Watch it draw itself · tap to replay
How to Draw a Fossil
Draw a fossil in 10 easy steps, about 8 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 stone slab.
Step 1: The stone slab
In the middle of your paper, draw a big stone slab like a fat flat pebble, wider than tall.
Tip The slab is a soft rounded oval, not a perfect circle.
Step 2: The spiral
Start at a dot in the middle. Curl round and round, getting wider. Stop at the bottom left.
Tip Go round about 1 and a half times.
Step 3: The outer turn
From the end of the curl, go round once more, wider. Stop just below the curl's end.
Step 4: Shell lines
Across the outer turn, draw 4 short lines like a tilted plus. One closes off the end.
Step 5: More shell lines
Draw 4 more short lines across the outer turn, one in the middle of each gap.
Step 6: Cracks
Draw 2 zigzag cracks. Start each one on the edge of the slab and go in a little way.
Step 7: The ground
Draw a straight ground line under the slab, touching its bottom and poking out a little past each side.
Step 8: Cream shell
Colour the middle curl cream, and every other chamber of the outer turn.
Step 9: Tan chambers
Colour the chambers in between tan, all the way round, like a stripy shell.
Step 10: Grey stone
Colour the slab grey, going around the shell. Go over your lines and your fossil is done!
Your finished drawing
Follow the steps above and this is where you end up: a fossil, drawn by you.
Every step in one picture
