By CraftingStepByStepPublished
Based on a video by Art for Kids Hub.
This cartoon squirrel comes from Art for Kids Hub, where a dad and his daughter draw side by side. You start with two big shiny eyes, wrap a round head around them and build the squirrel down from there: a happy open mouth, small ears, a chubby body and a huge curled tail. It takes about six minutes. Every shape is a circle, a U or a C, so kids as young as five can follow along.
You need a black marker, paper and something to color with.
The tail. Without it you have a hamster or a bear cub. His daughter says it best in the video: a small tail makes it look like a chipmunk. Draw the tail almost as tall as the whole body and let it curl up behind the back. The ears matter too. Keep them short and rounded. Tall ears turn the squirrel into a bunny.
The big front teeth help as well. The tongue in the open mouth gets colored in at the top, which leaves a white shape that reads as two buck teeth.
Printer paper is fine for practice. For a picture you want to keep, a heavier drawing pad holds marker ink without bleeding through. A fine point black permanent marker gives the bold outline. Nervous kids can sketch in pencil first and trace over it.
The video colors with colored pencils: medium brown for the fur, tan for the belly and the inside of the ears, pink for the tongue, and blue around the edge of each eye. Washable markers work too and are faster for little kids.
Most kids draw the eyes too small and too low, then run out of room for the tail. Put the eyes in the middle of the page, a little above center, and make each one about the size of a coin. The head will end up filling the top third of the paper. The body and feet take the middle, and the tail needs the space to one side. If your kid is left-handed, mirror it and put the tail on the left so their hand never covers the wet ink.
Turn the paper sideways for the tail curve. Hands draw curves more easily when they pull toward the body.
The daughter adds a top hat and a mustache to hers, which is the best part of the video. Try a red squirrel with orange fur, a grey squirrel with a white belly, or a flying squirrel with a flap of skin between the arms and legs. In the fall it makes a cute classroom picture with a few leaves and acorns scattered around it.
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 in the middle of your paper, a little high. Draw a big circle for one eye. Then draw a second circle right next to it, the same size. Big eyes make the squirrel cute, so do not be shy. Leave a small gap between them for the nose. Everything else gets built around these two circles.
Tip
If one eye ends up bigger, that is fine. Cartoon animals look friendlier a little uneven.
Inside each eye, draw a small circle up in the top right. That is the shine. Then draw a C shape that runs along the inside of the big circle and tucks behind the shine. This leaves a ring around the outside you can color blue or green later. Add an even smaller circle at the bottom left. Color in the middle black and leave the small circles white.
Tip
Color slowly near the highlights. If you cover one, draw it back in with a white gel pen.
Start below the eyes in the middle. Draw a big circle that goes all the way around both eyes and comes back to where you started. Leave plenty of room above the eyes for the forehead and room below for the mouth. A wobbly circle is fine. A big head on a small body is what makes cartoon animals look cute.
Tip
Lift your marker halfway around if you need to. Pick up where you stopped.
Draw a small V between the eyes for the nose. Right under it, draw a little W for the top of the mouth. Then draw a U below the W so the squirrel has an open, happy mouth. Add a small rainbow-shaped line near the bottom for the tongue. Color the top part of the mouth black and the white gap left at the top looks like two buck teeth.
Tip
Keep the mouth close to the nose. A low mouth makes the face look surprised.
Above each eye, draw an upside down U on top of the head. These are the ears. Keep them small and rounded. Tall ears make it look like a bunny. Then draw a smaller upside down U inside each one for the inside of the ear. His daughter adds eyelashes to hers here too, which is a nice touch.
Tip
Tilt the ears out a little. Straight-up ears look stiff.
Right under the head, draw a big U. Start on one side of the head, go down, curve across the bottom and come back up to the other side. This is the body. Make it a little narrower than the head. The squirrel is sitting up, so the body is short and round, not long.
Tip
Start the U a bit inside the edge of the head. It makes the neck look natural.
Inside the body, draw two small sideways U shapes for the arms. Tilt them so they point down at an angle, like the squirrel is holding something in front of its chest. Keep them small. Then draw two lines coming down from the arms toward the bottom of the body. Connect the arms across the top with a short line. That outlines the belly.
Tip
Want the squirrel to hold a nut? Draw a small acorn between the paws before the belly lines.
Go to the bottom of the body. On each side, draw a sideways U for a foot. The feet stick out a little to the left and right, so the squirrel looks like it is sitting down. Keep them about the same size as the arms. Once the feet are on, it already looks like an animal. It still needs one big thing.
Tip
Let the feet overlap the bottom of the body line. It looks more natural than feet attached at the edge.
Next to the body, start up near the side of the head and draw a big backwards C that comes down behind the back. Then draw an S line inside it, like a question mark. Start at the top of the C, curve in toward the body, then curve back and touch the body line. The tail should be almost as tall as the whole squirrel.
Tip
This step is the tricky one. Practice the S curve on scrap paper first.
Now add color. The video uses colored pencils. Color the fur a medium brown and press harder around the edges. Use tan for the belly and the inside of the ears and pink for the tongue. Color the outer ring of each eye blue and leave the highlights white. Go over the outline in marker again at the end so it pops.
Tip
Color the tail in long strokes that follow the curl. It looks bushier that way.
Keep going
How to Draw a Raccoon
10 steps · about 9 minutes
How to Draw a Squirrel
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