Caroline
Learning how to draw an octopus is so fun and easy with this tutorial for kids! Anyone can learn from this guide, so join me for some creative tips.
The octopus is a creature that looks like it came from another world! With their tentacles, big heads and bulbous eyes they really look quite unusual.
It’s because of this that I love them so much though! I think they’re so cool, even if they can be a bit tricky to draw. This guide for kids is meant to simplify it by presenting a cartoon version of an octopus for you to work on.
I’ll show you every step of the way how you can draw the distinctive details of an octopus. Then you can change it up and try some different poses and details.
You could even draw an underwater scene filled with fish, whales, sharks and any other creatures you love. It all begins now, so let’s dive in, shall we?
Watch This Fun Guide On Making An Octopus Drawing!
How to Draw An Octopus – Let’s Get Started!
Step 1
We will be starting this guide on how to draw an octopus by drawing a big, round head for the octopus.
To do this, you can draw a curved, rounded line for the top of the head as you can see in the reference image.
As you can also see, there should be a large gap at the bottom as we will be adding some tentacles there very soon.
Step 2 – Next, draw some tentacles
One of the most notable aspects of an octopus is the tentacles it has, so we shall start drawing some in for the next few steps of your octopus drawing.
We will be drawing two tentacles on the left-hand side of the octopus for now. You can draw these using some curvy lines connecting to the bottom of the head.
Tentacles can move in all sorts of different directions so don’t be afraid to change up the positioning of them or make them even more bendy and twisty!
Step 3 – Now, draw in the facial details
You’ve drawn two tentacles now, so you shouldn’t have any issues with adding more in the next few steps of this guide on how to draw an octopus!
For this third step, we shall be adding two more connecting to the ones from the previous step.
You can make them look like the other ones, and again you could always change up the positioning of them if you prefer.
Step 4 – Next, draw two more tentacles
You know what to do for this part! For this step of your octopus drawing, simply add two more tentacles as you’ve already been doing.
Just be sure to leave a small gap between the last tentacle and the right-hand side of the head, as we will fill that in for the next step.
Step 5 – Now, add the final tentacle
There’s only one more tentacle to go in this guide on how to draw an octopus! You can draw this final tentacle into the space that we left on the right-hand side of the head.
With this tentacle drawn, there shouldn’t be any spaces left between the tentacles and the head. Now all the tentacles are drawn, and we will move on to some different elements in the next step.
Step 6 – Next, draw a face for your octopus
We’ve been drawing a lot of tentacles in the previous few steps, so we shall move on to the face for a change of pace now!
The face is quite simple and made up of some fairly basic shapes. You can use two ovals for the eyes, and then use two smaller ovals inside each one for the pupils of the eyes.
Then, you can draw another oval for the mouth and then draw some lines around it for some extra detail.
Step 7 – Now, draw some final details
You’re almost ready to move on to the final coloring step of this guide on how to draw an octopus!
To finish off the details, simply draw some lines into the tentacles to create the bottom of the tentacles, then, use some dots or circles to create the little suction cups on the tentacles.
Once you’ve finished these details, you can also add any that you would like! You could draw an ocean background and even add some more ocean life around the octopus.
How will you finish off this picture before the final step?
Bonus: Add To The Drawing Before You Color
We’re sure you’re eager to get to coloring this drawing, but before we head to that final step, we wanted to cover a few more ideas for how you can add to this octopus drawing.
If you’ve ever seen footage or pictures from under the ocean’s surface, you will see that there is an incredible variety of sights to behold, from plants to animals and natural landscapes.
There is so much that you could add to this drawing, and the possibilities are practically endless. You could keep it simple by adding another octopus to the scene.
This would be one of the easier ways to add to the drawing, as you have everything you need in order to do this. Simply follow the steps in the guide again, but change a few details this time.
If you have some favorite sea creatures and plants, now is your chance to come up with some cartoon versions of them! You can use photos online of your chosen animals if you need some help.
Using existing cartoon sea creatures would also be a good way to get started, and it would also enable you to add some of your favorite existing characters to the image.
The characters you add don’t have to make total sense with an octopus, and you can get as creative with it as possible! Adding characters of different art styles can be a fun way to shake things up as well.
You can make all sorts of fun underwater scenes, and this would just give you even more to have fun coloring when you get to the final step!
For now, we are ready to move to that final step and finish off this artwork
Step 8 – Finish off your octopus drawing with some color
For the final step of your octopus drawing, you can dive in with some coloring fun to really bring it to life!
An octopus can come in all manner of fantastic colors, so that gives you a lot of options when coloring in your octopus.
Did you know that some octopi can even change their color to create some camouflage for their environment?
This is an image where you should let your creativity run wild.
You could even use several different colors throughout the octopus, and that might even look like it’s changing its colors for camouflage like we mentioned!
You could also have some fun incorporating some creative art mediums.
If you don’t usually use certain mediums like acrylics and watercolor paints then it might be a good idea to use them for your octopus drawing!
5 Tips To Make Your Octopus Drawing Even Better!
You won’t need 8 hands in order to make this octopus sketch even more awesome!
We created a really fun cartoon design for this octopus drawing. While we love the design, you could also change it up a bit to make it look more unique.
One great way of doing this would be to make the octopus look more realistic. You could do this by changing just a few of the details on the design.
If you want to try this, you can find plenty of photos of real octopuses online to help you.
Octopuses are found under the sea along with many other incredible sea creatures. Adding some of these creatures would be a great way to make this drawing of an octopus even greater!
These could be as small as seahorses or coral or as big as a giant shark or a whale. What creatures would you like to add?
Whether you add more sea creatures or not, adding a background can be a fun way to make any drawing even better. The obvious choice would be to draw the ocean floor, but you don’t have to stick to that idea!
If you have any ideas for a background for this octopus sketch you should be sure to add it to make it even more fun
Another way to customize this drawing even more would be to add some smaller details on and around the octopus. These could include some spots on the octopus itself or maybe some bubbles surrounding it.
Those are just a few ideas, but you may be surprised how much even the smallest of details can enhance a drawing dramatically.
An octopus can come in many amazing colors, and some can even change their colors on the fly. That means that you could use any of your favorite colors for this drawing of an octopus!
They could be as muted or as bright as you like, and you can also mix various art tools and mediums to bring the colors to life.
Your Octopus Drawing is Complete!
You have successfully completed all 8 steps of our guide on how to draw an octopus!
It may have seemed like it would be a difficult image to draw yet we hope that this guide showed you that it can be easier than you thought.
Drawing is always made easier when you have a guide to follow, so hopefully this guide was not only helpful but also lots of fun to use.
We’ve given you a guide to follow, but now you can take over and show us how creative you can be!
This is your drawing, so you should get creative with it and bring any extra touches that you want for it.
Whether you do this by drawing a background, adding some fish friends for it or by the colors you use, we know you’ll create an incredible picture!
The drawing fun doesn’t have to end here! We have lots of awesome step-by-step drawing guides like this one on our website for you to enjoy.
You’ll want to check in as often as you can, as we upload more guides frequently.
We’re very interested to see how you finish off your incredible octopus drawing, so please be sure to share it on our Facebook and Pinterest pages for us to enjoy!
We can’t wait to see your undersea artworks.
Here Is An Octopus Drawing For Kids To Inspire You!
The octopus is one of the strangest creatures in our oceans, and they almost look a bit like they come from another world!
This octopus drawing for kids from our artist Freddy will help you to draw this curious creature.
He drew the octopus in a really fun cartoon style, and so some of the features are quite exaggerated. The eyes are really big and expressive, for instance.
When you draw your own octopus, you could also change a few small details to make it a bit more distinct.
Changing the position of the tentacles or the expression on the face would be good ways of doing this.
When you have mastered drawing this octopus, you could also add a background to really finish off the scene. What are some details you would like to see on the ocean floor?
