How to Draw Carnage

This comic-style drawing lesson will show you how to draw Carnage, one of the most vicious enemies of Spider-Man.

Carnage is one of the most popular characters from the Spider-Man universe, although he is less well known than Venom.

In different comics and animated series, he has been depicted slightly differently, but the overall appearance and core concept have remained consistent.

In this lesson, we will show you how to draw Carnage from the Ultimate universe, where he has a particularly menacing look.

In the classic Spider-Man continuities, he appears largely similar, so the principles demonstrated here can be applied to almost any version of the character.

How to draw Carnage step by step

Step 1: Sketch the villain pose guidelines

At the first step, draw a stick figure. A stick figure is a simplified human form made of lines and circles. We use it to mark the pose and establish the main proportions. The key features of Carnage’s figure are disproportionately long arms and a round head (a human head usually has an inverted egg shape). The legs are noticeably bent, and the spine has a slight tilt.

Step 2: Draw the mouth and jaw of Carnage

In this step, draw the outlines of the mouth and lower jaw of Carnage. The mouth is disproportionately large – this part of the head should be bigger than it appeared in the previous step. It resembles the distorted mouth of the figure in The Scream. Also, sketch a vertical line of facial symmetry; this guideline will be very helpful in the next steps.

Step 3: Add volume to the upper body

Gradually begin adding volume to the stick figure made of lines and circles. Starting from the upper part, carefully outline the shoulders and arms, extending them into the hands with large, disproportionate fingers and sharp nails. In the same step, indicate the placement of the torso and add the basic circular shapes for the shoulders and elbows.

Step 4: Sketch the pelvis and legs of Carnage

Start outlining the pelvic area using a simple triangular geometric shape. Continue building up the volume by drawing the upper and lower legs, finishing with long feet that have sharp claws. As you add volume, avoid making the figure too bulky – the body parts should remain thin and elongated, especially in contrast to Venom.

Step 5: Erase the stick figure lines

Carefully erase all the auxiliary lines of the stick figure, leaving only the basic contours of Carnage’s body. At this stage, it is very important to check the proportions and make sure the entire drawing looks balanced. Do not add any details yet; that will be done in the following steps.

Step 6: Draw the eyes and teeth of Carnage

Now let’s draw Carnage’s terrifying face. Using the guidelines from the second step, draw the eyes. They should have rough, jagged edges – similar to the irregular borders on a geographical map. In this step, also add Carnage’s teeth, making them sharp and pointed like a shark’s. Finally, draw the tendrils of Carnage, placing them around the head and along the shoulders.

Step 7: Strengthen the villain’s arm contours

Now carefully trace and refine the villain’s arms, giving them a clearer, more defined outline. Add a few muscle lines and make the hands and claws sharper and more finished. At the same time, keep in mind that the limbs should still look very elongated and sinewy.

Step 8: Draw the torso of Carnage in detail

In the upper part of the body, draw Carnage’s pectoral muscles using a pair of smooth lines. Slightly below, add a series of short lines to indicate the character’s abdominal muscles. Do not make this area too detailed, as much of the surface here will be filled in with black.

Step 9: Refine the legs and tendrils

The legs, like the arms, should be thin yet sinewy and muscular. Carefully trace the contours from the previous steps and add subtle muscle lines and small details. You can also add symbiote tendrils those thin, vein-like extensions that spread outward from Carnage’s body – in different areas of the legs to make the design look more authentic and dynamic.

Step 10: Mark the reflective shapes

In the canonical depiction of Carnage, as with Venom, we can see the classic comic-style shadows and highlights that convey the texture of the symbiote surface. To properly create this effect, first outline all the highlights on Carnage’s body using light lines. Be sure to take into account the form and placement of the body parts where you add these highlights, so they follow the contours correctly and enhance the sense of volume.

Step 11: Fill in the dark areas

Now carefully begin filling in the areas around the highlight shapes you drew earlier, keeping those highlights white. You can also add light midtones with clean, comic-style hatching to create a wider tonal range in the drawing. Review your entire Carnage drawing once more, look for any mistakes, and correct them if necessary.

In this Carnage drawing lesson, we used a fairly classic comic book style that is often employed by artists when creating villains and heroes.

A similar approach was demonstrated in our Venom drawing lesson, while a more detailed and advanced method was shown in our guide on how to draw Spider-Man.

All of these heroes and villains have many different interpretations across various issues and media. You can reflect these nuances in your own artwork and make your version slightly different from our illustrations.

Drawing comics – especially comic book villains and superheroes – has many distinctive features, but it is still entirely grounded in classical drawing fundamentals.

Despite his unusual shapes and textures, Carnage has a fundamentally human figure, and the basis for drawing him is an understanding of human anatomy.

We discuss how to draw the human body correctly, along with other academic fundamentals, in our basic drawing lessons category.

For a deeper focus on comic book style, visit our comics section, where we also cover detailed methods for drawing heroes, villains, and other elements related to this genre of visual art.