Below you’ll find an easy step-by-step tutorial for how to draw a Squirrel and a Squirrel Coloring Page. A simple side view will let you see all of his trademark fluffy tail.

Jump to Tutorial
Jump to Coloring Page

Squirrel Drawing

A drawing of a Squirrel, made with the help of an easy step by step tutorial.

When it comes to learning how to draw a squirrel, there are lots of tutorials out there that are either super cartoon-like, or super realistic. The cartoon versions don’t really teach students about their slender and graceful bodies, and yet the more advanced versions aren’t really appropriate either. Especially for elementary school.

This tutorial focuses more on getting the shape of the head and legs and tail right, and not so much about tiny details of their claws. That’s more than enough to take on when you are just learning how to draw.

Getting Started with Drawing Guides

The best way to get students off to a good start to any drawing lesson is to show them how to use guides as a reference point.

You may have noticed that all of the tutorials on this site have a dashed line running through the center of each step, in both horizontal and vertical directions. If students make their own centered lines on their own paper, before drawing, they will have an easy reference to follow.

Drawing skills are all about getting the size and placement of lines on paper, so having some visual reference point to get started, will always help anyone learn how to be a little more accurate.

So does that mean students need to get out a ruler to draw a big fat line down the center of their paper before they start? Goodness no, please don’t! That will most likely be hard to erase and distract from any finished art. No, simply fold the sheet of paper in half both ways, make a crease, and unfold. The beauty is that by the time the drawing is done and colored in, the creases will disappear.

And now, on to the squirrel drawing project.