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How to Draw Cartoon Dogs

cartoondogs

Dogs and puppies are immensely popular in comic strips and animation. The cartoonist who can draw convincing dogs has a leg up on the competition.

With the following tips, you can, too. So sharpen that pencil, get out some paper and let’s get started.

DRAWING THE HEAD

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All dogs share the same basic head and body construction. By practicing these steps, you’ll soon be able to draw any dog. (Don’t trace. You’ll learn much more if you freehand.)

Let’s start with a dalmation.

Step 1: Begin with a circle. Drawing the guidelines on the circle will help you see it as a three-dimensional globe. The horizontal line hangs low on the globe — that’s where the eyes will go. The vertical line is the center line — it divides the face in half.

Step 2: The head has three components: the skull, the cheeks and the jaw.

Step 3: Place the eyes on the horizontal “eye line.”

Step 4: The bridge of the nose begins high on the face — between the dog’s eyes — and thrusts forward. Notice how it gets larger as it comes toward you.

Step 5: Now add a smiling mouth, which pushes up into the cheeks and causes creases. The jaw, off to one side, creates a lively smile.

Step 6: Big, floppy ears and a thick neck bring this guy to life. A few small teeth on the lower jaw add a professional touch.

Step 7: Add spots, and erase your guide lines for a clean finished drawing.

THE EARS

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Floppy ears add charm and personality to a dog. Most dog ears fold over, with the exception of short, triangular ears — the kind found on terriers, chow chows, German shepherds and a few other breeds. The most important thing to remember about drawing the folded ear is that the line from the base of the ear should point to the outermost corner of the fold.

Right: The base of the ear points to the outermost corner of the fold. (The dashes are not part of your drawing.)

Wrong: The base of the ear doesn’t connect to anything; it just shoots out into space.

DRAWING THE BODY-SIDE VIEW

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There are three main parts to a dog’s body: the head, the rib cage and the hindquarters. Everything connects to those three areas. Notice how the back crests at the base of the neck. The large rib cage gives the dog a powerful chest. The hindquarters rise, although slightly less than the shoulders, and then slope down sharply toward the tail. The tail is an extension of the spine and must flow seamlessly from the spinal cord.

CLASSIC TERRIER

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The tiny terrier’s neck is surprisingly thick and muscular. The compact body shows very little in the way of a waistline, and the short legs allow the body to hover just above the ground. Note the distinctive triangular ears. He’s also got bushy eyebrows, a bushy mouth, bushy forelegs and hind legs, and small paws.

COLLIE

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This breed has a slender, almost pointed face and an appealing two-toned coat of fur. It always maintains an alert expression and gives the impression of being a large dog. However, under that huge layer of hair is a rather trim animal with an unimpressive build. The small paws are the giveaway.

But, because our view of the collie as a full-bodied dog is so ingrained in us, it’s better to start with an overall large shape than to draw a thin body and fill it out with hair. The collie is always well-groomed, so don’t let the hair appear ragged.

SAINT BERNARD

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The Saint Bernard is instantly recognizable for its long, flapping jowls. It’s not a graceful dog; in fact, its movements are kind of, well, sloppy. It should always appear to be well fed, and it has a sort of dopey personality. Give your Saint Bernard a big nose. The ears are actually shorter than shown here, but cartoons typically depict this dog with long ears.

CREATING EXPRESSIONS

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Most people only think to use the mouth and the eyebrows to create facial expressions, but there’s more to it than that. The shape of the eyes changes, depending on whether the eyebrows crush down on the eyes or lift them up.

Most importantly, though, is the length of the upper lip, which changes according to the expression. Notice how short the upper lip is in the happy expressions here and how long it becomes in surprised or unhappy expressions. The mouth can be “tugged” to one side, which provides an extra accent.

You can add teeth or forget about them, depending on the emotion being expressed, and you can even change the shape of the teeth. Spiked teeth work well in angry expressions but not on worried ones — they look too aggressive.

LINE OF ACTION

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When I look at the sketchbooks of aspiring cartoonists and artists, most illustrations don’t convey a sense of thrust. The artists have worked hard on the eyes, the head, the muscles and so on, but there is no flow to the drawings. They have no direction. The characters are just jumbles of parts, which makes them look stiff. It’s certainly important to master drawing those individual parts. No doubt about it. But the parts need an overall framework in which to exist. That’s where the line of action — shown in red — comes into play.

LEARN MORE

To learn more about drawing dogs and other animals, check out Christopher Hart’s book, You Can Draw Cartoon Animals.

58 Comments on How to Draw Cartoon Dogs

  1. Queen India 570 // June 23, 2013 at 3:59 am // Reply

    That is like amazing.Cool! Maybe, you could put more websites on how to draw different animals, not just dogs. But, your rocking.

  2. Thats awesome!! i did the dalmation free hand and it looks right on! c;

  3. XxSMOKEYDRIFTxX // November 21, 2012 at 11:28 pm // Reply

    super easy!!!

  4. Cool. Now I can draw dogs!

  5. man these dogs are really cool and simple to draw i love this website

  6. dog master // July 31, 2012 at 9:01 am // Reply

    when you draw a dog you need to make shure you have a sharp pencil and start off with a out line then do the detale

  7. maddiegirl06 // May 16, 2012 at 6:57 pm // Reply

    that is so alsome..!it realy help thx everyone(great tips)

  8. I LOVE DOGS!… I DREW ALL OF THE DOGS ON HERE INCLUDING THE BULLDOG…I’M GOING TO GET A GOLDEN RETRIEVER PUPPY SOON ๐Ÿ™‚ !!!CAN’T WAIT ๐Ÿ™‚ !

    ๐Ÿ˜› SEE YA XOXOX

  9. Lila burps bubbles // May 13, 2012 at 10:31 am // Reply

    the st. bernard is the one for me!!!i grew up with one for 9 years before he passed away…I LOVE BIG DOGS!!

  10. totally cool man…….I drew all of the dogs on here!

    • i luv to draw anything….well….most anything. animals toward the top of my list….probly battle scenes on top

  11. cool/

  12. this is realy helpfull and i love it!

  13. I LOVE dogs! i’m addicted to dogs

  14. ๐Ÿ™‚ I made all the dogs they were easy for me. Mybe you can make harder one next time

  15. This is the best drawings of dogs I’ve ever seen and I’ve seen a lot of good drawings in the past this so far is the best

  16. i love dogs <3

  17. This excellent guide I always looked for a guide how to draw dogs and this guide has taught me a lot

  18. NINJ11202 // July 7, 2011 at 3:50 pm // Reply

    COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  19. vsrocks1234 // May 22, 2011 at 5:55 pm // Reply

    wow!i love this website

  20. Cool !! I love the type of drawing.

  21. it is so cool to draw dogs

  22. Good dogs !! I used some to inspire me for a project !! ๐Ÿ™‚

  23. The Man with the Banjo // December 7, 2010 at 5:02 pm // Reply

    Mine didn’t come nearly as good but it was better and if I practice I think I’ll do pretty good

  24. How do you draw a german sheperd?

  25. I love this website! i love to draw so this really helped me

  26. Sweet! Aren’t these from 101 Dalmations?

  27. these are some of the best ways to draw dogs that Ive ever seen

  28. dogs are fun 2 draw cauz you can do lots of funny things with them.

  29. Everyone have questions? Well heres few that you might want. 1. How do u draw a wolf? Go on paint ( if u dont then get a piece of paper..) Then do it like the collie example. Its very alike. Just fill in your colors. 2. How to draw a dog? Well what kind of dog? They have more dogs of this site to draw thats no problem! ๐Ÿ™‚ 3. how to draw a great dane? Use the first example. Very alike! 4. Enjoy these tips. Goodbye! ๐Ÿ™‚

  30. thanks the tail when drawling on paint is very hard. This helped a lot! : )

  31. socy boy 43 // June 30, 2010 at 6:04 pm // Reply

    well i have to say im a good drawermy self so i like what you did its prety cool try to put up some more of this steps and ill be here for them ๐Ÿ™‚

  32. how do you draw that good?

  33. cool:)

  34. animals 101 // May 25, 2010 at 6:45 pm // Reply

    that was cool!

  35. Awesome Stuff! thx; ya…

  36. how to draw a wolf

    • YOu should do the collie and you will have the tail and the body and all that. Different face you would want probably. But ill say the collie is like drawling a wolf

  37. how do you draw dragons

  38. this has taught me to draw

  39. how do u draw a yellow lab

  40. i love these if only i could draw!

  41. Nicely done……….Keep it up ๐Ÿ™‚

  42. havent tried but looks good

  43. Thank you 4 the tips on drawing dogs

  44. thanks i’ve always looked for this!!!!

  45. (B) this is AWSOME

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