3 Ways to Draw a Cowboy Hat: Cartoony or Realistic Style

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Learn how to draw a cowboy hat with tutorials for kids and adults
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Howdy, partner! Looking for a simple tutorial to draw a cowboy hat? We’ve rustled up three handy guides to drawing (1) a cartoon cowboy hat , (2) a cowboy hat from the front view , and (3) a realistic cowboy hat . Follow along with the steps below to sketch the must-have accessory in your Wild-West-themed work of art, whether you draw it on a person or by itself.

Method 1
Method 1 of 3:

How to Draw a Simple Cartoon Cowboy Hat (for Kids)

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  1. Imagine an “S” that tipped backward and is lying on its back. That’s the first line of your cowboy hat’s brim. Place your pencil on the page and curve out toward the left and down, bringing the curve around toward the right and up. The result looks like a tilted, sideways “S” that’s stretched out. [1]
  2. 2
    Add a closed loop under the right side of the “S.” From the place where you ended the first line, curve downward and slightly toward the right. Then, bring your line upward toward the left so it approaches the center of the “S”-shaped line. Drag it out so your loop is narrow and skinny like a sideways raindrop. Close the loop about 2 inches (5.1 cm) from the end of the “S”-shaped line’s left side. [2]
    • The closed loop shows the underside of the hat’s brim where it curves up toward the wearer’s head.
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  3. 3
    Draw an upside-down “U” to form the hat’s crown. Start your pencil about 1 inch (2.5 cm) below where the upper left line ends. Bring the line upward so you’re forming the side of an upside-down “U.” Curve it once your line is 1 inch (2.5 cm) higher than the top of the loop on the right side. Move horizontally until you’re halfway over the loop, then bring the line down again to form the other side of the “U” shape. [3]
    • The line on the right side won’t go down as far as the line on the left side because the loop is covering up part of the crown on that side.
  4. 4
    Sketch a short line connecting the crown to the loop. Start from the bottom of the upside-down “U” shape on the left side of your cowboy hat drawing. Connect that line to the loop by drawing a short line from left to right, stopping when it touches the loop. [4]
  5. 5
    Draw two identical lines above the one you just made. These lines form the band around the base of the hat’s crown. Make the lines about 1 ⁄ 4 inch (0.64 cm) apart, above the last line you drew, unless you’d like your hat to have a thicker band. In that case, space the lines farther apart from one another. [5]
  6. 6
    Draw a short line from the band toward the front brim. Place your pencil along the hat crown’s lower-left corner. Flick your wrist to create a short line that angles downward and toward the left, in the direction of the cowboy hat’s front brim. [6]
  7. 7
    Sketch a horizontal hook near the top of the hat. This is the hat’s dimple, or the place where it bends down toward the wearer’s head. It somewhat resembles a “J” lying on its stem. Start your pen near the top of the hat on the left side and curve it down, then straight toward the back of the hat (the right side of the drawing). [7]
  8. 8
    Add another, shorter hook line below that one. Place your pencil slightly below the line you just made. Center it under the line. Swipe your pencil toward the left, then curve it downward toward the right to make a short curve. The curve should have its hook facing the opposite direction of the top line’s hook. [8]
  9. 9
    Trace another line along the brim and detail the band. These touches make your cowboy hat look a little more realistic by adding dimension. Start by tracing a line right below the curved “S”-shaped line you drew first, stopping before you circle around the loop. Next, sketch short vertical lines along the hat band to add texture to it. [9]
  10. 10
    Color in your cowboy hat. Use paint, markers, or crayons to add color to your cowboy hat drawing. Common colors for real cowboy hats include beige, dark brown, black, and red, but you can color your drawing any way you’d like. Add a pattern, like zig-zag lines or swirls, for extra flair.
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Method 2
Method 2 of 3:

How to Draw a Cowboy Hat from the Front

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  1. 1
    Draw a large smile across your paper for the hat’s brim. Make a curved line from the left side of the page to the right side, dipping down and then curving back up. Try your best to make the line symmetrical, meaning it’s the same on both sides. [10]
  2. 2
    Draw another line right above the first one. Start from the point on the upper-left part of your smile. From there, draw another line that follows the path of the first one—like you’re turning your smile into an open-mouth grin. Close the line on the upper-right part of your original smile. The resulting shape looks like a crescent turned on its side. [11]
    • This is the brim of your cowboy hat.
  3. 3
    Draw a hooked line coming up from the left side. Start about 2 inches (5.1 cm) to the left of the center of the brim, with your drawing tool touching the top line. Draw a straight line upward until you’re about 2 inches (5.1 cm) from the top of the page. Then, curve your line like a hook toward the right side of the paper. Don’t go too far down—just curve down about 1 inch (2.5 cm). [12]
    • This is the first half of the hat itself. Cowboy hats have an indent down the middle, which is why you curve the line at the top.
  4. 4
    Draw another hooked line that goes down to the brim’s right side. Start with your drawing tool where you stopped the hook. From there, draw upward and toward the right, curving when you’re 2 inches (5.1 cm) from the top of the page. Bring the line down until it touches the top of the brim on the right side. [13]
  5. 5
    Draw a straight line across the lower third of the hat. Above the brim, but only one-third of the way up the cowboy hat, draw a straight horizontal line. Use a ruler to guide your drawing tool so your line is as straight as possible. [14]
    • This line forms the band around the base of your cowboy hat’s crown.
  6. 6
    Draw three circles along the band. Below the straight line you just drew (and above the brim), draw three small circles in a line. These are the gemstones decorating the hat band. Position them near the center of the band and space them apart so they’re not touching. To add depth to your drawing, add semi-circles on either side of the outside of the band. [15]
  7. 7
    Color in your hat. Use markers, crayons, or colored pencils to color in the hat. You can make the hat and band the same color or different colors. You might also add stripes, polka-dots, or another fun pattern. Color the gemstones yellow, silver, or another metallic shade.
    • If you’d like, sketch a cowboy face beneath your hat. You might only be able to fit his eyes and nose, depending on the size of your paper and your cowboy hat.
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Method 3
Method 3 of 3:

How to Draw a Realistic Cowboy Hat

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  1. The trapezoid with rounded corners forms the crown of your cowboy hat—the part that sits on the wearer’s head. The straight line is the band hugging the base of the crown. Make your trapezoid about 2.5 inches (6.4 cm) tall and double that in width. Sketch the line about 1 ⁄ 4 inch (0.64 cm) above the trapezoid’s straight bottom edge, extending it slightly past the edges of the crown. [16]
  2. 2
    Lightly sketch a crease at the top of the crown. Visualize a wide heart appearing across the top two-thirds of the hat’s crown. Sketch the sides of the heart, leaving space between them, and slightly curving at the top. Make light marks—this is a crease in the hat material, not a solid edge. [17]
  3. 3
    Sketch a few thin lines along the hat band. Shade around the left edge of the rectangle that forms the hat band so it’s slightly darker. Move along the band, adding light shading using thin horizontal lines. This mimics how light might hit the hat band. [18]
  4. 4
    Draw a rhombus angled toward the right to form the front brim. Sketch two straight, diagonal lines going from the hat’s crown toward the lower right of the page. Make the lines 1 ⁄ 2  in (1.3 cm) shorter than the crown height. Connect them with a horizontal line across the bottom points of the two lines, creating a rhombus shape. [19]
  5. 5
    Draw a curve around the left side of the brim with a seam. Start from the lower-left corner of the rhombus and curve outward and upward, then in toward the hat’s band. Add a seam by sketching a thin line along the inside of the curve, representing the edge of the brim. [20]
    • While optional, at this step, you can erase the left-side diagonal line you drew to open the rhombus shape up.
  6. 6
    Extend the brim and seam up and to the right. Use the lower-right diagonal line of the rhombus shape you drew as your starting point. Curve the brim upward and to the right so it hits the band and arcs horizontally along the band. Add a second line to incorporate the seam, or edge, of the brim. [21]
  7. 7
    Curve the brim along the back and toward the left again. Bring the brim around by sketching its edge and seam from where you left off by the band. Curve outward past the band until you’re about the same distance from the crown as the brim on the left side of the hat. Then, drop down and toward the left again. Add your seam line. [22]
  8. 8
    Add a short horizontal line under the center of the brim. Position your pencil under the brim seam near the center of the hat—below where it crosses over the band. From there, sketch a horizontal line toward the right until you’ve just passed the crown. Avoid touching any of the brim lines or the bottom of the hat band. This line represents the underside of the crown that you see below the lifted brim. [23]
  9. 9
    Erase any extra overlap between the brim, band, and crown. Take an eraser and gently erase any places where your sketched lines overlap when they shouldn’t. For example, along the underside of the brim, there may be part of the hat band line you drew earlier. Lightly erase it, then go over any lines to clean them up afterward. [24]
  10. If you’re an advanced artist, you may be able to shade without a reference photo by imagining how light hits the object. [25] However, it’s much easier to pull up an image of a cowboy hat, filter it in black and white, and shade your hat accordingly.
    • Add extra shading under the brim where the inside of the hat shows through.
    • Either draw a cowboy head under the hat, or finish the brim and seam by connecting the brim from the right to the left in a long, skinny loop.
    • Shade the band and add small horizontal lines along the top and bottom to represent the stitches.
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      References

      1. ↑ https://youtu.be/ix8g5h47MCI?t=10
      2. ↑ https://youtu.be/ix8g5h47MCI?t=14
      3. ↑ https://youtu.be/ix8g5h47MCI?t=30
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      1. ↑ https://youtu.be/hyhqiNDYJX8?t=23
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      3. ↑ https://youtu.be/hyhqiNDYJX8?t=41
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      11. ↑ https://youtu.be/n2aF0h3dziI?t=76
      12. ↑ https://youtu.be/n2aF0h3dziI?t=94
      13. ↑ https://youtu.be/n2aF0h3dziI?t=116
      14. ↑ https://youtu.be/n2aF0h3dziI?t=119
      15. ↑ https://youtu.be/n2aF0h3dziI?t=134
      16. ↑ https://youtu.be/n2aF0h3dziI?t=240

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