How to Draw Mount Rushmore

In the mountains of South Dakota lie the four distinct faces carved out of stone, our past presidents that changed America. Starting from left to right you can see George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. The idea to have a part of American history carved in stone came from a historian Doane Robinson back in 1923. The idea was to attract more people to Harney National Forest Preserve, which is now called Black Hills. Robinson contacted Gutzon Borglum, he is the man that agreed to come out to black hills in 1924 and inspect the area that would hold the four sculptures. The original location was supposed to be in the Needles area, but after a careful evaluation it was determined that the site would not support a sculpture of this magnitude. Borglum then told the carving supporters of another location called “Mount Rushmore”. When he saw the mountain he said “America will march along the skyline”. It was then the site was finally chosen, the mountain faced the southeast which got lots of light during the day. The granite was found to be very resistant with an eroding time span of an inch every 10,000 years. It was Gutzon Borglum that chose to have the four presidents as national focus subjects. It wasn’t until 1927 until the actual sculpting took place. George Washington was the first to get sculpted and two years later Thomas Jefferson was next which originally was placed on the right of Washington. Couple of years later the granite for Jefferson started to thin out and was blasted with dynamite. They started over and began to sculpt him on the left side of Washington. After years of working George Washington was dedicated on July 4, 1934. The dedication to Jefferson came two years later in 1936. September 17, 1937 was the 150th anniversary of the singing of the Constitution and the dedication to Lincoln was made. Two years later the final dedication was made to Theodore Roosevelt. In 1941 Gutzon Borglum died and his son Lincoln took over the project until the funding ran out. The way America sees the monument today is the way it was left back in 1941, an unfinished project that worked a man to his death and a son to his reality. This tutorial shows you how to draw Mount Rushmore step by step with simple instructions. I hope you enjoyed learning something about our American history.

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