How to Draw a Hamster – Make a Hamster with Strawberry Sketch

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Humans love to keep all kinds of animals as pets, but hamsters must surely be considered one of the cutest furry friends we have. They can sometimes be slightly difficult to draw with their twitching little noses, small dainty feet, and unique ear shape. Thankfully, you could not have come to a better place if you wish to learn how to draw a hamster. You can soon be creating a realistic-looking hamster drawing of your own with this easy-to-follow step-by-step tutorial.

How to Draw a Hamster Step by Step

Thanks to this tutorial, you will both quickly and easily learn how to create a hamster sketch! No matter what medium you choose to use, from watercolors to colored pencils, you can still apply all these steps to achieve the perfect hamster drawing. By learning how to draw a hamster you will also learn techniques that will improve your ability to draw the finer details, such as the eyes, paws, and nose. You will also be learning the fundamentals of construction lines and how to create more realistic-looking fur in your hamster sketch.

Step 1: Creating a Body for Your Hamster Sketch

If it is your first time drawing an animal, it might be hard to know where to begin. You might be put off if you start with the head only to realize later that you did not leave enough space for the entire body in your hamster drawing. We can avoid this problem by first laying down some construction lines as a guide to ensure that our size and proportions are correct.

As with the creation of most of the other animal drawings in our tutorials, we are going to start with a large oval first. The oval should be egg-shaped with the top of the egg leaning considerably downward. Make sure from the start that you have positioned the oval in the center of the canvas, leaving room for the other limbs that still need to be drawn in around the body, such as the head, arms, and legs.

Step 2: Creating a Head for Your Hamster Drawing

Our hamster will be sitting upright, on his haunches, so his head will be quite high up compared to if he was on all fours. He is facing us with his shoulders behind his body, so make sure to place the oval we are going to use for his face overlapping quite considerably with the body oval. The face oval should not be drawn long like the body oval, but more like a slightly uneven circle.

Step 3: Creating the Face

Based on the hamster’s pose, we are going to be seeing his face head-on, so we need to make sure we get the proportions of the eyes and nose correct. If we make the spacing between the eyes or nose too large or small, we could create something interesting perhaps, but not necessarily the realistic hamster drawing we are after. To help us get the features placed in the correct manner, we are going to draw some simple construction lines on the face.

Find the middle of the circle, then draw two lines extending outwards from the center point, one going vertically through the circle, the other line going horizontally through it. Take a look at the tutorial example in the image to follow. You will see that the lines are not strictly horizontal and vertical to the canvas, but rather relative to the curve of the head circle.

Step 4: Creating the Strawberry

For our tutorial on how to draw a hamster, we have decided to add a big old strawberry to the sketch. This is not a necessity for every hamster drawing, but it does allow us to focus on the details of the hamster’s hands that would not be visible if he was sitting on them. You can choose to leave it out or pick another fruit, but if you decide to follow along, you can use an oval shape for the construction of the strawberry.

Unlike the other two ovals we have already used in this drawing, which were angled to the left, this oval is going to sit upright. The strawberry is rather large, so make sure it overlaps most of the body, with it resting at the bottom of the hamster’s body, and positioned a bit to the left of the middle point.

Step 5: Creating the Paws and Arms

At this stage, you might be tempted to just forget about the construction lines and just draw the arms regardless, but by following our guidelines, it will be a much more realistic-looking hamster drawing. To create the arms, draw two inverted lines that curve slightly downward toward the middle of the body. These lines should end at the top of the oval we created to represent the strawberry. Next, add two semi-circles overlapping the strawberry. These semi-circles will become the paws of our hamster.

Step 6: Creating the feet

This is an easy step, as we are going to be adding the construction lines for the little feet sticking out from the body of the hamster. At the bottom of the strawberry, we are now going to add two feet by drawing two irregularly shaped ovals pointing outwards, similar to the stance of a ballerina. The right foot should be drawn overlapping the body slightly, while the left foot will mostly be hidden by the strawberry in from of it.

Step 7: Creating the Ears

Before we start outlining our hamster, we have one final step left in the construction phase of our hamster sketch. We are now going to draw two squared-off ovals for the ears. The right ear should be positioned where the head and body meet and should overlap them both. For the other ear, draw an imaginary line across from where the other ear is and place it there. Slant both ears away from the middle, this will create the appearance of the hamster’s ears facing outwards.

Step 8: How to Outline the Head of Your Hamster

In this step, you will start putting an outline around the construction lines you have drawn. This part of the process has been split into several stages to make the outlining part as easy to follow as possible.

Going around the outer edge of the construction lines, Start by adding small strokes of your pen to fill in the upper part of your hamster’s head. The short strokes are to create the impression of fur. Once that part is done, create a line going onto each of the ears. The ears can be smooth at the top but should be drawn with short strokes when you are intersecting the ears at the bottom. Now go along the rest of the face and outline with more short strokes.

As seen in the example sketch, the construction lines now only serve as a guideline and should not be followed too strictly. The cheeks, for example, should now be extended out beyond the construction lines to make them chubbier. At the bottom of the face, create a little dent inwards to the vertical line and then draw two little furry lines to represent the hamster’s lower lip and mouth.

Step 9: How to Outline the Rest of the Body

In this next step, We will be adding the fur of the hamster. The construction lines you created will assist you with adding a furry outline to your hamster’s body. Excluding the feet, you want to use the same small strokes you used before to help create the impression of fur around the hamster’s body. To make your drawing more unique and personal, do not follow the construction lines too closely in this part, but add some bumps every now and again. For the feet and hands, follow around the construction shapes and draw four chubby fingers on each hand of the hamster, as well as three toes on each foot. The right foot must be drawn facing the left of the canvas. You are also able to now add the tiny little nails to the ends of your hamster’s fore and hind toes.

Step 10: How to Outline the Strawberry

Outlining the strawberry is rather simple, considering we have already created the construction shape. Another helpful tip is to look at how the hamster is holding the strawberry, to choose how to position it properly. The tip of the strawberry should be between the feet. For a few final details, add some leaves and a stem for realism.

Step 11: Adding the Facial Details

For this step, we are going to draw the whiskers, nose, and eyes, using the construction lines as a guide. Start by adding two little eyes on the horizontal construction line. The eyes should be shaped slightly like almonds, with the flat part at the bottom. To create the impression of light reflecting in the eyes, leave a couple of white dots in the irises.

Two draw the nose, draw a horizontal “3” shape just above the mouth on the vertical line. Draw a few dotted details around the nostrils and then add a bunch of whiskers on the sides of the hamster’s nose. Once you are satisfied with the face of your hamster, you can use your eraser and remove all of the construction lines from your sketch.

Step 12: Adding Fine Details and Fur

Now we are going to add fur all over the body of the hamster, as well as add more details to the strawberry. Starting with the strawberry, draw small irregular ovals all over the surface of the strawberry.

Now start adding fur to your hamster’s head, with a couple of lines flowing upwards from the nose to the top of the head. Ensure that you draw the hair flowing equally in all directions across the face and around the features. Inside the ears, a few fine streaks can also be added. Leaving out the feet and paws, now add fur to the rest of the body. Use a range of shorter and longer strokes throughout the body and keep the contours of the body in mind to help guide your fur flow.

Step 13: How to Add the First Color

Several layers of color will be required to achieve a natural and realistic-looking hamster drawing. Before adding shading and highlights, we will need to add a base color. For the first coat, it is best to choose a light brown shade. Including the feet and hands, color the entire hamster with this base color. Do not, however, color in the strawberry yet.

Step 14: How To Add the First Color to The Strawberry

In this first stage of coloring the strawberry, we are going to use light green for the leaf and a bright red color for the strawberry.

Step 15: How to Add Shading

To make any drawing look realistic, we need to use shading properly. Use a light black or dark brown shade to add shading. With a soft touch, add shading on the hamster’s back, under his arms, on his head, around his nose, on the inside of his ears, and under his chin. It is important to do the shading quite light. You can always add more shading later, but making it too dark too quickly is also really easy.

Step 16: Adding the Second Layer of Color

Using a white or light beige shade, you can add another layer of color to your hamster. Focus this lighter shade around the hamster’s facial features and the front of its body around its chest and its belly and the bottom of its arms.

Step 17: Adding Contours and Highlights

For some extra shading, you can take a light grey color and contour the face and inner ears. Now pick a light pink shade for the nose and grey once again for the nostrils. The mouth can also be shaded in pink. A white shade can be used for the feet and hands, followed by a bit of pink.

Step 18: How to Add Highlights to the Strawberry

Now we will add highlights and shadows to the strawberry. Using a small brush and dark red, color the middle of every irregular oval that we previously drew. Once you have done that, create a curve of white around each oval. Add some yellow highlights to the leaf for extra realism.

Step 19: Completion of Your Hamster Sketch

For the final step, use your pencil or paintbrush to go over the areas where any outline can still be seen to make the fur look more natural. Then, trace the fur with a fine-tipped brush with brown paint.

Well done! You have completed your step-by-step tutorial and have created a beautiful hamster drawing!

Frequently Asked Questions

Is It Possible for an Absolute Beginner to Follow this Tutorial?

No matter whether this is your first attempt at animal drawing, or if you often draw for pleasure, this tutorial is designed to give anyone interested the necessary steps to create a beautiful hamster drawing.

Why Are Construction Lines Necessary?

By starting your drawing with construction lines, you are able to get the size and perspective of your subject down much quicker, which will help avoid having to erase and start over as you try to perfect the proportions.