How to draw a realistic Cow

Today we have a new lessons from general themes – cattle drawing.

Let`s learn how to draw a cow. Cow is one of the most ordinary and common farm animals, like horse, sheep and pig.

Cows were domesticated thousands years ago for the sake of meat milk and partly skin. It is a fact of life – we value the cattle from a purely utilitarian standpoint.

But now let’s try to appreciate the appearance of the cows and learn to draw them.

Cow drawing – side view

Here is is a picture of a quietly standing cow. Drawing it we can well understand the cattle structure.

We start with the pencil sketch -show general shape and a simplified skeleton.

Now we are ready to depict the exterior of our cow.

The trunk is very large and bulky. But it is not fat, because you can see skin tensed on a ribs and pelvic bones.

There is a slight hump above the shoulders and the other over the sacrum.The belly droops heavily.Large skin folds hanging under the neck.

The hind legs have visible bends, front ones look thicker and straighter:

Draw a large udder between the hind legs.

The legs end in cloven hooves.Note – these hooves are not large, they are even graceful. It`s high time to draw the head of our cow: Trapezoidal head with a fleshy nose and lips is not great. Don’t forget to draw oval mobile ears. Horns can be of different shapes, sizes and directions.From the cow they are a bit like a lyre. The cows I saw were either red or white with black spots.Paint this cow to your taste. And learn one another lesson.

Walking Cow drawing

Perhaps this cow is very cheeky, see – she’s cut off horns. Click the images to enlarge:


These were two lessons -how to draw a cow, next time we’ll take the bull.