How to Draw a Cartoon Ladybug

Ladybugs can be found in most gardens.

Ladybugs are a common insect found in many gardens during the summertime. A colorful, slow-moving beetle with a taste for crop-eating aphids, the ladybug is loved by both gardeners and farmers. With their characteristic red back and black spots, ladybugs warn predators that they taste awful. Ladybugs make for an easily-recognizable subject for cartoon-sketching for children. Whether drawing a ladybug for a class assignment or just for fun, children should have no trouble capturing the bug's defining characteristics.

Instructions

1. Sketch a large oval on your paper lightly with a pencil. Lightly sketch an oval about half that size overlapping the edge of the larger oval on the left. The large oval will be the body of the ladybug and the smaller oval will be the head.

2. Draw two antennae twice as long as the head is tall coming out from the top of the head and bending slightly at the end away from the center of the head. The antennae can be drawn as two simple lines. Draw two small circles, one each, at the tips of the antennae.

3. Sketch three slender legs on the side of the ladybug's body, evenly spaced from just behind the head to the end of the larger oval. You can sketch the legs as long, skinny tubes with rounded ends.

4. Draw two large circles for eyes on the upper half of the small oval head, one on each side. Shade a small circle in each eye for the irises. You can also give the ladybug eyelids by drawing a slightly curved line across the top portion of each eye.

5. Draw a curved line across the bottom half of the head to give your lady bug a smile.

6. Draw a line running down the back of the lady bug's body, and a line running down the side of the ladybug just above the legs on the side of the body. This will designate the wing covers. Draw a few circles randomly and shade them in with your pencil to give the bug its characteristic spots. You can draw as many circles with whatever pattern you wish, since they appear in many forms in nature. The circles should be no bigger than the eyes or only slightly smaller than the eyes.

7. Use a red coloring pencil or marker to color the body and head of the lady bug red if you want to add color to your cartoon ladybug.

References

• How to Draw Cartoons Online.com: How to Draw a Cartoon Ladybug
• National Geographic: Ladybugs