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how to draw a seahorse step by step

How To Draw A Seahorse From Start To Finish

Seahorses are one of the most unique sea creatures you will find and their entire shape is no doubt interesting and charming at the same time. They have a distinct horse-like face but funny enough, they are apparently slow swimmers especially with their spiral-shaped tail.

When I came across this the other day, I couldn’t resist the urge to draw this seahorse. I knew they’d make a fantastic drawing and I was right!

If you would also like to learn how to draw a seahorse, I put together a step by step guide that will show you how to recreate one that looks similar to the real thing.

You’ll really enjoy drawing this seahorse due to all its different ridges and transitions from straight to curvy lines. You’ll be able to test your skills and make further progress if you try this drawing.

Reference

Before we begin drawing our seahorse, let’s take a quick glance at our adorable subject.

seahorse drawing reference

As we can see from this reference image, a seahorse has quite a long mouth but it’s body is way longer than it’s head is. You can also tell that the tail looks like a spiral but the body is more roundish. There are also ridges on the side of it’s body.

Steps For Drawing A Seahorse

Step 1

The very first step to drawing a seahorse is to begin by mapping out the mouth area. Draw two parallel lines in an angle making the bottom one much shorter than the top.

Join those two lines by drawing a curved shape as shown above.

Step 2

Now this looks slightly complicated but it really isn’t. On the lines you had drawn just now, extend the bottom line so that it looks like this.

Then move onto the top part of the head and big drawing these jagged lines making sure there’s more space between the bottom part of the head as it goes up.

Step 3

Now it’s time to begin drawing the body of the seahorse. Start by drawing a curved line down on the left side of the seahorse while also drawing a wavy line down from the bottom of the head making it look like the above.

Step 4

Head over to the other side of the seahorse and draw another set of wavy lines using the curved line as a way to judge the spacing between the two.

Then draw a few more horizontal likes between those ridges. You don’t need to draw that many but you can add a few.

You should be left with something that looks like this.

Step 5

Continue drawing those horizontal lines around the body of the seahorse to give it dimension.

You can also break apart the lines by leaving a space before drawing the next line and this will make the body look like it has shape rather than it seeming flat.

Step 6

how to draw a seahorse step 6

On the right side, draw a more wavy line coming down and the overall body of this seahorse will be completed.

Step 7

how to draw a seahorse step 7

Now it’s time to add in the fins. You can do this by drawing two lines towards the end of the body on the left side and joining it with another line that is inconsistent. To indicate detail on the fins, draw a few lines in the middle.

Step 8

how to draw a seahorse step 8

We can now move onto drawing the pretty tail. Begin by drawing a curved lined down and following the shape as shown above. Remember that we’ll be drawing something that looks like a spiral so keep that in mind.

Step 9

how to draw a seahorse step 9

On the other side, you’ll want to continue drawing another curved line to join the previous one but this time you’ll want to do so by drawing it in such a way that looks curvy at each spot to indicate the ridges of the seahorse.

Don’t forget to add the short line details as well inside of the tail.

Step 10

how to draw a seahorse step 10

All that is left to do is to draw the eye near the center of the head just before the part where the mouth comes out.

You don’t necessarily have to be too detailed when doing this but you can draw a circle or an oval and shade that in to indicate the eye.

Your seahorse drawing is now complete. All that is left to do is to color it in or you can leave it as is.

seahorse drawing tutorial

Conclusion

Did you find this tutorial on how to draw a seahorse helpful? I sure hope you did. It was incredibly fun to recreate this drawing step by step for you and I’m sure you had fun drawing along.

It definitely is more of an advanced tutorial but beginners at drawing are welcome to give it a chance. You can always revisit this drawing multiple times until you are happy and satisfied with the way your drawing has come out.

Here are a other easy drawing tutorials that you can learn to draw:

How To Draw A Starfish

How To Draw A Dolphin

How To Draw A Clownfish

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One Comment

  1. I drew the seahorse. It came out great. It is the first time I have drawn anything in a long while. It looks great, and it was very enjoyable to draw. I am very happy with how it came out, because I was drawing freehand!
    Theresa G.

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