Fun e-books and royalty-free illustrations just for you!

How to Draw A Cartoon Telescope using perfect cylinders

Learning to draw a cartoon telescope is an easy task if you are able to sketch great rectangles and cylinders. In this lesson, I will show you how to assemble a few basic shapes to create a cool telescope in just a few minutes.

The universe is fascinating. There is nothing more thrilling than looking at stars in the sky at night with a telescope. With billions of potential planets to observe, this is a cool hobby that does require patience and dedication. Our comprehension of our world wouldn't be as accurate without the help of this precious instrument.

You can start with the video tutorial below to get familiar with this object before proceeding with the written version. Ready? Let's see what the universe has to offer.

let's start with a basic cylinder

We can start this basic lesson with the creation of the telescope tube using a cylinder. This one is displayed from a particular angle. Indeed, the shape is not quite horizontal. We also need to see the tip of the object (as shown on the left of the illustration). Once this shape is done, we can proceed with the second step.

Adding two more rectangles to form the main part

This cartoon telescope is not made from one cylinder, but rather three similar parts. Make sure all these new elements are perfectly aligned with the original shape. Notice how the last one on the right of the illustration is much smaller than the two others.

creating more parts using smaller shapes

Below the cylinder located in the middle of the object, you can draw the mount using small rectangles and circles. Make sure that the last rectangle in the bottom is horizontal. Nice work. This object is progressing nicely.

building the tripod of the cartoon telescope

It's time to put this massive object on a basic tripod made from thin rectangles. Below the mount, you can draw three long rectangles as shown below. Smaller rectangles are inserted in all three original shapes. Small feet made from simple circles are added on the ground. A simple pattern is added on the main cylinder.

adding basic colors to the object

This cartoon telescope is filled with simple gray colors. The lens can be colored in blue. The feet and the pattern can be black. This object is nice, but we can make it better by adding gradients to this illustration.

going one step further with the addition of a simple effect

Gradients can be applied to create more depth and volume easily. If you don't have access to a vector application, then you can achieve this effect manually too. Notice how the cylinders now have a 3D aspect. The lens is also visually more appealing.

Good work! I hope you had fun learning to draw this simple telescope using all steps found above. You can now try more cute lessons related to astronomy below. It's time to explore more planets, more galaxies and create things that are literally out of this world! Enjoy! :)