Even if you are not a basketball fan, drawing a cartoon basketball can be an interesting challenge to achieve! This particular object made with shiny material does have interesting textures to reproduce!
The object itself is not too difficult to draw. A simple circle and a couple of lines will be fine! So let's start this drawing lesson right now with a short video version. The written version is located below the video. :)
Start working on your illustration by drawing a big circle for the body of the basketball.
Next, add four lines on the object just like shown above. The two lines drawn in the middle of the ball (one vertical and the other one horizontal) don't have special curves. They just follow the shape of the ball. The other lines are more complicated to sketch. They are similar to a light wave.
Add a single color on your ball: orange. Don't use a tone that is too bright or too dark!
The surface of the basketball is rough in order to help players grab the ball. Add this texture by drawing several small circles with a color slightly darker than the one used for the body.
Finally, add a shadows under the ball and a reflection effect on top of it. Congratulations! You've just created a very accurate and realistic basketball. Now it's time to invite your friends, create two teams and have fun. You can also learn to draw more fun objects and characters related to the wonderful world of sports. Enjoy and keep sketching! :)
External resources: How to draw a basketball