Draw a Dolphin

Learning how to draw a dolphin can be tricky as they include so many curves. This tutorial breaks them all down into small steps.

Here are some fun facts about these beautiful creatures. Did you know dolphins …

  • are extremely intelligent animals
  • never chew their food, they just swallow it whole
  • stick with their mothers for a long time
  • dive up to 1,000 feet
  • can live up to 50 years
  • help the sick or injured members
  • are very friendly to humans and animals

This tutorial will help students draw a dolphin, one that has all the details so it really looks like a dolphin, but not so complicated that to make it frustrating. Once the body has a shape that looks right, the flipper and fin details will only make it look even better.

Use Button below to Download a PDF Tutorial

Dolphin Coloring Page
Time lapse drawing of Dolphin tutorial
  • Pencil. The Ticonderoga brand are the most reliable, make nice dark lines when you need them, and are the easiest to erase. Buying the pre-sharpened ones will save busy teachers a lot of time.
  • Eraser. Large ones you can hold in your hand do a much better job than just the pencil tip erasers, especially when erasing leftover pencil lines after tracing.
  • Black Sharpie Marker. These fine point permanent marker pens make nice black outlines, have a good tip for coloring, and never bleed when they get wet. Use them with good ventilation and add extra paper underneath to protect your tables.
  • Prang Crayons. These are a bit softer than other crayons so they sometimes look like oil pastels. They also have a some nice brown shades that Crayola does not have unless you buy their larger boxes.
  • Crayola Crayons. The reliable brand that always works well. The 24 pack has some of my favorite golden orange and yellow colors that seem a bit richer and warmer than the ones Prang has.

DIRECTIONS

Time needed:1 hour.

How to Draw a Dolphin

  1. Make guidelines. Draw the back curve.

  2. Add a nose and the belly curve.

  3. Draw the tail on the right.

  4. Add the mouth and eye.

  5. Draw one flipper.

  6. Draw other flipper and fin, and erase the inside line.

  7. Add a belly line.

  8. Add a water horizon line, sun and some clouds.

  9. Trace in black and color with crayons.

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How to Draw a Humpback Whale
How to Draw a Fish
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