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

Goat drawing ideas always make the studio laugh, because goats are naturally funny animals. They have that little beard, those tiny curved horns, a tail that sticks straight up, and an expression that says they are about to eat your homework. Children love them, and learning how to draw a goat is a lovely way to practise the same soft, rounded shapes that make every farm animal on this site.

I especially like this tutorial for beginners because a goat's fluffy outline is so forgiving. Bumpy lines are not a mistake here; they are the fur. A child whose circles never quite close and whose lines always wobble a little will find that a goat comes out looking exactly right, and that is a wonderful thing to discover at the drawing table.

In this tutorial we will build a cheerful cream-colored goat with a red collar and a little bell 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 goat starts drifting toward “sheep” or “dog”. Grab a pencil, and let us draw.

The 6 steps to easy goat drawing ideas

Step 1 — Draw the head and ears

Start with the head, a little above the middle of the paper and toward the left, because the body will stretch out to the right. Draw a soft rounded shape that is a little longer than it is tall, narrowing gently toward the muzzle end. It should look like a chunky, rounded bean lying on its side.

Now the ears. Unlike a horse or a cow, a cartoon goat has floppy ears that hang down and out from the sides of the head, like two soft leaves or the flaps of a hat. Draw each one as a long rounded shape starting near the top of the head and drooping downward. Keep them fairly large; floppy ears are one of the things that make a goat look friendly.

Step 2 — Add the face, horns and beard

Now the goat gets its personality. Draw two big round eyes in the upper part of the head, set a little apart, with a small white shine dot in each. At the end of the muzzle draw a small rounded nose, and beneath it a gentle curved smile. Add a curved line inside each ear for the pink inner ear.

Then the two features that make a goat a goat. On top of the head, between the ears, draw two small horns curving gently backward, like two little bananas standing up. Keep them short and close together. Then, under the chin, draw a small tuft of beard — three or four little pointed strands hanging down. It is a tiny detail, but it does an enormous amount of work.

Step 3 — Add the body

From behind the head, draw the body: a big rounded shape stretching out to the right, a little longer than it is tall, tucked in behind the head so the two overlap slightly. A cartoon goat has a short neck, so the body sits close behind the head with just a small curve joining them.

Here is the fun part: make the outline of the body a little bumpy. Instead of one smooth line, let your pencil wobble gently along the back and the belly, like the edge of a fluffy cloud. Do not overdo it — a goat is not as woolly as a sheep — but a few soft bumps make the fur look thick and cuddly. Leave the underside loose, because the legs come next.

Step 4 — Add the legs and tail

Draw four legs hanging down from the body: two at the front and two at the back, each a simple pair of lines ending in a small rounded hoof. Goat legs are shorter and sturdier than a horse's — a bit less than half the height of the body — and slightly thicker at the top than the bottom.

Then the tail, which is the third great goat clue. A goat's tail is short and it points up, like a little flag or a leaf standing on end at the back of the body. Draw it as a small pointed shape sticking up and slightly back. Do not let it hang down — a hanging tail is a dog's or a cow's, and the upturned tail is unmistakably a goat's.

Step 5 — Add the collar, bell and fur

Now the finishing details. Draw a collar around the goat's neck: two curved lines close together running from just behind the beard around to the back of the neck. Hang a small round bell from the front of the collar — a little circle with a tiny loop on top and a dot at the bottom for the clapper. A bell instantly turns a wild goat into a friendly farm goat.

Add a short curved line across each leg just above the hoof so the hooves look like separate shapes. Then scatter a few small tufts of fur on the body: two or three little zigzag bumps on the chest, one on the top of the head between the horns, and one or two along the belly. Keep them small and few.

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 head, the tops of the legs inside the body, and any ground line you sketched. Then color: fill the head, ears and body a soft cream (or leave them white with a cream tint on the bumps), color the horns tan, the nose and inner ears pink, and the hooves dark grey.

Make the collar bright red and the bell golden yellow, and leave the shine dots in the eyes uncolored so they sparkle. Then give your goat somewhere to be — a grassy hill, a wooden fence, a tin can to nibble, a bright sun. Sign your name in the corner; every finished drawing deserves a signature.

Common mistakes to avoid

Horns that are too big

This is the mistake that turns more goats into rams and antelopes than any other. Hands want to make horns impressive, and big sweeping horns are fun to draw — but on a cute cartoon goat they overwhelm the face and make the animal look fierce.

Keep the horns small, about the length of the ears, curving gently backward and sitting close together on top of the head. If yours came out big, erase the tips and shorten them; the goat will look instantly younger and friendlier.

A tail that hangs down

Almost every other four-legged animal has a tail that hangs down, so hands draw one automatically. But a goat's tail stands up, and a goat with a drooping tail looks like a small cow or a strange dog.

Draw the tail as a short, pointed shape sticking straight up from the back of the body, tilting slightly backward. It takes one second to fix and it is one of the clearest goat signals on the page.

A body that is too woolly

Because a goat and a sheep are close cousins, beginners often draw the goat's body as a big puffy cloud. That turns it into a sheep with horns, which is charming but not what we are drawing.

Keep the body outline only gently bumpy, more like a soft blanket than a cloud, and keep the head smooth. The beard, horns and upturned tail then do the rest of the work.

Troubleshooting

“My goat looks like a sheep”

Smooth out the body so it is only a little bumpy, make sure the beard and the small curved horns are clearly there, and point the tail up. Floppy ears that hang out to the sides rather than lying flat also help.

“My goat looks like a dog”

Check the horns first — a dog has none, so even two small curves on top of the head settle it. Then add the beard, point the tail up, and give the goat hooves rather than paws by drawing a small line across each foot.

“The face looks angry”

The eyes are probably too small or too close together, or the eyebrows have crept in. Enlarge the eyes, move them a little apart, add a shine dot to each, and make sure the smile curves gently upward. A goat's face should look cheeky, not cross.

Key takeaways

FAQ

What age is this goat 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 fluffy outline is forgiving, so wobbly lines actually help.

How do I make my goat look different from a sheep? Three things: the little beard under the chin, the small curved horns, and the short tail that points up. A sheep has a woolly cloud body and a plain face, so keep the goat's fur softer and shorter and give its face those goat details.

What materials do we need? A pencil, an eraser, paper, and crayons or markers in cream or white, tan for the horns, pink for the nose and ears, and red and yellow for the collar and bell. A grey or brown goat looks just as sweet if that is what you have.

Do the horns have to curve? A gentle backward curve looks best, like two little bananas standing on the head. Straight horns read as a unicorn or a deer, and big spiralling horns look like a ram. Keep them small, close together and curving softly back.

That is your goat! Whether it came out neat and tidy or gloriously scruffy, you built a whole farm animal out of a few soft shapes and a handful of tufts — and that belongs on the fridge. Keep the sheet handy, draw a whole herd on a hillside, and come back tomorrow for a new tutorial.

More tutorials: All tutorials · How to draw a sheep · How to draw a cow · How to draw a pig