How to Draw a Monkey

Cartoon Monkey

Sample cartoon monkey.

Draw a circle. This will be your monkey’s head.

Draw the body and the tail. For the body, draw a letter “U” under the circle. Try to make the letter U a bit smaller than the head. Add a long swirly tail.

Add legs. Draw 2 ‘arms’ on the upper body and 2 more legs on the lower body. The arms and legs don't have to be proportional to the body; making it a bit long is okay. It depends on the artist’s preference.

Add ears, muzzle, hands and feet. Draw 2 ovals at each side of the head to form ears. Add another oval at the bottom part of the head for the muzzle. For the hands, just draw small circles. For the feet, draw longer ovals.

Add eyes and nostrils. Draw a small heart-shaped in the upper part of the muzzle for the nostrils. draw two circles for the eyes, making it a bit exaggerated is okay. Again, it depends on the artist’s preference.

Draw the lineart over the pencil sketch with a pen. After drawing the lineart, always remember erase the pencil sketch to keep the drawing neat.

Erase the pencil lines and add details. Add lines for the ears and the belly.

Color the monkey.

Realistic Monkey Face

Sample realistic monkey.

Draw a big round oval. Make sure that you are using a pencil for the draft sketch so you can erase it afterwards to make it very neat.

Add guidelines for the face. Draw a vertical line in the middle of the head so you know where the center of the face is. Draw a horizontal line on the middle of the face. Afterwards, add another line a bit higher than the first horizontal line. They should be parallel and should form a figure that looks like a rectangle.

Add ears and muzzle. At the end of the ‘rectangle’, add two curved line facing each other. This would be the ears. Draw a big circle from the base of the face to the bottom side of the parallel lines.

Add two circles. Draw two tear-shaped circle overlapping the parallel lines. It should skew a bit to the center.

Draw the face details. Add a horizontal line 1/3 part from the bottom of the muzzle. This will be your guide for the mouth. Add two tear-shaped figures at the opposite side from the mouth. They should connect towards the lower-center. It should look like a stretched heart. For the eyes, draw an almond shaped figure in the middle of the parallel lines.

Using a pen, draw on top of your sketch. Put in mind the overlapping lines and parts that should be hidden. The lineart might not look perfect and crisp but it should look neat when the pencil is erased.

Erase the pencil sketch and add details. You can add details like the furs and the lines for the skin. Try to add more if needed. Don’t be afraid to add more lines than what is necessary. Monkey skin is really wrinkly and their fur tends to be really hairy and coarse.

Color your monkey.

A Sketch Style Monkey

Sample sketched monkey.

Draw two circles, a small one for your monkey's mouth and a larger one for its head. Sketch in guidelines for the facial features.

Draw two circles for the eyes, and another two for the nose. Don't draw the mouth too close to the nose; you can make it big or small depending on your preference.

Draw two ovals for the ears. Detail it if you want, or just draw another curved line inside.

Draw a circle and an oval for the body, and another one inside that.

Give it a long tail! Give it a curve like the tail shown in the image, or curl it around a branch so it looks like your monkey is hanging from a tree.

Draw the arms. Make them long, maybe as long as the body. You can also make it a little chubby to make it look cuter.

Draw the legs much smaller and shorter than the arms. Monkeys don't need their legs nearly as much as their arms, since they spend their lives swinging around using their hands and tails, not their feet.

The hands and feet are very much like ours. The difference is that the palms are a little longer if you want to make it a little realistic. If not, just draw a circle and ovals for the fingers.

Add details. If you want to add fur, you should do so at this point.

Outline and color in your monkey. Add shading/shadowing if you want, mostly using whatever color you primarily used for the fur.