How to Draw Ocean Animals
From starfish to sea turtles to fish and sharks, ocean animals vary widely in appearance and behavior. These animals can be instructive subjects for anyone learning to draw because their physical qualities are so different from anything found on land. Study your subject before attempting to draw it, to capture appropriate behavior and movements and the physical structure of that animal.
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Instructions
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With a pencil, draw the outline of the ocean animal. As you choose the position and environment of the animal, give thought to what that animal is likely to be doing. Find a natural but interesting pose. For example, a shark maybe eating garbage (as they are known to do), a whale may be breaking the surface of the water, and a dolphin may be jumping from the water into the air.
Start with a point on the animal that makes sense for you. Nearly all ocean animals will be smooth and sleek, a reflection of their ability to move through the water. Therefore, the animal should be drawn with confidence and smooth, unbroken lines. Try drawing lightly at first and then darken the outline as you become more sure.
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Fill in the body with obvious details like eyes, shells, suckers, fins and so on. Draw the details with smooth, unbroken lines.
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Add textures, such as scales, spots, sharp teeth and the ragged edges of claws and teeth. If you are drawing with only a graphite pencil and not a colored pencil, you will want to create a sense of the color of the animal by filling in the skin with the appropriate values of dark and light. To do this, sharpen your pencil again and shade lightly over the animal. Slowly and deliberately build the layers of shading over the body of the animal.
Color plays an important role for underwater animals because they use it to camouflage themselves from predators. For example, a fish will often be darker on top and lighter on bottom, so to hide from anything viewing it from above or below. Other animals, like starfish that lie along the ocean floor, will be somewhat spotted and mottled, giving them an appearance similar to the sea bottom.
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Add the finishing touches to the drawing. Darken the outline and add shadows where necessary.
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Tips & Warnings
If you're looking for an original or interesting subject, the fish found in the "Extreme Science" website (see Resources) are intensely weird deep-sea animals, well worth taking a look at.
