How To Draw A Seashell In 4 Easy Steps | Design Bundles

Formed in different shapes with a variety of colors, today we are learning how to draw a seashell. Not only beautiful, seashells play an important role for numerous sea creatures. Mollusks create shells to protect their soft bodies. Shells are also used every day by other animals like crabs and birds.

In this tutorial, we take you step-by-step on how to draw a seashell. We will specifically be drawing a scallop seashell for its iconic shape.

Before starting this drawing tutorial, get your supplies together. Our drawing tutorials can be used with any medium you have on hand. These include crayons, markers, or even digital mediums like Procreate and Photoshop.

For this tutorial, we are using Procreate with these ink Procreate brushes for our sketches. The brushes will also be used for outlining and coloring in our seashell.

Step 1 - Sketch Your Seashell Guides

In this step, we are going to create guidelines to help us draw the seashell. Use a medium that is easy to remove like a pencil. Then roughly sketch a guide vertically in the center of your page. Now sketch a horizontal bottom guide about an inch or so from the bottom of your page.

Next, sketch side guides on either side of the center guide. A scallop shell fans out, so your side guides should roughly be at a 45-degree angle. You can use our image below as reference.

Step 2 - Create Your Seashell Rough Shape

With our guides drawn, we can start sketching a rough shape for our seashell. Draw a rounded edge like a half circle on the top part of the guides. Start drawing from one side to the other.

Next, sketch vertical lines on the bottom half of the side guides. Add these vertical lines one third of the way from the center guide. These lines will form the wing of the seashell.

Lastly, sketch the rib lines for the seashell. Start on the bottom guide with each line branching out towards the rounded edge at an angle. These lines will help us create the ribs and wavy edge of the seashell.

Step 3 - Draw Outlines of Your Seashell Sketch

Change over to a more defined medium like a marker. We are going to outline our seashell sketch next. Starting at the top, draw a wavy edge for the half circle by the rib lines. See our example below.

Continue with the outline on the side guides. Create a curve in the center where all the rib lines connect. Next, draw wavy edges for the wing of the seashell. Using the rib guides, draw lines just next to the guides. Use the image below for reference.

Step 4 - Add Color to Your Seashell

For the final step of how to draw a seashell, let’s add color to the seashell drawing. You can use one or multiple colors to decorate your seashell. If you want to create depth with light and shading in Procreate, check out how to shade in Procreate.

There are endless creative opportunities when adding color to your seashell drawing. Do you want to use your seashell for sublimation projects like tote bags or keychains? Then we have a great tutorial on how to make sublimation designs in DesignScape using your drawings.

Great job on your seashell drawing! Change the color or add a pattern and create your own collection of unique seashells. Use them in projects from sublimations to card making. We hope you enjoyed this easy to follow tutorial on drawing your very own seashell.