To add a mermaid to your pencil art collection, you must first learn how to draw a fish tail and the girl separately. Also, the complete picture cannot do without a pond, because mermaids live in water.
How to easily draw a girl with a fish tail using cells
One of the simple ways to draw a mermaid is based on the use of cells. To do this, just take a school notebook, open it to the selected page and draw a pencil along certain lines.

For example:
- Take a sheet of paper on which the drawing will be done. It should have the following dimensions: width – 21 cells, height – 34 cells.
- Begin drawing lines from the lower left corner. The starting point will be the intersection of the leftmost horizontal and the lowermost vertical.
- From the starting point, draw a line 5 cells long to the right, then draw 1 line 1 cell up, then 7 cells to the right.
- Next, move 1 cell up, 1 right, 10 up, 5 right, 1 up, 1 right, 6 up, 1 left, 3 up, 1 right, 4 up, 1 left, 2 up, 1 left, 1 up, 1 left, 1 up, 1 left, 1 up, 2 left, 2 up, 8 left, 1 down, 1 left, 1 down, 1 left, 2 down, 2 left, 10 down, 1 left, 5 down, 1 right, 1 down, 5 right, 7 down, 1 left, 3 up, 1 left, 1 up, 3 left, 5 down, 1 left, 1 down, 1 left, 3 down.
If everything is done correctly, the last line drawn should end at the starting point, thus closing the outline of the drawing. Now it remains to color it, which is convenient to do by cells.
Step-by-step master class of pencil drawing of a mermaid on paper for beginners
It is most convenient to start a mermaid pencil drawing by drawing simple figures.
Namely:
- Draw a circle that will later become the head. It is depicted at the top of the drawing.
- Draw an oval or triangle, which will be the body. It is located slightly below the circle of the head.
- Place another circle under the triangle.
- The mermaid's tail is made as a pair of lines. One of them comes out of the lower circle and ends at the place where the mermaid's tail will bend. The 2nd line will start here, going down.
The final picture largely depends on the arrangement of all the elements of the diagram.
Torso
When the main contours are ready, you can start drawing the general shapes of the mermaid's body. One of the most difficult stages of work is drawing the body. With the help of smooth lines, you need to give it subtlety and elegance.
When drawing them, the original lines should be the reference point. You need to try to make the transitions smooth and soft.
Head
The head circle is the border along which the hair is arranged in smooth curves. Above the forehead, the bangs should be marked, which resembles an upside-down and elongated Latin letter "S".
Base of the tail
The tail is a part of the body that a mermaid cannot do without. In turn, the tail itself cannot do without fins. That is where it always ends.
When drawing the tail, you should start by drawing neat lines.
Fin
From the extreme point of the tail axis, a fin begins, which looks like 2 leaves.
Hands
A mermaid in the form of a schematic pencil drawing will simplify the drawing. The dots should indicate the places where the arms will bend.
Then you can start drawing the contours of the upper limbs. It is important to remember the anatomical features of the structure of human hands. First, draw the hand that is closer to the viewer. Then you can move on to drawing the 2nd hand, which is partially hidden behind the body.
Tail
The tail should be massive, but graceful at the same time. The tail frame at the waist has the appearance of a smooth, stretched drop.
Contours of body parts
Using smooth lines, you need to draw the chest and the curve of the back. You should do the same with the hips. They should be rounded like those of an ordinary girl. It is important to remember that the mermaid's hips go into the tail.
Bang
Every mermaid has luxurious hair. This part of the body is not easy to draw, so you need to look closely at the original drawing first. First, you should draw the bangs.
Hair
One of the exciting stages is hair styling.
Hair can take different shapes depending on where the mermaid is. For example, if she is underwater, her locks will flow beautifully in different directions.
Cloth
Traditionally, a mermaid wears no clothing other than shells on her chest. However, many members of the mermaid family have a penchant for wearing accessories.
These could be:
- rings on hands;
- earrings in the ears;
- various necklaces.
Having decided on the choice of a mermaid for the drawing, you should immediately pay attention to the jewelry that she can wear. Perhaps these jewelry are mandatory for the character.
Face
It is necessary to try to make the face as beautiful as possible, because it is precisely this quality that this mythical creature with a fish tail has captivated many. You can give the mermaid beautiful and cunning eyes, add a small neat nose and a coquettishly smiling mouth.
Special auxiliary lines, which are drawn at an early stage, will help determine the location of the eyes, nose and mouth. The eyelids should have the same thickness as the eyelashes. Curved or longitudinal lines should be created for the eyelids.
Skin rays on the tail
The glare will give the drawing a special charm and beautiful shine. This effect can be achieved by hatching. Glare is an important element that allows you to convey the texture of the tail.
The final touches
A pencil drawing of a mermaid can become a full-fledged painting if you add some details to the image.
For example, a mermaid can:
- sit on a rock or branches;
- swim underwater surrounded by other aquatic life.
One of the simple ways to make the drawing more "alive" is to add small air bubbles that float in the water. You can also add seaweed. This is also easy to do.
Coloring
The final stage of drawing a mermaid is coloring. This is easy to do, since all the necessary contours are available. The main thing is to choose the right colors. However, there are no strict rules dictating how a mermaid should be colored.
It all depends on the artist's imagination, as well as where the picture was copied from. The mermaid's hair can be red, her tail green, her eyes blue, and the shells on her chest purple. There are a huge number of coloring options.
Step by step drawings of a mermaid on a stone, branches
You can draw a mermaid on branches or a stone in the following way:
Stage | Subsequence |
Frame |
|
Face and Hairstyle |
|
Other parts |
|
Tail | When drawing the tail, remember that there should be a double fin at the end. The type of mermaid tail pattern depends on the artist's imagination |
Stone | The bottom of the stone should be shaped like waves. |
In one of Pushkin's famous poems, a mermaid sat on the branches. How exactly the poet imagined it is unknown. However, such a picture can be drawn. In this case, the same mermaid is drawn according to the above scheme, but instead of a stone, tree branches appear in the picture.
Step by step drawing of mermaid Ariel
The image of the fish-maiden named Ariel was created by the Disney studio more than 20 years ago. To copy it, you will need an original image.
The pencil drawing "mermaid" is done in stages:
- Create a sketch. To do this, draw the position of the heroine with lines. At the top of the drawing is a circle, this is the head. From it goes down a line with smooth curves. It is important not to forget to make a rounding on the chest. At the very bottom, the line should bifurcate, this will be the girl's fishtail.
- Start drawing the mermaid's voluminous hair. When looking at the source for copying, it is important to pay attention to the shape of the hair, and then try to transfer it to paper as accurately as possible.
- Draw the face. Start with the nose: it will be located slightly below the circle from which the drawing began. Draw 1 small circle to the left and right of the nose at the bottom of the circle.
These will be the eyes. There are black pupils inside them. Draw lips under the nose, and then carefully draw the chin line from the lower left part of the circle to the lower right. It should go so that the mouth is above it.
- Draw the neck and chest. They are described with smooth lines. On the chest you should draw shells.
- Draw the hands. They are drawn with lines. One of the hands - the one that is further from the artist and from the future viewer, will not be fully visible. The other upper limb of the little mermaid, on the contrary, comes almost to the foreground, so it needs to be carefully drawn. It is better to try to immediately depict it with fingers. The Disney mermaid, like a person, has 5 fingers on each hand.
- Draw the tail with smooth lines.
- Add detail to the drawing. Draw fins on the tail. Make all the main lines clearer.
- Remove the lines that were used as auxiliary elements using a school eraser.
- Color the drawing. The hair should be red, the tail green, the fins yellow, the shells on the chest purple. It is important not to forget to apply "lipstick" to the lips.
Step by step drawing of a mermaid barbie
To draw a Barbie doll as a mermaid, you need to remember that she is a tall beauty with thick hair, and instead of legs she has a tail.
Its image is performed in the following stages:
- Create smooth contours and the required pose.
- Draw the details of Barbie's clothes, giving them shine and brightness.
- Create a beautiful landscape around the mermaid. It could be waves, stars, forest, mountains.
Step by step drawing of anime image
There are more and more anime cartoons. The speed of their appearance is due to their great popularity, so anime is watched today not only in Japan, but also in other countries of the world. To touch the creation of modern popular art, you can try to draw a mermaid in this anime. The essence of the work is approximately the same as in the above examples with other mermaids.
The only distinctive features that you need to remember when drawing a mermaid in anime style are the following:
- big eyes;
- straight bangs;
- long hair that reaches all the way to the tail.
For example, a drawing of the mermaid Coco, the heroine of the anime "Mermaid Melody", is done as follows:
- Draw a circle and guidelines.
- Draw the line of the chin.
- Draw the eyes, then the nose, mouth, hair.
- Draw ears decorated with earrings.
- Using simple lines, define the position of the mermaid's upper limbs and body.
- Draw the neck, then the hand that is closer to the artist and the viewer.
- Draw shells on the chest.
- Finish drawing the second hand - the one that is further from the one drawing.
- Draw the fingers and hip lines. The latter smoothly transition into the tail lines.
- Finish drawing long hair and jewelry on the arm and neck.
- Remove the auxiliary lines that were drawn to simplify the work.
- Color the cartoon character in bright gold. This includes the tail, hair, chest shells, and eyes.
Step by step drawing of a mermaid pony
A mermaid is not always a creature that is half human and half fish. For example, among popular cartoon characters there is a mermaid pony. She differs from ordinary ponies by having a tail in place of her hind legs.
The "mermaid pony" pencil drawing is done step by step:
- Draw 2 large eyes. Make highlights in each of them. A little lower between the eyes there should be a small nose, which can be represented by a semicircle and 2 dots under it. Under the nose there is a small mouth.
- Draw the contours of the head, which should cover the previously drawn details of the face. In the upper part, the contour circle should not close: there should be room for the horn.
- Draw 2 ears on the head and a few eyelashes near the eyes.
- Draw the outline of the hair with lines. The mermaid pony should have bangs.
- Draw a horn. It will be a triangle that starts at the bangs, goes up and ends at the level of the ears. To show the viewer that this horn has a rounded shape, draw several semicircles in it, starting on one side and ending on the other.
- Draw the body. It should be long and smooth. At this stage, draw the tail and wings of the magical creature. It is also worth remembering about the front legs, which are in many ways similar to fish fins.
- Cover the character with scales, and also add hair and a small non-fish tail.
- Color the picture. This character is light lilac, and his hair and tails are striped in different colors. Among them should be blue, pink, purple. On the small tail, in addition to the stripes, you can depict a small star.
Drawing of a mermaid jumping out of the sea with a dolphin
Sea creatures jumping out of the water look beautiful. When drawing them, you need to try to convey grace, so the contours of their bodies should be smooth. It is best to draw these lines with one movement of the hand.
It is best to start the drawing with a dolphin, and then add a mermaid to it, using the techniques discussed above.
To depict it you should:
- Determine the location of the dolphin, taking into account that there will be a mermaid on it.
- Draw a horizontal elongated oval, which will be the body of the animal.
- Use a light line to outline the shape of the dolphin's body; it should have a curved back.
- Draw the jaw and nose.
- Finish drawing the fins, of which the dolphin has 3: 1 on the back and 2 at the bottom.
- Draw the tail.
- Finish drawing the eyes.
- Correct the lines of the animal's body.
- Remove unnecessary contours with an eraser.
- Apply shading and highlights to the dolphin's body.
- Finish drawing a mermaid on the back.
To depict a seascape, you need to do the following:
- Mark the horizon line.
- Use small lines to depict the surface of the water, keeping in mind that the lines are smaller closer to the horizon and larger further away.
- Draw the bubbles and splashes that result from the dolphin's jump.
- Use shading to add depth to the sea water.
- Draw the sun and clouds.
When drawing a mermaid with a pencil, you can focus on popular characters or create unique heroes from the depths of your imagination and artistic experiments.
Video about drawing a mermaid
Pencil drawing of a mermaid: