Pro Tip – You can adjust the Smoothness of your shape afterward. Select the path, and the Smoothness Slider will appear inside the Style Tab. We recommend selecting the shape with the Node Tool to make the changes easier to see during the adjustment process. This is very helpful in creating a more irregular shape.
How to Draw a Rabbit
Not only will our tutorial help novice artists develop their drawing skills, but this simple rabbit drawing will also show you how to translate a realistic image of a rabbit or hare into an adorable cartoon bunny illustration.
We’re not talking about Bugs Bunny or Peter Rabbit here – we want you to learn how to draw a rabbit by understanding the recognizable shapes that create the rabbit form so that you can draw rabbits in your own style.
Before we hop into the tutorial, we’ll do a quick art history lesson on the symbolism of the bunny rabbit.
The Backstory: Rabbit Symbolism
Since pre-Christian times, hares and fluffy bunnies have been considered a pagan symbol of fertility and springtime. Somehow, the pagan symbolism of the rabbit and hare merged with Christian traditions in the 17th century.
The Christian holiday of Easter, which celebrated the resurrection of Jesus, became superimposed with pagan rituals that celebrated rebirth and fertility.
Most of us are also familiar with Aesop’s fable of the tortoise and the hare, where the hare symbolizes arrogance and haste.
Do you know anyone who keeps a rabbit’s foot for good luck? Historians and scholars are still unsure why rabbits symbolize good fortune.
Hares feature surprisingly often in still-life classical paintings, which gives us a glimpse into the dietary and recreational habits of Europeans in centuries past. Rabbits and hares were culturally connected with food and sport.
And, who could forget the phrase “down the rabbit hole”, derived from Lewis Carroll’s opening chapter in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865), which describes her fantastical entry into the strange world of Wonderland. Nowadays, it describes what happens when we get lost for a few hours on the internet!
Rabbit Research
Before we start drawing, carefully analyze the proportions of various rabbits and hares. Collect some images of bunnies from different angles or positions, and perhaps create a mood board for your studies.
If you have pet rabbits, even better! Study their movements and how their body shapes change in different positions. Take photos for reference later.
Study the various parts that make up a rabbit and identify the connected geometric shapes. Observe how the head, ears, and front and hind legs are attached to the torso.
The rabbit is composed of simple shapes. Try to identify the basic shapes and draw them as lines on paper to get the initial rough shape.
All of this prep work will help you get a basic understanding of the overall body shape.
Our in-house illustrator Adí drew inspiration for her furry bunny drawing from one of the most beautiful and well-known artworks ever created, A Young Hare (1502) by Albrecht Dürer. It’s one of the finest artworks of the German Renaissance period and it shows incredible observation abilities and great attention to detail.
Hares are bigger than rabbits. Our artist created a cuter bunny rabbit version of the original painting by Dürer for our tutorial.
Now that we’ve studied the basic anatomy of the bunny, let’s start drawing, shall we?
What You’ll Need:
• iPad
• Apple Pencil
• The latest version of Vectornator
What You’ll Learn:
• How to use the Pen Tool
• How to use the Pencil Tool
• How to apply radial gradients
• How to use the Brush Tool to draw hairs
Pro Tip – You can follow this tutorial on Mac, too, by visiting our Learning Hub for Mac. Set the toggle on every linked page in this tutorial from iPad to Mac, and you’ll see the corresponding interface for Mac.
Easter Chalkboard + Free Printable
On Monday I gave you guys a little tour of my home with all of our Easter decorations in place. I think my favorite space was my foyer and mostly because of the new chalkboard drawing I created. So today I thought I would share with you guys how I easily made this happen!
And if you haven’t guessed yet… a projector. But the good news? It only costs $30! And it will be a good investment because I’ll make it easy for you every holiday season and provide free printables to trace. You know, cause I’m helpful like that.
So the only materials you will need is:
- chalkboard
- projector
- chalk
- printable (at bottom of post)
- rag
To get started you will want to prep your chalkboard. I used the side of a piece of white chalk and covered the entire board in rows. Then I wiped it down with my rag from side to side, from top to bottom in even strokes. This will provide a good backdrop for your chalkboard artwork.
Print out your desired artwork ahead of time. Since this particular projector has about a 3.5 inch square copy size, I printed out my Easter printable about 2×3 inches.
Next set up your projector in a dark room. I put mine on top of a big plastic storage bin for the perfect height. I tested out the printable under the light. You might notice some parts are hard to see. To help you better see the outlines in the dark, trace around the printable with a black pen (I did this around my bunny and the pink leaves).
I would suggest picking one part of the printable and trace it out on the chalkboard. I chose to work on the bunny first, outlining the entire thing. Don’t worry if it doesn’t look completely fluid and smooth… when you fill it it it will look a little better. If you mess up completely, use your rag to erase in the same side to side motion.
Once you have it outlined to your liking, fill in the bunny with side of a piece of chalk. I didn’t worry about getting right up to the edge of the outline in most parts.
Also a little trick: break your pieces of chalk in half.
Much easier to work with the small pieces!
If you go outside the lines a bit or make a mistake, again just use your rag. Do NOT use your fingers! The oil from your hands will make a weird shiny spot on the chalkboard. You want to keep that chalky background so use the rag.
After the bunny I moved to the lettering. The easiest way for me to do the word EASTER was to outline it, then shade the insides.
This was my very first attempt at chalkboard art and I’m pretty stoked with how well it turned out! I can’t wait to change up this space for every holiday.
OK, now for the free printable to trace!
Just click on the file to open in a new window.
Then right click to save it to your desktop.
And if you’re not really interested in making this chalkboard art, just frame the printable in an 8×10 inch frame.
And also remember that you can probably use a bunch of my free printables for your chalkboard art. This one that I have in my kitchen would be a great one to trace!
