How to Draw a Cartoon Character With Wings

Wings can be drawn to encompass a variety of shapes and colors.

If you draw horror or fantasy art, chances are good you will encounter a situation where wings are an essential part of your art. Whether you are drawing a cartoon angel, a fairy or a cartoon featuring a dragon, the common element will be wings. Drawing wings for these cartoon characters or any other character with wings will make use of the same basic techniques.

Instructions

1. Draw an oval for your cartoon character's head. Draw two sideways oval or almond shapes for eyes, then beneath the eyes and centered, draw an angled line with a slight curve at the end of it for a nose. Draw your character's mouth with lines curved either up or down to indicate a smile. Double these lines to give some thickness to the lips. Add hair to your character by shading it on with pencil. Straight, angled strokes work for straight hair, or smaller tight circles for curly hair.

2. Draw a straight vertical line extending from the bottom of the head for your character's body. This line will vary in length depending upon the size of the character you want to draw.

3. Draw lines to indicate the arms and legs of you character. You're going to create a stick figure of your cartoon character as a guide. These lines should attach to the central vertical line you drew from the head. Angle them or create bends in the lines to get the general pose you want your character in.

4. Draw lines around your stick figure to fill out the body. Follow your stick guidelines to create your character in the pose you're after. Erase as you need to as you develop the musculature. By curving the lines around the thigh and biceps areas, you can change how muscular or skinny your character is.

5. Draw a 45-degree angled line extending from the shoulder on each side of your character. The length of this line depends upon how large you want the wings to be. The lines should each angle toward an upper corner of the paper.

6. Curve each of the angled lines and extend each curve toward the body of the character, ending at about the waist. Draw crisscrossing lines withing this general wing area to create the appearance of veins or a structure for the wings.

7. Shade your character with your pencil using various types of pressure to add color and dimension. This is particularly important on the wings. A lighter shading will give the wings a transparent look, while shading darker will cover up the structure lines you drew. If you darken the wings, make the structural lines darker to allow them to remain slightly visible through the wing color.

References

• How to Draw Cartoons: How to Draw Angel Wings
• Easy Drawing and Sketches: How to Draw Angel Wings Easily
• Drawing Now: Draw Dragon Wings