How to Draw A Cartoon Duck. It’s hard not to love ducks, as they have many personalities. Because of this, ducks have been featured in movies or as cartoon characters for many years, and some of the most well-known characters are based on this bird.
Also, check our Lizard Coloring Pages Free on our Official Website, The Soft Roots.
If you love ducks too, you may have wondered if there was a way to learn how to draw a duck, and we’re here to tell you, you’ve come to the right place!
In this guide, we’ll walk you through 6 steps to make your cartoon duck. The drawing we will work on may seem complicated, but we will show you how easy and fun it can be to take it apart.
When you’re drawn, we’ll also discuss some ways you can color in and add to your artwork, allowing you to create your unique piece of art with this character.
So, without further ado, let’s dive in and start with the first step of the guide to starting this drawing journey!
How to Draw A Cartoon Duck
Step 1
In this first step of the tutorial, we’ll focus on the outlines of the beak and eyes of this cartoon duck drawing.
Before you start, you can prepare the drawing by drawing rough shapes with a light-colored pencil.
You can use the example in the last image for reference to draw two connected oval shapes.
While they don’t have to match the shape of the final head, they should be roughly the same size.
The oval of the head flattens out a bit while the body gets slimmer. It might seem like an unnecessary step, but it can be very helpful in keeping the aspect ratio accurate and consistent.
Next, we outline the beak, which is tricky. Try to follow the reference image closely as you draw, perhaps using a pencil.
The finer details will be added in the following steps. So don’t worry if it doesn’t look like much right now. As you will see in the example, it has the shape of a spinning top.
Before we continue, let’s add the duck’s eyes. These should be easy to draw since all you have to do is add two ovals to the top outline of the beak. That’s all for now, and we can move on to step two.
Step 2
Next, we will add the outline of the head to your design. This will connect to the beak you drew in step one, and you’ll find it much easier if you draw a pencil circle first.
First, draw a slightly curved line connecting the bottom left side of the beak, as shown in our example. Next, add another similar, slightly curved line at the bottom right, close to the beak, without touching it.
This second line is a mirror image of the curved line on the left. Next, we draw a curved line above each eye.
These curved lines run well above the eyes, just below the top outline of the head.
You can then draw more curved lines for the sides of the head, each ending when they touch the lines drawn above the eyes.
If it looks confusing, please follow the reference image we provided. Finally, let’s add two pointed shapes at the top center of the head to let some feathers stick out.
These are the final details for the head outline. If you’ve done it correctly, the only free space should be a small space on the bottom right side of your head.
If you need a break now, now would be a good time, as we have much to add to the next step. We’ll explain everything to you, so don’t worry! Let’s continue with this step when you’re ready.
Step 3
As mentioned in the previous step, in this step, we will add a few things to your drawing of a cartoon duck. We’re breaking it down into small pieces, so stick with it, and you’ll be fine!
We’ll start by drawing the duck’s wings, although they look more like arms in this case.
The top outline of each arm is drawn as a slightly wavy line, and you can reposition them if you like.
So each hand has three “fingers” and a “thumb” (which are technically probably feathers). These can be drawn using a few simple pointed shapes.
Next, draw a short curved line along the left arm. A longer curved line can start from the right arm and curve to the left to form the base of the duck’s body.
With the help of a few curved lines, you can draw the duck’s thin legs pointing downwards. The left starts inside the body outline, and the right extends from the base outline.
Finish off each leg with a webbed foot, each of which can be drawn with a few more curved lines with three rounded toes on each foot. Then there will be a space on the lower left side of the duck.
This gap can be filled with curved lines forming the duck’s tail. It was a lot to go through, but now the hardest parts are over!
We will add more facial details and finishing touches in the next few steps.
Step 4
The fourth step of this guide focuses on adding some facial detail to this cartoon duck. Let’s start with the easiest part – the eyes.
First, add a medium-sized oval shape in each eye. In our example, we have eyes that look forward, but they can also look in other directions if you wish.
In any case, once the iris is drawn, we can draw the pupils. Each pupil will be a black oval in each iris, but a small rounded section will be pulled out of the upper right side like someone is biting each pupil.
This shows that a point of light is reflected in each eye. The next step is to draw the mouth inside the outline of the beak.
First, draw a horizontal wavy line across the center of the outline of the beak. You can then draw two vertical curved lines going down from this line.
Each is bent outward, so the base is narrower than the top. Fill in the space at the base of this open mouth with another horizontal curved line.
You can then draw the tongue into the open mouth by drawing two small curved lines that connect. So the inside of the mouth and beak should be complete!
You can erase any pencil lines you drew to plan the drawing as you no longer need them.
Step 5
It’s almost time to have fun coloring your artwork, but first, we will add a few final touches. We’ll show you a few final details you can add, but you can also get creative in this step and add your details and ideas.
We’ll stick with the reference image for now and focus on the details we have planned. You can start by coloring the inside of the open mouth black.
The only exception to this is the tongue, which will remain white, at least for the time being. We then added very small lines and dots to different parts of the drawing to give it more personality.
We wanted to add these details, but now feel free to add some of your own! Some easy ways to do this include changing the duck’s facial expression or pose.
Now that you’ve mastered how to draw this duck, you could take what you’ve learned and add some duck friends to spend time with.
These could be drawn similarly to this but with minor differences. If you’re ambitious, you can draw cartoon versions of other animals and add a background.
These are some ways to personalize the drawing, but there are many others, such as adding a hat or clothing to the duck.
Step 6
It’s always fun to kick back with some coloring fun, and that’s how we wrap up this cartoon duck drawing! You’ll see in our reference image that we’ve kept things deceptively simple.
This is misleading, as we limited the colors to yellow, orange, red, and blue. That would be yellow for the feathers, red for the tongue, blue for the eyes, and orange for the beak and legs.
Although these are the base colors, we used small variations on each to give the colors a more dynamic look.
For example, adding a dark yellow at the body’s base will create some shading.
Not only can you experiment with different colors and highlights, but you can also experiment with the art tools and mediums you use for the colors.
For example, you could use acrylic paints to achieve similar tones to the ones we use.
Or you can achieve much brighter colors by using colored markers or pens. These are just a few examples, but you should use one of your favorite art tools in your collection.
You also don’t have to be limited to a single art medium, and you can mix and match some of your favorites to add variety and create interesting color combinations.
Now it’s your turn to have fun and show off what you can by adding color to your wonderful work of art!
Your Cartoon Duck Drawing is Finished!
