In today’s drawing tutorial, we’re going to draw a cartoon Cthulhu.
Cthulhu is a creation of horror-mystery author H.P. Lovecraft who appears in Lovecraft’s stories from the first half of the twentieth century and in thousands of derivative works including short stories and books, board games, video games, television shows, songs, and a couple of plays.
There are even a moth, a spider, a microorganism, and an extinct type of sea creature named after him!
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Cthulhu is one of the Elder Gods, ancient horrors worshipped by cultists and lying in wait under the ocean to one day return.
Lovecraft described him as, "A monster of vaguely anthropoid outline, but with an octopus-like head whose face was a mass of feelers, a scaly, rubbery-looking body, prodigious claws on hind and fore feet, and long, narrow wings behind."
Your cartoon Cthulhu drawing can also inspire terror and madness in people everywhere!
If you want to draw your own cartoon Cthulhu follow along with this simple step-by-step tutorial. Grab your pencil or pen, markers, crayons, or colored pencils, and a sheet of paper, and create your own tentacled Deep One. Iä! Iä! Cthulhu fhtagn!
If you liked this tutorial, see also the following drawing guides: Werewolf, Zombie, and Ghost Rider.
Step-by-Step Instructions for Drawing Cthulhu
1. Start by drawing Cthulhu's eyes. They're close together, slanting inwards with big, angry eyebrows.
2. Next, we draw the basic outline of Cthulhu's head. It's kind of a tall dome, with a couple of little bumps where ears would be. It's vaguely squid-shaped.
3. We're going to add a couple of wavy lines under his eyes to give more shape to his face. Add two curves at the sides of his head, one like a loose c-shape and a backward one to give definition. Next, draw the tops of his mouth tentacles.
4. To finish those tentacles, I'm going to follow the shape of the top line and just bring it gradually closer until these wavy lines meet at a point. Let’s give him another, bigger tentacle on this side.
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5. Then add a matching large tentacle on the other side, curving around to a nice little loop. Now, add the tip of another tentacle behind the large one. This way you can tell he has lots more tentacles we can't see.
6. Next let's add the small tentacle in the back on the other side. Then we're going to draw a fourth tentacle, this one arcing up.
7. Now we finish the matching tentacles on the other side. Then the next is to start Cthulhu's wings. Start drawing your line curving up at the bump on the side of his head. End the line with a little thorn-shaped claw.
8. Starting at the claws, curve that line upwards and out to each side, so his wings are lifted high behind him. From the top of each wing, draw a second line back down, following the curve of the last one, creating the structure for his wings. At the bottom, draw an arc facing the opposite way to form the bottoms of his wings.
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9. Starting across from the claws, draw a couple of lines curving downward. These are the webbing of the wings. Connect the tip of the wing with the ends of the ribs with curving lines, like a batwing or the edge of an umbrella.
Finally, add color. Green is a great color for a horror from the deep and red eyes add that menacing touch.
Scroll down for a downloadable PDF of this tutorial.
The Complete Cthulhu Drawing Tutorial in One Image
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