How to Draw a Rabbit

With Easter around the corner, we would like to draw with you one of the main protagonists of Easter: The rabbit!
We will show you in our step-by-step guide how to draw a cute bunny from scratch. No need for Colored Pencils, we will add the color in Vectornator!

Since pre-Christian times, hares and fluffy bunnies have been considered a pagan symbol of fertility and springtime. Somehow, the pagan symbolism of the rabbit and hare merged with Christian traditions in the 17th century. The Christian holiday of Easter, which celebrated the resurrection of Jesus, became superimposed with pagan rituals that celebrated rebirth and fertility.

Before we start drawing, carefully analyze the proportions of the rabbits. Collect some images of rabbits from different perspectives or positions, and perhaps create a mood board for your studies.

Study the proportions of rabbits and identify the connected geometric shapes. Observe how the head, the ears, and the legs are attached to the torso. The rabbit is composed of simple shapes. Identify the basic shapes before you start drawing. Get a basic understanding of the overall body shape.

Our in-house illustrator Adí drew inspiration for her furry bunny drawing from one of the most beautiful and well-known drawings ever created, the “Young Hare” by Albrecht Dürer. It’s one of the finest artworks of the German Renaissance period. It shows incredible observation abilities and great attention to detail.

Hares are bigger than rabbits; our artists created a cuter rabbit bunny version of the original hare painting from Dürer for our tutorial.

Now that we have analyzed the basic anatomy of the rabbit, let’s start drawing, shall we?

Prepare the Color Palette

Before we start drawing, we will organize our Color Palette first. In the list below, you can find all the Hex Color Codes that have been used in the making of our tutorial:

In Vectornator, you can create and save your Personal Color Palette; you can even import color palettes in the swatches and ASE format. If you are a Procreate user, you can download the palette we prepared in the swatches format for you.

You can drag & drop  the color palette directly from Procreate into Vectornator. Watch the video below to learn how to import the color palette from Procreate to Vectornator:

A Step-by-Step Tutorial for Drawing a Rabbit

Prepare the Document

Now that we have prepared the Color Palette, it's time for us to import the rabbit pencil sketch. Don't forget to take a photo of it first so that you can import it into Vectornator. Create a new document in Vectornator by tapping the + button. You can either choose a template or set the size of your document manually.

You can import the pencil sketch you made on a piece of paper by using the Import Tab. To access the Import Tab, tap the + button in the top right corner of the Gallery and then select Import.

When the reference sketch is imported, name the layer “Rabbit Sketch” and then lock the layer by tapping the Lock/Unlock icon.

To have a white reference sketch over a white background might not be the best idea, so we'll create a new colored background. Create a new layer by tapping on the first icon from the right in the header section of the Layers Tab.

Tap on the Shape Tool icon and select the Rectangle Shape after tapping the three dots button.

Set the Fill of the Rectangle Shape in the Style Tab or the Color Widget to your preferred color.  You can choose any color besides pure white, as we need to create a contrast with the white rabbit. Tap and drag on the canvas until the Rectangle Shape completely covers the document. Rename the layer “Background” by tapping on the default name of the layer.

Reduce the layer's opacity to 50% by tapping on the layer and then sliding the Layer Opacity Slider to 50%. We’re doing that as we still want to see the underlying rabbit reference sketch.

Draw the Shapes of the Rabbit

Now that we have created our Personal Color Palette and have prepared the document, we will start drawing the cottontail bunny. Take a close look at the rabbit reference sketch. Analyze the basic geometric shapes and curved lines that the rabbit is composed of.

We have two ears consisting of an elongated narrow shape, a rounded shape for the head, the torso, the four legs, and a tail. We will draw each body component as a separate shape. Create a new layer and name it “Rabbit.”  Set the layer opacity to 50 % to see the underlying rabbit reference sketch.
Select the Pencil Tool by tapping the pencil icon in the Toolbar or by pressing W on your keyboard.

To the right of the Pencil Tool, you'll find a slider to control the smoothness of your path for more curved lines. Set the smoothness of the slider to 97 %; This will even out your path significantly. This is a beneficial feature for beginners that aren’t used to drawing with a Pencil; the shakier your hands are, the more you’ll need to crank the smoothness up!

Toggle the Stroke off and the Fill on, and set the color of the Fill Well to #FFFFFF white. Draw the body first and then the head. Closely follow the line of the reference drawing. You can include the right back leg into the torso shape, as our artist did, or you can draw it as a separate shape.

Next, draw the head and the ears. Draw the left back leg and the two front legs. Draw a separate circular shape for the buckled front leg on the right.  Lastly, draw the bushy tail.

That’s it! We are finished drawing the base shapes of our rabbit with the Pencil Tool!

Add the Color Gradients

In the next step of our tutorial, we will add the pink color gradients to our rabbit. The purpose of the gradient is to create shadows and a visual separation between the shapes. First, we'll set the opacity of the layer “Rabbit” to 100%. Set a Linear Gradient with the Hex colors pink #E2A7AE and pure white #FFFFFF.

Select the shape using the Selection Tool and tap the Color Well in the Fill section of the Style Tab to open the Color Palette. Choose the Gradient Fill option by tapping the left button. Then choose the Linear Gradient option on the left side. Tap on a Gradient Color Slider to set its color.

When you have the gradient applied, drag on the Gradient Direction Handle situated in the middle of the bounding box of your shape to adjust the orientation and distribution of the gradient colors. Now we want to copy the Gradient Style we have set onto the other shapes; I mean, seriously, who has time for setting a gradient for every single shape!

Select the shape with the gradient and in the Quick Action Bar, tap the second button from the right, the Copy Style Button.

This Button will copy every style you have applied to your shape. Once you tap the button, the Paste Style Button will appear. Tap this button to paste the copied style onto the shape you selected. When you have the gradient applied to all of your shapes, you can adjust the orientation and distribution of the gradient colors with the Gradient Direction Handle.

Add Details to the Body and the Face

In the next step of our tutorial, we will add some details to our rabbit's body and face. For these steps, we’ll use the Brush Tool.

With the Brush Tool in Vectornator, you can draw free-form paths with variable widths. Tap the Brush Icon or press B on your keyboard to start drawing. In Vectornator, you have many brush presets available. The Brush Editor allows you to customize the  Shape and Contour of your brush, and you can Preview, Save, or Reset your custom brushes or switch the Pressure Sensitivity on and off. Toggle the Stroke off and the Fill on. Set the Fill color to #E2A7AE pink, and draw the eye and nose shape with the Brush Tool. Adjust the brush properties in the Brush Editor as necessary.

Switch to #FFFFFF white, and draw the tufted fur at the fluffy tail and arms, and draw the separation lines on the front paws. Observe carefully the direction of hairs and the direction of hair growth. Reduce the width of the brush to draw individual hairs and the whiskers radiating from the snout and above the eyes. You can either draw the whiskers in pure white or bright pink # F5E7E8; if you want them to pop against the face, use a stronger contrast to the overall white fur of the rabbit. Keep the smoothness slider up, as we want to draw very soft and smooth lines.

Outline the Body

In the next step of our tutorial, we will create some contrasting outlines around the pencil lines. The outlines will help to separate and define the body shapes. Select the shapes that need a contrasting outline. Toggle the Stroke on and set the Hex color of the Stroke Well to #F5E7E8 and the Stroke Width to 14.44 pt.
Repeat the steps with the shapes that need additional color outlining.

Create the Background

In the next step of our image, we'll create the background of our image. A background can add a story or create the illusion of depth. Tap on the layer “Background” to select the layer. For the Gradient, we’ll use a Radial Gradient with the color yellow as the center color #F5CC70 and pure white #FFFFFF for the outer area.

With a Radial Gradient, the color emanates from the center outwards. You can choose between a Radial Gradient and a Linear Gradient in the Style Tab or the Color Widget. Adjust the center point of the Radial Gradient with the Gradient Direction Handle and place the center point at the lower part of the rabbit’s torso.

Our illustrator has added several dandelions with blue leaves. Yes, we know leaves are green, but we are artists, and we are convinced that the laws of nature don’t apply to us! If you want to learn how to draw flowers, we have a tutorial on how to draw a flower on our blog, which will guide you through the steps!

You can create any background you want, Easter eggs, cute chicks; you can even make Easter greeting cards with the powerful and flexible Text Tool from Vectornator.‍

Export the Image

In the next and last step, we'll export the image.

Vectornator offers a wide variety of options to export your finished artwork. In Vectornator, you can export your image either from the Gallery or directly from the document. You can even send your image to other Apple devices via Airdrop. Every change you make to your Vectornator documents saved in your iCloud Drive will automatically be synced across all of your devices on which Vectornator is installed.

You can even print your artwork directly from Vectornator or preview it with AR!

That's it; we are finished with our beautiful bunny!

Share your beautiful rabbit drawing with us in the Community Art Gallery and on social media! We hope you enjoyed our simple bunny drawing tutorial!

‍Happy Easter y'all!