Four underwing pylons loaded with drop tanks and missiles make the Hawker Siddeley Harrier’s front profile one of the more visually dense starting points in the Jets and Planes category, and this step-by-step tutorial works through how to draw the Hawker Siddeley Harrier British military jet in a cartoon front-on view with full color. The Harrier’s VTOL design and squat, symmetrical silhouette translate surprisingly well into a chibi-style perspective that keeps the detail manageable without losing the aircraft’s character.
What Makes This Front-View Harrier Worth Practicing
The tutorial runs 15 steps from the first construction lines to the finished colored result. Most of the complexity sits in the wing loadout, where both sides need to mirror each other across a perfectly symmetrical axis, and in the cockpit canopy shape, which anchors the whole composition from the center. The front-facing angle removes the need to wrestle with perspective foreshortening, but the symmetry requirement makes up for that in its own way.
Key Visual Features of the Harrier Design
- Front-facing view, full symmetry required
- Dark steel-blue fuselage and swept wings
- Large black bubble cockpit canopy
- Drop tanks and missiles on all pylons
- Tall vertical tail fin with sharp spike
If you want to build out your aircraft sketch collection, the P-51 Mustang is a good contrast in style since it shows a classic propeller fighter from a more traditional angle, while the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk stays in the military jet territory with its own angular challenge. The Airbus A320 rounds things out if you prefer civilian aircraft for comparison.
Reading the Step Colors in This Guide
Each step image uses a three-color system to show exactly what is new and what came before:
- Red Color: lines added in the current step.
- Black Color: lines completed earlier.
- Gray Color: base sketch for structure.
How to Draw Hawker Siddeley Harrier British Military Jet: Step-by-Step Tutorial
Finished the Harrier? Share What You Built
Getting that symmetrical wing loadout to sit right on both sides takes patience, so if the drawing came together cleanly, drop the result in the comments. All new tutorials go up on Facebook and Telegram as soon as they are published, a new YouTube video based on existing guides goes live every day, and Pinterest stays updated regularly as well. For more military jet practice, the Russian Sukhoi Su-30 and the Su-35 are both worth adding to the queue. If you want to support the project and get access to hand-drawn coloring pages, the Patreon page is the place to do it.