Squirrel illustration gives you a whole winter of tiny stories in one furry shape: a paw full of acorns, a tail wrapped like a scarf, a nose pressed to a frosty window. Gouache suits this animal perfectly, since its flat matte color and crisp edges can turn a scruffy backyard visitor into a clean little print-ready character in one sitting.
Below you will find 32 squirrel scenes, from a quick acorn dig to a full tunnel through deep snow, each with its own small drama. Work through them in order if you like, easiest first, or jump straight to the one that makes you smile.
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Start the whole series with a red squirrel digging up a hidden acorn in fresh snow, since it sets the simplest shape and the whole color story in one go. Block the squirrel’s body in rust red with a flat brush, keep the tail as one curved comma shape behind it, then add the chocolate brown acorn half buried in a cream snow mound.
Work body first, tail second, snow hole last, so the dark acorn sits on top of dry paint and keeps a crisp edge instead of bleeding into the fur color. The paws cause most trouble here: paint them as two simple light shapes rather than trying to draw individual claws, and the gesture of digging still reads clearly.
Measure the squirrel against its own tail before you commit to size: the tail should run roughly as long as the body plus head, which is what keeps a red squirrel looking right rather than like a generic rodent. If your rust red gouache looks too orange once dry, mix in a touch of Payne’s grey to settle it.
Finish with a few flicked white gouache marks for snow spray around the digging paw.
Palette: Rust Red,Chocolate Brown,Cream,Icy Blue
Move from the ground up to a grey squirrel hanging upside down from a bird feeder, a pose that trades the last idea’s digging paws for a full acrobatic stretch. Paint the feeder tube first in icy blue and cream so you have a steady vertical to hang the squirrel from, then build the squirrel’s body as one long curved shape gripping it with back feet.
Work top to bottom: feeder, hanging feet, curled body, head reaching for the seed port, so each new shape overlaps cleanly onto dry paint. The upside-down head is where most beginners lose the likeness, since the ears and eye line shift; turn your paper upside down while you paint the face and it reads correctly once you flip it back.
Moss green works well as a small background hint of a garden hedge behind the feeder if you want one, though a plain cream ground keeps the focus on the stunt itself. Keep the grey body in a warm grey rather than a cold one, mixing chocolate brown into Payne’s grey, so it sits comfortably beside the rust red squirrels elsewhere in your set.
If your feeder looks lopsided, a straight edge or ruler line keeps the tube perfectly vertical.
You Will Need
- ruler for the feeder tube
Palette: Payne’s Grey,Chocolate Brown,Icy Blue,Cream
After the feeder’s busy action, settle into a quieter moment: a squirrel peeking out of a snow-capped tree hollow, just a head and shoulders against dark bark. Paint the tree trunk first as a tall chocolate brown shape, cut a rounded hollow into it in a slightly darker brown, then cap the top edge with a thick cream snow line.
Build the squirrel last, inside the hollow, so its rust red face and shoulders sit forward from the dark opening rather than blending into it. Eye level sits slightly above the hollow’s center here, which is what makes the pose read as curious rather than sleepy; tilt the head a touch to one side for extra personality.
The edge where snow meets bark is the one place to slow down: paint the cream snow cap with a confident single stroke rather than fiddling, since reworking it muddies the crisp line this style depends on. If you want more light, a thin icy blue line along the snow’s underside suggests the cold glow of a winter sky.
Keep the hollow’s inside shadow flat and dark so the squirrel’s face pops forward clearly.
Palette: Chocolate Brown,Rust Red,Cream,Icy Blue
Give the squirrel a rest from action and paint one with its fluffy tail wrapped around itself like a scarf, a cozy, almost portrait pose. Block in a round, compact body shape first in rust red, since this pose reads best when the squirrel looks small and tucked rather than stretched out.
Wrap the tail shape around from the back, over one shoulder, so it overlaps the body’s edge; paint the tail second so its lighter cream underside fur sits crisply on top of the darker body color. The texture trick here is a dry brush: load a flat brush lightly with cream, wipe most of it off on scrap paper, then drag it along the tail’s outer edge to suggest a few soft strands without drawing each hair.
Faces go wrong when the eyes sit too high; keep them at the true horizontal center of the head shape and the whole pose stays endearing rather than startled. If you only have one brush size to hand, use the flat for the tail wrap and the tip of the same brush for the small white gouache highlight on the nose.
Finish with one dot of white gouache for the eye highlight before anything else dries around it.
You Will Need
- white gouache or gel pen for highlight
Palette: Rust Red,Cream,Chocolate Brown
Try this one close-cropped, just head and wrapped tail filling the whole page, for a cozier, more portrait-like result than the full-body version.
Build on that quiet pose with real movement: a red squirrel leaping between snowy pine branches, legs stretched and tail streaming behind. Sketch two pine branches first in moss green with cream snow lines along their tops, spaced apart on the page so there is a clear gap for the leap to cross.
Paint the squirrel’s body as a stretched oval mid-air, front paws reaching forward and back legs trailing, then add the tail as a long sweeping curve that trails opposite the direction of travel, since a tail that trails behind the jump sells the speed far better than one left in a resting curl. Work the body before the branches around it so the leaping shape stays the clear focal point against the green.
If the jump looks static, check the head is tilted slightly down toward the landing branch rather than level, which is a small change that adds real urgency to the pose. No moss green to hand works fine with a mix of chocolate brown and icy blue, which gives a slightly colder pine tone that still reads as winter foliage.
Snap a few white gouache flicks off the branch tip where the paw is about to land.
Palette: Rust Red,Moss Green,Cream,Chocolate Brown
After all that leaping, let the squirrel land and settle for a squirrel sitting on a snowy fence nibbling a walnut, a calmer side-on pose. Paint a simple horizontal fence rail first in weathered chocolate brown with a cream snow strip along the top, giving the squirrel a flat, stable perch to sit on.
Build the squirrel sitting upright on its haunches, tail curled up behind for balance, walnut held in both front paws right at mouth height. This is a good one to measure carefully: the walnut should be roughly the size of the squirrel’s own head, since anything smaller disappears and anything larger looks like a prop rather than food.
Paws holding something round often go flat and shapeless; keep two separate paw shapes overlapping the walnut’s curve from either side rather than one blob wrapped around it. If you are short on patience for the fence grain, a single flat chocolate brown rectangle with one or two darker lines reads as weathered wood just as well as a detailed board.
Try this one as your quick ten-minute version, since the simple rail and single sitting pose come together fast.
Palette: Rust Red,Chocolate Brown,Cream
Move from a calm nibble to comic greed: a squirrel stuffing its cheeks with sunflower seeds at a feeder, cheeks bulging mid-stuff. Paint the feeder tray first as a simple cream and icy blue platform scattered with small black-brown seed dots, then build the squirrel perched at its edge.
The whole gag lives in the cheek: paint one side of the face noticeably rounder than the other, with a paw pressed up against it mid-push, and the stuffed look reads instantly even in a flat, simple shape. Work the face last, once the body and feeder are dry, so the bulging cheek edge stays crisp against the background fur color rather than blurring into it.
If the cheek ends up too subtle to notice, push the exaggeration further rather than adding detail: a bigger bulge always reads better here than more texture. No feeder tray handy works just as well as a flat garden table, which keeps the scene simpler without losing the joke.
Scatter a few loose seed shapes falling past the squirrel’s chin for extra mess and movement.
Palette: Rust Red,Chocolate Brown,Cream,Icy Blue
Give the energetic feeder scene a quiet counterpart: a squirrel asleep in a leafy drey high in a bare oak, curled into a ball of fur and leaves. Paint the bare oak’s branches first as thin chocolate brown lines against cream sky, then build the drey as a rough round nest shape in moss green and brown twigs cradled where two branches meet.
Tuck the sleeping squirrel into the drey’s hollow center, just a curled rust red shape with the tail wrapped over its own face, so very little of the animal actually shows. This is the idea to try at eye level from below, looking up into the branches, which makes the drey feel properly high and hidden the way a real one sits in a winter tree.
Bare branches crossing each other are the fiddly part: paint them as a few confident long strokes rather than many short ones, and let two or three cross cleanly over the drey’s edge to anchor it in the tree. If moss green feels too bright for a bare winter nest, mute it with a touch of chocolate brown before you block in the twig shapes.
Leave the sky plain cream so the dark branch silhouette stays the strongest shape on the page.
Palette: Chocolate Brown,Moss Green,Rust Red,Cream
Switch from sleep to comedy with a squirrel looking puzzled after forgetting where it buried its nuts, paws spread, head tilted at a snowy patch. Paint a stretch of disturbed snow first, several small dug-up holes in a loose row across cream ground, then place the squirrel standing upright beside them.
The whole expression rides on the eyebrows and the angle of the head: tip the head slightly to one side and paint two short raised brow marks above the eyes in a darker tone, and a simple rust red face reads as genuinely confused. Keep the front paws held slightly open and raised rather than down at its sides, which is the gesture that sells puzzlement even in a flat, simple shape.
If the face looks blank rather than puzzled once it is dry, add one more small dark line under one eye before anything sets, since a single asymmetric mark often fixes a flat expression fast. No room for several dug holes works fine with just one obviously empty one and a scattering of paw prints leading away from it.
Keep every hole a slightly different size so the row does not look too neat and deliberate.
Palette: Rust Red,Cream,Chocolate Brown,Icy Blue
Keep the comic energy going with a squirrel balancing on a snowy clothesline, body stretched flat along a thin rope with its tail raised for counterbalance. Paint the line itself first, one single confident horizontal stroke in chocolate brown with a thin cream snow ridge sitting right on top of it.
Build the squirrel’s body in a long, flattened crouch directly over the line, all four paws gripping close together, tail lifted high and arched the opposite way from any lean in the body. This is the trick worth remembering for any balancing pose: whatever the body leans toward, the tail counters in the other direction, and that single rule makes almost any precarious pose look convincing.
If the squirrel looks like it is simply standing on solid ground rather than a thin rope, thin the line itself down and add one small dip in it right under the squirrel’s weight. A fence wire works as a swap if a household clothesline feels like an odd prop for your scene.
Finish with tiny cream snow clumps falling from the line where the squirrel’s weight has disturbed it.
Palette: Chocolate Brown,Cream,Rust Red
Add a second character for the first time: two squirrels chasing each other around a snowy tree trunk, one just visible disappearing around the far side. Paint the trunk first as a tall chocolate brown cylinder with a cream snow strip down one edge, then place the lead squirrel fully in view, body stretched low and fast.
Paint the second squirrel only partially, a tail and back leg vanishing around the trunk’s curve, which does more to suggest speed and chase than painting both animals complete ever would. Work the visible squirrel’s running pose with legs stretched front and back rather than tucked under, since a tucked pose reads as standing still no matter how you angle the tail.
Two figures crowding together is the usual trap here; keep real distance between the lead squirrel and the trunk’s edge so there is clear space for the chase to read, rather than bunching both animals into one tangle. If a full trunk feels like too much background, crop it so only a curved slice of bark shows at one side of the page.
Try this one as the forty-minute version of a simple chase, since the second, half-hidden squirrel takes real care to place well.
Palette: Rust Red,Chocolate Brown,Cream
Return to a quieter single subject with a red squirrel with tufted ears in a frosty Scots pine, a portrait-style pose that shows off the breed’s most distinctive feature. Paint the pine’s needles first as loose moss green clusters with white gouache frost flicked along their tips, then place the squirrel sitting upright among them.
Give real attention to the ear tufts here, since they are the whole point of the picture: paint two small upward points in slightly darker rust red right at the top of the head, each one a touch feathered at the tip rather than a hard triangle. Keep the squirrel’s body otherwise simple, a clean rust red mass with a cream chest patch, so the ears stay the clear focal detail against a plainer shape.
If the tufts disappear once the fur color is dry, go back in with a tiny dry brush loaded with a darker brown to drag two or three short strokes up from each ear point. Any evergreen branch works as a swap for a true Scots pine if that particular tree is not familiar to paint.
Leave a patch of plain cream behind the head so the ear tufts stand out clearly against the needles.
You Will Need
- small detail brush for ear tufts
Palette: Rust Red,Moss Green,Cream,Chocolate Brown
Follow the pine tree portrait with a squirrel nibbling a pine cone on a snowy stump, a simple grounded pose that works well as a quick study. Paint a flat round tree stump first in chocolate brown with visible growth rings and a thick cream snow cap balanced on top, giving the squirrel a solid, stable seat.
Sit the squirrel upright on the stump, pine cone held in both paws at chest height, tail curled behind for balance just as in the earlier walnut idea but with a more textured prop this time. The pine cone’s scales are the one place worth a texture trick: load a flat brush lightly with chocolate brown, wipe most of the paint off, then drag it in short overlapping strokes down the cone’s length rather than painting each individual scale.
If the cone ends up looking like a plain oval blob, a few short cream highlight flicks along one edge once the brown is dry will separate the scales enough to read clearly. Any acorn or walnut swaps in easily if a pine cone’s shape feels fiddly today.
Keep the stump’s growth rings loose and uneven so they read as natural wood rather than a drawn target.
You Will Need
- flat brush for dry-brush pine cone texture
Palette: Rust Red,Chocolate Brown,Cream
Bring back some comedy with a squirrel squeezing into a squirrel-proof feeder anyway, body wedged awkwardly through a cage meant to keep it out. Paint the feeder’s wire cage first as a simple grid of icy blue lines over a cream seed core, leaving one gap noticeably stretched wider than the rest.
Push the squirrel’s body through that gap with its middle visibly squashed narrower than its head and hips, which is the single exaggeration that makes the whole joke land in a flat, simple shape. Paint the cage in front of the squirrel’s body in places, letting a wire line cross over the fur, since that overlap is what convinces the eye the squirrel is actually inside the mesh rather than beside it.
If the squeeze looks too comfortable, narrow the gap further and let one paw poke out through a different bar entirely for extra chaos. A simple tube feeder with an oversized seed port works as a swap if a wire cage style feels too fiddly to paint today.
Finish with a few seeds already spilling out below from the determined break-in.
Palette: Rust Red,Icy Blue,Cream,Chocolate Brown
Carry the mischief indoors with a squirrel peering in at a family’s breakfast table through the window, nose and paws pressed flat against the glass. Paint the window frame first, a simple cream and chocolate brown rectangle with a thin icy blue pane, then build the squirrel pressed right up against the outside of the glass.
Flatten the paws noticeably where they touch the window, two splayed shapes pressed wider than they would sit on a branch, since that single distortion is what sells glass rather than open air. Keep the breakfast table only hinted at behind the glass, perhaps a cream plate shape and a mug outline, rather than fully painted, so the squirrel stays the clear subject and the indoor scene stays a suggestion.
If the window reads as empty air rather than glass, add one thin diagonal icy blue streak across a corner of the pane for a reflection. Any door with a glass panel swaps in easily if a full window feels like too much extra drawing today.
Keep the squirrel’s expression wide-eyed and hopeful rather than sly, which suits this scene’s gentle comedy best.
Palette: Rust Red,Icy Blue,Cream,Chocolate Brown
Return outside for a squirrel burying a hazelnut in a snowy flower pot, a small, tidy scene that works well on a smaller page too. Paint a simple terracotta-colored flower pot first, its rim capped with cream snow, standing alone on a plain cream ground, then build the squirrel leaning over its top edge.
Sit the squirrel’s front half dipped into the pot’s soil, one paw pushing the hazelnut down while the back half and tail stay up and visible outside, so the pose reads clearly as digging rather than simply standing beside the pot. Shift your eye level slightly above the pot looking down into it, which lets you show a sliver of dark soil around the buried nut and makes the hiding spot feel believably small and enclosed.
If the pot’s perspective looks tilted or odd, a simple ellipse for the rim, flattened more the higher your eye level sits, keeps it reading correctly without any complicated construction lines. Any plant pot swaps in for the pricier terracotta kind, and even a plain garden bed works if pots feel fiddly today.
Leave one small hazelnut shape just peeking above the soil line for a hint of what is coming next spring.
Palette: Rust Red,Chocolate Brown,Cream
Climb higher for a squirrel sitting on a snowman’s head eating a nut, using the snowman’s familiar shape as a ready-made perch. Paint the snowman first as three stacked cream circles, largest at the base, with simple chocolate brown stick arms and a small carrot nose, then settle the squirrel right on top where a hat might usually sit.
Curl the squirrel’s tail down one side of the snowman’s round head so the two shapes read as connected rather than simply stacked, with the nut held up at chest height in both paws. Three stacked circles are easy to get lopsided; keep each one centered directly above the one below using a light pencil guideline before you commit to paint, and the snowman stands up straight.
If the carrot nose looks awkward once painted, a simple small triangle in rust red reads instantly without needing any shading or extra detail. No carrot to hand for reference works fine painted from memory, since everyone knows the shape well enough to get it right.
Add two small coal-black dot eyes and a row of dot buttons down the front for the classic finishing touch.
Palette: Cream,Rust Red,Chocolate Brown,Icy Blue
Bring back pure action with a squirrel shaking snow off its tail on a branch, caught mid-shake with loose snow flying outward. Paint the branch first as a simple diagonal chocolate brown line with a cream snow ridge, giving the squirrel a steady perch to brace against while it shakes.
Build the body gripping the branch tightly with all four paws, then paint the tail as a blurred double shape, one solid curve and a second lighter, slightly offset curve beside it, which is the simplest way to suggest motion blur in a flat, matte medium without any actual blending. Flick loose white gouache snow specks outward from the tail’s tip in the direction the shake is throwing them, keeping them loosely scattered rather than evenly spaced.
If the motion still looks too still once it is dry, nudge the lighter offset tail shape a touch further from the solid one, since more separation reads as more speed. A branch swaps easily for a fence post if a tree limb feels awkward to angle on the page.
Keep the squirrel’s own fur perfectly crisp and still against the blurred tail, which is the contrast that sells the whole shake.
You Will Need
- white gouache for snow spray
Palette: Rust Red,Chocolate Brown,Cream
Keep the mischief rolling with a squirrel stealing a corn cob from a garden table, running off with a prop almost as big as itself. Paint a simple flat garden table top first, a cream rectangle with chocolate brown legs just visible at the edges, then place the squirrel mid-dash at one corner of it.
Hold the corn cob in the squirrel’s mouth, angled diagonally across its body rather than straight along it, since a diagonal prop always reads as more dynamic than one carried parallel to the spine. Paint the kernels as a simple row of small cream dots over a pale yellow base rather than individually textured, which keeps the cob readable at a glance without slowing you down.
If the corn looks too heavy or oddly placed, check its size against the squirrel’s own head: a cob roughly twice the head’s length looks properly oversized and funny without becoming unbelievable. Any other stolen vegetable or a simple cookie swaps in just as well if corn feels like an odd shape to tackle today.
Angle the back legs mid-stride, one forward and one back, to keep the dash feeling urgent.
Palette: Rust Red,Cream,Chocolate Brown
Stretch the squirrel out again for a squirrel running along a stone wall in falling snow, a long horizontal pose that suits a wide page nicely. Paint the wall first as a row of irregular chocolate brown stone shapes with a cream snow cap running the full length, since an uneven stone pattern reads far more convincing than neat brick-like rows.
Build the squirrel stretched low along the top of the wall, legs extended front and back in a full run, tail streaming flat behind rather than curled, which keeps the whole shape reading as speed along a straight line. Scatter loose cream snow dots at varied sizes across the whole scene last, over both the wall and the sky, so the falling snow feels like it belongs to the air rather than sitting flat on top of the finished painting.
If the wall looks too uniform once painted, go back in with a few darker brown shadow lines between stones at irregular intervals to break up any accidental regularity. A wooden fence top swaps in easily for a stone wall if that texture feels like extra work today.
Keep every snow dot a slightly different size so the fall feels natural rather than mechanical.
Palette: Chocolate Brown,Cream,Rust Red
Introduce a striking color contrast with a black squirrel standing out against a white snowy lawn, a scene that leans almost entirely on silhouette. Paint the lawn first as a single flat expanse of cream with a thin icy blue shadow line along one edge, leaving most of the page open and simple.
Build the squirrel as one solid near-black shape, mixing Payne’s grey deep into chocolate brown rather than using pure black straight from the tube, which keeps it feeling painted rather than cut from paper. Place it slightly off-center on the page rather than dead middle, since that single compositional choice does more for this quiet scene than any extra detail would.
The biggest risk here is a flat black blob with no shape inside it; keep one slightly lighter warm brown patch on the chest and a thin cream rim light along the squirrel’s back to separate the silhouette gently from pure black. Any dark grey squirrel works as a swap if true black squirrels are not familiar where you live.
Leave the whole background plain and spacious so the dark shape does all the work.
Palette: Payne’s Grey,Chocolate Brown,Cream,Icy Blue
Try this composition with a lot of empty cream space around a small, dark squirrel shape, since the contrast works best when the background stays spacious.
Settle back into stillness with a squirrel napping in a wooden nest box lined with moss, just a sleepy face peeking from a dark entrance hole. Paint the nest box first as a simple cream and chocolate brown wooden box shape mounted against a tree trunk sliver, with a round dark entry hole cut into its front.
Tuck a soft moss green lining just visible around the inside edge of that hole before placing the squirrel’s sleepy face peering out, eyes drawn as two simple closed curved lines rather than open circles. This pairs well with the earlier drey idea but on a smaller scale, so if you enjoyed painting that one, this nest box makes a nice quick companion piece using much less of the page.
If the box looks too flat and lifeless, one thin chocolate brown shadow line under its roof edge and along one side gives it enough weight to read as a solid object mounted on the tree. A simple log with a hollow swaps in for a man-made box if that feels more natural to the rest of your winter scenes.
Keep the moss lining just a hint at the hole’s rim rather than fully visible, since mystery suits a nap scene better than full disclosure.
Palette: Chocolate Brown,Moss Green,Cream,Rust Red
Simplify right back down with a squirrel holding a peanut with both paws in the snow, a clean, calm portrait suited to a quick practice session. Paint the squirrel sitting upright first, body and head as one simple rust red mass, then build the two front paws cupped together right at chest height holding the peanut shell.
Give the peanut its characteristic slight waist shape, two rounded lobes pinched narrower in the middle, which separates it instantly from a plain oval and makes the object recognizable without any extra texture work. Set the whole figure against a plain snowy ground with just a scattering of a few paw prints trailing off to one side for context.
This is an easy one to try as a quick ten-minute study, just the sitting figure and the peanut with no extra scenery, or stretch it into the forty-minute version by adding a background hedge in moss green and a scatter of fallen leaves half-buried in the snow. If peanuts are unfamiliar to paint, a single acorn with its cap swaps in just as happily.
Keep both paw shapes clearly separate and overlapping the peanut from either side so the grip reads clearly.
Palette: Rust Red,Cream,Chocolate Brown
Ramp the energy back up with a squirrel sliding down a snowy roof gutter, legs splayed wide for balance on a steep diagonal chute. Paint the gutter first as one long diagonal icy blue and cream channel running corner to corner across the page, since that strong diagonal line is what gives the whole scene its sense of speed before the squirrel is even added.
Build the squirrel’s body low and flat along the gutter’s slope, all four legs splayed outward rather than tucked, tail flared wide behind for drag and stability. Eye level sits low here, almost looking up the slope from where the squirrel is headed, which exaggerates the steepness and makes the slide feel properly precarious rather than a gentle stroll downhill.
If the diagonal looks too tame once painted, steepen the gutter’s angle further and add two or three loose snow clumps flying off its lower edge to reinforce the speed. A snowy playground slide swaps in easily for a roof gutter if that reads more clearly to you.
Finish with a small spray of white gouache snow trailing off the gutter’s lower end where the squirrel is about to shoot off it.
You Will Need
- white gouache for snow spray
Palette: Icy Blue,Cream,Rust Red,Chocolate Brown
Bring the scene almost entirely underground with a squirrel tunneling through deep snow to reach its stash, only the back half visible pushing through a drift. Paint a tall mound of cream snow first, filling most of the page, with one dark tunnel opening cut into its side at a low angle.
Show only the squirrel’s hind legs, tail and a little of its back emerging from that opening, the rest of the body implied as already buried inside the tunnel, which does more to suggest real depth than painting the whole animal ever would. Add one small dark cave shape deeper inside the snow mound, just visible through the tunnel’s mouth, hinting at the buried acorn stash waiting at the end.
If the tunnel opening looks too neat and symmetrical, rough up its edges with a few uneven bites of darker shadow, since real snow tunnels never stay clean-edged for long. Any snowdrift against a garden wall swaps in for a freestanding mound if that composition suits your page better.
Keep the visible tail fully fluffed and bright against the tunnel’s dark mouth so it stays the clearest shape in the scene.
Palette: Cream,Chocolate Brown,Rust Red,Icy Blue
Ease back into a simpler scene with a squirrel on a snowy park bench stuffing a peanut into its cheek, a calmer cousin to the earlier feeder stuffing idea. Paint the bench first as a simple row of chocolate brown wooden slats with cream snow sitting along each horizontal plank, giving the squirrel a flat, public perch to sit on.
Sit the squirrel upright at one end of the bench, peanut pressed to one cheek mid-push just as before, but this time add a second peanut waiting in the squirrel’s lap for the next mouthful, which turns a single action into a small ongoing routine. Keep the bench slats simple and evenly spaced using a light ruled guideline, since an uneven park bench reads as a mistake rather than a style choice the way a tree branch’s crookedness does.
If the bench feels too dominant on the page, crop it so only a short stretch of seat and one armrest show, letting the squirrel’s own shape stay the largest element. A low garden wall swaps in for a bench if slats feel fiddly to paint today.
Leave a small pile of empty shells scattered beside the squirrel for a nice storytelling detail.
You Will Need
- ruler for bench slats
Palette: Chocolate Brown,Rust Red,Cream
Bring back a pair of squirrels for a gentler moment than the earlier chase: two young squirrels sharing one acorn on a branch, noses nearly touching over the prize. Paint the branch first as a simple horizontal perch, then place both squirrels facing each other across it, each gripping one side of the single shared acorn between them.
Keep both bodies slightly smaller and rounder than your usual adult squirrel proportions, since a touch of extra roundness in the head and a shorter tail length is enough to read as young without needing any obvious baby features. Work one squirrel fully first, then the second, so their overlapping paws around the shared acorn layer cleanly rather than both drying wet into each other.
If the two figures start to look identical and stiff, vary their poses slightly: one leaning in a little more eagerly, the other sitting back a touch, which adds believable personality to what could otherwise feel like a copied-and-pasted pair. For more cute animal pairings and solo studies at this same gentle level, the cute squirrel drawing ideas make a good companion list to this one.
Keep the single acorn clearly readable between both sets of paws so the sharing moment stays the clear focus.
Palette: Rust Red,Chocolate Brown,Cream
Settle back into a solo scene with a squirrel peeking out of a hollow log at falling snow, body hidden and just a curious face showing at the log’s dark opening. Paint the log first lying on its side, a long chocolate brown cylinder with a dark oval hollow cut into one end, resting on a simple cream snow ground.
Place the squirrel’s face and one paw gripping the hollow’s rim, the rest of the body implied as staying warm and hidden inside, much like the earlier tree hollow idea but now at ground level with the log lying flat rather than standing upright. Scatter loose cream snow dots falling across the whole scene last, varying their size so the fall feels natural rather than mechanical, just as in the stone wall idea earlier in this list.
If the log’s roundness looks flat once painted, add one curved highlight line of lighter cream along its top edge to suggest the cylinder catching what little winter light there is. A fallen tree branch with a natural knot hole swaps in easily if a full hollow log feels too large a shape for your page today.
Keep the face peeking out small and the dark hollow large around it, since that contrast is what makes the hiding spot feel properly snug.
Palette: Chocolate Brown,Rust Red,Cream
Echo the earlier bird feeder stunt with a squirrel hanging from a snowy branch by its back feet, body dangling fully upside down in open air this time rather than gripping a man-made object. Paint the branch first as a single sturdy diagonal shape with a cream snow line along its top, giving the back feet a clear, solid anchor point to grip.
Build the body hanging straight down from that grip, front paws reaching down toward something below, whether that is a dangling pine cone, a bird feeder just out of frame, or simply empty air for the sheer acrobatics of the pose. Just as with the upside-down feeder idea earlier, turn the page upside down while painting the face, since the ear and eye placement is easy to get backwards when working on a hanging head the right way up.
If the hang looks stiff, loosen the tail into a gentle curve trailing to one side rather than a straight drop, which adds a sense of sway to the whole pose. Any thick fence rail swaps in for a tree branch if a diagonal limb feels awkward to angle today.
Keep the grip at the back feet tight and overlapping the branch clearly so the whole dangle looks secure rather than about to fall.
Palette: Rust Red,Chocolate Brown,Cream
Give the squirrel a moment of mock dignity with a squirrel sitting on a frozen birdbath like it is a throne, upright and regal on its icy perch. Paint the birdbath first as a simple pedestal shape, a round icy blue basin on a chocolate brown stem, with a flat sheet of ice suggested across its surface in pale cream and blue.
Sit the squirrel bolt upright at the basin’s center, tail curled neatly behind like a cape, chin lifted slightly and paws resting primly in front rather than holding any food, since an empty-pawed, upright pose is what sells the mock-royal joke better than any prop could. Keep the posture noticeably straighter and stiffer than any other squirrel in this whole list, since that contrast in body language is the entire point of the scene.
If the throne gag is not landing, exaggerate the chin lift a touch further and add one small puffed-out chest shape, which pushes the dignity further into comedy without needing any crown or extra prop. Any sturdy pedestal or large flat stone swaps in for a birdbath if that shape is unfamiliar to paint.
Leave the basin’s ice sheet perfectly flat and pale so the squirrel’s upright silhouette reads as the clear, uncontested ruler of the scene.
Palette: Icy Blue,Chocolate Brown,Rust Red,Cream
Bring a pop of extra color into the palette with a red squirrel eating berries on a snowy rowan branch, the bright berry clusters giving you a reason to reach past the usual palette. Paint the rowan branch first as a simple diagonal chocolate brown line, then add several small clustered berry shapes in a bright coral-red, each cluster slightly different in size so they read as natural rather than stamped.
Sit the squirrel along the branch gripping it securely with its back feet, one paw bringing a single berry up to its mouth while the rest of the cluster stays untouched nearby. Next time you paint this one, try varying it by swapping the rowan for a different winter berry entirely, holly or hawthorn both work, which keeps the same pose fresh with a new splash of color each time you return to it.
If the berry clusters look too uniform, vary their size noticeably from one cluster to the next and let a few stray single berries sit apart from the main group. A thin dusting of cream snow along the branch top, just as in the stone wall and walnut fence ideas, ties this scene back into the same wintry feel as the rest of your set.
Keep the berry color distinctly brighter and more coral than the rust red squirrel fur, so the two reds stay clearly separate rather than blending together.
Palette: Rust Red,Coral Red,Chocolate Brown,Cream
Close the whole series with its biggest action pose: a squirrel caught mid-jump between a fence and a feeder, fully airborne with nothing touching the ground. Paint the two fixed points first, a simple chocolate brown fence post on one side of the page and an icy blue feeder tube on the other, leaving a generous gap of open cream air between them for the leap to cross.
Build the squirrel stretched into a full airborne curve in that gap, front paws reaching toward the feeder, back legs still trailing the push-off angle from the fence post, tail streaming out behind in the direction it came from. This is a good one to compare against the earlier pine branch leap: here the gap is wider and the two landing points are very different shapes, so the stretch needs to read as even more committed and dramatic to cover the extra distance convincingly.
If the jump looks too safe or short, lower the back legs further from the body and push the front paws further from the chest, since more extension almost always reads as more distance covered. For another gallery of small winter scenes with this same sense of movement and story, the winter nature drawing ideas make a good next list to work through.
Finish this closing piece with a confident, uncluttered background, since the stretched pose alone carries the whole scene.
Palette: Rust Red,Chocolate Brown,Icy Blue,Cream
What to Do Next
Pick whichever idea made you smile first, whether that is the puzzled squirrel forgetting its stash or the full mid-jump leap, and start with a light pencil sketch on cold press paper before you load any gouache. Keep the first few flat color shapes simple and let the small story carry the rest.
Frequently Asked Questions
What gouache colors do I need for a winter squirrel illustration?
A small core palette covers the whole series: a rust red for fur, chocolate brown for bark and shadows, moss green for pine and hedges, icy blue for snow shadow, and plain cream for highlights and background.
How do I keep squirrel fur looking soft in gouache’s flat style?
Keep the main body one flat color and add softness only at the edges, using a dry brush lightly loaded with a lighter tone dragged along the tail or chest rather than painting individual hairs throughout.
What is the easiest squirrel pose for a beginner to start with?
A simple sitting squirrel holding a nut in both paws, seen from the side with no background scenery, gives you the clearest shapes to practice before trying leaps or upside-down poses.
How do I stop a red squirrel looking like a generic rodent?
Add the ear tufts and keep the tail roughly as long as the head and body combined, since those two details are what make a red squirrel read correctly rather than as a plain mouse or rat shape.
Should I paint the background in or leave it plain cream?
Leave most backgrounds plain cream, since this style relies on the subject filling the page; add only a branch, fence rail or hint of a tree trunk where the scene genuinely needs it to make sense.