Demo: Create Cool Sea Creatures with this Seahorse Drawing

August 6, 2012

Have you picked up the latest of Stephanie Pui-Mun Law’s Dreamscapes books? Dreamscapes Magical Menagerie will give you step by step instructions and tips to painting all sorts of fantasy creatures in watercolor. Plus, you also get great bits about legend and lore mixed in with the art to further inspire your work!

Today, we have a quick tutorial from her book, where you can learn how to draw a seahorse. From the book: “Sea horses are symbols of power, strength and tenacity—emblems of Poseidon. With their sinuous bodies and fantastical spiny forms and colors, they are real-world sea dragons. Sailors in times of old often saw them as symbols of good luck.”

1. Sketch the Basic Form
Sketch a serpentine shape for the body and a trapezoid-shaped head (like a horse with an elongated snout). Make a bulge at the midsection and a hooked tail.

2. Draw Vertical Guidelines
The body is ridged and segmented, so start off by delineating these segments vertically.

3. Draw Horizontal Guidelines
Using light strokes, delineate the horizontal segments as well. You will use these mostly as guides mostly as guides.

4. Add Texture and Fins
Add the spikes and prickles based on the segments you outlined in the previous two steps. Add the fin along the back and the small fin along the head.

5. Add Final Details
Finish up with shading and painting. Add any markings and patterns you like.

In the book, the drawing is accompanied with step by step instructions for painting the seahorse in watercolor, but we can’t give away all of the secrets! You’ll have to pick up a copy yourself! The final product you can learn to create is just below.

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This entry was posted on Monday, August 6th, 2012 at 9:50 am and is filed under Art Tutorials - Learn to Draw Step by Step, Stephanie Pui-Mun Law - Fantasy Artwork & Paintings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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