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How to Draw a Coral Reef
Draw a coral reef in 12 easy steps, about 9 minutes. Free, with a printable worksheet.
Each picture adds one red line. Draw that line, then scroll to the next picture. Rub out any dashed helper lines at the end. First up: the sea bed.
Step 1: The sea bed
Low on your paper, draw a long, gently wavy line from the left edge to the right edge.
Step 2: A branching coral
In the middle, start on the sand. Draw a fat coral tree with 4 round tips, back to the sand.
Tip Go up one side, round each finger, and down the other side.
Step 3: A brain coral
On the right, start on the sand. Draw a big dome, back to the sand. Add 3 wavy lines across.
Step 4: Three tube corals
On the left, draw 3 tubes up from the sand and back to it, the middle tallest. Add oval tops.
Step 5: Seaweed
At the far left, draw 2 wavy seaweed leaves. Start on the sand, wiggle up to a point, wiggle back.
Step 6: A little fish
Above the brain coral, draw a little fish: a pointed egg, a tail, a dot eye, a smile, a stripe.
Step 7: Bubbles
Draw 2 round bubbles rising from the fish and 3 rising from the tall tube, bigger as they go up.
Step 8: The surface
Near the top, draw a long wavy line from the left edge to the right edge: the sea's top.
Step 9: Sand and yellow fish
Colour the sea bed sand yellow, below its wavy line. Colour the little fish yellow.
Step 10: Pink brain, orange coral
Colour the brain coral pink and the branching coral orange.
Step 11: Purple tubes, green seaweed
Colour the 3 tubes purple and the 2 seaweed leaves green.
Step 12: Blue water
Colour the water light blue, from the surface down to the sand, around everything. Leave the bubbles white.
Tip Go over your lines, and your coral reef is done!

Your finished drawing
Follow the steps above and this is where you end up: a coral reef, drawn by you.
Every step in one picture
