How to Draw An Octopus. There are many dangers to be feared when crossing the open ocean. From storms to jets of water to wild waves, there’s plenty to keep sailors on their toes. Seafarers used to believe in the fearsome octopus, a giant squid that is said to pull ships into the depths.

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This legendary creature is no longer feared, but it continues to appear in films, books, video games, and other media today. Learning to draw the Kraken is a great way to pay homage to this fearsome legendary monster! This guide is the one to follow if you want to find out how to do it.

How to Draw An octopus

Step 1

For this guide on how to draw an octopus, we present an animated drawing of the monster. In this sense, we can start by removing the beast’s head. We give this octopus a big round head, and you can draw it with a curved and rounded line. It creates such a voluminous charge that it falls slightly to the side.

After drawing this head shape as it appears in our reference image, we will draw angry eyes on it. Use some curved lines for the eyes, and we will use these lines to give it the stern expression we’re showing.

Step 2

What would the octopus be without its tentacles? In this next step, let’s add some of these to your octopus drawing. As you can imagine, we want these tentacles to be quite wavy and floppy. For now, we’ll outline four tentacles; two left and two right.

There will be a gap at the base of the Kraken, but we’ll fill it later. For now, use wavy lines to create the tentacles, making sure you have a pointed tip at each end. Then finish them by adding small rounded shapes along the base for the tentacles’ suction cups.

Step 3

Continuing with this tutorial on how to draw an octopus, we will add another tentacle to the dough. This tentacle will begin to fill the space at the base of the octopus and, like the others, will be wavy with small, round suckers. Once this tentacle is drawn, we’ll need to add another in the next few steps, along with some finishing touches!

Step 4

We will add the final tentacle for this octopus design in this step. The latter will fill the absolute space left at the bottom of the octopus and take the same shape as any others you drew. With that tentacle removed, you have completed the outline for the octopus.

Before moving on to the final details in the next step, you can add a few simple lines to the eyes to further accentuate this octopus’ angry expression.

Step 5

It will soon be time to color this sea monster, but first, we need to add some final details in this step of our how-to-draw an octopus guide. For these details, start by adding some small rounded spotted shapes on the octopus’ head. You can replicate them as they appear in our reference image, but feel free to change those details if you’d like!

Draw An Octopus

Once these pieces are marked, you are prepared for the final stage! However, you can also add some fun details. Perhaps you could remove this Kraken from the ocean while an ill-fated ship sails nearby. Can you think of any other essential information or ideas to add to this image? We are excited to see what interesting ideas you come up with!

Step 6

It is the last step of your octopus drawing, and you will finish it with some paint! The good news is that you can use any colors you can think of to complete this octopus. Our reference image just provided an example of how you can color it. We used shades of purple for the body while balancing this with some blue for the spots.

Octopus Drawing

So we used a bright yellow for the pupils to give it an even more intense look. These are the colors we chose, but what colors do you think would go with them? Are you going for a similar or unique color scheme? Have fun experimenting with colors and artistic means, and see what happens!

4 Tips to Make Your Octopus Drawing Even Better

Recreate this famous sea monster with our tips for your octopus sketch.

Tip #1

This octopus design is colored with a mix of purple and blue, and these colors are fantastic! If you want to customize the design with different colors, you can be creative with it. 

It could involve replacing one of the colors or a unique color scheme utterly different from the ones we use. Don’t be afraid to try other artistic tools and mediums, as they can help make colors more unique.

Tip #2

What could be scarier than meeting the Kraken? Meeting the Kraken along with another sea monster would probably be the answer! Because of this, we think adding another sea monster would be great. 

For some ideas, it could be a giant squid or a monstrous shark. You can use a sea monster that has appeared in existing stories or create a new one with your design!

Tip #3

Speaking of meeting a sea monster, that’s something else you could draw in this drawing of the octopus. We could do it by adding a ship unfortunate enough to encounter this sea monster. They could make the boat look old-fashioned, like an 18th-century pirate ship. Or, for a more modern twist, you could make the boat look like a large cruise ship.

What kind of ship would you like to show when you take on the Kraken? We recommend adding a background for your octopus sketch to take the previous step further. It can be done whether or not you decide to add other characters!

Tip #4

It would make this design even more dramatic if the octopus were sitting in a stormy ocean with the waves raging around it. Once you’ve added something like a ship, you can create an entire scene by adding a background.

Your Octopus Drawing is Ready!

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