How To Draw A Beautiful Mermaid Step By Step

Have you ever asked yourself the question on how to draw a mermaid and what are the necessary steps in creating one? Wonder no more because I will explain to you step by step in detail on how to draw a mermaid in 10 easy steps! This tutorial will break down my drawing process and what steps I take to achieve a finished illustration. My goal is to teach you to draw a beautiful mermaid from start to finish.

Tools

For this tutorial, all you will need is a sheet of paper, a pencil, and an eraser. I like using mechanical pencils, bristol paper, and kneaded erasers. If you work better on a digital platform, you can follow these easy instructions the same. So get your pencils sharpened and let us dive into this tutorial!

Research on mermaids

Before we draw anything, let us do a little research on other mermaid drawings on the internet and get inspired! Pinterest, Instagram, Google are all great places for our subject matter, and since we are drawing a mermaid, these mythical creatures are half human and fish. We will need to be familiar with human and fish anatomy. Below is a link to my Pinterest inspiration board.

Rough thumbnail Sketches

Now that we have our reference images, we can now do a few rough thumbnail sketches. This part of the step is crucial to loosen up your hand and gain confidence. You can be as messy as you want in this step. There is no need to render any detail. We want to focus on the gesture and flow of your mermaid. In my example, you will notice the emphasis on action lines and contrapposto shift. You can also keep these sketches reasonably small too. I've created three samples, and for this tutorial, I will be referencing rough sketch "A" throughout this process.

Special Note: If you are having trouble with this step, one of my personal favorite book references is "How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way" this book is packed with useful information about drawing. Another great way to learn is by taking a life drawing class. You also look online, the internet has tons of free tutorials on the subject.

Step: 1

Now that we are warmed up draw a rough circle for the head. Remember to keep your strokes loose and light. We do not want to press too hard on our pencil because later we will be erasing are guides.

Step: 2

Once you have your circle placed on your paper, draw a cross at a slight angle. Follow that with a "U" shape for the jaw. Make sure the "U" shape follows the same direction as the cross.

Step: 3

Draw two ovals for the torso and hip placement. We want to follow the flow and energy of our rough sketch study. Notice that the hips are more extensive than the rib cage. If you feel like your posture is too stiff, you can add an action line to reinforce the gesture of your mermaid.

Step: 4

Next, we will draw the center lines of the torso and hips. From there, we can add the lower rib cage line and a few contrapposto line shifts.

Step: 5

Draw the tail by using flowing "S" shapes that taper down.

Step: 6

The arms can be broken down into circles, cylinders, and mitten-like shapes. Use lines to help you with the length of your mermaid's arms. Next, add flowing "S" lines for the mermaid's tail fins.

Step: 7

Now we can add rough oval shapes for eyes and lips. Add a small curve for nose placement and divide the lip oval with a line. Helpful tip, the lower lip is a little thicker than the top.

Step: 8

Block out the shape of the hair and breast. At this stage, your mermaid should resemble a mannequin. Remember to keep your drawing light. If you have problems drawing light lines, you can use a 2H pencil for your underdrawing.

Step: 9

Now that we have our foundation we can refine our shapes and add detail. Define the eyes, hands, and bra shell. Notice how the clean lines are bolder in contrast to the underdrawing.

Step: 10

Erase all your unwanted lines. Keep refining your line art and add a few fish scales for texture. At this stage, you have now completed your mermaid! If you wish to continue working on your drawing the next step will explain some essential pencil shading tips.

Bonus Step

Now that you have your line art let us add some shadows and highlights! To follow what I did in the example, pick the left side of your image and add in some pencil shading. When you do this, you might lose definition to some of your strokes. If this occurs, add more line weight to that specific stroke. Remember to give your strokes smooth transitions so it can blend in with the rest of your line art.

A helpful art trick that you can do is add an even tone of pencil shading all over the tail. Then add some highlights by removing the graphite with your eraser in the desired location. When you do this, you will achieve beautiful clean highlights. You can also use your eraser to clean up the light source in the mermaid's hair.

Mermaid Pencil Drawing

Mermaid Completed!

I hope you enjoyed drawing this mermaid in 10 easy steps and if you did the extra 11th step you are terrific! Let me know if you need any additional help, feel free to use the comment section of this blog. I will do my best to clarify some of the steps for those who need help. If you like this tutorial and would like to see more step by step instructions like this let me know, you can reach me via my contact page. Lastly, for those who want to be super amazing and show their appreciation for this blog. Any small contribution to my Ko-Fi page will be much appreciated! You can denote at the link below.