I have always found that drawing something is so much easier when shown in a drawing guide. In this easy-to-use tutorial, you will see how to draw a squirrel holding an acorn. With this simple step-by-step instruction, you or your child will feel confident drawing the adorable woodland animal even if you are both beginners.
How to Draw a Squirrel
Materials
- Pencil
- Paper
Instructions
Step 1: Drawing the Eye
This step consists of drawing three different-sized circles. The first should be the largest and the size you want the eye to be. The second is the pupil. It will be inside the first larger circle, and it should be oriented in the direction that you want the squirrel to be gazing at. Finally, adding a third small circle back behind the pupil acts as the light reflecting off of the squirrel’s eye.
Step 2: The Head and Ears
Start with a basic circle going around the eye; make sure that the eye is positioned where you want it as you draw the squirrel’s head. On the front of the squirrel’s face, instead of just completing the circle, indent some and create a sort of rounded slope to bring out the squirrel’s nose and forehead. The squirrel’s ears are shaped like a rounded pentagon. Picture drawing a little straw house or hut for each of the ears. For the ear in the foreground, be sure to draw the ear’s interior by drawing a smaller rounded pentagon inside the ear.
Step 3: Create the Back and Foot
The squirrel has an arched posture; I like to think of it as drawing a sideways smiley face. Draw the sideways smiley face starting from the back of the head and curving around to form the squirrel’s back. At the bottom, continue with a straight horizontal line to the left. This line will be the bottom of the squirrel’s foot. Curve up and around the horizontal line to finish the foot shape.
Step 4: Finishing the Body
The arm starts at an angle down from the head and curves around with three little fingers before moving back up and towards the body. Next, draw a curved line up from the foot to represent the knee; think of it as a sort of angled frowny face. Finally, draw a connecting line from the armpit to the knee.
Step 5: Drawing that Bushy Tail
To draw the big bushy tail, you only need two lines. The first should be a gradually curving line that starts from the squirrel’s back. The second line should be a long wavy line that meets the first line to form the tip of the tail. The second line should swoop down and connect to the back of the foot. Also, in this step, add a short line connecting the squirrel’s wrist down to the knee to round out the belly, and add a detailed line curving along the back.
Step 6: Adding Detail Lines
This easy step will add two detailed lines to the squirrel’s tail. To do this, add a swooping line on the inside of the tail that mirrors the outside edge of the bushy tail. The second line should come up from the back and be rounded to reflect the shorter edge of the tail close to the squirrel’s back.
Step 7: Finish with the Acorn
Finish this adorable squirrel drawing by adding an acorn to the outstretched paw. Start with the top of the acorn by drawing a half oval that is angled underneath the chin and above the hands. Draw a curved line coming down from the top of the acorn on each side. On the left side, the curve should go uninterrupted, but the right side of the acorn will be an interrupted line by the squirrel’s arm. The two lines should meet at the bottom of a point. Add the stem on the top of the acorn and a cute little heart in the middle. You should now have an adorable cartoon squirrel holding an acorn.
More tutorials to draw other animals that climb trees: Monkey | Panda | Koala