How to Draw Baba Yaga

In this really simple drawing tutorial, we will teach you how to draw Baba Yaga – an ancient character of Slavic mythology.

Originally, she was a deity of death: a woman with a snake’s tail who watched over the entrance to the underworld and accompanied the deceased soul into the realm of the dead.

She lives on the border between the worlds of the living and the dead, somewhere in the kingdom of Far Far Away. In some tales, she acts as a positive character, and in other tales she appears as a negative one.

In the tales she lives in a hut on chicken legs and flies in a mortar with a broomstick. She is a quarrelsome, terrifying, but nevertheless good old woman, who is the mistress of forests and often comes to the aid of the main hero of the tales, helping to destroy Koschey, a dragon, or Lex Luthor.

How to draw Baba Yaga step by step

Step 1: Sketch the head and curved back line

First, outline Baba Yaga’s head as a circle or an oval. Then sketch the line of her back, giving it a noticeable curve. After that, mark the lines of the arms, which you will refine later when you draw the broom in her hands. Use very light, barely visible lines during the initial stages, just as you would in any similar drawing.

Step 2: Sketch the long broom and mortar

Now outline the broom as a long line, placing it into the arms you marked in the previous step. Then sketch the mortar in which Baba Yaga is sitting. Note that, unlike witches in Western folklore, Baba Yaga does not ride a broom directly – instead, she sits in a flying mortar and uses the broom as a paddle.

Step 3: Draw the facial guidelines of Baba Yaga

Draw the facial symmetry lines for Baba Yaga. As always, start with a vertical line of symmetry, which will help you locate the center of the face. Then draw a horizontal line that will guide the placement of the eyes. Below the eye line, lightly sketch the guidelines for the nose and mouth.

Step 4: Sketch the eyes of the Slavic witch

Now, starting from this step, begin adding details, working from top to bottom as usual. First, draw the eyes as large circles with pupils inside. Then add the frowning eyebrows above them, giving them a fairly thick appearance. After that, outline the shape of the headscarf with light, smooth lines, avoiding overly dark or detailed contours at this stage.

Step 5: Add the hooked nose and sinister smile

Now continue adding the facial details. Draw a long, hooked nose – a characteristic feature found in many witch-like figures across different cultures. Below the nose, draw the character’s wide, sinister smile. Slightly lower, outline the elongated chin, somewhat resembling a cartoon bone. Directly beneath it, sketch the knot of the headscarf. Try to convey the effect of the fabric flowing in the direction of the wind.

Step 6: Sketch the curved torso and arms

Move slightly lower and lightly sketch the torso, trying to convey the characteristic curve and hunch. Then draw the arms using simple cylindrical shapes. After that, draw the hands with large, exaggerated fingers to give the character a slightly unnatural look that distinguishes her from an ordinary person.

Step 7: Draw the face of Baba Yaga in detail

From this stage on, begin giving Baba Yaga drawing a more finished and clean appearance. Starting with the head, refine the eyes with clearer contours, gradually erasing all construction lines. Then outline the eyebrows, the long hooked nose, the sinister smile, and the chin. Add some wrinkles around the eyes and in the area of the nasal bridge. Then draw a couple of warts on the nose, mouth wrinkles and protruding teeth. Erase all remaining guidelines in the facial area.

Step 8: Sketch the headscarf and add hair

Following the same approach as in the previous step, carefully refine the headscarf and the knot, remembering to convey the effect of wind-driven movement. Then, using long, smooth lines, draw the hair, which – just like the headscarf should also show the motion of the wind. Erase all remaining construction lines in the head area and move on to the next step.

Step 9: Draw the vest, sleeves and hands

Add details to Baba Yaga’s torso, and using a pair of curved lines, draw the vest. Next, draw the sleeves and erase the guidelines from the arms. After that, trace the knuckles and bony fingers. Outline the shaft of the broomstick and move to the next step.

Step 10: Draw the mortar of Baba Yaga

As mentioned earlier, Baba Yaga’s main means of airborne travel is her large mortar. It resembles a barrel or a wooden bucket. Using clean lines, draw the top rim, the side contours, and the bottom. Then add the vertical wooden planks and the two horizontal bands that hold the structure together. Try to depict the cylindrical shape of the mortar as authentically as possible.

Step 11: Detail the broom head

Since the upper part of the broom is already finished, it’s time to draw the lower section. Start drawing the broom head with the top part. Then draw the area with the horizontal ropes that hold the bristles together. After that, depict the widening lower part of the broom’s bristles using long, smooth lines, giving the bottom edge a slightly ragged appearance.

Step 12: Add shading based on the light source

At the final step of this Baba Yaga drawing tutorial, add the shadows. First, determine the location of the light source. In this drawing, the light comes from the upper right side, so you should place the shadows in the areas that are not exposed to the light. To achieve shading similar to our example, we recommend using hatching and cross-hatching.

Baba Yaga is a very interesting and charismatic character – mostly a villain, but sometimes an antihero, depending on the story.

Her image is more complex than that of a simple evil witch living in the forest. This lesson showed you how to draw Baba Yaga in a very simple manner, but you can use the techniques from our female figure drawing tutorial to achieve a more volumetric and realistic result.

If you want to continue exploring the world of Slavic folklore by drawing its major characters, be sure to visit our tutorial on drawing Koschei – one of the central villains in Slavic fairy tales.

And of course, we also recommend visiting our witch drawing tutorial – a character very similar in spirit and behavior, but rooted in Western folklore.