All About Zebras and How to Sketch Them

In celebration of International Zebra Day, I am sharing several online workshops I’ve taught on zebras and how to sketch them.

Grevy’s Zebra Sketching Workshop

Download your Grevy’s Zebra Sketching Cheatsheet, gather some pencils, then follow along to the video workshop below.

Download your Plains Zebra Sketching- Cheatsheet, gather some pencils, then follow along to the video workshop below.

Download your Mountain Zebra Sketching Cheatsheet, gather some pencils, then follow along to the video workshop below.

A zebra herd is called a dazzle or a zeal.
A zebra’s pattern of stripes is as unique as your fingerprints.
Their skin is black to protect them from the sun and their stripes are white.
A zebra’s voice sounds more like the braying of a donkey than the whinny of a horse.
Zebras belong to the Equidae family which had its evolutionary roots in North America.
Zebras are closely related to horses and donkeys and are so genetically similar that they can breed with them in captivity and produce sterile hybrids known as zonkeys and zorses!
Unlike horses, zebras have stripes, an upright mane, and a shorter, less hairy tail. They are also less likely to be tamable, though some were domesticated by the ancient Romans and called ‘tiger horses.
Zebras are in the same order as rhinoceros and tapirs; the Perissodactyla or odd-toed ungulates.
There are three species of zebras that each live in different habitats and geographic regions of Africa.
The Grevy’s Zebra, named after a former ruler of France in the late 1800’s, is the most endangered, with only about 3,000 remaining.
Threats to Grevy’s Zebra include poaching for their meat and skins, habitat loss, and competition with livestock, as well as drought and disease.