How to Draw a Ship

Ships make for excellent subjects as you learn to draw and sketch more technically. A ship displays a combination of hard lines and soft edges that help improve your drawing skills while providing you with an interesting and pleasant final product.

Instructions

1. Decide which way you want the ship to be facing, and start by putting your pen or pencil at the point where the front of the ship will be. Trace a line away from that point and make the line curve upward like a smile. Stop where you want the end of the ship to be, and draw a line angled upward and back towards the direction of the front. Then bring the line back to the front point of the ship by drawing a line that runs parallel to the first curving line you drew.

2. Place a rudder at the back of the ship by adding a fin shaped object that connect to the boat with small cylinders that represent hinges. If the ship is a tiller operated ship then sketch a stick that connects to your rudder and lies horizontally at the back of the boat (though keep it small).

3. Sketch a mast three quarters of the way to the front of the boat. About a third of the way up the mast, place a horizontal pole and then draw two more such cross-bars (spreaders), each one third up the way of the mast.

4. Make a large triangular sail that has an upward curve at the bottom. Attach the bottom, inner part of the sail to the mast. Draw a connection between the top of the sail and the mast with a simple line that represents a bit of rope. Then draw a thin rectangle at the bottom of the sail to represent the boom.

5. Create a boathouse just behind the mast by making a structure that looks like a shack and has a round porthole in the side.

6. Insert some detail by making parallel, horizontal lines along the hull of the boat. Add portholes to the upper part of the ship's hull. If you want to add a front sail do so. And, from the forward point of the ship, add an upward curving nose that has short rails attached to the sides.