This is my big guide to drawing cartoon cows with basic shapes

I hope you all will like this tutorial on drawing cows. I have added many other tutorials on drawing comic-style cows but I thought that I would start adding guides to this site. These guides are meant to allow for your creativity when cartooning. I am going to show you how you can use basic shapes to make cartoon cows. I will show you how to draw several cartoon cows – then you can take bits and pieces from these different tutorials and build your own cow. Lets see if you guys like this way of showing you how to draw. Please let me know. Be kind though…I’m simply a person, just like you. Thanks.

First Lets Look at a More Realistic Cow to Determine Her Features

When drawing a cartoon character of an animal, you first have to think about what sort of ‘features’ or ‘characteristics’ that animal has. So lets look at a cow…most cows will have the following features:

(1) Horns (some types of female cows have horns – remember a male cow is a bull)

(2) Hooves

(3) Udders

(4) Wide noses with big nostrils

(5) Ears that go out to the side

(6) Spots of all different doodle-like shapes

As we draw our cows, we can play with those features to make silly looking creatures. But, as we do this, we have to make sure that the drawing always looks like a cow. Think of cartoons as caricatures of people and animals. Get as silly and playful as you want to. DRAWING SHOULD ALWAYS BE FUN!!!

Change Proportions to Make Sillier Cartoon Characters

Don’t you hate following rules?! Well then you will love this tutorial..I’m telling you right here, drawing cartoons is all about NOT FOLLOWING THE RULES. Don’t draw a cow the way you see him…draw a cow the way you WANT her to look. Isn’t that fun?! The ‘correct’ proportions of a cow are seen above (3 squares on top, 2 squares on the bottom). However, I’m telling you right here…don’t worry about those proportions…make your own proportions and have FUN!

Several Simple Shaped Comic Cow Lessons Below

Below you will find several drawing lessons. All of these use basic shapes to draw cartoon cows. If you want to go even further to draw more complicated cartoon cows, there are several tutorials that will help you. Find more cow drawing tutorials here. You can build your own cartoon cows by using bits and pieces from these tutorials.

Letter D or Half Circle Cows

In the above tutorial, you can see that you draw the cow with the following steps.

(1) Draw a sideways capital letter ‘D’.

(2) Draw 2 letter ‘C’ shapes for thighs. Also draw a circle for the head.

(3) Draw an oval for the snout. Draw a triangle for each ear. And draw triangles for feet.

(4) Draw oval spots and oval horns.

Square Bodied Cows

This tutorial is very basic as well and I know you will be able to draw it. Here are the steps.

(1) draw a square…doesn’t matter if it is perfect.

(2) Add a circle for the head and a circle for the part that the udders attach to. Also draw 2 curved lines for the tail.

(3) Add an oval for each horn. Draw an oval for the snout and nostrils as well. Draw a triangle for the back leg. Also draw 2 triangles for front legs or just draw a letter ‘W’.

(4) Draw 2 ovals for eyes. Draw oval for each ear (or if you know how to make a leaf shape, draw this). Also draw an oval for each udder. Draw a leaf shape (or oval) for tail.

(5) Draw a triangle on top of oval ear (if you didn’t draw a leaf shape already). Draw doodle-like shapes for each spot…as all spots are differently shaped. Erase lines that you don’t need anymore.

Cow with Head and Body Tutorial

This cow is probably the simplest to draw…and I know that you can do it…and probably better than me.

(1) Draw a sideways capital letter ‘D’.

(2) Draw another letter ‘D’ for the head. Draw a sideways #3 for each leg (also loo like letter ‘U’ shaped legs).

(3) Draw a circle for each eye (also looks like sideways number ‘8’). Draw  a curved line for snout and an oval for each nostril.  Draw curved lines for tail and a line in each leg for the hooves.

(4) Draw an oval in each eye. Draw letter ‘D’ ears. Draw oval horns.Draw oval on tail.

(5) Draw oval highlight in each eye. Draw triangle on tail and oval spots. Erase any lines you don’t need anymore.

Number Eight 8 Shaped Cows

If you prefer a cow that looks more human, then you will want a cow standing up. You can do this by making the cow’s basic shape a number 8…here are the steps:

(1) Draw a number 8 shape.

(2) Draw a circle at the bottom. Draw letter ‘D’ ears.  Draw circle eyes.

(3) Draw oval horns. Draw oval udders. Draw 2 sideways letter ‘V’ shapes for arms.

(4) Draw oval thighs. Draw a triangle for the hooves on the arms. Draw smaller circles within the eye shapes. Draw oval nostrils.

(5) Draw circle highlights in the eyes. Draw triangle hoof feet. Erase any lines that you don’t need anymore.

 Draw an Oval Bodied Cow

This is the most complicated cow that we are showing today. But it is still made with some basic shapes. Here are some steps:

(1) Start with an oval shape for the body.

(2) Draw an oval thigh. Draw a circle head.

(3) Draw lines for legs. Draw an oval snout.

(4) Draw lines for feet. Draw a curved line for tail. Draw oval for line under snout. Draw oval nostrils. Draw leaf shaped ears (leaf shapes are just an oval with a sideways letter v on both sides – or they also look like flattened ovals).

(5) Draw a moon shape for horns…or if you can’t do that, try to see each horn as a curved letter ‘v’ shape. Draw an oval for each eye. Draw a pizza shape for tail (a triangle with a curved line for bottom). Draw oval for part udders stick out of. Draw line for the foot.

(6) Draw ovals for udders. Draw ovals for spots. Erase lines that you don’t need anymore.

Now Create Your Own Cow Creations

Now you know how to draw some basic-shaped cartoon cows. You probably also checked out our other cow tutorials. Now it is time to mix and match what you have learned and make up your own cow creations. Post your cow drawings – we would love to see them. Make them funny by adding funny captions….like ‘Got Milk’ or a cow with a sign that says ‘Chickens Taste Better’ something like that. I don’t know, I can’t think of anything funny right now. Have fun!!!

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