Drawing cute baby animals
Knowing how to draw a cute baby animal can help you when drawing many different kinds of objects, such as pokémon, chao and neopets. It's not really that hard, you just need to keep a few pointers in you mind while drawing. Basically, drawing cute is playing with humans' instincts! Let me show you!
For this tutorial, you need something to draw on a pencil (duh). It helps if you have some drawing experience, but it's not necessary.
Step 1 - Basic
shape
Look at this silly little pic. I'll make rather crude pictures for
this tutorial, so that you can learn basics more easily. Which doggie on the pic
would you say is the cutest? The adult greyhound, or the whippet pup? The pup,
of course :) Well, why is that? Look closely at the two. What are the
differences between them? Well, why not start with the bodies. The adult is tall
and scrawny, with long legs. The pup is small and plump. Why does we find that
cuter? Well, the truth is that the pup reminds us of human babies. We are
programmed to go "awww" over objects that have certain characterisitcs: large
eyes and heads, small noses, tiny bodies. When we, for
example, see a puppy, our brain goes "lookie there! Baby! I gotta take care of
it!" That is the reason we have pekingeses and other flat-muzzled dog breeds -
they reminds us of babies and make us want to take care of them.
Step 2 - The
head
Let's take a closer look at the head, with the help of our greyhound
and whippet. Look how tiny, evil eyes the greyhound has (no offense to
greyhounds... I'm just telling you that this one isn't very nice ^^; ) and how
large, happy eyes our lil pup has. Also notice the short puppy-muzzle and the
large forehead. What does it remind you of? A baby, of course!
See? The large head, tiny muzzle and huge eyes = looks like baby = humans think "cute"
Step 3 - Let's start
then! The basic shape
When I begin drawing a cute animal, I often start by deciding on a pose,
drawing circles to mark where the head, body, legs and tail will be. Let's draw
a puppy!
So, what to keep in mind? Well, first off, the head is supposed to
be large, the body rather fat, the legs short. That's all we need in this step.
Sorry if it's hard to see... You have to remember to sketch lightly in the
beginning :)
Step 4 - Defining the
outline
Let's continue! Now we need an outline. Basically, start drawing
where you want it. Also, you can add a few more details in this step. I've added
ears here. Notice their huge size? Another way of marking cuteness. Large ears
often look cuter than tiny ones. Also, I've given this pup large, sad eyes to
make it even more "hugg-friendly". I just might give it a few tears to make it
look just too adorable... Note the help lines for the face, to help me decide
where to place the eyes, nose and mouth,
Step 5 -
Details
Continue on, and draw the details. Large paws, loose skin, fuzz,
very sad, angry or happy eyes, tipped-over ears and tiny noses are some ways of
marking cuteness = baby/puppy/kitten/cub. If you wanna draw a sad critter and
get in the right "drawing mood", try
turning on some slow, sad music.
One thing that is usually very important... The eyes! The huge eyes with large highlights! Don't forget about those :) Try to squeeze in at least two highlights in each eye - one at the top and one at the bottom!
Aww... Look at this puppy...
Don't you just wanna hug him? Now I'm gonna give you a tip on how to draw
"puppyheads". They work for most species, actually.
Start by drawing the
circle. Then draw the helplines for the nose (vertical line going down the head)
and the helplines for the eyes (horisontal line in height of where the eyes are
gonna be). Now, draw the outline. When you reach where the cheek is gonna be,
around the height of the eyes, go outwards a little - not much - and then
continue down. This will create a baby-like head shape, which is also often used
in anime/manga :) 
Step 6 - Last
details
There. We have now reached our final destination - the last step.
Well then... Here I've added the last few details to my pup and above you see
the finished result. Aww... He does look
cute, doesn't he? Notice the little mouth :) Well, there is little more to
say... Except... practice! Try drawing different species and different poses...
Practice practice practice. Also try drawing things that usually aren't supposed
to be cute... Maybe a cute little werewolf?