Polar Bear Drawing Step By Step

Take your kiddos on a trip to Canada's northern territory to explore my favorite artist, Ted Harrison and draw a friendly polar bear.

Ted Harrison (1926-2015) hailed from the UK but lived in the Yukon Territories for many years. He became one of Canada's favorite painters for his colorful paintings of life in the Canada's north.

ted harrison inspired landscape and polar bear art project for kids artist feature

This project combines the bright colors Harrison is known for (bright blue, fuchsia, orange and turquoise) and a very easy drawing of a polar bear.

Watch the full video tutorial here:

Click the yellow button below to DOWNLOAD the drawing handout for the Polar Bear as well as this months January Freebie Pack lessons. Add your name and email and we'll send it straight to you!

What You'll Need:

12″ x 9″ watercolor paper

12″ x 9″ White drawing paper

Black oil pastel or Black waterproof marker

Liquid watercolor paints in turquoise, purple, orange, blue, pink

Scissors and glue

Step One: Painting the Ted Harrison Background

ted harrison inspired polar bear art project for kids using pan watercolors

Start by drawing the lines for the mountains and hills. Use an oil pastel for younger students (so that the watercolor doesn't bleed together) to draw one line about 2″ from the bottom. This is the first snow line.

Place pastel or crayon on one side of the paper and draw another line, this time connecting to the first line.

Draw 2-3 more lines and finally add 2-3 mountain ridges.

Timing Tip: Painting the background first gives you the chance to finish the entire project in one sitting.

Step Two: Painting the background

ted harrison inspired polar bear art project for kids using pan watercolors to create a landscape

Dip paint brush in liquid watercolor paint and paint each section a different color.

Have some fun with the sky. Here are some questions to encourage a child to consider what he may like:

How would you paint the northern lights?

What kind of patterns do you see in the sky?

Imagine if the sky was filled with lines. What colors would they be? Would they be curvy or straight?

Step Three: Drawing the Polar Bear

Print out or refer to the drawing handout for the simple steps.

Start in the middle of the paper. Draw an oval and fill it in with the marker. Draw the mouth. Draw an oval shape around the mouth. Draw two dots for the eyes.

Place marker on the bottom edge of the paper and draw a hill over the nose area. That's the body! Now draw two big bear arms.

Step Four: Putting it all together

Cut out the bear and place it on the dry (or almost dry) watercolor background. Glue in place.

Tip: If the background isn't fully dry, the paint will leech into the bear paper. This is actually a pretty cool effect so if this happens to your student's art, celebrate it!