How to Draw a House: Cartoon Cottage Step by Step

Place your paper in portrait orientation. With your black marker, draw a small circle in the bottom-right area of the paper for the shrub that sits in front of the house. Keep it about the size of a lime - small enough to leave room for the whole house and a tree above it.

Now run a horizontal line out of the left side of the shrub. That line is the ground line and the bottom edge of the house. Stop the line at the right side of where the house will sit.

From the right end of the baseline, draw a vertical line straight up for the right wall. From the left end of the baseline, draw a matching vertical line up to the same height for the left wall.

For the roofline, draw an upside-down V on top - go up from the top of the left wall to a center point, then back down to the top of the right wall. Aim the peak right in the middle so the house looks balanced from the front.

Now widen the roof so it overhangs the walls. From the top of the left wall, draw a short line that pushes out past the wall to the left, then come back up at a matching angle to mirror the original roof slope.

Do the same thing on the right side - small overhang out, then a parallel line going up. Connect the two new top lines with a second, smaller upside-down V across the top of the roof. The roof now has thickness.

Start at the peak of the roof. Draw a zigzag down the front face of the roof - short line, drop, short line, drop - to suggest a row of shingles along the front edge. Repeat the same zigzag down the right slope of the roof until it meets the wall.

For the chimney, drop down the left side of the roof and draw a small upright rectangle. Connect a slightly higher matching line and close the top across. The chimney sits on the back slope of the roof, so the line closest to the peak should be taller than the line on the outside.

At the bottom of the house, draw two small stacked rectangles to make a pair of front steps. The lower step is wider than the upper one - a quick way to suggest depth.

For the door, draw a tall narrow rectangle in the middle-left of the wall, starting from the top step. Repeat the same shape just inside it for the door frame border. Add a small square near the top of the door for the door window, drawing an L first and then an upside-down L to close it. Finish with a tiny circle for the doorknob.

Next to the door, draw a square for the front window using the same L-shape trick: draw an L, then an upside-down L to close the box. Repeat a smaller box just inside for the window frame.

On the left wall of the house there is one more window - a small rectangle on the side. Draw a short line out from the wall at the top of where the window goes, a matching short line at the bottom, and connect them. That side window catches the eye and makes the cottage feel three-dimensional.

Behind the house on the left side, draw a tree trunk that curves out at the base and connects into the wall. Then sketch the canopy: start with a backwards J shape coming up from the trunk, add two more U-shapes to round it out, and curve the top of the canopy across and over the roof, ending where the roof meets the right side.

Fill the canopy with the leaf texture. Draw rows of small U-shapes connected together to look like clumps of leaves, working across and down. Add the same U-shape texture across the top of the front shrub.

Once the marker outlining is done, color the drawing in. Tan or yellow walls, a red roof, blue windows, a brown door, and green for the tree and shrub. Take your time on the coloring - this is where the cottage really comes to life.