How To Draw A Rabbit

March 29, 2021

Are you wondering how to draw a rabbit while you are busy munching on chocolate bunnies? This Easter weekend I wanted to draw a bunny to help those who want to learn to draw cute animals.

These cute, small furry mammals with their long ears, fluffy tails and flexible bodies are a joy to draw. We shall explore all the characteristic features so you can draw them easily.

The Easter Bunny, depicted as a rabbit bringing eggs, is a folkloric figure and a symbol of fertility, birth and renewal of life. The Rabbit is commonly depicted with clothes carrying coloured eggs, candy and toys in his basket to the homes of children.

In this post, we will cover how to draw a realistic rabbit so that you can stylise your drawings and dress them up in any way you like.

Rabbit vs Hare Anatomy

Rabbits and hares are of the same family of mammals called leporids. To learn how to draw a bunny we need to understand the differences between the two.

Hares are generally larger than rabbits with a few exceptions. Hares commonly have larger legs and ears than a rabbit. Take notice of the difference in their limbs as their bodies have adapted for different purposes.

Hare vs Rabbit anatomy study for artists.

Hares run faster than rabbits to escape their predators due to the size of their legs. Rabbits on the other hand are not big runners and tend to hide from their predators. But, do not expect to catch them in an open field. They are very quick despite their small bodies!

How to Draw a Rabbit Head

Let’s break down the different parts of the head so that we have a complete understanding of the structures that make up the head.

Rabbit Ears

Rabbit ears can be thought of as a cylinder at the base with a soft sheath wrapped around it. Notice how it wraps around the cylinder in the shape of a bowl.

Drawing a rabbit ear with basic shapes using a cylinder.

Add some thickness to the structures and the folds at the base.

Drawing a rabbit ear. Adding some thickness to the structures.

Rabbit Eyes

A rabbit’s eyes are located on either side of its head. A rabbit can see almost 360 degrees without turning its head. This gives these prey animals a panoramic field of vision and helps them escape from their predators.

Draw a sphere to depict the eyeball. The eyelids wrap around the sphere; don’t forget to add the tear duct as a part of it. Next, we will add the pupil and the iris. A rabbit’s eyes are usually dark, making the pupil hardly visible. In rabbits, the sclera is not very visible so we will shade the whole structure.

Draw a rabbit eye in 6 easy steps.

Rabbits have ‘eyelashes’, soft fur around their eyes that give them their characteristic doe-eyed look. Add the details of the iris radiating out from the centre. To finish off, let us not forget the reflection on the eyes.

The Rabbit’s Nose

The nose is quite a fascinating feature of the rabbit. It is very different from that of a dog or a cat. Bunnies twitch their noses to help them smell by exposing sensitive smelling organs to more air.

How to draw a rabbit mouth and nose.

The twitching nose is one of the cutest features of a bunny!

How to draw a Rabbit Head: six easy steps

1. Start with a sphere for the head. Mark the angles of the tilt of the sphere to help you as you progress in your drawing.

Drawing a rabbit face using a sphere.

Your construction basics should be drawn lightly so that they do not hinder your details as you draw in layers.

2. Add the muzzle that extrudes from the sphere. Next, draw the loop that connects the eyes and the nose. Start at the nose; it is halfway down the middle of the muzzle of the rabbit head, and then loop up to the temple.

Drawing a rabbit face, drawing the muzzle.

3. Add the basic shapes of the head – cheeks, nose, mouth and ears.

drawing a rabbit face. Drawing the outlines to the face.

4. Add the spheres for the eyes as explained earlier.

Drawing a rabbit face. Adding the spheres for the eyes.

5. Wrap the eyelids around the spheres and add the pupils.

Drawing a rabbit face, adding the eyelids.

6. Finally, we can add the fur, details of the nose, follicles on the muzzle and whiskers.

Drawing a rabbit face, adding the whiskers, mouth and nose.

How to Draw the Rabbit’s Paws

Rabbits have powerful hind legs that help with hopping. Contrary to what you might expect, rabbits do not have paw pads, making their feet more sensitive to surfaces they walk on. It is hard to spot their claws as they are generally hidden under long tufts of fur.

They have 4 long toes on their hind feet that are webbed to keep them from spreading as they jump.

Drawing the hind paws of a rabbit.

To draw the paws we can picture them as cylinders around which the forms wrap. Even the toes can be envisioned as little cylinders extruded from the main form. Remember that the toes form an arc at the top.

Drawing the forepaws of a rabbit.

Rabbits have 5 toes on each front paw. The 5th toe is the smallest of them all!

How to Draw the Tail

Although the tail looks like a large cotton ball at first glance, anatomically that is incorrect. They are generally short and fluffy at the bottom and taper towards the end.

Drawing of the tail of a rabbit.

How to Draw a Rabbit: step by step

The body of a rabbit is very flexible. It looks like a round ball when sitting and can double in length when stretched out.

1. When drawing the rabbit start with the three basic forms for the head, chest and hips.

Drawing a rabbit body step one, drawing the chest, head and hips.

2. We can add the outline of the rabbit now that we have the basic shapes. Consider the negative spaces around the outline rather than getting distracted by the details.

Drawing a rabbit body step two, drawing the outline shapes.

3. Let us add the eyeball.

Drawing a rabbit body step three, draw the eyeballs.

The forepaw in the background will appear smaller as it is further away from us.

4. Now that we have the outlines in place we can add the details such as the eyelids, toes, nose and ear folds.

Drawing a rabbit body step four, add the details such as the eyelids, toes, nose and ear folds.

Working on the drawing as a whole reduces the chances of errors and inaccuracies in proportion.

5. Add the folds and details of the fur.

Drawing a rabbit body step five, add the folds and details of the fur.

6. We can now wrap up our drawing by colouring in the eyes and adding the whiskers.

Drawing a rabbit body step six, colouring the eyes and adding the whiskers.

Congratulations you made it all the way and have learnt how to draw a rabbit!

Don’t forget to practice what you have learnt today.

Exercises to Try

Now it is your turn to try these methods. Attempt drawing a rabbit head and then the whole body. Try drawing as many different angles and postures as possible. Below are a few examples to try.

Need some help with your artwork? Share your work with me for a free critique lesson! I will help you gain the guidance you require to improve your skills.

Digital Rabbit drawings

Tag me in your social media posts and feel free to reach out to me with your queries. I respond to every single one of them.

Pin this guide to your Pinterest boards so that you can return to it and use this method to draw rabbits. Follow Drawing with Pri on Pinterest for more resources on this topic and plenty of references to perfect your artwork.

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I hope this tutorial helps you draw better. If you have any questions, please let me know in the comments below. I would love to see how your drawings turn out. Tag me on your favourite social media @drawingwithpri when you use this tutorial.