soft tissue.

Step nine: fold the other three lobes the same way. Fill the parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes with the same winding lines, but let the direction change slightly from lobe to lobe. In the temporal lobe, let most lines run along its length, roughly parallel to the lateral sulcus. Stop each fold line just short of the two big grooves, so those grooves stay the boldest marks on the page. Real brains have far more folds than a drawing can show, so do not try to copy every fold from a photograph. A dozen calm, well spaced lines per lobe read as more realistic than fifty crowded lines.

Step ten: add lines to the cerebellum. The cerebellum has its own much finer folds, packed close together. Draw four or five curved lines across it, stacked one under another like the lines on a seashell. Each line should bend down in the middle and end at the cerebellum outline on both sides. This striped look tells a viewer at a glance that the shape is the cerebellum and not just a second cerebrum. Turn the paper if it helps your hand swing each curve naturally, then turn it back so the stem stays vertical.

Step eleven: ink the lines and erase the guides. Go over every line you want to keep with a fine black pen, starting with the outline and saving the small folds for last, when your hand is warm. Wait until the ink is fully dry, at least a minute, before erasing, or the ink may smear. Erase the original ovals and the stem guide line completely, but erase lightly around the fold lines. If you are working in pencil only, skip the pen and darken the keeper lines with a soft pencil instead, using the same order: outline first, grooves second, folds last.

Step twelve: color the brain. For a labeled diagram, color each section differently: one color for each of the four lobes, one color for the cerebellum, and one color for the brainstem. These colors are a learning code, not the real color of a brain, and it helps to say so on the finished poster. Color with light, even strokes in one direction, then add a second light coat for depth, with a slightly darker shade along the bottom edges of each section to suggest roundness. Keep the shading soft: hard shading bars across the folds will fight with the fold lines.

The Top View and the Front View

Once the side view feels comfortable, the top view is a short second drawing. Draw a tall oval, then draw a straight or slightly wavy line down the center. That line divides the drawing into the left and right hemispheres, the two matching halves of the cerebrum. Fill each half with winding fold lines, mirroring the general direction from one side to the other without trying to make every line match exactly. Leave the cerebellum and the brainstem out of a top view, or show only a small hint of the cerebellum at the bottom, because from above those parts sit mostly underneath the cerebrum.

The front view needs more care, because symmetry errors show at once. Draw a wide shape with a rounded top and a slightly flattened bottom, then draw a center line straight down the middle. Build the left half first, then copy its main landmarks to the right half in reverse. If one side drifts wider than the other, correct the outline before adding folds. Holding the page up to a light and looking at the reverse is a useful check: symmetry problems that the eye forgives on the front often jump out in reverse.

How to Draw Folds That Look Like Folds

Folds are where most brain drawings succeed or fail, and the skill is less about talent than about line habits. First, draw grooves, not ridges. A fold line on paper is a groove, and the ridge is the blank space between two groove lines. Drawing each ridge as its own closed shape produces a page full of separate worms. Draw the grooves instead, let the ridges form themselves, and the drawing will look connected rather than crowded.

Second, use long lines. Long, winding lines read as folds, while short, tight loops read as scribble. Aim for lines that cross a good part of a lobe before they end, bending two or three times along the way, and end a line with a soft U turn or by running it into the outline or a neighboring line. Third, keep spacing even, about a finger width apart: if two lines crowd together, end one early rather than forcing both through the same gap, because crowded lines turn into gray noise when inked. Fourth, keep the order: deepest grooves first, then lobe borders, then folds, stopping each fold just short of a groove. Fifth, keep cerebellum lines fine, close, and roughly parallel, the opposite of cerebrum folds. Practice on scrap paper first: fill a page with ten winding lines, ink it, and check it from arm’s length.

Labeling a Brain Drawing for School

A labeled brain drawing is a side view drawing plus clear labels. For a basic school poster, six labels are enough: frontal lobe, parietal lobe, temporal lobe, occipital lobe, cerebellum, and brainstem. Adding the lateral sulcus and the central sulcus as two extra labels strengthens the diagram, but only if the two grooves are already bold enough to point to without confusion.

Place the four lobe labels by position, not by function, because this is a drawing guide and the poster only needs to show where each part sits. The frontal lobe sits at the front of the cerebrum. The parietal lobe sits on top, toward the back from the central sulcus. The temporal lobe sits low on the side, below the lateral sulcus. The occipital lobe sits at the very back. The cerebellum sits under the back of the cerebrum, and the brainstem drops down from the middle, in front of the cerebellum. Those positions are the facts a labeled drawing must get right.

Draw leader lines as thin, straight lines from the label to the part, with a small dot at the part end. Do not draw leader lines across other labels, and do not let a leader line cross a fold line if a shorter route exists. Write labels outside the brain outline whenever possible, because writing inside forces the text to compete with the fold lines. Color code each label to match its part, with a short key at the bottom. Check the finished poster against a reference diagram, not against memory, where most labeling errors come from.

Shading, Digital Drawing, and Practice

Shade only after the ink is dry and the guide lines are erased, because shading over guide lines locks them into the drawing. Use three values: a light value over most of each lobe, a middle value along the bottom edge of each lobe and inside the deepest grooves, and a dark value used sparingly, only in the lateral sulcus, the central sulcus, and the shadowed underside of the cerebellum. Shade in the same direction as the fold lines in each area, not across them. For a colored drawing, shade within each lobe color rather than adding gray shadow over color. Do not shade every fold as if it were a separate object: shade the whole lobe as one rounded form, and let the fold lines carry the local detail.

The same layer order works on a tablet: guide ovals on one layer, outline and grooves on a second, folds on a third, so a bad fold can be erased without touching the outline. Use a brush with even width for fold lines, zoom out often, and export at the size the drawing will actually be seen. Practice in short sessions: ten bean outlines, ten ovals with only the lateral sulcus drawn, one lobe filled with folds and checked from arm’s length, ten small ovals filled with close cerebellum stripes, and a timed 15 minute side view repeated on three separate days.

Fixing Common Mistakes

If the drawing looks like a cloud, the outline is too round and the folds are too even: add a dent to the bottom edge, narrow the back end to a soft point, and vary the length and spacing of the fold lines. If it looks like a bean, the cerebellum and brainstem are missing or too small: check that the cerebellum tucks under the back of the cerebrum and that the stem drops clearly below the middle. If it looks like spaghetti, the fold lines are too short, too tight, or too crowded: erase the shortest lines, lengthen the lines that remain, widen the gaps to about a finger width, and redraw the lateral sulcus boldly.

If the cerebellum sticks out behind the brain, pull it forward until the pointed back of the cerebrum overhangs it. If the brain seems to float, the stem is missing or disconnected: draw it from the middle underside of the cerebrum, with its back edge disappearing behind the cerebellum. If the two halves of a top view or front view do not match, fix the outline before touching the folds. If labels point to the wrong parts, check against a reference diagram and move the leader lines, paying special attention to the temporal lobe, which is most often placed too far back. If ink smeared, wait longer next time: ink needs at least a minute to dry.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the easiest way to draw a brain?

Start with the cartoon brain: a large bean shape, one swirl near the bottom, and a few wavy lines inside. That version takes only a few minutes and needs no labels, no cerebellum detail, and no shading. Once it feels easy, move to the side view in this guide.

How do you draw a brain step by step for beginners?

Draw lightly in layers: a wide oval for the cerebrum, a small flattened oval under the back for the cerebellum, and a short stem line down from the middle. Reshape the outline, draw the lateral sulcus from the bottom notch up and back, add the central sulcus, then fill each lobe with long, winding fold lines. Ink and color last.

What are the main parts to include in a brain drawing?

For a side view, include the cerebrum as the large folded part, the cerebellum tucked under the back of it, and the brainstem dropping down from the middle. For a labeled version, add the four lobes: frontal at the front, parietal on top toward the back, temporal low on the side, and occipital at the very back.

How do you draw a realistic brain with folds?

Draw the deepest grooves first, then fill each lobe with long, winding lines about a finger width apart, stopping each line just short of the grooves. Use round curves rather than sharp corners, vary the line lengths, and keep the cerebellum lines fine and close together. Shade lightly, following the shape of each lobe, and darken only the deepest grooves.

Why does my brain drawing look like a cloud?

A cloud look usually means the outline is too round, the bottom dent is missing, and the folds are too even in size and spacing. Add a dent to the bottom edge, narrow the back end to a soft point, and vary the fold lines so some are long and some are short. Also check that the cerebellum and brainstem are present.

How do you draw a brain for kids?

Use the cartoon version: a big bean shape, a swirl, and a few wavy lines, with optional eyes and a smile. Work large, use thick lines, and color with a single flat coat of pink. Skip the lobe borders and the labels for young children, and add them later for older children who are ready for the labeled side view.

How do you label a brain drawing?

Write the six basic labels first: frontal lobe, parietal lobe, temporal lobe, occipital lobe, cerebellum, and brainstem. Draw thin leader lines from each label to its part, with a small dot at the part end, and place the labels outside the brain outline. Color code each label to match its part, and check every label position against a reference diagram.

How long does it take to draw a brain?

A cartoon brain takes a few minutes. A pencil only side view takes about 20 to 30 minutes. A full side view with ink, color, and labels takes about 30 to 45 minutes. The folds take the longest, because they need steady spacing and round curves.

Keep reading: What is the Nervous System

Sources & references

• Blitsy, "How to Draw a Brain Step by Step (Easy Side View)." Side view method used for the main drawing: wide oval for the cerebrum, small flattened oval tucked under the back for the cerebellum, stem line for the brainstem, lateral sulcus drawn from the bottom notch, central sulcus and lobe borders, winding fold lines about a finger width apart, fine close lines for the cerebellum, ink then erase guides, color coded lobes with a note that the colors are a learning code.
• Easy Drawing Guides, "How to Draw a Brain." Cartoon method used for the simple version: vertical guide line, outline built from long and short connected curved lines, guide line erased, interior filled with curved lines and connected U shaped lines for wrinkles and folds, optional face, pink coloring.
• The Tech Edvocate, "How to Draw a Brain: 14 Steps." Step order cross-checked for the cartoon and labeled versions: large oval outline, hemispheres, lobes, fissures and sulci as curvy lines, central sulcus between frontal and parietal lobes, lateral sulcus from between frontal and temporal lobes, brainstem as a tapering shape, cerebellum as small rounded lobes with tiny wrinkles.
• Neurolaunch, "Master Brain Drawing: From Beginner to Advanced," frequently asked questions section. Beginner method cross-checked: basic oval for the cerebrum, cerebellum beneath and brainstem below, folds described as gyri for ridges and sulci for grooves, curved lines following the flow of the surface, darker shading in grooves and lighter shading on ridge tops.
• MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia, "Brain structures." Part names used for the drawing labels: brainstem consisting of the medulla oblongata, the pons and the midbrain, cerebellum, and cerebrum shown as one hemisphere.
• Medicine LibreTexts, "11.2A: The Brain." Lobe positions and part arrangement used only for the labeled diagram: each hemisphere divided into four lobes, frontal, parietal, occipital, and temporal; cerebrum attached to a stalk-like brain stem consisting of midbrain, pons, and medulla; cerebellum at the rear of the brain beneath the cerebrum and behind the brainstem, with a horizontally furrowed surface.