How to Draw a Diesel Truck

This step by step guide will show you how to draw a diesel truck, that is, a truck that runs on diesel.

Since this is just a truck, the main differences of which are that it drives with a diesel engine, it will be drawn like any other truck in many terms, but however, it has some interesting differences, which we will describe at the end.

If your art supplies are ready, and you are ready to start creating, then scroll the page down to draw a realistic diesel truck with shadows and highlights.

How to draw a diesel truck: step-by-step tutorial

Step 1 – Mark the overall car shape

First, depict the outlines of the diesel truck body. The lines should be extremely light and the main curves of the body should be visible.

Step 2 – Draw your diesel truck semi-circular arches

Depict the wheel arches with smooth semicircular lines. In the same stage, depict the lower edges of the front and rear bumpers.

Step 3 – Sketch the bumpers and and lamps above them

Draw bumpers in the front and rear using simple lines. Depict the angular headlights of the truck just above the bumpers.

Step 4 – Outline the cab window outline

Now carefully depict an unusual window frame, the top of which follows the outline of the roof. Depict the outlines of the doors using a long line.

Step 5 – Mark your diesel truck doors

Draw the center pillar in the middle of the window frame. Divide the doors using one long line. Complete the stage by depicting a rearview mirror.

Step 6 – Sketch windshield and small door handles

Draw the visible side of the windshield. Depict the handles as small flat rectangles. Sketch decorative lines at the bottom of the body.

Step 7 – Sketch the tires with concentric rim outlines

Erase all construction lines with an eraser. Depict wheels under the arches. Sketch rims inside the wheels, which should have a perfectly round shape.

Step 8 – Draw the simple rims of the diesel truck

Depict small circles in the middle of each rim. Next, place even smaller circles around these circles. The small circles should be the same size.

Step 9 – Shade the darkest areas and add mid-tones

The last stage of the guide on how to draw a diesel truck, in which we’ll start adding shadows. Start with the darkest parts and work on to the lighter ones. Add highlights to the glass parts.

Further diesel truck drawing practice

A diesel truck does not differ much from other vehicles of this type, aside from the engine, which isn’t visible to anyone who isn’t looking under the hood.

The same body style can be equipped with either a diesel or gasoline engine, and in many cases even an electric powertrain, which has become increasingly common. Because of this, you can use this drawing lesson to depict any of these variations.

The version shown in our example is realistic but not overly complex or overloaded with details, which allows you to recreate your own version either in a simpler form or with more advanced shading.

For instance, you can skip adding shadows and highlights and omit the final step, resulting in a cleaner and less detailed drawing.

Or you can take the opposite approach and expand the final stage with additional colors, midtones, and layered shading to make the drawing look more dimensional and realistic.

There is also another option if you choose to skip the hatching step: coloring the final drawing. We rarely color our demonstrations since we mainly focus on the academic pencil-drawing style, but you can certainly color your truck if you prefer.

Black and gray are among the most common choices for modern trucks, though nothing stops you from using brighter shades such as red, yellow, or green.

If you want to learn more about how to color trucks effectively and which palettes work best, we explain these topics in detail in our truck coloring pages collection.

And of course, the main feature of that section is the large selection of detailed, hand-drawn truck illustrations created by our artists across many different models and brands.

If you want to learn how to draw something completely different, then visit our article on how to draw a cool truck based on the Tesla Cybertruck.