How To Draw The Sun Step By Step

This cartoon sun is special as it marks the arrival of another new year. So let me just say it again… Happy New Year!!

Many people from around the world bring in the new year by witnessing the very first rising sun. This is especially popular in some of the asian countries. In fact, it's quite common to hike up to the nearest mountain for the best possible view.

This is actually a very quick and particularly easy lesson with only four steps. The face is a bit of a bonus, so when you're done, go ahead and give your cartoon sun a face for some added character!

Drawing a circle for a cartoon sun

First Step – Draw a Circle

Anyway that you know how – go ahead and draw a circle on the page in front of you.

A compass, protractor or even the bottom of a can will do the trick no problem. Make sure you leave some space around the circle though, as you'll need to have some extra room for drawing the sun's spiky-looking rays.

Got your circle drawn? Great… now let's get to work on those rays!

Mapping out the points around the cartoon sun

Second Step – Just Like a Clock

The next step, giving your cartoon sun some "rays" is pretty straight forward.

Before you actually draw the rays, you first need to make sure that you have some sort of pattern to follow. This way, you can keep them looking relatively the same size, length and distance apart.

So, just like the numbers on a clock, go ahead and mark off the twelve different positions around the circle. These dots will be your guide for drawing in the rays.

Drawing an arc for the rays of the cartoon sun

Third Step – Connect the Dots

Now that you've got your dots arranged around the circle, it's time to create the rays. Here's how…

From each dot to one beside it, draw a "U" that so that they are connected. You can draw a "V" too if you want. If you do draw Vs instead of Us, you'll give it a totally different look.

Alright, once you've got your first "U" drawn, go ahead and do the same thing all the way around.

Drawing the first layer of rays around the cartoon sun

And while you're doing so, remember that there's no need for perfection. The rays that a sun emits aren't perfect and same goes for cartoon sun rays.

If you look at mine, you can see that the point of each ray comes pretty close to each dot – but not perfectly dead on.

So, does your sun look anything like the one on the right? If it does, feel free to stop now. Because that's really all there is to drawing a cartoon sun!

But if you like, there is one other special step that'll give your sun some depth…

Completing the second layer of rays for the cartoon sun

Final Step – Another Layer of Rays

To give your sun some real depth, it really helps if you draw in another layer of rays.

And just like you did by marking off the numbers on a clock, do the same thing here. Between each two points from the first layer of rays, mark a new point, but make it so that these rays are slightly longer.

Then, go ahead and draw them in.

When you're finished, they look as though they're emerging from behind the first layer, similar to how some of the cartoon flowers are drawn. Pretty neat, isn't it!?

And that's how to draw a cartoon sun!