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Octopus Drawings
My octopus drawings are all very similar because, as I discovered, there are not too many ways to draw an octopus!
It took a while but I finally found a good, clear reference photo of an octopus. Unfortunately, the photo was a bit small so pardon any errors that I inadvertently made while drawing larger for a better view.
I think it would look more interesting in color because I could better indicate which side the tentacles were facing. However, to overcome that problem, I put a little bit of detail on the top side and left the underside white. In my reference picture, the middle tentacles are behind the octopus so that is why we only see the white underside in this illustration. I hope that makes sense!
What Is An Octopus?
Believe it or not, general information about your subject actually helps your drawings improve because you are mindful of certain details.
An octopus...
- is an animal that lives in the sea.
- has a soft body with 8 arms, called tentacles.
- has 2 large eyes and a strong jaw that comes to a point.
- arms are used to catch and break shellfish.
- doesn't have a shell outside or inside. It has a tough cover called a mantle.
- has round muscles on the underside of each arm that are like suction cups which fasten tightly to any object.
- is not known to attack humans.
- breathes using gills, like fish.
- body protrudes from the head.
- swims not by using his arms, but by sucking water into his body and expels it through its siphon which then propels him backwards.
- can squirt a black fluid from the siphon which forms a black cloud to hide it from other predators such as sharks and whales. The siphon is a funnel shaped opening under the head.
- can change color to blend in with surroundings.
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There are about 50 different kinds of octopus and they belong to a marine group call mollusks. I was interested to learn that if an octopus loses an arm, another arm will grow in its place. All in all, I think he's a strange looking fellow!
Concentration Is Required
Here is my simple version of a cartoon octopus.
To rate octopus drawings on degree of difficulty, I think it would be something to try once your level of confidence allows you to experiment and accept all results as part of the process.
While I'm content with these images in my 2nd year of hobby artistry, I didn't feel completely sure about obtaining a good resemblance.
The eight arms require good concentration. On the picture I was copying from, I kept my finger on each tentacle that I drew so I could keep track of where I was and where it curled.
I was glad my octopus drawing was in pencil because I had the correct suspicion that I'd need to do copious erasing. Don't worry if you need to erase, even expert artists do that!
These are the times when I'm very grateful that graphite is my medium of choice.
If your interest lies with animals of the sea, then you may like to try doing some easy turtle drawings for your next triumphant moment.
Click a link below to view various animal illustrations:
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