How to draw a rabbit
A rabbit is the easiest animal to make cute, because cuteness is just proportion: a big round head, a big round body, and ears far longer than seem sensible.
- 8 steps
- 10 minutes
- 4-10 Ages
- Easy
Draw it step by step
The new lines for each step are drawn in red. The grey dashed shapes are guides, sketch them lightly and rub them out at the end.
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1 Step 1: Guide shapes
Lightly sketch one circle for the head and one wide oval for the body.
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2 Step 2: The head
Outline the head with a big rounded shape and a curved chin. Add two tiny cheek dashes and a small curve in the middle.
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3 Step 3: Bunny ears
Draw a tall long oval ear on the left. Add a bent ear on the right with a point and a curved tip.
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4 Step 4: Body and arms
Draw two big curved lines for the shoulders and sides. Add two short arm-end lines, two small belly curves, and one longer curve below.
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5 Step 5: Face details
Add two circle eyes, a small triangle nose, and a tiny wavy mouth. Draw the inner left ear, the outer curve of the right ear, and two oval cheeks.
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6 Step 6: Front feet
Draw two tall U shapes for the front feet. Add three short toe lines on each foot.
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7 Step 7: Back feet
Add two big flat ovals on the ground for the back feet, one on each side.
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8 Step 8: Fluffy tail
Draw a small fluffy tail, two bump curves on the right side.
What you need
A pencil, paper and an eraser. And leave space at the top of the page. You will need more of it than you think.
Before you start
Sketch the two grey guide shapes lightly. Both are round, and the head is nearly as big as the body: that is the whole secret of a cute rabbit. But the important part is what you do NOT draw yet: leave a big empty space above the head, because the ears are about as long as the head is tall, and if you start the head too high on the page the ears will not fit.
The part most people get wrong
The ears, and there are two mistakes. The first is making them too short, because they always feel too long while you are drawing them. Push through it: an ear that feels absurd is probably about right. The second is drawing them as two straight sausages. Give each ear a slight curve, and lean them in different directions, one up and one flopping. Two identical upright ears look like a drawing; two different ones look alive.
Make it your own
- Make it a lop. Both ears hanging straight down beside the head instead of standing up.
- Make it eat. A carrot held in the front paws, with three leaf shapes on top.
- Add the tail. A small cloud shape at the back. Never a circle; the fluff is the point.
- Make it a hare. Longer legs, leaner body, ears longer still with black tips.
Learn more about rabbits
Those ears do two jobs. They hear a fox coming from far away, and they also cool the rabbit down: they are full of blood vessels, and warm blood loses its heat as it passes through them, which is why hot desert rabbits have the biggest ears of all. A rabbit's eyes sit high on the sides of the head, so it can see almost all the way round without turning, and its back legs, the ones you drew as big folded shapes, can push it along at nearly 50 km per hour.
