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How to Draw a Truss Bridge

13 steps · Medium · about 10 min

Draw a truss bridge 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: the deck.

Step 1: The deck
Start near the left side. Draw a long flat box, a finger tall, and stop near the right side.
Tip Keep the top and bottom lines level, like a ruler.
Step 2: Two legs
Under each end of the deck draw a thick leg. Start on the deck, go straight down and stop low.
Step 3: The top beam
High above the deck draw a long thin box. Make it shorter than the deck and in the middle.
Tip Leave the same gap past each end of the beam.
Step 4: Sloping ends
Start on each end of the deck. Draw a straight line sloping up to the nearest end of the beam.
Step 5: Five posts
Draw 5 posts from the deck straight up to the beam: one at each end of the beam, 3 between.
Tip Space the posts evenly, like the bars of a gate.
Step 6: Slanted braces
From the top of each post, but not the middle one, draw a line down to the next post's foot.
Tip Every brace slopes down towards the middle of the bridge. The triangles make it strong.
Step 7: The river
Draw a long wavy line from edge to edge of the paper, touching the foot of each leg.
Tip Make soft little hills, not sharp zigzags.
Step 8: Stone blocks
On each leg draw 2 little rounded bricks, one above the other.
Step 9: A cloud
In the top right draw a small puffy cloud with a flat bottom.
Step 10: The sun
In the top left draw a round sun with 8 short rays around it.
Step 11: Yellow sun, grey legs
Colour the sun yellow. Colour the 2 legs grey like stone.
Step 12: Blue river
Colour the river blue, right to the edges of the paper.
Step 13: Red bridge
Colour the deck and the top beam red. Go over your lines. Your truss bridge is done!
Tip Colour right up to the lines, with no white gaps.