How to Draw a Cartoon Squirrel
(the Easy Way)

Have you wondered how to draw a cartoon squirrel? From Disney’s famous chipmunks, Chip ‘n’ Dale, through to Hanna Barbera’s loveable sleuth, Secret Squirrel and Rocky the flying squirrel, these cute lil’ critters have always continued to delight people with their humorous antics. 

This large family of rodents, which is closely related to mountain beavers and dormice, lives all across America, Europe, Africa and Australia and was first discovered about 40 million years ago! Now, it’s your turn to learn how to draw a cartoon squirrel and add your name to the squirrel hall of fame!.

STEP-1: Squirrel Scribbles and Basics

Let’s start by drawing a circle with an oval shape beneath – this will form the basis for our nut-loving buddy’s body.

STEP-2: Creating our Cute Critter
Now that you’ve got the basic shape, we can start adding to this by drawing some more details. Squirrels are known for their big, bushy tails – draw a large paddle shape with curved lines that join with the bottom of the oval shape you drew earlier. 

Our next step in how to draw a cartoon squirrel, let’s add an ear at the top of the circle and then an eye right in the middle – make this nice and large, as squirrels have excellent eyesight! To the right of the head, draw in a paw – did you know squirrels had thumbs? Finally, draw two curved lines at the bottom of the oval for our cute critter’s legs.

STEP-3: Our Squirrel is taking Shape
Now that we’ve drawn the basic outline, we can start really bringing our tree-dwelling buddy to life! Isn't learning how to draw cartoon squirrel so much fun! Draw a jagged line at the top of the tail to represent fur, then use this same technique at the side of the head as in our illustration. Next, draw our squirrel’s cheeks by drawing a curve which then meets up with the snout. 

You rarely see a squirrel who’s not nibbling on a nut, so let’s start sketching this in by drawing an oblong shape with rounded ends. Draw a curved line just above the left-hand leg and then sketch in the feet – squirrels have quite long hindlimbs, which are useful when jumping from tree to tree!

STEP-4: Go Nuts with Color!

Our cute critter is almost ready to take to the trees, but before she can do that, we just need to add a few more details. Finish off the ears by drawing similar shapes inside for the inner ears and add a jagged line here and there to represent fur. 

Being a lady, our squirrel has lashes, so sketch these in by drawing a series of upside-down ‘V’ shapes than run along the top of the eye. Draw a ‘Y’ shape for the nose, then add in those all-important teeth for nibbling nuts!

We’ll finish her feast by drawing a large ‘V’ shape for the nut, followed by an arm which is holding it. You can also draw two curved vertical lines on the nut to create a 3D impression. 

Now that you’ve learned how to draw a cartoon squirrel, it’s time to go nuts with your favorite colors - rub out any lines you don’t need and get your pens at the ready! Squirrels come in many different colors, but our cute lil’ lady looks pretty fetching in pink, don’t you think?

Use a purple pen for the outline, then color in the body using your favorite shade of pink, remembering to color in the tail with a darker shade of this color. For the inside of the ear on the left, use a bright sky blue, then color in the ear on the right with the same darker pink you used for the tail.

Color the eyes in black, remembering to leave a small area white to represent highlights. For the top of the nut, use a dark shade of brown, then select a lighter shade for the body of the nut. There, our super cute squirrel is ready for action! Now that you’ve learned how to draw a cartoon squirrel, why not try experimenting with different colors? You could even create a family of these cute lil’ critters!