sailboat ink drawing

How to Draw a Sailboat

Pencil Drawing

Seascapes , Transport

1 Beginner , 2 Intermediate

Nolan Clark

b Class Description

In this lesson we will draw a sailing boat.

During the class you will learn:

1) How to draw clouds 2) How to draw the sails so they look like they have various amounts of wind 3) How to draw reflections in the water 4) How to show the land in the distance 5) and much more…

 You Will Need

• Set of Pencils (2H, HB, B, 2B, 4B, 6B, 8B)
• Kneadable Eraser
• Soft Eraser
• Tombow Mono Eraser
• Drawing Paper or Sketchbook
• Soft Lint Free Cloth

Short Class Video

Class Tutorial

In this tutorial we will draw a sailboat. This is the reference photo I will be working from.

Drawing the Sky

Our sailboat reference photo doesn’t have nice clouds in it so I have found this photo which does have nice clouds.

We will use our artistic license to add clouds similar to these into our drawing. That should add extra drama and interest to the scene.

Start off by covering a spare piece of paper with graphite.

We will use this and a cloth to draw with.

We don’t want to lose the horizon so we mask it off.

Now rub the cloth over the graphite paper, then onto your drawing to draw the clouds.

In a circular motion rub the shadows of the clouds onto the paper.

What I am trying to do is create the gradual shadings formed by the clouds.

To ensure I don’t loose the shape of the boat I use an eraser to keep the edges of the sails defined.

The clouds give us the contrast we need for the white sails to be visible so don’t be shy with the contrast you add to the clouds.

Drawing the Sails

Now we can move over to the sails.

Each sail has a different shading because of its shape so you need to carefully look at how the light reflects off of each sail.

This one here is round so it has a gradual shading.

The one behind it is also round so will also get that gradual shading.

This time however the first sail is casting a shadow on it so the tonal values of these shadings are different.

To draw these tonal values and shadings correctly vary the pressure you apply to the pencil as well as use harder and softer pencils.

This sail is full of creases, just suggest these creases by creating a series of contrasting lines.

Look very carefully at the direction of these lines through as they follow the shape of the sail.

Do the same with the other sails as well.

Now we can start to add the detail to the sails.

For this use a very sharp pencil or a mechanical pencil to add in all the rigging and to suggest the stitching work on each sail.

To ensure you draw the masts accurately use a ruler to draw the outside edges. Then color in the insides.

To show the mast is round darken the right hand edge on each mast.

Now we can gently remove the masking tape in order to draw the water.

Drawing the Water

There is a dark edge to the horizon so I use the ruler to establish the edge of the boat so I don’t lose it’s shape.

Now use your cloth and the graphite paper to lay down a basic tonal value on the water.

Erase the ripples on the water using a kneaded eraser.

To show perspective, make the ripples in the distance short and close to each other and the nearby ripples large and further apart.

The reflections are broken vertical lines so put in the dark vertical lines using the cloth first.

Then squiggle out the lighter reflections.

I have also used the pencil to squiggle a few extra contrasts here and there which completes the water.

Drawing the Boat

Now shade in the shape of the boat.

And use a dark pencil to suggest the people and detail on the boat.

Don’t draw fine detail here. Suggestions and basic shapes are good enough. Your brain will imagine the rest of the detail when looking at the completed artwork.

This is what the final sailboat drawing looks like:

Click the button below to view the real time follow along version of this class:

Paintings, Tutorials and Coloring pages

Pen and INK drawing Tutorial – How to draw a sailing ship

Learn how to draw a sailing ship.

It’s quite easy to draw in pen and ink. I think it’s the easiest method of learning how to draw a sailing ship or anything else, besides using drawing in pencil.

Along the time, I made a few videos where I show pen and ink drawing tutorials. I will show you how to draw a pirate ship, how to sketch a Viking ship and how to draw a Chinese ship.

The sailing boats seem complex in the photos, but if you break them into pieces, everything feels much easier.

I use a regular pen with no refill that I dip in black ink. The ink I am using is permanent black ink from Winsor and Newton. In the image, you can see the type of ink I use. The only difference is that I use the 250ml version of this ink.

1. Start by drawing the base of the boat

In the following video, I did a few months ago, you can see I draw the base and then I draw the mast of the ship. You need to use a reference photo to have a better image in your head about the boat. In this time-lapse pen and ink drawing tutorial, you can see the base, the mast, and the sails.

Check out the digital print of this ship drawing in ink and pen on Etsy

2. After drawing the basic elements of the sailing ship, you can add the smaller details.

Other elements of a boat are ropes, windows, flags, stairs, anchors and cabin. It’s not hard to learn how to draw a sailing ship. You don’t have to worry if the lines are not straight. I think that sloppy lines make the drawing more artistic.

3. When you finish adding all the elements, you can start adding shadows.

I do this step by cross-hatching the shadows, starting with the edge of the darker areas. Basically, this is how you draw a sailing ship. It doesn’t matter if you don’t draw it correctly from the first try. You will get better with each practice. I always look at sailing ships images when I draw to draw the correct proportions.

Other tutorials I recommend you are the following videos where I show how to draw a pirate ship and how to draw a Chinese Antique ship. You can also find the instant downloads of the prints on my Etsy page .

As you can see in my other related articles, such as the puppy drawing and the tree sketch , I love to use pen and ink in my drawings.

How to draw a pirate ship

A pirate ship has more veils and it’s more complex than a regular ship. That’s why it’s important to draw it using a pencil if you don’t have enough confidence to use a pen and ink. So you can erase the mistakes and invisible parts. Another method is to start with the elements you see in front and then draw the back-end elements. You can see my method in the following time-lapse video I created.

You can find the digital print of this ship drawing on my Etsy

How to draw a Chinese antique ship

Drawing ships is one of my passions and in this video, I did an example drawing after a Chinese Ship image. In the same series, there is also a Pirate Ship Drawing, a Viking Ship Drawing, a regular boat, and this Chinese Ship Drawing. I do these drawings in pen and ink on paper. The ink is permanent black ink from Winsor & Newton. It’s a high-quality ink. The video is not so good since I didn’t realize I was filming in portrait mode. But enjoy and I hope you learn something new from videos.

You can find the digital print of this drawing on Etsy.

The digital print of the cover image from this article can be found on my Etsy page . Also, feel free to check my other elements in the listing.

Thank you for checking out this article and I hope it helped you learn something new.

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