How to draw a lop-eared bunny

Step 1 of 44Guide lines

Head and body guides

A summer shower, and Clover has found a toadstool to shelter under. Start light: a circle for her head, then a body oval half as wide again, its top overlapping the circle's bottom.

Draw these lightly: they’re only there to help, and you’ll rub them out in step 21.

Step 2 of 44Guide lines

The ear guide

Her ear flops down the right side of her head. Sketch a long, thin oval for it, from the top right of the head circle down past the body oval's edge.

Draw these lightly: they’re only there to help, and you’ll rub them out in step 21.

Step 3 of 44

Her head

Now the real lines. From under her chin, round to the left and up the side of her face, out to two fluffy points, over the top of her head and down to the ear.

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The ear

Her floppy ear, along the guide: from the top of her head, down its outside edge to the round tip, then back up its front edge to her cheek.

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Inside the ear

A long loop inside the ear: from near its top, down to the tip and back up.

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Her cheek

Under the ear, the fluffy bottom of her cheek: a zigzag of points from her cheek up to the ear's edge. Then a line from the zigzag's middle down to the ear.

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Hair on top

Three tiny hairs at the top of her head, just under its line: two little ticks curling to the right, then a tiny spike up into the bump.

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The eye on the left

Now her face: the left eye, a tall, narrow oval from the side nearer the other eye, the iris nearly filling it. A glint ring, then a slanted oval brow on her head's edge.

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The eye on the right

The right eye is big and round: outline from the side nearer the other eye, the iris filling most of it, the glint running down to the iris's edge. Then a slanted oval brow.

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Nose, mouth and blush

A small rounded triangle for her nose between the eyes, a short line down, a smile out to each side. Three tiny slanted dashes of blush just below and right of the left eye.

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Her chest

From under her chin, down the left of her chest in a zigzag of fluffy tufts, to where her front leg begins.

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The leg on the left

From the bottom of the chest, down the leg on the left, round its paw and along under it, then back up the inside of the leg. Two toe lines, each up from the bottom.

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The middle leg

From the bottom of that leg, along under the middle paw, then up its right edge into her chest. Two toe lines.

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The leg on the right

Back at the bottom of the middle paw: along under the paw on the right, then up its right edge to the bottom of the body oval. Two toe lines, each up from the bottom.

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Her haunch

Her round haunch: start just right of and a little below where the leg on the right ended. One big curve up and over to the right, flicking out into a tuft.

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Her back

Her back: from under the ear, down the right edge of the body oval to the ground.

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Her back foot

Her back foot pokes out under the haunch: its top line from under the haunch's tuft to the leg on the right, then its bottom from that leg along to her back. Two toe lines.

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Her tail

A fluffy cotton tail on her back: from the back, up and round in little bumps, down to the bottom and back in.

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Fur on her chest

Now her fur. Twelve short strokes on her chest: one under her cheek, then five in a row below it on the right; four down the left, flicked down; two at the bottom.

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Fur on the haunch

Three short strokes of fur down the haunch's left edge, top to bottom.

Step 21 of 44

Erase the guides

Rub out the circle and the ovals. Only Clover's own lines stay.

Step 22 of 44

The toadstool's cap

Now the toadstool, far wider than Clover. From her ear out to the right, round the cap's right end level with her eyes, over a dome a head-height above her, down beside her left eye.

Step 23 of 44

The rim

Inside its bottom edge, the rim: from her ear out along to the right end, round it, back along the top of the underside, round the left end and in to her head.

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Gills on the left

Gills fan out under the cap. Fourteen on the left, each from the rim in to her head (two are short), from the bottom of the left end round to the top.

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Gills on the right

Then sixteen on the right, from the top round to the right end, each from the rim in to her head or her ear; one near the end stops short.

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Spots on the left

Spots on the cap, each one a circle, big and small; the ones at the edges are cut off. Nine on the left half, working up from the rim.

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Spots on the right

Then fifteen on the right half: the top row first, then the middle, then the ones near the rim.

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Grass on the left

Grass left of her paws: a little blade at the right, up and back down, then on left along the ground. Then blades, each up and down: short, tallest, one behind it, two short.

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The stem

Only one line of the toadstool's stem shows: from under her chin, down past her chest to the grass.

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Grass by her tail

Two blades right of her tail: first the one in front, up to its tip, back down and on in a zigzag along the ground. Then a taller one behind it, on the left.

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The puddle

Below her tail, a wide puddle: one wobbly loop. Ripples left to right: two curves, a small one, a big curve, a line low down, a short curve at the top, a tiny ring.

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Rain on the left

Now the rain, every line slanting the same way, light and quick: eleven drops on the left, from the top of the page down, each from its top.

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Rain on the right

Then fourteen on the right, from the top of the page down, each from its top; the last two fall right into the puddle.

Step 34 of 44

Go over her head

Press harder round her outside edge: from the front of the ear, down round its tip, up its back, over her head and down to her chin.

Step 35 of 44

Go over her front

Then her front: down the chest, round the left paw and back up inside it; down the middle leg; under the right paw and up its edge; last the haunch, from its foot.

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Go over her back

Last, the back foot: its top line, then along under it and up her back to the ear; then round the tail from its top. Leave the toadstool light.

Step 37 of 44

Shading the cap

The light comes from the top left, so the shadows sit on the right. Shade softly down the right side of the cap, round the spots, and a small patch above the rim.

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Under the cap

Under the cap, a soft tone over the gills at its left end, then two strips along the rim on the right.

Step 39 of 44

Shading her head and ear

On Clover, a soft tone where the cap's shadow falls: over the right of her head, down beside the ear to her cheek. Then inside the bottom of the ear.

Step 40 of 44

Shading her body

Then her body, on the side away from the light: down her back, along the haunch's left edge, low on her chest, on the tail, and between her legs.

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Deep shadows

Press a little harder in the darkest places: under the rim on the left, three spots where the gills meet her head, and at the top inside the ear.

Step 42 of 44

Shadows on the ground

A soft shadow on the ground under her paws and the grass, then under her tail. Press harder right under her back foot.

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The puddle's shine

Then a light tone in the puddle, in the bands between the ripples, leaving thin white streaks so the water shines.

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The darks

Last of all, fill in her irises dark, leaving the glints white, and in the right eye leave the little slice beside the shine line light.