Let's Draw Shakespeare!

Learn how to draw William Shakespeare the famous poet and playwright from Stratford Upon Avon. Some of Shakespeare’s most loved plays include ‘As You Like It’ ‘Romeo and Juliet’ ‘Hamlet’ and ‘Macbeth’

Use the step by step guides to draw Shakespeare sitting writing at a table with his famous quill pen. You can also download and use the template sheet which you trace or draw directly on too.

You can download and print the activity sheets by clicking on the image then right click on the image and save to downloads.

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You can download and print the template sheet below to help you draw Shakespeare.

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We would love to see your drawings of Shakespeare! Send us your drawings and paintings via email or share them on Instagram or Twitter. Don’t forget to tag us @pipandrach

Character designs

One of our favourite parts of illustration is designing characters. From coming up with an initial idea for a character to sketching them out in different scenarios and giving them a world to inhabit. When coming up with characters to design, we begin by gathering references, looking closely at facial expressions and getting an overall idea for their personality. We draw our character in lots of different poses. Often we sketch the character over and over again, giving them facial expressions and emotions which helps make them more believable.

When drawing child characters we like to exaggerate their movements. We find that by giving them lots of movement enhances the personality of the character and gives a playful feel to our work. When adding colour to our characters we try to keep in mind the original sketches, so as not to loose the original playfulness and spontaneity of the sketch.

Creating playful scenes

When coming up with ideas for illustrations for book ideas, we often sketch rough ideas of what the characters look like, what they are doing, the environment the book is set and the world they inhabit. We come up with lots of designs. Often our sketches are quite unrefined at this stage, scribbling down lots of ideas for scenes and characters. Later we start to think about layout and perspective and creating an intriguing atmosphere.

We love to experiment with creating intriguing and playful environments, thinking about if its a cold or hot enviroment, what season is it set in, is it night time, who lives there. We also like to think about what colours we want to use. Sometimes its a lot of bright colours, like greens and oranges and yellows, to create a really vibrant scene, full of life. Other times we use just one or two colours, like blues and greys, to create a cold wintery environment.

Little brother and sister sitting in their bedroom