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Finished drawing of a pipefish

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How to Draw a Pipefish

12 steps · Medium · about 9 min

Draw a pipefish 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: head and long body.

Print

  1. Step 1: Head and long body

    Start on the right. Draw a long back, domed head and snout, then the tummy back to the start.

    Tip A pipefish is a seahorse pulled straight. Leave the right end open.

  2. Step 2: Eye and tiny smile

    In the head, draw one round eye with a black dot. Inside the snout tip, draw a tiny smile.

  3. Step 3: Tiny fan tail

    At the open end, start on the top line. Draw a tiny fan out and round to the bottom line.

  4. Step 4: Small back fin

    Start halfway along the back, rise to a soft point, slope down to the back. Add 2 lines inside.

  5. Step 5: Gill and side fin

    Behind the eye, draw a C gill. From it, draw a leaf fin pointing back, ending on the gill.

  6. Step 6: Body rings

    Behind the side fin, draw 7 short curved lines across the body, spaced like rings on a hose.

    Tip Keep the rings evenly spaced and never through the eye.

  7. Step 7: Bubbles

    Above the head, draw 3 bubbles floating up: a small one, a bigger one, and the biggest at the top.

  8. Step 8: Sandy floor

    Draw the sandy floor as one gently wavy line right across the paper, from edge to edge.

  9. Step 9: Short seagrass

    Stand 3 bendy seagrass blades on the sand, 2 left, 1 right, each rising from the sand to a point.

    Tip Make each blade a different height, with clear water above every tip.

  10. Step 10: Colour it tan

    Go over your lines. Colour the body, head and snout tan, around the side fin. Leave the eye white.

  11. Step 11: Sandy floor, blue bubbles

    Colour the floor under the sand line sandy and the bubbles light blue.

  12. Step 12: Brown fins, green grass

    Colour the tail, back fin and side fin brown, and the 3 seagrass blades green.

Your finished drawing

Follow the steps above and this is where you end up: a pipefish, drawn by you.

Every step in one picture

How to Draw a Pipefish step by step: all 12 steps in one picture

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