Simple Ocean Drawing Tutorial (Easy Pencil Seascape Sketch)
Check out this simple ocean drawing tutorial (easy pencil seascape sketch) in this beginning art lesson. Drawing ocean waves can be easy with a few simple steps.
Equipment
- 8B or other soft Pencil
- Paper - 70 pound / 115 gsm. drawing paper 6 x 9 inches (or use whatever you have on hand)
- White Vinyl Eraser
- Chip brush to brush off eraser dust
- Blending stump (or could use a finger, rolled-up tissue or a Q-tip)
Instructions
- Draw a border around the edge of the paper. Don’t worry if the lines are not very straight. It can help to keep your wrist straight and use your whole arm when drawing.
- Draw the bottom of the large wave about halfway down the paper.
- Divide the top half into thirds and draw lines across. The top line is the horizon line.
- Draw the second line down from the top with a lot of movement and waves because it is the top of the wave.
- In the bottom section, a little bit more than a third of the way down that section draw in a slightly wavy and down-angled line where one small wave meets the sand. Draw in a final line, slightly diagonally where the final wave meets the shore.
- There are multiple layers of waves.
- Shade in the area between the horizon line and the top of the wave.
- Leave the large wave white for now. Below the wave, add some areas of shading. Draw in irregular strips of shading, wrapping some of them around in wave or circular patterns. Make sure to leave some areas white where light is reflecting off the water.
- Draw a solid but irregular line along the edge where the first wave meets land and shade it. Out with a gradual transition, leaving some white area before the last wave.
- Draw an irregular and broken line across the last wave and then shade in the sand.
- Add some nice loose lines in the wave to indicate the direction that the water is going and some lights and darks. Use scumbling or “scribble hatching” on the top of the wave to indicate some texture.
- Add in a few more details and a little bit more scribble hatching below the top of the wave in the reflective area.
- Use a blending stump (or tissue, q-tip, or finger) to blend the dark area at the top just below the horizon.
- Drag a finger through that shading then drag it in the sky towards the top of the paper to add just a little bit of soft tone. Remember that the sky is always lighter at the horizon line.
- Blend the lines in the middle area under the wave to soften the darks. Also, blend the two waves that touch the shore to create a smooth transition between the darks and lights.
- Use an eraser to brighten up any areas that you want highlighted and clean up the edges of the drawing. Use a chip brush if you like, to brush away the eraser dust.