How to draw a shark
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Shark School of Art activity sheet
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Anyone can draw a shark or create a shark cartoon with a little practice! Here are some tips and techniques for drawing sharks. We'll also show you how to create a comic strip using your shark drawings.
1. Start with basic shapes
Think of the shark you are drawing as a collection of basic shapes: circles, triangles, ovals, rectangles and so on. For example, take a look at this drawing of a leopard shark. See how it can be imagined as a collection of triangles and ovals?
2. Add details
Once the basic shapes are laid out, you can make your drawing look more realistic by adding details like shading and coloration. Here are some more examples of shark art.
Shark cartoon tips
Practice, practice, practice!
Some ideas for a shark cartoon
- Falling coconuts kill more people each year than shark bites!
- Most sharks are killed solely for their fins, while the rest of their bodies are thrown overboard as waste.
Comics and cartoons are made of three basic elements
- The word balloon contains the words and sounds that your characters say out loud. They are shaped like regular balloons. The thought balloon contains the words and sounds that your characters think to themselves. They look like clouds.
- Panels contain the balloons and the drawings of your characters. You can make them any size or shape you want.
- Your characters can be whatever you want them to be, just draw them the best you can and have fun doing it. It's your cartoon!
Now have some fun
Print our Shark Cartoon Activity Sheet and create a comic strip that illustrates the need to protect sharks or some of the misconceptions people have about sharks.
Learn about shark artist Ray Troll
From his treetop studio in Ketchikan Alaska, Ray Troll draws and paints fishy images that migrate into museums, books and magazines and onto t-shirts sold around the world (and in our gift shops).
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