Caroline
When it comes to tools of war, there have been many incredible inventions and advancements that help to give armies the upper hand in warfare.
Few of these advancements are more powerful or devastating as tanks, and these massive armored vehicles are a sight to behold.
They have a very specific structure with loads of details, so learning how to draw a cartoon tank can sometimes be a bit of a challenging task!
As with any drawing challenge, it can be made so much easier when you have the correct steps to follow, and that is what we will do for you in this guide.
So, get ready to recreate this awesome weapon with this step-by-step guide on how to draw a cartoon tank in just 8 fun and easy steps!
How to Draw A Cartoon Tank – Let’s get Started!
Step 1
In this first step of your cartoon tank drawing, we will be creating a rather large portion of the tank.
You may want to use a ruler for much of this guide, as there will be some straight lines and angles used throughout.
There are also two round headlights at the front of the tank, and the tread outlines will be drawn with some rounded shapes underneath their mudguards.
Step 2 – Next, draw some more details
This step of our guide on how to draw a cartoon tank will focus on adding some details and extra portions to the areas you began in the first step.
First, there will be a rounded object with some line details on it near the back of the mudguard on the right.
Finally for this step, draw the outline for the tread on the left as it appears in our reference image.
Step 3 – Now, draw details onto the treads
The treads of a tank function a bit like a conveyor belt, and they need texture on them to create friction that propels the tank forward.
We will add this texture to the surfaces of the treads in this step. To do this, we will be adding some fairly simple horizontal lines across the tread surfaces.
The reference image is there to guide you as to how these lines should be positioned to show perspective.
Step 4 – Next, draw some more details onto the treads
Continuing with this cartoon tank drawing, we will now add some of the inner details of the treads. There are wheel-like structures inside of the belt of the treads, and we will draw these now.
Each one of these wheels will have an oval outline with a small, rounded section poking out of it.
We will also add some smaller details to other sections such as the front of the tank. Once you have it looking as it does in our reference, we can proceed!
Step 5 – Now, draw the start of the top section of the tank
We will begin the top section of the tank in this step of our guide. Before that though, we will add a fairly large rectangular shape onto the front of the tank with some smaller ones beneath it.
Then, we will add the top swiveling section of the tank.
This section is made up of a few different rounded sections connected to one another, and the top will be fairly flat. We will then add some more to this section soon!
Step 6 – Next, draw the next part of the top section
For this part of your cartoon tank drawing, we will draw the rest of the top section that you began in the previous step.
We will add another round section on the left, and this willl have a gap in it where the cannon will go in the next step. We have one more flat section to add on top, and then it’s on to the final details!
Step 7 – Next, draw some final details
In this step of our guide on how to draw a cartoon tank, we will add the final details and elements to get you ready for the final step.
First, draw the cannon of the tank. This has two straight lines for the main arm of the cannon, and then there is a thicker cylindrical portion at the end of it.
Then, we will add dots all around the details of the tank to show where the rivets and bolts holding it together are.
Once these final touches are added, will you draw some extra details? Perhaps you could add a background to show where this tank is operating!
Step 8 – Now finish it off with some color
Now you’re ready to finish off this incredible cartoon tank with some colors! Tanks can come in many different color schemes depending on the environment that they are operating in.
In our reference image, we went for a mixture of greys and darker yellows to give this tank a really striking appearance.
These colors could be used for your own drawing if you like how they look, and you could use your favorite art mediums to bring the colors to life.
You could also go for some unique colors of your own, and you could even take it further with some camouflage patterns. How will you complete this awesome tank?
5 Tips To Make Your Cartoon Tank Drawing Even Better!
Making this cartoon tank sketch even better doesn’t have to be a battle with these tips!
The turret of a real tank can swivel around in all directions. That gives you a simple way to alter this drawing of a cartoon tank!
You could easily have the turret facing another direction in order to have it pointing in a different direction. Doing this could help to create the scene you have in mind for this picture.
A tank is useless without soldiers to operate it, so you could add some soldiers to the picture. There are a few ways that you could do this.
One would be to show the opening of the tank and have a soldier poking out. Or, there could be some soldiers walking beside the cartoon tank. How else could you incorporate some human characters?
You wouldn’t want a real tank to fire toward you, but it would still look cool to add this to your cartoon tank drawing! You could do this by drawing some smoke and lines coming from the end of the turret.
Using some art tools and mediums like paint and even cotton wool could make this firing effect look even cooler.
If a tank is deployed in real life, there will often be several that serve as backup. You could show this aspect by adding a few more tanks to the scene.
Now that you know how to draw a cartoon tank, you could add as many as you like to the picture while adding a few details to each in order to make it unique.
How many tanks could you add?
Tanks can traverse a wide variety of different environments, and this means you could have all kinds of cool backgrounds for your cartoon tank sketch.
There could be a snowy setting, a desert landscape or maybe a lush jungle. These are just a few of the environments you could expect to see a tank in operation.
What kind of background do you think would best suit this picture?
Your Cartoon Tank Drawing is Complete!
This guide on how to draw a cartoon tank was one of the more challenging drawing guides we have featured, so you should be extra proud of doing such an amazing job on it!
Even though there were lots of details to draw here, by breaking it down and taking it one step at a time it can be made so much easier.
This not only also makes it more fun, but also allows you to customize the drawing with your own fun details and ideas.
Whether you add some extra touches, create a background or get experimental with your colors and mediums, we know it will look amazing!
Once you have finished this guide and are ready for your next one, you can find it on our website along with other fun activities!
We hope to see you there often, as we will be uploading new content soon and don’t want you to miss out.
It would be great to see how your cartoon tank drawing turned out, so please share your creation on our Facebook and Pinterest pages for us to see!
