Caroline
If you travel to South Africa and go on a safari, you are sure to see all manner of incredible animals. This country is famous for its wildlife, and there is such incredible variety to behold.
Zebras are one of the most well known African animals, and these horse-like animals really stand out thanks to their beautiful black and white stripes.
Learning how to draw a cartoon zebra can be a fun way to celebrate this animal!
That’s exactly what we are here to learn in this guide, so if you love this animal then you are in the right place!
This awesome step-by-step guide on how to draw a cartoon zebra in just 6 easy steps will show you a fun way of portraying this incredible creature.
How to Draw A Cartoon Zebra – Let’s get Started!
Step 1
The trick to making any drawing easier is to break it down into smaller portions, and that’s what we’re doing in this guide!
To begin, we will first draw the muzzle of this cartoon zebra. This is the end of the face, and it will include the mouth and nostrils.
First, draw two small, rounded shapes for these nostrils. Then, we will use a curved line for the smiling mouth, and the tongue will go beneath that.
The muzzle is separate to the rest of the face, and it will have a rounded outline around it. Once this section of the face is complete, we will move on to step 2!
Step 2 – Next, draw some more of the face and head
This second step of our guide on how to draw a cartoon zebra will continue adding to the face of this animal. First, we will draw some eyes near the muzzle.
These eyes will be oval in shape, and they will have some smaller ovals within. We will also add some small eyebrows above them for extra character.
Lastly, we will finish off the head outline in this step as well. We will use a curved line for the top of the head, and then add a jaw coming from the base of the muzzle.
There will be a small gap between the top of the head and the jaw, as the ear will go there later. And then, we will be ready for step 3.
Step 3 – Now, finish off the head
We will be finishing off the head outlines for your cartoon zebra drawing in this step. First, add the ear on the left into the space that you left for it.
This will be curved with a dull, pointy tip. There will also be a thin, curved shape inside of it for the inner ear.
Then, add another ear onto the left side of the head that will be similarly shaped to the first one. Lastly, we will add a tuft of hair on top of the head using some curved lines with three pointy tips.
Step 4 – Next, start drawing the body and legs
The head is complete for now, and in this fourth part we will begin the neck, body and legs of this zebra.
First, extend a long, curved line down from the base of the muzzle for the neck.
This zebra will be drawn in an exaggerated, cartoony style, so the legs will be relatively short compared to the rest of the body.
This just helps it to look extra cute! Finish off with some curved lines for the belly, and then we shall move on.
Step 5 – Now, draw the rest of the body
Now we can complete the body and leg outlines before we add finer details in the next steps of this guide on how to draw a cartoon zebra.
You can use another curved line coming down from the back base of the head for the back of the neck, and this will then turn into the back of the zebra.
Also, we will add a short, curvy tail with a tuft of fur at the end to the back. Finish off with a thin mane on the back of the neck, and then it’s time to add some stripes.
Step 6 – Next, draw the first stripes
Without stripes, this cartoon zebra drawing would just look like a horse! For that reason, we will begin adding some stripes now.
For now, we will add some stripes along the head, neck and back. They are drawn rather simply, as they consist of some curved lines with pointy tips to form some vaguely crescent shapes.
We will finish them off in the next step!
Step 7 – Next, draw the rest of the stripes
There are just a few more stripes to add in this step! These final stripes will go on the chest and the front legs of this zebra. Once added, you’re ready for the final step.
You could also add some extra fun details before you do! Drawing a background could be fun, and you could look up a picture of an African savanna for inspiration.
What background would you like to portray?
Step 8 – Now finish it off with some color
Zebras aren’t known for their vivid colors, as they are famous for being colored with black and white stripes.
We went with this color scheme in our reference image, and we used various shades of greys to give the zebra a bit more dimension and shading!
Will you go for a black and white color scheme or maybe go for a more colorful, stylistic approach?
Here’s how you can make your cartoon zebra drawing even better…
Have a wild time as we make your cartoon zebra sketch look even more amazing!
In real life, zebras are herd animals, and they won’t often be seen alone. That brings us to one of the ways you can make this drawing of a cartoon zebra even better!
Now that you know how to draw this cartoon zebra, you could add a few more to fill out the herd.
They could all look fairly similar to this one, but you could change a few details to make each one unique.
Zebras will also hang out with other grazing animals in the wild. These could also be added to the drawing to populate it! There are so many kinds of gazelles and other animals that could work here.
There are small bucks such as impala along with larger creatures like buffalo and wildebeests.
You could look up some of these animals and then make them into a similar cartoon style to this cartoon zebra.
What grazing animals could you add to this drawing?
Unfortunately for zebras, they have many natural enemies in the wild. You could also add some of these animals in a cartoon style to make your cartoon zebra drawing more interesting.
For some examples, you could add some lions, leopards or maybe even cheetahs. If you were to add them, you could maybe show them as being friendly to one another to make it a more cheerful image.
There are all sorts of great scenes you could create, and once again you could look up images online to help you.
Finally, you may want to finish off this cartoon zebra sketch with a background. This would be great to do whether you added more animals or not.
There are so many fantastic landscapes you could use to create the feeling of the African savannah for this image. There could be a lake, a grassy area or maybe somewhere more desert-like.
Looking up images of African landscapes would provide plenty of inspiration for your picture!
Your Cartoon Zebra Drawing is Complete!
This was a really fun guide on how to draw a cartoon zebra, and we hope you had a great time working on it!
By following the steps in this guide, you will have an incredible drawing before you know it. Then, you can take it even further by adding your own fun details and additions.
It will be very interesting to see how you choose to finish this one off!
Then, you can check out the many drawing guides and other free activities we have for you on our website!
We have a massive library of content with more on the way, so you’ll want to check in regularly.
It would be fun to see how your cartoon zebra drawing turned out, so please share your finished artwork on our Facebook and Pinterest pages to show it off.
