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

Chipmunk drawing ideas are always welcome in the studio, because a chipmunk is basically a squirrel that has been made even cuter on purpose. It is smaller and rounder, it has puffy cheeks stuffed with snacks, and it has those wonderful racing stripes down its back. Learning how to draw a chipmunk is really learning how to draw a little round animal holding an acorn and looking very pleased about it.

I especially love teaching the stripes. Children who have drawn a zebra or a tiger already know how to follow the curve of a body with a line, and a chipmunk has just three stripes running from the head to the tail. They are simple to draw and they instantly make the animal recognisable. And the acorn at the chest gives the chipmunk something to do, which makes the whole drawing feel like a little story.

In this tutorial we will build a cheerful orange-brown chipmunk holding an acorn in six easy steps, following the practice sheet below. I will share the pro tips I use when teaching it, the mistakes that trip up nearly every beginner, and quick fixes for when your chipmunk starts looking like a squirrel or a hamster. Grab a pencil and an orange crayon, and let us draw.

The 6 steps to easy chipmunk drawing ideas

Step 1 — Draw the head and ears

Start with the head, near the top of the paper and a little to the left, because the tail will curl up on the right. Draw a big round shape, but let the lower half bulge out on both sides into two puffy cheeks, so the head looks a little like a heart turned upside down, or a circle with two soft pouches at the bottom. Those puffy cheeks are the chipmunk's most lovable feature.

Then add two small rounded ears on top of the head, one on each side, like two little half-circles. Chipmunk ears are small and round, and they sit high and a little apart. Keep the pencil light; you will darken the keeper lines at the end.

Step 2 — Add the face

Now the chipmunk gets its personality. Draw two big round eyes in the middle of the head, set a little apart, with a small white shine dot in each. Below and between them, draw a small rounded nose, and just under it a tiny curved smile. Add a soft blush circle on each puffy cheek.

Then the whiskers: two or three thin lines sweeping out from each cheek, each one a single confident stroke. Keep them light and fairly short. Add a curved line inside each ear for the inner ear, and the face is done — already it looks like something small and cheeky is peering out at you.

Step 3 — Add the body

Under the head, draw the body: a plump rounded shape, narrower at the top where it meets the chin and wider at the bottom where the chipmunk sits, like a soft pear or an egg on its wide end. It should be about the same height as the head and tucked in under the chin so the two shapes overlap slightly. A cartoon chipmunk has no neck.

Then draw the belly patch: a second, slightly smaller rounded shape inside the body, running from just under the chin to the bottom, leaving a band of body on each side. This will be colored cream at the end. Keep the outline smooth and round; the chipmunk is a chubby little animal.

Step 4 — Add the paws, acorn and feet

Draw the acorn first, right in the middle of the chest: a small oval with a little cap on top, drawn as a wider curved shape with a tiny stem. Then draw the paws: two short curved arms coming down from either side of the upper body and meeting at the acorn, ending in two small rounded paws that wrap around it. The chipmunk should look like it is hugging its snack.

Then the feet: two small oval shapes at the bottom of the body, one on each side, pointing slightly outward. Add two short lines on each for toes if you like. Make sure both feet sit on the same imaginary ground line so the chipmunk sits evenly.

Step 5 — Add the tail and stripes

From the bottom of one side of the body, draw the tail: a long, bushy shape rising up behind the chipmunk and curling forward at the top, like a big soft comma or a question mark. Give it a gently bumpy outline so it looks fluffy, and make it about as tall as the whole chipmunk. It is smaller and less enormous than a squirrel's tail, but still generously fluffy.

Then the stripes, which are the chipmunk's signature. Draw two dark lines starting between the ears, running over the top of the head, down the middle of the back and along the tail, keeping a narrow gap between them. That gap will be colored cream, giving you the classic dark-light-dark pattern. Add a short stripe on each side of the face, running from the nose back past the eye, if you like.

Step 6 — Finish and color

Darken the lines you want to keep and erase the light scaffolding underneath — the part of the body hidden behind the paws, the acorn outline behind the paws, and any ground line you sketched. Then color: fill the head, ears, body and tail a warm orange-brown, color the belly patch and the inner ears cream, and color the stripes dark brown with the gap between them cream.

Color the acorn light brown with a darker cap, the nose dark brown, add pink to the blush cheeks, and leave the shine dots in the eyes uncolored so they sparkle. Then give your chipmunk somewhere to be — a log, a pile of acorns, a few autumn leaves, a tree trunk. Sign your name in the corner; every finished drawing deserves a signature.

Common mistakes to avoid

Forgetting the stripes

This is the mistake that turns more chipmunks into squirrels than any other. Without the stripes, a chipmunk is just a small squirrel, and nobody can tell the difference.

Draw two dark lines from the head down the back and along the tail, close together, and color the gap between them cream. Three stripes — dark, light, dark — is the chipmunk signature.

Flat cheeks

A round head with no cheek pouches makes the chipmunk look like a mouse or a hamster with a tail. The puffy cheeks are what give the chipmunk its cheeky, snack-stuffed expression.

Let the lower half of the head bulge out on both sides, so the face is widest at the cheeks, and put the blush circles right on the puffiest part.

A tail that is too big

A huge fluffy tail that dwarfs the body is a squirrel's tail, not a chipmunk's. The chipmunk's tail is bushy but modest.

Make the tail about as tall as the chipmunk and not much wider than the head, curling up behind the body, with a stripe running along it.

Troubleshooting

“My chipmunk looks like a squirrel”

Add the stripes down the back and tail, puff out the cheeks, and shrink the tail a little. The stripes alone usually fix it.

“My chipmunk looks like a hamster”

Almost certainly the tail is missing or tiny. Draw a bushy tail curling up behind the body, about as tall as the chipmunk, with a stripe along it.

“The acorn looks stuck on”

The paws are probably beside the acorn instead of in front of it. Erase where they meet and redraw the paws wrapping around the front of the acorn, hiding part of its outline.

Key takeaways

FAQ

What age is this chipmunk drawing tutorial for? The six-step version works from about age 5 with a grown-up nearby, and most kids around 7 and up can follow the sheet on their own. The chipmunk sits upright like a little person, so there are no legs to line up.

How is a chipmunk different from a squirrel? Stripes and cheeks. A chipmunk has dark stripes running from its head down its back, big puffy cheeks, and is smaller and rounder than a squirrel. A squirrel has a plain coat and a much bigger fluffy tail.

What materials do we need? A pencil, an eraser, paper, and crayons or markers in orange-brown for the body, cream for the belly and the light stripe, and dark brown for the dark stripes and the acorn.

How do I draw the stripes? Draw two dark lines running from between the ears, over the top of the head, down the back and along the tail, with a narrow gap between them. Color the gap cream. Three stripes total: dark, light, dark. Keep them close together and let them follow the curve of the back.

That is your chipmunk! Whether the stripes came out neat and even or a little bit wobbly, you built a whole woodland character with a snack out of a few round shapes — and that belongs on the fridge. Keep the sheet handy, draw a whole family of chipmunks gathering acorns for winter, and come back tomorrow for a new tutorial.

More tutorials: All tutorials · How to draw a squirrel · How to draw a hamster · How to draw a hedgehog