How to Draw a Cartoon Hippopotamus
Learn how to draw a cartoon hippopotamus easy enough for beginners, start a sketch with this tutorial. Step by step hippo drawing.


In this drawing instruction, you will learn how to draw a cartoon hippopotamus. Hippos are unique animals of the African continent, which are cloven-hoofed animals. Hippos are one of the heaviest animals, and only elephants and rhinos are heavier than hippos. This mammal has a short tail, and the thickness of the hippopotamus’s skin is about four centimeters. The habitat of these animals in Africa, and it is important to consider that river-horses live in places where there are swamps. Yes, river horses, because the name of these mammals is literally translated from Greek! This is important because the skin of the hippopotamus must be constantly moistened with water from various reservoirs and swamps. Hippos are very dangerous and angry animals, and they are very irritable and without a good reason can conflict with other inhabitants of the continent. And also do not forget that hippos are very fast animals, although at first glance it seems that they can hardly move. Now that you have learned the facts about this amazing mammal, you can proceed to step-by-step instruction on how to sketch a hippopotamus. Enjoy your sketching process!
Time needed: 45 minutes.
How to Draw a Cartoon Hippopotamus
- Head contour.
Begin by drawing a circular head shape.
- The shape of the muzzle.
Just below, draw the shape of the hippopotamus’s face, as shown in the example.
- Add nostrils.
Now let’s get to the details of the hippo’s face, and first, draw on the hippo’s nostrils.
- Cartoon eyes.
In the upper part of the face, draw the big cartoon eyes of the hippo.
- Add a mouth.
Shape the mouth of the hippo by drawing the chin.
- Add teeth.
Draw the two square-shaped teeth of the hippopotamus.
- Ears.
Draw two parallel lines from the head on each side, and above them draw circular ears.
- The body of a hippopotamus.
Shape the body of a hippo.
- Front legs.
Draw the front legs of the hippopotamus as shown in the example.
- Hind legs.
Now sketch out the hind legs of the animal.
- Draw the tail.
Draw two short curved lines that need to be connected to create a pointed tail.
- Add details.
Add details to the hippos by drawing folds in the skin around the neck, depict lines on the river-horses knees, and small dots on the hippopotamus’s skin that create the texture of the skin. After that sketch out the small cartoon eyebrows of the hippopotamus and the details of the hooves.
- Trace your artwork.
Finally, before the coloring process, trace the contours of your sketch with an ink pen or black marker. If there are no such supplies nearby, then do it with a small brush and black paint.
- Color the hippo.
The sketching process is almost complete, you just have to color your artwork and the hippo’s illustration will be complete!
Excellent! We hope that we helped you create a cool artwork of hippopotamus that you can share with your friends. And you can also share this simple instruction with your friends on social networks, and we advise you to sketch this mammal with friends together! Thank you for being with us, and we will be glad to see you again.