How To Draw A Koi Fish with this how-to video and step-by-step drawing instructions. Easy animals to draw for beginners and kids.
Please see the drawing tutorial in the video below
You can refer to the simple step-by-step drawing guide below
STEP 1:
FIRST, FIND YOUR REFERENCE PHOTO
Before we start drawing, it’s important to take some time to research the koi and decide what type you want to illustrate. There are several types of koi, so it helps if you have a pattern that you can cite if you get stuck. This is mainly to help with anatomy, so you will still have the opportunity to personalize your koi illustration according to the template.
STEP 2:
Fish are flexible animals, so it will help you to start drawing koi with a curved line. Think about how they move through the water and sketch a line based on that. Next, draw a long oval body around the first line, making sure that it tapers off considerably as you get to the end.
With the body in place, you can focus your attention on the head, which will be the oldest part of the koi. The boundary of this section is by a small line forming a V in the center. Then sketch a pair of round eyes that slightly protrude from the koi’s head. Take a moment to check your reference photo, and if necessary, lengthen the fish’s nose as I did below. Finally, you can give the koi two wavy antennae.
STEP 3:
ADDED AMOUNT AND AMOUNT
Next, it’s time to add tails and fins to your koi. If you are drawing butterfly koi, these appendages will be long and flowing. Start drawing the fins where you drew the line of the head. Let them extend next to the body to a point before ending the line with a tapered “V”. Then, start the dorsal fin in the middle of the body and make a thin, wavy rectangle that ends near the tail. Depending on the angle of your koi, you can also add an anal fin to one side of the dorsal fin. Check with your reference photo if you have trouble distinguishing the appendages.
STEP 4:
COMPLETE DETAILS
Since this tutorial will cover how to draw a koi in black and white, it’s important that you make up for the lack of color with textures. This is much easier than it sounds, and just requires a little patience. For example, you can complete a koi’s tail and fins by drawing long, wavy lines that are more or less parallel to each other. It’s okay if they’re uneven — the pattern will still give the desired effect after it’s fully filled in.
You can finish the body in a variety of ways, but here I chose to layer it with scales. This is similar to the process I used to draw a dragon, where you carefully draw rows of semi-circles on top of each other until you reach the tail. I’ve kept the scales quite large here, but feel free to experiment with your scales. Many koi also have patterned skin, which you can color black now or later with crayons or markers.
STEP 5:
TRAVEL THROUGH DRAWING INK
Once you’re satisfied with your sketch, it’s time to find your favorite pen and review the ink drawing. Different pens will produce different effects, so keep that in mind when making your selection. For example, a brush pen will give the koi a more expressive effect, while a fine-line pen will create a more even look. However, if you have a collection of slimline pens with different nib sizes, you can switch to a smaller pen for a more precise texture.
After you’ve drawn all the lines on the pen, set the drawing aside to give the ink plenty of time to dry. Then, use an eraser to gently remove any remaining pencil marks. Congratulations! You drew your own koi fish.
