How to Draw Animals

Animals look complicated — fur, feathers, paws, tails — but every animal artist knows the same secret: underneath, animals are just friendly shapes stacked together. A circle becomes a head. An oval becomes a body. Triangles become ears, and little lines become legs. In this lesson you will really draw, on a real canvas, using the same step-by-step method that illustrators use for picture books.

Let's start with everyone's best friend: a puppy. A puppy's face is a circle, and its secret ingredient is the ears. Cat ears are pointy triangles that stand up, but puppy ears are long, soft flaps that hang down the sides of the head, like two slides. Eyes go halfway down the face, and the nose sits in the middle like a little button.

Now for a bunny. Compare it to the puppy you just drew: the head is still a circle and the body is still round — only the ears change the whole story! Bunny ears are looong ovals that reach up like rocket trails. Artists call this the silhouette trick: if you can tell an animal just from its outline, the drawing works. Squint at a bunny and you still see those tall ears.