This cute raccoon drawing comes from Art for Kids Hub, where a dad and his son draw side by side at a red table. You start with two huge shiny eyes and build the whole cartoon raccoon around them: a little nose, fluffy cheeks, pointed ears, the famous mask, short legs and a big striped tail. Then you color it grey and give it green eyes.
You need a black marker, a sheet of paper and colored pencils. It takes about nine minutes.
What makes a raccoon drawing look like a raccoon
Three things. The mask, the ringed tail and the dark paws. Without them, this same body reads as a fox, a cat or a husky pup. Draw the mask as a curved band that wraps around each eye and meets at a V on the forehead. Then give the tail five or six curved stripes. Curved, not straight. Curves make the tail look round.
The big eyes are what make it cute. Leave a gap between them for the nose, and keep the highlight circles in the same spot in both eyes.
Supplies for a cartoon raccoon
A fine point permanent marker gives the bold outline in the video. Plain printer paper is fine for practice. A heavier drawing pad keeps the ink from bleeding and takes colored pencil layers better. Nervous about mistakes? Sketch in pencil and trace it after.
For color, the video uses colored pencils: light grey for the body, dark grey for the mask and stripes, black for the paws, and two greens for the eyes. Markers work too, but go light on the grey so the black lines still show.
Shading the grey fur
Grey is the hard color here. Press lightly for the body and go over it twice instead of pressing hard once. Then switch to a darker grey for the mask, the ear edges and every other tail stripe. Leave the stripes in between light. That light, dark, light pattern is what makes the tail read as ringed from across the room. The paws get the darkest color of all, so the raccoon looks like it wears little black gloves. Leave the chest and the inside of the ears white.
Make it bigger, make it yours
Draw the eyes big. The dad says it himself at the end: his son's bigger eyes looked better. Big eyes leave room for the mask and fill the page, and they are easier for small hands to color.
Once it is done, give your raccoon a scene. A trash can lid is the classic joke. A pile of fall leaves works for an October classroom wall.
Raccoon drawing ideas to try next
- A raccoon peeking over a log, drawn from the eyes up.
- A baby raccoon with an even bigger head and shorter legs.
- A woodland set: add a fox and a wolf with the same big eyes.
- Swap the mask for stripes and spots and you are close to a cat drawing.
Common raccoon drawing problems
- It looks like a fox. Darken the mask and the tail stripes. Those two carry the whole look.
- The tail looks flat. Curve every stripe the same way, like rings around a tube.
- The legs look too long. Stop them short. Cartoon animals look cuter with stubby legs.
- Coloring covers the eyes. Color around the highlight circles and leave them white.
New to drawing? Start with how to draw for the basics.
