Simple Ocean Drawing Tutorial (Easy Pencil Seascape Sketch)

Hi everyone in this art lesson we are going to learn how to create a simple ocean drawing. Let's go ahead and get started.

Start by drawing a border around the edge of your paper. This gives you a little bit of space to work with without running off the edge and don't worry if these lines are not too straight. Although it does help to keep your wrist straight without wiggling it. Draw the bottom of the wave about halfway down the paper. Divide the top half into thirds and draw lines across so that line is the horizon line. And then this line is the top of the wave so it's going to be very active and have a lot of movement

About a little bit more than halfway down in that bottom section this is another line where one wave is meeting the sand and then another line where the final wave is meeting the sand. So there are multiple layers of waves.

I'm going to add in a little white cap over there and then shade in the rest of this area fairly dark. I'm using an 8B pencil so I can get some nice dark tones, it's kind of a soft pencil.

So [I'm] going slowly enough that I can get all these little details in the top of the wave but also fast enough that it doesn't take forever to shade in this area I'm going to go back in later on and blend it together to make sure that these lines are nice and soft and well blended.

Then the wave that's right underneath this area is mostly going to be left white. I'll go back in later on and add some more details but now I'm going to move down underneath that white part of the wave and add in some darks and lights in this area. So there's lots of shine in here.

So this is kind of an initial shading, shady line to define that area. Now think about the ebb and flow of water and the way that light is shining against that water.

Keep my lines nice and loose.

Also, just so you know I am basing this drawing off of several different pictures of the ocean that I took. So it wasn't one specific drawing but after you kind of learn the initial structure of a wave it's easy to improvise and kind of add your own touches and add your own details where you want them.

However, it can be challenging to draw the ocean, so don't get frustrated. Just keep practicing

Our drawing skills are always a journey. Not so much worrying about the final product. So [I'm] shading this area where that last wave meets the sand and shading it out to get kind of a nice easy transition.

And again on this final wave where it's meeting the sand and I'm making sure to not just make a solid line all the way across, I try to make it a little bit irregular.

Now I'm going to add in some more details in the top of this wave.

Just some nice loose lines to indicate the direction that the water is going and some lights and darks.

Again, the top of the wave right here, again making it a little bit irregular I wouldn't want to just make one solid line across the top.

And a little bit of light scumbling or scribble hatching you can call it on the top of the wave to indicate some texture.

And add in a few more details and a little bit more scribble hatching into that middle part.

Now I'm going to use my blending stump to blend this area. Blending stumps are really nice because you can blend while getting a lot more detail, however you could also use your finger or you could use a bit of rolled-up tissue or even a q-tip to blend.

I'm just working on these areas making sure that my lines are blending together so it's nice and smooth.

Now I am going to use my finger and pick up some of that shading out of that area and just add it into the sky to add a little bit of tone in the sky. Focusing on adding the tone towards the top of the paper because the light at the horizon line is always lighter.

And just a little bit of simple blending down in this middle area.

Making my dark lines nice and soft but still leaving my white areas. If I needed to go back later I could always go back and add in a few highlights using my eraser.

But I want to make sure not to over-blend. Just kind of touch it to make those lines soft. And in this area blending that shading to get a nice smooth transition between the dark area and the light area.

And again in this front area, now in this front area towards the bottom make sure you have some dark tones right at that edge where the wave is meeting the sand. Because those dark lines will help make that area pop out at the viewer.

Right, add a little bit more highlighting using my eraser.

Making sure that everything is not totally regular all the way across. I like to have some irregular shading. I have some areas darker and some areas lighter. And then go back in and clean up these edges with my eraser as well. Being careful not to touch my drawing with my hands so I don't smear. And then one of my favorite tools I like to use a chip eraser or a chip brush to brush away my eraser dust. But I could also blow on it or lift my drawing up and shake off the dust. And just a few little details in the sand maybe these are footprints or rocks. Just a little indication of what is in the sand in front of us.

That's all there is to creating a simple ocean seascape. Thanks for watching. Bye bye.