Please PAUSE the "How to Draw a Clownfish" video after each step to draw at your own pace.
For the first few steps, don't press down too hard with your pencil. Use light, smooth strokes to begin.
Step 1: Draw a circle as a guide for the clownfish's body. The circle doesn't have to be perfect. It's just a guide. Leave enough room on the sides for the tail and the head.
Step 2: Draw an arc on the left side of the circle as a guide for the clownfish's head. The length of the arc should be about half the width of the circle.
Step 3: Draw another arc on the right side of the circle as a guide for the back portion of the clownfish's body. This arc should be longer and narrower than the first one.
Step 4: Draw another arc-like shape on the right side as a guide for the clownfish's tail. This arc should be short and wide.
Step 5: Draw a curved line similar to a backward letter C inside the first circle as a guide for the clownfish's pectoral fin.
Step 6: Draw two more short arcs on top of the clownfish's body as guides for the dorsal fin.
Step 7: Draw two more arcs under the clownfish's body as guides for the pelvic and anal fins. The arc on the left should be thinner and longer.
That's it for the initial sketch! From this point on, press harder with your pencil to get a more defined sketch.
Step 8: Draw the eye as a circle inside the arc close to the top. Shade the inside of the eye except for a tiny circle to represent glare. Draw another circle around the eye for extra detail. Draw an even bigger circle around everything for the rest of the clownfish's eyeball.
Step 9: Draw the clownfish's mouth at the end of the arc by using a series of curved lines. Draw a line curving down for the mouth and a few more lines around it for the lip-like detail.
Step 10: Draw the rest of the clownfish's head using the initial arc as a guide. Follow the basic path of the arc but make the head narrower as you darken the lines.
Step 11: Draw a curved line to the right of the eye inside the main circle for the gill cover.
Step 12: Follow the basic path of the backward C shape and make the line wavier to create the pectoral fin.
Step 13: Use the two arcs on top as guides to draw the clownfish's dorsal fin. The dorsal fin is one long fin that dips in the middle, giving the illusion of two fins. Make the lines wavier as you darken them.
Step 14: Use the arcs at the bottom as guides to draw the clownfish's pelvic and anal fins the same way. Make the lines wavier too.
Step 15: Use the remaining shapes and lines as guides to draw the rest of the clownfish's body and tail. Follow the basic path of the arc on the right but make it wavier as you darken it to create the tail or caudal fin. Darken the lines for the body and add the pectoral fin on the other side too.
Step 16: Draw the trademark clownfish pattern using a series of curved lines along the body. The first band goes between the eye and the gill. The second goes in the middle, behind the pectoral fin. The final band goes on the right side near the tail or caudal fin.
Step 17 (optional): For a cleaner look, erase as much as you can of the initial guide lines. Don't worry about erasing all of the guides. It's okay to leave some behind. Re-draw any final sketch lines that you may have accidentally erased.
Final Step (optional): Clownfish are colorful, so instead of the usual shading, try coloring your drawing. Add some shading first using gray to give the drawing more dimension and volume. Pick the direction of the light source to draw the shadows consistently. Shadows are usually at the cool end of the color spectrum, so use some blue and purple on the shadows.
Use black in the eye and to separate the pattern throughout the body. Add the black along the basic path of the patterns created earlier and on the edges of the fins. Continue adding black along the pattern and on the fins. Make the inside edges of the fins a bit jagged.
Now add the brighter color outside of the pattern throughout the body. Most of the colownfish is orange, but use red along the shadows first. Now add some red-orange as well. Using different shades of a color, in this case orange, gives more dimension to a drawing. Continue to build up the color by adding different shades of orange on top of each other. Now lightly add a coat of basic orange as a midtone to the rest of the clownfish's body. After the orange, use yellow-orange to the rest of the body. At this point, you can push harder on your color pencil to mix the previous colors as well. You can also use yellow along the top for highlights and go back and add more red to the shadows. It's always a good idea to use reference for a more accurate drawing. Remember to pause the "How to Draw a Clownfish" video to draw at your own pace.
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