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DESIGN & ILLUSTRATION > COMICS

Cartoon Fundamentals:
The Secrets in Drawing
Animals
( FEED ) LIKE * FOLLOW
by Carlos Gomes Cabral 8 Oct 2013 Length: Medium Languages: English

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This post is part of a series called How to Draw Cartoons. & Illustration tutorials. Never miss out on
learning about the next big thing.
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Knowing how to draw faces and facial expressions is a basic item in the
toolbox of any cartoonist. But your journey will not be complete until you can
also draw the giant animal world! Here, in much larger intensity of human-
beings, diversity dominates! We have birds, ]sh, pets, wild animals... each
animal with their unique characteristics. It seems di_cult to represent so many
features with just a paper and a pencil, right? Well, for today I’ll prove it’s easier
than you think.

1. Create a Base
Drawing cartoons is very rewarding. You realize how much children are
delighted when we translate such complex details of the human form in simple
and attractive lines. When we exaggerate facial expressions in our characters,
we are not only entertaining the little ones, but we are teaching them how to
deal to life’s adversities. What is right, what is wrong ... we have a certain role
in their education, in a way. That is the responsibility of the artist who has
children in their primary audience.

But the child’s world is not complete without animals. They are in everywhere:
toys, TV, movies... A cartoonist who lacks the ability to draw various animals in
a piece paper, isn’t a complete artist. Today we’re going to change that and,
again, following the same template we used in previous tutorials.

You doubt that we will draw most animals using only the circles below? Well,
that’s it. We only need that circle, that will be our starting point to draw all
animals in cartoon style. Advertisement

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If you’ve read my previous tutorials, there is nothing new here. So let’s keep our
eyes positioned optimally on our template which will serve as the basis for all
the animals that we build here today.

If you have not understood the drawing I’ve done below, take a look at my
tutorial on how to draw cartoon faces. Also, visit how to create facial
expressions for further guidance.

For each animal, I’ll show you some key elements you’ll need to illustrate to
create the animal, as well as some handy hints on modifying the original
design into something new. Like all cartoons, it’s about recycling what you have
to create something new.

Now we have our template, let’s move onto the ]rst animal, the queen of the
Internet, the cat.

2. Draw a Cartoon Cat

This is a basic drawing of a cat’s face as seen from the front. The cat’s face is
very easy to be drawn: It’s very well rounded and follows the curves of our
circular template.

Cool, right? Now let’s complete our template ]lling the remaining angles:

The cat design in cartoon style follows the rules below:

Big and pointed ears - slightly spaced from each other;

Tiny snout - almost glued to the face;
Big mustaches - also known as "tactile hairs" or "vibrissae".

Let’s see what it takes to make that cat a female cat?

Were you able to see what I changed above? It seems incredible, but I only
decreased the eyebrows and increased the eyelashes. That’s it! Now we have a
female cat!

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3. Draw a Cartoon Pig

When we think of a pig, what comes to our minds it’s a cuddly and chubby
animal, right? So it’s perfect to be embedded in our template. Let’s start at the
muzzle:

The secret to drawing the pig are their ears and snout. Make sure that the
snout/muzzle has a rounded shape on top and gat on the bottom. The ears are
slightly facing forward, as it connects directly with the head. Try doing it with a
triangular shape:

The secret of this technique I’m showing to you is very simple. You’ve got to
identify the features that people use to associate with animals in real life in
your drawings, so with the pig, it’s the snout and ears. If you manage to hit
these small details, you will reach your goal!

It is possible to make an elephant from a pig? Of course it is! As you can see, small changes can give

life to an entirely different being!

4. Draw a Cartoon Horse

We are working with species quite different from each other, are you noticing?
This is to prove that we can explore all kinds of animals starting from the same
template.

Let’s draw the horse now. Notice that the horse’s skull is thinner. The snout is
positioned forward and his jaw is round and well marked by dental records. In a
cartoon style, horses usually have big teeth, which gives you some freedom to
play with the upper and lower lips.

Completing the angles:

Notice that the horse’s hair goes down throughout the neck.

Horses have broad, strong necks, and their nostrils are projected upward. The
ears are of a regular size and in comparison with the size of the head.

5. Hail to Differences Between Animals!

We’ve talked about cats but we forgot someone who is also very important in a
child’s life...

When it comes to pets, the dog is the leader. He is present in 8 out of every 10 houses! At least in my

neighborhood.

As the dog and the cat are, probably, the animals you will draw more in your
life, let’s make a comparison of the main differences between them:

Large snouts, which aligns with the jaw;

Ears closer to each other;
Thicker eyebrows;
Less rounded face;

When it comes to ears, a dog has an interesting feature that varies according
to breed: their ears can fall down, or point up. You have greater freedom to
explore the breeds and their characteristics in comparison to cats.

Drawing dogs is a huge adventure, because you can draw them all day long. Unlike cats, breeds of

dogs are quite distinct from each other.

Other classes of animals, like birds to name a few, are very distinguished from
others by having unique features as well:

Notice how the birds are distinct. While the chicken follows the circular pattern, the eagle and the

parrot has the gattened head.

Well, now it’s time to try for yourself. Try redraw the animals that I drew above
as many times as necessary, until you can do it for yourself. Then, use the
template below and make other animals that I haven’t shown. Remember to
look for the special characteristics of each animal and try to reproduce them in
paper:

6. Lights, Camera... Action!

Animal bodies have an immense gexibility! They expand and compress all the
time, you only have to look at the contortion positions of a cat to realize how
gexible they truly are. It’s not necessary to have full knowledge of muscular
anatomy of animals, you just need to highlight the main areas and understand
how the body works when its in motion.