How to Draw a Cartoon Hippo A Step-by-Step Manual
Hippos are some of the many amazing animals you can visit in the African jungle! These vast creatures like to lounge in the water and bask in the sun, but they can also be dangerous when excited. They’re also adorable as babies, and we’ll be depicting a baby version in this guide on how to draw a cartoon hippo! Throughout the six steps of this guide, you will be walked through several steps that will show you how easy it can be to recreate this lovable hippo. You’ll also find out how much fun it can be. So let’s dive into this step-by-step guide on how to draw a cartoon hippo in just six fun and easy steps!
Also read: home drawing for kids
How to Draw a Cartoon Hippo – let’s get Initiated!
Step 1
This guide will start with the outline of this cute hippo’s head! Hippos have quite distinctive authority and face shapes, and although this is a cartoon depiction, we’ll try to keep the proportions realistic. The upper part of the head is rounded, and two small curved ears protrude from the sides. The jaw and the bottom of the head will also be drawn using some curved lines, as shown in the reference image. We’ll create a friendly smile for the top of the mouth by adding some curvy, wavy lines above the jawline. That’s all there is to do, for now, so let’s proceed!
Step 2
In the next step of our guide on how to draw a cartoon hippo, we will add some facial features for this adorable hippo. First, draw some oval bodies with curved line pieces on the inner edges for the big nostrils on the beak. Then add some small rounded square shapes on the roof of the mouth for some teeth. We’ll then focus on the eyes, which are pretty detailed to give this hippo a beautiful facial expression. The eyes are rounded with a black circle within a slightly larger inner circle. We then added curved lines between and above the eyes to finish off the facial expression. Do your best to follow the reference image as closely as possible for this step!
Step 3
Staying away from the face, for now, we’ll add some front legs to your cartoon hippo drawing in this third step. Hippos in real life have relatively short, stubby legs, and we’ll stay true to that in this rendering. Use some slightly curved lines for the outlines of the legs. The knees will be quite curved with some line detail around them to show how they bend. Lastly, for this step, we’ll add the toenails. A hippo’s toenails are pretty thick and rounded, and that’s how we’ll draw them in this step. Once the legs and feet are complete, we can move on to part four of the guide!
Step 4
Now it’s the period to start counting the body for this hippo! This will be a pretty simple look to draw, but it will help tie this drawing together nicely. First, we will draw the belly of this hippo. This will be a curved line with a smaller curve near the end. We will also see one of the hind legs under the belly on the other side of the body. The back of the hippo can be drawn using a single extensive curved line extending from the ear. Then we’ll be ready to start adding the final details and elements in the next step of the guide!
step 5
Before we get to the final step in this guide on how to draw a cartoon hippo, we’ll first add the rest of the outline. This means that we will remove the hind leg. This leg will look quite similar to the front legs, but it will be slightly more bent. Otherwise, it will also be short and stubby with small thick nails at the end. With this final section drawn, you can add some details of your own! These may include some background details. If you want to keep the background realistic, you can look up some images of African nature for inspiration. You can also go for a more stylized environment, so get creative and see what happens!
step 6
Our final step in this cartoon hippo drawing will be finishing it with some color! Our reference image shows you how we would color this drawing. We used various shades of light grays to paint most of the hippo. Using these different shades, you can create some shading and texture to make the drawing look even better. However, how you color this drawing is up to you! You can use many different colors.
Do this to Handle your Cartoon Hippo Drawing to the Following States.
Make this cute cartoon hippo drawing even better with the help of these fun tips! This lovely drawing of a funny hippo looks like it is portraying a baby hippo. One way you could make it even more adorable would be by adding more baby hippos to the stage! You could do this by obeying through with the guide again and adding a few more of these cute creatures. You could even change their facial words and poses to make it look like they are recreating together.
What types of activities would these hippos want in this scene? Baby hippos are taken care of by their moms, so adding a grown-up hippo to your artwork could also be fun. This grown-up would look similar to the baby except for the fact that it would be much more significant. If you require help drawing this grown-up hippo, you could look up some photos of actual adult hippos. You might find some cartoon hippos you could use to help you as you draw! Another fun way to populate this cartoon hippo drawing would be adding other cartoon animals. Even if you limit yourself to African animals, you’ll have plenty to choose from. For example, there may be some baby giraffes, elephants, or lions. Anything you select will look so cute!
