How to Draw a Cartoon Cheetah
(the Easy Way)

Do you know how to draw a cartoon cheetah? Quick, blink and you'll miss this awesome athlete! With incredible markings and super-fast speeds, the cheetah is easy to spot (geddit?) – it's keeping up that's the problem! However, once you've followed our simple steps, you'll be up and running after you've learned how to draw a cartoon cheetah the easy way!

STEP-1: No 'Cheeting'! Let's Start with the Basics
'Feline' creative? The first part of learning how to draw a cartoon cheetah is to sketch some basic shapes which will help us create our cool cat. Draw a dome shape for the head, followed by a long shape for the body. Our cheetah is just about ready to take off from the starting blocks!

STEP-2: Let's Get Up to Speed by Adding More Detail
Our awesome athlete now needs some extra touches. Make the top of the head jagged to represent fur, then draw two large ears – like most cats, our super-fast feline has got amazing hearing! 

Next, draw an upside-down triangle for the nose then, using our basic shape as a guide, sketch in some lines for the legs as in our illustration. Draw a curved line to the right of the body for the hind leg. You see? Learning how to draw a cartoon cheetah is easy once you've followed in our pawprints!

STEP-3: Racing Ahead by Adding the Legs
Wow, our fast furry friend is really taking shape! Let's now add some more detail, starting with the inner ears – draw a jagged line here to represent fur. Then, draw two eyebrows followed by two pointed oval shapes beneath for the eyes. Our world-class athlete also need a mouth, so draw a verticle line from the bottom of the nose, followed by two curved lines either side. 

Now, to break all those land-speed records, our cheetah will need some strong legs – at the bottom of the vertical lines you drew earlier, sketch in two large paws at the front, followed by another hind leg on the left-hand side of the body.

STEP-4: Making Sure our Cheetah Doesn't 'Tail' Behind
The next stage of learning how to draw a cartoon cheetah is to add the all-important tail to our jungle dynamo's body – sketch this in on the left-hand side. Our record-breaker is now ready to whoosh through the air in hot pursuit of wildebeests and gazelles! 

Once you've done this, draw a curved shape for our cheetah's open mouth, followed by a jagged line underneath to represent fur. Our athlete is now only missing two things – the rear feet. Draw these in a similar style to the front feet, then add some more vertical lines to finish off the paws – like all cats, our cheetah has claws which can be retracted or unleashed at will!

STEP-5: Making sure our Cheetah is Spotted!
Our awesome athlete is nearly ready to race alongside other Olympic champions, but there seems to be something missing…..ah, you spotted it! The next and arguably most important stage in learning how to draw a cartoon cheetah is to add those distinctive markings. Draw circles all over the body as in our illustration – purr-fect! 

Next, let's give our cool cat some teeth – make these nice and sharp. Finally, draw a line across the tip of the tail and sketch in our cheetah's chest by drawing a paddle shape on the front of the body. On your marks, get set, go! It's time to go crazy with color and really bring our cartoon cheetah character to life!

STEP-6: Letting the Fur Fly by Adding Color!
The final stage of our lesson in how to draw a cartoon cheetah is also the most fun – going crazy with color! For the outline, choose a dark brown color, then rub out any lines you don't need. You can use this same color for the eyebrows and inner ears. 

Then, select a bold yellow for the body, coloring in everywhere apart from the chest area.It's time to get spotted! Color each circle in black, then use this same color for the tip of the tail, the nose, eyes and outline of our awesome athlete's open mouth. Remember to leave a small area white on the eyes and nose to represent highlights. 

We're almost ready to win the race – choose a rich red color for the inside of the mouth, then finish off the chest area with a lighter shade of yellow. Our awesome athlete is now ready to zoom across the plains of Africa! Now you've learned how to draw a cartoon cheetah, why not practice drawing some more characters? It's easy when you know how!