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How to Draw Cartoon Pirates using basic shapes

Drawing cartoon pirates: some fun facts before starting sketching!

Pirates would pierce their ears in order to improve their eyesight!
Pirate ships didn't have black sails. Doing so would give their prey a clue of their malicious intentions!
The captain was elected through a vote.

Step 1

Do you think you know what it takes to draw some good pirates? I'm sure you do! So let's take a second to refresh our memory! First, we can't ignore the single most important element: the eyepatch (2).

The pirate also wear a hat with the image of a skull in front (1). Take also a good look at the costume (4), the boots (5) and the sword. This pirate is dressed in black but you can always play with the colors to change the mood of your characters.

Step 2

Taking a look at the basic shapes, we can see that most of them are rectangles. The costume looks like a modern trench coat which gives the pirate a more classy attitude. The hair could be longer to give your pirate a more dirty look!

Step 3

In this example, we're gonna draw a young amputated pirate. Let's begin with a circle for the head and a rectangle for the body. Then, fill half of the head in black to represent the scarf and do the same on the body to draw the pants.

Continue to draw your character by adding the arms, the right leg and a piece of wood to replace the amputated left leg. I also put a hook instead of the left hand. Finish your drawing by sketching details like the eye, the mouth and the skull on the scarf.

Step 4

Now it's time to experiment! You can go for a more realistic look (5), a skull with hair (2) or a funny angry pirate (4)! All the characters below have different hats and eyepatchs but still, they all look like good old pirates ready to board your ship to steal your money! Don't they?