How to Draw Cartoon Dinosaurs using cute basic shapes

Drawing cartoon dinosaurs has never been easier! These creatures that once ruled the Earth are now completely vanished. It doesn't mean that we can't enjoy their presence by drawing or sketching a few of them when we have a few minutes to waste.

This adorable dinosaur below is very cute and easy to draw. You don't need to be an expert at drawing to achieve this cartoon character. Just take your time and sketch all basic shapes slowly and carefully. You will see that even without practice, this thing is not so difficult to illustrate.

Don't hesitate to unleash your creativity and come up with new characters. Dinosaurs are gone, but it's rather easy to figure out new shapes and personalities that were probably not available 65 million years ago (and no one will ever know!).

I hope you will have fun with this simple drawing tutorial. You can start with the video version below or scroll down to enjoy the written lesson. Have fun! :)

Working with basic shapes

Before drawing the character, it can be a good practice to sketch a few basic shapes to create a template. This one will be used to polish the posture and the proportions of the dinosaur. First, add a large oval shape to represent the body of the creature

adding more shapes to the dinosaur

Next, add a long rectangle to form the neck of the subject. Notice how this shape is slightly narrower near the top. Once you are done, you can add another oval shape to create the head.

creating a long pointed tail

On the back of the character (which is on the right of the illustration), draw multiple irregular shapes to form the tail. The first shapes are larger while the one on the tip of the tail is made from a triangle.

sketching the pupils and the legs

Inside the head, you can sketch two large circles to represent the pupils. The one located on the left is slightly smaller. Make sure both shapes are near the top part of the head.

For the legs, you can use four simple rectangles. The back legs are shorter and thicker. Great work! Sketching cartoon dinosaurs using basic shapes is not as difficult as it seems. :)

polishing the silhouette using long curved lines

It's now time to polish the silhouette of the dinosaur using the shapes drawn earlier and long curved lines. Some parts like the tail can contain a few straight lines. Once you are done drawing the subject, you can erase all basic shapes drawn earlier.

drawing cartoon dinosaurs filled with details

Inside the eyes, you can draw pupils using small dots. For the nose, simple lines are drawn as shown in the illustration below. Patches are also create on the neck and the chest of the dinosaur. Inside the feet, small nails made from curved lines are drawn.

working with colors

Cartoon dinosaurs are often depicted in green or in brown. For this tutorial, let's select a bright green color. The legs on the far side can be darker. Patches found on the subject must be brighter. Pupils are black and the eyes are white.

adding gradients

You can complete this lesson by adding gradients to the cartoon animal. As you can see below, most body parts are now darker near the bottom. This simple technique can help create more depth and volume inside the character quickly and easily.

Below, you can see all steps required to draw this fun character in just eight easy steps. Don't hesitate to study this image carefully if you need more assistance sketching and drawing the creature.

Hopefully, this lesson helped you learn to draw a cool cartoon dino in just a few minutes. You can learn how to draw more fun creatures from this site using these examples below. Have fun playing with these new resources and remember that practicing is the key! :)