I have drawn the same cow exactly the same way since some undetermined time way back in high school. (Jill, help me out with details if you can.)
If I recall correctly, I don’t think I invented this cow. I think it was the brain child of Nanette Esplin, easily the most fun person in high school. I think the cow might have been created during driver’s ed instruction? Whenever it was, it was my ticket to consistent cartooning. Come heck or high water, I could draw that cow at the drop of a hat. I drew that cow in notebooks, yearbooks, window condensation, with my thumbnail on styrofoam cups – that cow was my friend.
And then twenty years went by and I forgot all about it. Until Jill said something. 🙂
Here’s the tutorial: Draw a peanut head.
Add eyes, nose and a freakishly large smile.
Ears and a body with an extreme swayback. This cow has some posture issues. It is also missing a back leg because I am out of cow mojo.
The stripe,the udder and the tail and we’re done!
That’s it. That’s the cow. When it came time to try painting with the watercolors, I discovered that I had no idea what color it should be. I googled ‘cows’ and figured that that this is probably a …. dang it, let me check google again – a Holstein. Hereford? I forget.
One last thing: should you decide to draw this cow, it is vitally important that it looks nothing like mine at the end. Art should be different, otherwise it’s a craft, and I am down on crafts.