How to Draw Cartoon Elephants

Drawing cartoon elephants can be a fun task if you have access to a simple template to work with. In this lesson, I will show you how to illustrate this amazing animal using only a few basic shapes. When you are done, you will also have access to a fun list featuring more versions of this great character.

Did you know that even if elephants have big ears, they don't hear very well? Fortunately, that doesn't stop these creatures for being able to live up to 80 years. That's quite an accomplishment for an animal. It's also fun to note that elephants can weight up to 14 000 pounds. It's a good idea to run away when they are mad!

Analyzing a real elephant using a simple picture

Let's study the image below to learn more about how elephants are made. The most obvious features that represent elephants well are the long ears (2) and the large trunk (4). If you can draw these elements with ease, then sketching this animal should be much easier.

The tusks (3) are also available for some of these creatures. The body of the elephant is large (1) and covered by a rough skin. Don't forget to draw large legs and feet using strong shapes. Just like our subject below, elephants are usually filled with a mix of gray and brown colors.

decomposing this picture into basic shapes

Now that you are slightly more familiar with the anatomy of cartoon elephants, let's decompose the picture used in the previous step using several basic shapes. You can see that the head and body are represented by large circular shapes. All four legs are made from a mix of thin rectangles and large squares.

For the trunk, the rectangles used to illustrate this body part are more constant. The ear is done from a large curved line and the tusks are made using thin rectangles.

Let's draw this animal using basic shapes!

Now that we have studied the character and analyzed how this one was built, let's draw a simple version using basic shapes. You can start by drawing the head using a medium oval shape. A long curved line is connected to the head to form the body. Next, work on the legs using thick rectangles. Legs on the back are slightly visible too.

The ear that is visible is done from more curved lines. The eye and the pupil are illustrated using small circles. You can add details on the bottom of the legs. For the trunk, more simple lines are needed. Finally, add gradients inside the animal to complete this lesson on how to draw cartoon elephants.

More cartoon elephants for you to enjoy!

I hope you had fun learning to draw this fun animal. More amazing cartoon elephants are available below. The first example is featuring a simple head with a large trunk. The forehead is larger than most characters from this list. The third example is also interesting because we can see both eyes of the subject. In the fourth step, the character is facing us with both horns drawn upwards. Finally, the fifth and last character is anatomically closer to reality (except for the huge eyes).

Don't hesitate to use all the tips you have learned here to draw your own character. More adorable tutorials from this site featuring elephants can also be found below. Have fun and don't forget to practice as often as possible.

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