How to Draw a Castle – Blancer.com Tutorials and projects

Final product image — What You’ll Be Creating

We’re honouring the German language and culture this week in celebration of the launch of the German version of Envato Elements!

The Neuschwanstein castle in Germany is one of the most popular castles in the world, and for a good reason—it was built as an ideal, romanticized castle, designed for looks rather than functionality. Its fairytale look was an inspiration for both the Sleeping Beauty Castle and the Cinderella Castle, and we’ll use it in this tutorial, too!

I will show you how to draw a Disney-like castle, commonly called a fantasy castle—based on real medieval fortresses, but modified to simply look cool, often at the expense of actual defensibility. I’ll show you how to draw every tower and every window, using as little perspective as possible to keep it easy.

neuschwanstein castle stock photo — Neuschwanstein castle photo on Envato Elements

1. How to Draw the Outer Walls and the Gatehouse

Step 1

First, draw a hill that our castle will be placed upon. Castles were mostly built in hard-to-reach places, so that they were easier to defend. Leave a lot of space for the actual castle on your canvas.

Step 2

Place a foundation on this hill, just to level the ground.

Step 3

Draw a rectangle on the foundation. Its height will be the height of the outer wall.

Step 4

Draw the diagonals of this rectangle to find the middle line.

Step 5

Add two symmetrical rectangles on the sides—a base for the towers. Mark their middle line.

Step 6

Add a triangular roof over the gatehouse.

Step 7

Add a rectangle over each tower.

Step 8

Cross each rectangle with a horizontal line, crossing their borders. Keep it symmetrical.

Step 9

Build a wider rectangle upon it.

Step 10

Connect both rectangles with tilted lines.

Step 11

Draw a conical roof on each tower.

Step 12

Draw a thick border inside the gatehouse wall.

Step 13

Draw the arch of the gate.

Step 14

Draw the small walls protecting the gate from the sides. This will require a little perspective, but not a lot.

Step 15

Draw a little balcony over the gate.

Step 16

Two mini-balconies can be placed on the sides.

Step 17

Cross the tops of the walls with horizontal lines to leave space for the crenellation (the “prongs” of the castle walls and towers). Add a fence in front of the gatehouse.

2. How to Draw the Castle Keep

Step 1

We’re going to draw a big, thick tower now. Place it on the right.

Step 2

Draw the top of the tower the same way as before.

Step 3

Draw a narrower tower over it.

Step 4

Extend the top a little with multiple levels.

Step 5

Draw a short, even narrower tower on top.

Step 6

Use it as a base for a conical roof.

Step 7

Not all towers must be round—some can be made on the base of a square or a hexagon. If you want to create a hexagonal tower, draw one of its sides in the middle.

3. How to Draw the Main Building of the Castle

Step 1

The main difference between a fortress and a fantasy castle is that the latter was a residence. Therefore, we need a “normal” building too, outside of all these walls and towers. Sketch it as a thick rectangle around the middle.

Step 2

Draw its roof. It’s not a conical roof, just a normal roof seen from the front.

Step 3

Add two towers to its sides—mostly for aesthetic purposes.

Step 4

Draw the top and the roof on each tower.

Step 5

Make the bottom of each tower thicker.

Step 6

Add a decorative base for each tower.

Step 7

Draw some decoration on the wall under the roof.

Step 8

Draw another balcony.

4. How to Draw the Castle’s Watchtower

Step 1

Let’s draw the highest tower now—it will look cool, and it can be justified as a watchtower for the whole castle. Place it between the keep and the main building.

Step 2

Draw the top of the tower… just a little lower than normal.

Step 3

Draw another “shelf” below.

Step 4

And one more on top.

Step 5

Draw a slightly narrower tower here.

Step 6

Add the conical roof.

Step 7

Add a turret to this tower—it will look nice as a decoration, too!

5. How to Draw Other Castle Towers

Step 1

To fill the rest of the space, let’s add another tower in the background.

Step 2

Give it another level.

Step 3

A little widening will look cool, too.

Step 4

Finish it with a roof, as always.

Step 5

Add another, even smaller tower in the distance. There are never enough towers in a fantasy castle!

Step 6

Add the roof of a building hidden behind all these towers.

Step 7

Add a smaller building—maybe a stable?—somewhere on the ground.

6. How to Draw the Castle Stairs

Step 1

Let’s create nice, long stairs leading to the castle. Sketch their curve first.

Step 2

“Copy” this curve to the other side.

Step 3

Once again copy the curve, this time below, creating the height of the stone balustrade.

Step 4

Mark the rhythm of the posts placed along the balustrade.

Step 5

Extend them to the other side.

Step 6

Draw the height of the posts.

Step 7

Extend them to the other side.

Step 8

You can now draw the curve under these side posts.

Step 9

The balustrade has some thickness. Copy each pair of curves a little to the sides to leave space for it.

Step 10

Draw the posts. Some perspective must be involved here, but the guide lines should support your intuition.

Step 11

Draw the base of the stairs.

Step 12

Time for the actual steps! First, mark the distance between the steps. Because the castle is so huge, they must be very small!

Step 13

Extend the steps to the other side.

Step 14

Finish the stairs. You only need to draw them to the point where they get covered by the balustrade.

If you want to make the castle more realistic, add one more wall around the hill, with one more gate (a barbican)—this time you can add a defensible drawbridge instead of wide, inviting stairs.

7. How to Draw the Castle Details

Step 1

All the structures are drawn, but they’re quite empty. Let’s fill them with details! Draw the crenellations on each tower. Draw them as rectangles that get narrower and denser as they get closer to the edge (this applies only to the circular towers).

Step 2

These crenellations have some thickness that is revealed when they’re rotated by perspective. Mark it by adding some length to the side of each merlon (the prong)—the narrower the merlon, the greater the length.

Step 3

Draw these sides now.

Step 4

Because the crenellations are extended, they need a support—the corbels. You can draw them by extending the merlons.

Step 5

If you want to draw decorative arches between some corbels, you can define their middle this way first.

Step 6

Draw a line between the crenellations and the corbels to create some more wall space. You can also turn the conical roofs into hexagonal roofs.

Step 7

Time for the windows! Normally a castle wouldn’t have too many of them, as they’re a vulnerability, but a fantasy castle is supposed to have a lot of them, like a cathedral. Let’s make a compromise: put tiny slit-like widows in the fortified structures, and big, decorative windows in the main house and/or high in the towers.

Because windows must be placed regularly, you need to plan their location first. Both horizontally…

… and vertically.

Step 8

You can now add any decorations/additional structures you wish.

8. How to Finish Your Castle Drawing

Step 1

Let’s finish it now! Time to look at this mess of lines and find the structures we wanted to draw. You can outline them in the same order as we were sketching them, but it’s not necessary. I started with the gatehouse and the outer walls.