By CraftingStepByStepPublished
Based on a video by Art for Kids Hub.
This cartoon bear comes from Art for Kids Hub. Rob draws it side by side with his son, and the lesson is built for young artists. Every part of the bear is a circle, an oval or a U shape. No tricky angles. You end up with a chubby brown bear with his arms up, ready for a hug. It takes about six minutes.
You need a black marker, paper, and two browns for coloring.
The order matters here. You start with the face, not the body. Two dot eyes and a little muzzle go down first, and then the body gets drawn around them. That way the face always lands where you want it, and the body can be any size.
Watch the two drawings in the video. Rob's bear is a tall rounded rectangle. His son's bear came out huge and wide, almost shaped like a heart. Both read as bears right away, because the round ears and the belly patch do most of the work. Let your kid's shape be whatever it turns out to be.
A fine point black permanent marker gives clean outlines that stay put when you color over them. Plain printer paper is fine for practice. A heavier drawing pad holds up better to waxy color and heavy coloring.
The video uses oil pastels in two shades: a regular brown and a pale tan. Crayons and colored pencils work the same way. The trick is the two-tone plan. Dark brown goes on the outside parts of the bear. Light brown goes on the muzzle, belly, paws and inner ears. That contrast is what makes a cartoon bear look soft and huggable.
Try a black bear, a honey-gold bear or a white polar bear with a light blue sky behind it. The shapes do not change.
Draw big. A bear that fills most of the page is easier to color, and small hands stay inside the lines. If the face ends up small, that is fine. The body can grow around it.
A finished bear makes a sweet card. Fold a sheet of cardstock, draw the bear on the front with his arms up, and write "Bear hugs!" inside. It works for birthdays, get-well notes and, in winter, a cozy holiday card.
Love bears? Turn the drawing into a real toy with how to crochet a bear.
New to drawing? Start with how to draw for the basics.
10 steps · about 6 minutes.Check off each step as you go and your progress saves automatically.
Start near the top middle of your page. Draw a small circle, then another small circle right next to it. Keep them close together. That is the secret to a cute cartoon bear face. Color both circles in with your marker. You can fill them all the way, or leave a tiny white dot inside each one so the eyes look shiny.
Tip
Leave a lot of room below the eyes. The whole body grows down from here.
Right below the eyes, draw a little oval. Make it a bit taller than it is wide. This oval is the bear's muzzle, the part that sticks out where the nose and mouth go. Let the top of the oval sit close to the eyes. If it drifts too far down, the bear starts to look surprised. Go slowly here.
Tip
Small is better. A big muzzle crowds the face.
At the top of the oval, draw a small V shape and color it in. That is the bear's nose. Down near the bottom of the oval, draw a tiny curved mouth. Then connect them with a short line from the point of the V straight down to the mouth. Now your bear has a whole face, and it already looks like a bear.
Tip
Draw the V upside down, like a little triangle pointing at the mouth.
Put your marker above the eyes and draw a big shape around the whole face. Come down one side, around the bottom, and back up the other side. This one shape is the head and body together. Rob makes a tall rounded rectangle. His son makes his huge and wide, almost like a heart. Both work for a cartoon bear.
Tip
Leave space at the bottom of the page for the legs.
Go to one top corner of the body. Draw a small circle shape that tucks into the corner, so part of it hides behind the body line. Then draw a smaller circle inside it. Do the same thing on the other side. Round ears like these are what make a bear look like a bear and not a cat or a dog.
Tip
Try to match the two ears in size. Draw one, look at it, then draw the other.
On one side of the body, draw a U shape that reaches up and out, like the bear is waving. Start on the body line and end on the body line. Do the same on the other side. Then draw a small circle inside each arm near the end. Those circles are the paw pads. With both arms up, your bear looks ready for a hug.
Tip
Tilt the U shapes up. Arms pointing up look happier than arms hanging down.
At the bottom of the body, draw a small U shape for one leg. Leave a little gap and draw another U shape for the other leg. Keep them short and chunky. A cartoon bear looks cuter with stubby legs. The tops of the U shapes start on the body line, so they look like they come out from under the bear's tummy.
Tip
Make the legs about the same size as the arms so the bear looks balanced.
Draw a big oval on the lower half of the body for the belly. Start at one side, curve up and over, then come down to the bottom of the body. You can let the bottom of the oval run right into the body line. This patch will be colored light brown later, so it gives the bear a soft, round tummy.
Tip
Keep the belly below the arms so it does not crowd the face.
Grab your regular brown. Color the outside parts of the bear: the body, the arms, the legs and the outer ears. Do not color the muzzle, the belly, the paws or the inside of the ears. Leave those white for now. The video uses oil pastels, but crayons or colored pencils give you the same look.
Tip
Color in one direction first, then go over it again the other way to fill gaps.
Switch to a light brown or tan. Fill in all the white spots you left: the muzzle, the belly, the paw pads and the inside of the ears. The light color pops against the dark brown and makes the bear look soft. That is it. Give your bear a name, like Rob's son did, and hang him up.
Tip
Press lightly with the tan so the black outlines stay crisp.
Keep going
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How to Draw a Bear
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