How to draw a fish
A fish is the shape everybody thinks they can already draw, and then it comes out flat. The fix is two ovals instead of one leaf, and a tail built from an X.
- 9 steps
- 11 minutes
- 4-10 Ages
- Easy
Watch it drawn, line by line
The whole drawing in under half a minute, in the same order as the steps below. No sound, so play it anywhere.
Draw it step by step
The new lines for each step are drawn in red. The grey dashed shapes are guides, sketch them lightly and rub them out at the end.
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1 Step 1: Guide shapes
Lightly sketch one small oval for the head and one big oval for the body.
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2 Step 2: Head outline
Draw a curved line around most of the small oval for the head, and add a short straight line on the right edge.
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3 Step 3: Body and tail guides
Draw two long curved lines from the head to the back to shape the body, then add two long curved lines that cross like an X for the tail.
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4 Step 4: Tail edges
Close the tip of the tail with two straight lines on the far right, and add a tiny short line at the lower tail base.
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5 Step 5: Top fin
Draw a triangle on top, one curved line in front and one straight line in back.
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6 Step 6: Side and bottom fins
Add a leaf shape for the side fin with two curved lines. Draw two small triangles under the head for the bottom fins.
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7 Step 7: Big eye
Draw a big circle for the eye, a smaller circle inside, and a tiny curved shine.
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8 Step 8: Happy smile
Draw a small curved line for the smile, and add two short lines, one on top of the head seam and one at the fin base.
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9 Step 9: Cheek mark
Add a small C shape on the cheek.
What you need
A pencil, paper and an eraser. This fish is round and cheerful, so nothing needs to be neat.
Before you start
Sketch two grey guide ovals lightly: a small one for the head and a big one for the body, overlapping. Almost everyone draws a fish as one pointed leaf shape, and a leaf is exactly what it looks like. Two ovals give it a fat middle and a chubby cheek, which is what makes it read as an animal instead of a symbol.
The part most people get wrong
The tail. Do not draw the outline of a tail. Draw an X: two long curved lines crossing at the body, opening out to the right, and then close the far ends with two straight lines. That is how a fan tail is actually built, and it is why the tail in this drawing has a waist where it joins the body. Drawn as one flat triangle it looks stuck on.
Second thing: the eye goes FORWARD and HIGH, close to the mouth, not in the middle of the head. Big circle, smaller circle inside, one tiny curved shine left white. The shine is one stroke and it does more for the drawing than any fin.
Make it your own
- Add scales. Rows of small C shapes across the body, each row offset from the one above.
- Blow bubbles. Three circles rising from the mouth, getting bigger as they go up.
- Make it a clownfish. Three fat vertical stripes, each one outlined, and you have the orange one everybody knows.
- Give it a tank. A few wavy weeds behind it and a line of pebbles under it.
Learn more about fish
The fan tail you built out of an X is the engine: a fish swims by sweeping it side to side, while all the other fins you drew are only for steering and braking. The one on top, the one you drew as a triangle, does the same job as the fin on a surfboard, it stops the fish from rolling. And that big eye has no eyelid, because underwater there is nothing to keep out and no eye to dry out, which is why a fish looks like it is staring at you and cannot help it.
