How to draw a badger — easy step by step drawing ideas

Badger drawing ideas became a fast favorite in my studio the day one of my students brought in a picture book about a badger who loved to dig. This low, sturdy woodland animal has such a cozy, determined look, and its bold black-and-white striped face makes it one of the easiest animals to recognize once it's on paper.

Here's the secret I share with every new student: a badger is really just a wide, low, flat oval for the body with a pointed wedge-shaped head at the front. Add two small round ears, four short thick legs with claws, a stubby tail and that famous stripe down the middle of the face, and you're done. The flat body and the striped face do all the work.

In this tutorial we'll draw a badger walking along in side view, low and wide to the ground, working through six easy steps on the practice sheet below. I'll share the pro tips that help my youngest artists the most, the three mistakes that quietly turn a badger into a raccoon or a skunk, and a few troubleshooting fixes for the face stripes. Grab a gray crayon and a black one, and let's get drawing.

The 6 steps to easy badger drawing ideas

Step 1 — Draw the body

Start with one wide, low oval lying flat across the middle of your page. Make it much wider than it is tall — about twice as wide — so it looks like a squashed egg or a loaf of bread. Press lightly, because this is a guide shape and we'll tidy it later.

Badgers are built for digging, with low, flat, powerful bodies that stay close to the ground. A wide, flat oval captures that sturdy, waddling shape far better than a tall round one, which would make your badger look more like a bear cub.

Step 2 — Add the head

At the front of the body, draw a wedge-shaped head that tapers to a point — like a slice of pie lying on its side, with the wide end joining the body and the point aiming forward and slightly down. Let the back of the head overlap the front of the body a little so they feel connected.

The head should be fairly small compared to the body, roughly a third of the body's length. Keep it low, level with the top of the body or a little below it, because badgers carry their heads close to the ground while they sniff for food.

Step 3 — Add the ears and nose

Near the top back of the head, where the head meets the body, draw two small round ears. Keep them tiny and close to the head — badgers have short, rounded ears that barely stick up, perfect for an animal that spends a lot of time in tunnels.

At the very tip of the wedge, add a small rounded nose. A little oval or bean shape works well. This finishes the pointed snout and gives your badger a friendly face, ready for the stripes in step 5.

Step 4 — Add the legs and tail

Under the body, draw four short, thick legs — two near the front and two near the back. Make them sturdy little columns, wide and stubby, and barely longer than they are wide. To show the badger walking, put one front leg slightly forward and one back leg slightly behind.

At the bottom of each leg, add three or four small curved claws. Badgers have long front claws for digging, so you can make the front claws a little longer than the back ones. At the back of the body, add a short, stubby tail sticking out and pointing slightly down.

Step 5 — Add the face stripes and eye

Now for the badger's signature feature. Draw a wide stripe starting just behind the nose and running along the top of the snout, up over the forehead and back toward the body. This band will stay white. On either side of it, the face will be colored black, creating the famous striped look.

Add one small eye on the side of the face, inside the area that will be black, about halfway between the nose and the ear. Draw a small round eye with a tiny white highlight dot, and you can also add a thin white cheek line below the eye for an extra stripe.

Step 6 — Finish and color

Go over the lines you want to keep, then erase leftover guide marks, especially where the head overlaps the body and where the legs join the body. A clean outline makes the bold face pattern look sharp.

Color the body and tail a soft gray, and the legs black. Leave the wide center stripe on the face white, color the patches on either side of it black, and keep a white cheek line if you added one. Color the small nose black, and leave the white highlight in the eye showing.

Common mistakes to avoid

The body is drawn too tall and round

A tall, round body makes a badger look like a bear cub or a round little pig. Badgers are known for being low, wide and flat, and a round shape takes that character away.

Draw the body at least twice as wide as it is tall, with a flattish bottom. Keep the legs short so the belly stays close to the ground.

The face stripe goes the wrong way

If the stripes run across the face sideways, or form a mask around the eyes, the badger can start to look like a raccoon. Raccoons have a mask; badgers have a stripe.

Run the wide white stripe lengthwise, from the nose back over the top of the head, with black patches on either side where the eyes are.

The legs are too long

Long legs lift the badger off the ground and make it look like a dog or a fox trotting along. Badgers have short, powerful legs built for digging, not running.

Keep the legs short and thick — barely longer than they are wide — and add clear claws on the front paws.

Troubleshooting

My badger looks like a skunk

Skunks have a stripe down the back and a big bushy tail, while badgers have a stripe on the face and a short, stubby tail. Shorten the tail, keep the back plain gray, and put all the black-and-white pattern on the face.

The face stripes look messy

Lightly outline the white stripe in pencil before coloring, then color the black patches first. Coloring the dark areas first makes the white stripe show up clearly as a shape instead of blank space, and it keeps the edges neat.

My badger looks like it's standing still

Move one front leg forward and one back leg backward, and angle the head slightly down as if it's sniffing the path. A few small footprints or blades of grass behind it help show it's on the move.

Key takeaways

FAQ

Is a badger easy to draw for kids? Yes — a cartoon badger is built from a flat oval body, a wedge-shaped head, two tiny ears, four short legs and a simple face stripe. There are no tricky proportions, so most children aged five and up can finish this sheet in about fifteen to twenty minutes.

How do I draw a badger's face stripes? Draw one wide stripe starting just behind the nose and running back over the top of the head toward the body. Leave that stripe white and color the areas on either side black, with the small eye sitting inside the black patch.

What colors do I need for a badger drawing? Gray for the body and tail, black for the legs and the patches on either side of the face, white for the wide stripe down the middle of the face, and black for the small nose. A little brown or green for the ground finishes the scene.

What's the difference between drawing a badger and a raccoon? A badger has a wide, flat body, short thick legs and a white stripe running lengthwise down the middle of its face. A raccoon has a rounder body, a black mask across its eyes and a bushy tail with rings around it.

And there is your badger! Whether its stripe came out neat and straight or a little wiggly, you just drew one of the hardest-working diggers in the forest. Try drawing it again poking its head out of a burrow, or add a few mushrooms and fallen leaves along its path, and come back tomorrow for a new tutorial.

More tutorials: All tutorials · How to draw a raccoon · How to draw a skunk · How to draw a hedgehog