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How to Draw a Sea Turtle
Draw a sea turtle in 13 easy steps, about 10 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: egg head.
Step 1: Egg head
On the left of your paper, a little above the middle, draw a big egg lying on its side.
Tip Leave the right side empty for the shell.
Step 2: Eye and smile
Draw a big round eye in the front half. Draw a smile from the front back to the eye.
Tip Give the eye a shine. Dot a nostril near the front.
Step 3: Flat shell
Just behind the head draw a low smooth hump for the shell, like an upside-down dish with a flat bottom.
Tip Keep the shell low and smooth so it slips through the water.
Step 4: Rim and neck
Start at the front corner of the shell. Draw a sagging band under it, over to the back corner.
Tip Add a short neck line, dipping from the back of the head to the shell.
Step 5: Front flipper
Start on the rim under the front of the shell. Draw a long flat paddle down and forward, and back.
Tip No legs! The front flipper is a long paddle like a wing.
Step 6: Back flipper
Start on the rim near the back. Draw a small paddle pointing backward, and come back to the rim.
Tip The back flipper is half the size and points the other way.
Step 7: Far flipper
Start on the rim behind the front flipper. Draw a shorter paddle behind it and stop on the front flipper.
Tip Only a sliver of the far flipper shows.
Step 8: Stub tail
Start behind the back flipper. Draw a short stubby tail poking out to a point, and back to the rim.
Step 9: Honeycomb shell
In the middle of the shell draw a hexagon. Draw short lines from each corner out to make more hexagons.
Step 10: Water and bubbles
Above the turtle, draw a wavy water line right across the paper. Add 3 bubbles above the nose.
Tip Make the bubbles smaller as they go up.
Step 11: Leaf-green skin
Dab a pink cheek. Colour the head, neck, tail, front flipper and back flipper leaf green, around the cheek.
Tip Leave the eye white.
Step 12: Green shell, tan rim
Go over your lines. Colour the shell green and its rim tan.
Step 13: Dark flipper, blue water
Colour the far flipper dark green. Colour the water blue down to the bottom of the paper, around the turtle.
Your finished drawing
Follow the steps above and this is where you end up: a sea turtle, drawn by you.
Every step in one picture
