Caroline
In an ocean filled with strange and wonderful creatures, the stingray still manages to stand out from the rest.
This graceful creature glides along the ocean floor with fluidity and elegance not often seen to this extend in nature.
It almost looks like it could be a creature from another planet, and its unique look can make learning how to draw a stingray quite challenging.
If you’re worried about the challenge, then the good news is that you’re on the right guide!
Our step-by-step guide on how to draw a stingray will show you how fun and simple it can be to draw one of these incredible creatures.
How to Draw A Stingray – Let’s Get Started!
Step 1
As we mentioned in the introduction to this guide on how to draw a stingray, the unique structure of this creature can make drawing it quite a challenge.
That is why we will be breaking it down into more basic lines and shapes throughout this guide. We will also be keeping it very simple in this first step, as you will only be drawing a small portion of the outline for now.
You can do this by using a rather curvy, wavy line as shown in the reference image. This line will be forming the head and the front of the body later on, so when you’re ready we can move on to the next steps!
Step 2 – Next, draw some more of the body outline
This second part of your stingray drawing will be carrying on what you started in the previous part of your stingray drawing.
You can keep using a wavy line extending up from the previous one you drew, and this one will form the top of the stingray’s body.
As you draw this line, you’ll want to try and replicate the line as it appears in the reference image, as this will help with getting the flow of the body looking correct.
It may not look like much now, but it will all come together soon as you keep adding details and body parts to it.
Step 3 – Now, draw even more of the stingray’s body
We will be adding quite a lot more to the outline of the creature in this step of our guide on how to draw a stingray.
Using some more of those wavy lines, we can start on the back of the stingray. It will get a bit thinner the closer you get to the tail, and we will draw the beginning of this tail as well in this step.
Stingrays have their eyes on top of their heads, and we will also be drawing one of the eyes in this part.
You can draw the eye as a flat, rounded shape, and we will add some small and curved lines around it for further expression detail.
When you’re ready to move on, it will be time to head to step 4!
Step 4 – Next, start drawing some more of the final details
For this and the next step, we will be finishing off not only the outline but also some of the final details for your stingray drawing.
For this step, start off by drawing some slightly rounded lines along the center of the body for the structure of the stingray’s body.
This will help to distinguish it from the wing-like pectoral fins that you have already drawn.
Finally, you can use some slightly sharper curved lines for the end of the tail, as shown in the reference image.
Once you have drawn all of these elements, we will add some final details and touches in the next step.
Step 5 – Finish off your stingray drawing
We will be spending this fifth step of our guide on how to draw a stingray finishing off some smaller details while also adding some final touches of your own.
For the details that we chose, we added lots of small dots all throughout the body of the stingray.
These help to give an even more dynamic look for the stingray, and they’re a great way to finish off the drawing.
You could also add some details of your own, and you could even take it a bit further by creating an incredible background for this image.
You could draw an ocean bed with many more sea creatures or even add something like a sunken pirate ship! What else can you think of to finish off this incredible drawing?
Step 6 – Finish off your stingray drawing with some color
In this final part of your stingray drawing, we will be finishing it off with some color. In our reference image, we went with some darker shades composed mainly of some really dark blues.
This is offset by the bright orange that we used for the eye of the stingray, and this helps to give a bit of contrast.
These are the colors that we chose, but you shouldn’t feel limited by them!
Stingrays can come in many different color schemes, from more muted ones like our image to the brightest color combinations you can imagine.
This gives you a lot of freedom, and you should definitely use all of your favorite colors for this image!
You can also achieve your color choices with a variety of mediums, so be sure to have fun as you experiment with your colors and tools.
Here’s how you can make your stingray drawing even better…
Take a deep dive as we make your stingray sketch even better!
Seeing a stingray in the wild is always a fantastic sight, and if you can see more than one then it’s even better! For that reason, it would be great to add another one to this drawing of a stingray.
Now that you have drawn one, simply follow the steps while changing a few small details to make the additional one look unique. You could even add more than one if you wanted to!
Stingrays are known for their incredible colors and markings, and this one shows just one possibility. You could customize this stingray with other colors and patterns on its back to make it a unique one.
This would also be a great approach to take if you wanted to add additional stingrays, as it would make each one unique.
If you need some inspiration, you could look up some images of stingrays online.
What are some colors and patterns you could use?
In the first tip, we mentioned adding a second one of these creatures to your stingray drawing. Another option would be to add some other ocean creatures!
The ocean is filled with some amazing animals, and any one of them would be a perfect addition to the drawing. These could be small fish and anemones or bigger creatures like dolphins, sharks or whales.
This is your chance to show off any of your favorite ocean animals as you populate your artwork. We would love to see which animals you choose!
Finally, once you have made all of your additions, you could bring it all together with a background. Adding a background would help to give your stingray sketch a real sense of place.
There is a huge amount of diversity in the many environments we have in our oceans, so you could create some amazing scenery.
Once again, looking at pictures of underwater locations would help to give some inspiration.
Maybe you could even create a scene such as a diver admiring the stingray!
Your Stingray Drawing is Complete!
The stingray is one of the most unique-looking animals on the planet, and we hope that you had lots of fun recreating one in this guide on how to draw a stingray!
While potentially a tricky drawing to do, we aimed to make it easy to do so that you could focus on the fun of creating with as little frustration as possible.
When you’ve finished the guide, you get to take charge with your own details and elements!
You should feel free to change up any of the smaller touches and add your favorite colors and art mediums to finish it off.
Then you can keep the fun going even further by visiting us on our website. There you can find many amazing guides to enjoy, and we upload new ones frequently!
We would also be thrilled if you would share your finished stingray drawing on our Facebook and Pinterest pages for us to enjoy!
