Today, let’s learn how to draw a penguin. He’ll be a simplified, cartoony penguin with a lot of personality and a sno-cone of course. Tim Hodge shows you how to draw penguins in this step by step penguin drawing lesson.
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Now let's get started with the How to Draw a Penguin step by step drawing tutorial. |
How to Draw a Penguin Cartoon Drawing 1:
First start off with a loosely drawn circle for his head. I emphasize drawing loosely because you don’t want your lines to get tense. Keep the flow, keep it loose.
Next, rough in the body. For now, it will just be a soft, baggy shape, almost twice as big as his head. Cartoon Penguins are like thick water balloons full of fat that insulates them from their cold environment. It’s the soft, roundi-ness that gives them their cuteness.
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How to Draw a Penguin Cartoon Drawing 2:
So now, we know how big the drawing will be. We’ve roughed him in from top to tail. Now let’s begin with a few details. Add the crosshairs on his head. These are invisible lines like longitude and latitude on a globe that not only tell you which way he will be facing, but also give you a sense of perspective and roundness to your cartoon penguin drawing.
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How to Draw a Penguin Cartoon Drawing 3:
His eyes will sit on that “equator” line. Just on either side of the midline. Note how the eye that is farther away is slightly smaller. (By the way, bigger eyes make your characters look cuter. It’s like how babies’ eyes are larger in proportion to their heads than adults’ eyes are.) |
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How to Draw a Penguin Cartoon Drawing 4:
I’m adding his pupils and eyebrow ridges now. Real pupils are circles, but sometimes I like to elongate them into ovals. Somehow it puts a bit of spark and movement into the drawing. The ridges above the eyes are like folds of flesh, not bony like yours and mine. If we drew him angry, we could bring down his eyebrows and create a different emotion.
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How to Draw a Penguin Cartoon Drawing 5:
The beak is a bit more complicated. It’s full of curves and non-parallel lines. Work slowly and make the large s-curves. Starting from between his eyes, follow the ridge of his beak down to the tip. I said ‘follow’ because I want you to see it in your mind before you start to draw. Practice imagining what your cartoon penguin drawing will look like before you touch your pencil to the paper
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How to Draw a Penguin Cartoon Drawing 6:
Real beaks are hard and rigid, but for the purposes of our cartoon penguin version, we are making it soft and fleshy so we can create human-like emotions. |
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How to Draw a Penguin Cartoon Drawing 7:
Penguins don’t have cheeks, but we will give him one by turning the corners of his mouth upward and pushing up his beak. |
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How to Draw a Penguin Cartoon Drawing 8:
It’s all about drawing s-curves and making parts of the beak thin, and other parts thick. |
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How to Draw a Penguin Cartoon Drawing 9:
Penguins’ wings are more like flippers since they swim instead of fly. So we don’t have to worry about a lot of feathers. Draw his wing like a curvy sideways “V”. Make sure you draw it long enough to hold the sno-cone where it won’t bump into his face! The sno-cone is fairly simple. It’s just a big “V” with a circle on top |
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How to Draw a Penguin Cartoon Drawing 10:
His other wing is a bit trickier. Make the top part extend from his neckline, like a shoulder, because that’s pretty much what it is. Then draw the slightly curved line down to be the front of the wing, and another s-curve for the back line of the wing. Drawing it this way creates a bit of rhythm to the pose. Since his arm doesn’t have an elbow and wrist like a person’s, we can kind of fake the same feeling. Besides, if you look at penguin wings/flippers, you’ll see this is close to what they are really shaped like.
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How to Draw a Penguin Cartoon Drawing 11:
I’ve simplified the feet into flat flippers like what you might wear while swimming. Real penguin feet are not this cute. Note how we make them narrower near his body and wider as they come out. The trick is to draw them like they are sitting on a flat surface, and not hanging down in mid-air. |
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How to Draw a Penguin Cartoon Drawing 12:
Before you clean up your final line, take a kneaded eraser and roll it up like a snake. Then roll it over your rough pencil drawing to pick up most of your lines and fade them into the background a little. This will let you see which lines are the most important and get rid of a lot of the stray marks. |
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How to Draw a Penguin Cartoon Drawing 13:
Use a fine or medium tip waterproof marker for your outline of your cartoon penguin. If it’s not waterproof, your colored markers will tend to smear it. Now, carefully and evenly, outline your drawing. Don’t work too slow or too fast. Turn your paper so that you are pulling your pen toward you. You’ll get smoother lines that way. |
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How to Draw a Penguin Cartoon Drawing 14:
You can make long lines a little bit at a time. You will learn to keep them smooth with practice. |
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How to Draw a Penguin Cartoon Drawing 15:
Color your cartoon penguin.
And most of all… have fun!! |
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Congratulations you have finished this online Disney style Cartoon Penguin drawing lesson.
Great Job!
