Draw A Cow, Win A Prize!

There's a new contest at Irish Fest this year, in addition to the usual baking, picture taking, brewing and knitting. This year we have an art contest, specifically a draw-our-Irish-Fest-Cow contest. You can read all about the contest details here. So I was thinking, since I'm a genuine professional drawer of cows and other things too and you probably are not, I was thinking maybe I could help you in your quest to win this first-ever contest. So today, we'll have a cow drawing lesson. Get your paper and crayons and we'll begin.

Ready? Okay. First, draw a bean shape. This is will be the cow body. We draw a bean shape because cows like to eat beans. This is called art imitating life.

Got your bean all drawn? Good. Now we'll add legs and feet. Cow feet are really hard to draw, so we'll draw our cow standing in the mud. This is a common trick among us professional drawers. So now make you some legs and mud, like so:

Very good! We're well on our way now. Next we'll add a tail and...um...that milky sack thingy. This is a girl cow. Just draw it quick and don't think about it. Be sure to put a brushy end on the tail. It's this kind of attention to detail that will really turn the judges' heads.

This is really looking good! Now we'll really start moooving. Ha! Get it? Now draw another bean, sort of a lopsided one. Stick this one on the end opposite of the tail. This will be the cow's head. Which coincidentally is what the cow eats his beans with. Circle of life.

Can't you just feel that big prize now? You're a shoe-in to win. We're almost done now. Let's put a face on our cow bean head. Circles with dots for her eyes, just regular dots for her nostrils. Cow nostrils in real life are pretty gross, so we simplify. This is called "artistic license." Even though I told you attention to detail is something the judges will like, there's such a thing as too much detail, too. Nobody needs to see a realistic cow nostril.

Wow. This looks great! Now the big thing that separates our Kansas City Irish Fest cow from all other cows: the shamrock spot. So let's draw that and some other regular spots. Put the shamrock spot in the middle of the main bean where people will be sure to see it. Put the other spots wherever you want, I don't care.

Almost there. Now, just color it in and you've got yourself a cow picture that is sure to mean prizes, fame and quite possibly a glamorous and high paying career as a cow and other thing drawer. Great job! And good luck in the contest!