How to Draw A Cartoon Robot filled with cool details

Drawing a cartoon robot is a fun exercise to do! You can imagine virtually anything and create a character with the shapes you want. Just like monsters, the only limit is your imagination, your creativity or your drawing abilities.

In this tutorial, I have decided to draw a robot with a vintage appearance. The kind of character that you could see in an old movie from the 50s with a long name like: "Attack of the Giant Killer Robots with Cone Arms from Outer Space".

Let's see how we can draw this machine using seven fun steps and a few basic tips. :)

adding a few basic shapes to begin with

First, let's draw a few basic shapes to create a template that we can use to illustrate the character. You can start by adding a large square to form the body. On top of this shape, draw another square to create the head. Once you are done, you can proceed with the next step.

sketching arms and legs

Next, create the legs using two small rectangles. For the arms, you can start with a simple rectangle (place vertically). Then, draw another rectangle (this time horizontally). For the hands of the cartoon robot, you can use small oval shapes. Great! This character is starting to look interesting.

drawing the fingers and the feet

Near the end of both arms you can add fingers using short curved lines. This character is gifted with two fingers on each hand. For the feet, more short curved lines are needed. Inside the body, you can sketch a large patch using a rectangle made from round corners.

adding softness to a few shapes

At the begin of the tutorial, we added a few shapes made from sharp corners like squares and rectangles. These shapes were great, but our vintage robot needs softer lines to be more convincing.

That's why it can be a good idea to soften the head and the body using curved lines on the squares. You can also apply the same technique on the shoulders of the robot. Great work! This character is progressing nicely. :)

creating tons of simple details and patterns

Inside the head (which is made of glass), you can draw a few shapes to create lights. More lights are added on the body using small oval shapes. Finally, you can sketch simple patterns made from thin lines on the arms, the legs and on the chest.

It's time to add some colors to the cartoon robot!

Nothing is more fun than adding colors to a cartoon character. This one is visually more appealing now. For this character, you can mostly use gray colors. The eyes (that are made of lights) can be colored in yellow. The small lights on the body can be red. You can see all the colors used for this image below.

working with gradients to create more depth

You can also add gradients inside most shapes to create more volume. Highlights were also drawn on the lights visible on the chest and the ones created inside the head. The outline of the head is brighter to simulate the texture of glass.

I hope you had fun learning to draw this cool cartoon robot. Don't forget that all tips learned in this tutorials can be applied on various characters, not just robots. More similar characters from this site are available below. Have fun drawing and remember to practice often. :)