How to Draw a Cartoon Turkey
Learn to draw a cartoon turkey with two different tutorials and understand the techniques for creating cartoon birds and animals.
How to Draw a Cartoon Turkey: Introduction
Drawing a cartoon turkey involves considering several key features during the process. Previously, we have drawn a turkey in a similar style, but this lesson will result in an even more exaggerated cartoon turkey, resembling those seen in some animated productions.
One of the primary aspects to keep in mind when drawing in a cartoon style, especially for children, is simplification. When drawing a turkey in this style, avoid focusing on small details and instead highlight the most prominent and recognizable features to ensure the drawing illustrates the main features of the bird.
Additionally, when drawing a turkey or other animals in a cartoon style, it is important to simplify details while also ensuring the proportions reflect a cartoonish approach. This involves deviating from realistic proportions and creating more cartoonish ones, such as making the head significantly larger than the body and large, human-like eyes.
Finally, another characteristic often present in cartoon animals is anthropomorphism, where human features are added to the design. For example, to make the turkey appear more cartoon-like, you might include a smile on its beak or create human-like expressions, which are not typically seen in real-life turkeys.
Cartoon Turkey Drawing Tutorial
Materials
- Pencil
- Paper
- Eraser
- Coloring supplies
Time needed: 40 minutes
How to Draw a Cartoon Turkey
- Sketch the head and body of the cartoon turkey.
Begin by drawing the main shapes for your cartoon turkey. Start with a large oval for the head near the top of your paper. Then, below the head, draw a slightly smaller oval to represent the body. Make sure the two ovals overlap slightly to create a connection between the head and body.
- Sketch the cartoon smiling beak.
Inside the upper oval, sketch a small triangular shape in the center for the turkey’s beak. To enhance the cartoon look, make the beak slightly larger than realistic proportions. Also, to make your cartoon turkey drawing more cartoonish, make the beak smile.
- Draw the cartoon turkey’s eyes.
To illustrate the eyes of the cartoon turkey’s, sketch two large oval shapes, one on each side of the beak. Within each oval, draw two smaller circles. The larger circle will represent the eye’s iris, and the smaller one is the outline of the pupil.
- Detail the face of the cartoon bird.
Detail the cartoon turkey’s face by drawing small curved lines above each eye for eyebrows. Then, draw the wattle on the beak, creating an elongated drop-like shape. Next, draw the neck, ending with wavy feather outlines at the bottom.
- Draw the wings of the cartoon turkey.
On either side of the cartoon turkey’s body oval, draw the wings. Use curved lines that extend outward from the body, and create scalloped edges along the bottom to mimic the texture of feathers. Draw the wings slightly like hands for a more cartoonish look.
- Add the legs of the cartoon turkey.
Under the body oval, sketch two short, straight legs. Each leg should end in three toes, forming a small foot. Use curved lines for the toes to make them look simple but accurate. Keep the legs of the turkey short and slightly thicker than realistic proportions, for more cartoon look.
- Draw the tail feathers.
Start from the top of the body oval and draw a series of large, rounded shapes to form the tail feathers. Each feather should radiate outward, with the shapes getting slightly wider toward the ends. Use smooth, rounded lines to create a full, fan-like tail.
- Refine and erase the guidelines.
Carefully erase any overlapping lines from the head, body, and tail feathers. Refine the outlines of your cartoon turkey drawing by darkening the main lines and smoothing out any rough edges. This step prepares the drawing for coloring and ensures it looks polished.
- Color the cartoon turkey.
Start coloring the bird with a light brown for the body. Use a darker brown for the eyes and lighter brown for the head. Color the beak and feet orange, and use red for the wattle. For the tail feathers, incorporate different colors like yellow, orange, and red to make them look a bit more realistic.
Simple Cartoon Turkey Drawing Tutorial
This is another cartoon turkey drawing tutorial, and it has some really important differences. The main difference between this and the first tutorial lies in the level of detail and proportions. This tutorial focuses on a simpler and more traditional representation of a turkey, with a more realistic tail fan and body proportions. The previous tutorial had a more exaggerated, cartoonish style with a larger head, bit this one creates a cartoon turkey but in a bit different style.
To draw a cartoon turkey in this style, start by sketching a large oval for the body and a smaller oval above it for the head. Connect these with a neck line and add a small oval within the head for the eye. Draw a rounded, drooping line beneath the beak for the wattle. Next, outline a large semicircle at the back of the body for the tail feathers. Add a curved line for the wing and scalloped lines for feather details.
Below the body, draw two straight legs ending in small, triangular toes. Refine the eye by adding a circle inside the oval for the pupil, and draw a triangular beak extending outward. Add curved lines to the tail to separate individual feathers. Erase unnecessary guidelines, refine the outline, and color the turkey using brown, red, and orange shades.
Don’t forget about the pdf file. With this, you can draw a cartoon turkey anywhere, even in the absence of the Internet.
Conclusion
In this tutorial, we learned how to draw a cartoon turkey and focused on the key elements of creating cartoon birds. We followed two really simple but different lessons, each introducing new techniques. Feel free to share if you found any important skills useful from these two lessons.
Also, be sure to check out my other tutorials on creating cartoon animals and characters. Additionally, you can improve your bird drawing skills with my dove drawing tutorial and chicken drawing tutorial.
Be sure to follow me on social media for more tutorials and additional content. On Pinterest, you can find many quick and useful tutorials, and on my YouTube channel, you can learn how to draw with detailed video lessons.
