How to Draw a Fish (Step by Step Goldfish Tutorial)

Draw a light horizontal line straight across the center of the page. This is your symmetry guide - the spine the rest of the fish builds around.

From the left side, curl a line up to the top of where the body will sit, then bring it down and to the right to meet the center line. Mirror that same curve below the center line so the body forms a soft teardrop pointing right. Keep your pencil loose and your lines light. You're feeling out the shape, not committing to it.

From the right tip of the body, sketch a line that angles up and out. Then from the bottom tip, do the same thing in the opposite direction - down and out. Close the tail with a short straight line connecting the two outer points.

The tail should look like a fan or flag flaring off the back of the body. Goldfish tails are wider at the tip than at the base. Keep these lines light too - you'll come back and refine the shape later once the body's full silhouette is in place.

Starting along the top of the body, draw a fin that curves up and back, then sweeps around and returns down to meet the body. That's the dorsal fin.

For the front pectoral fin, start near the gill area on the left, drop the line down, then bend it outward and flatten the tip before tapering back up toward the body. Add one more small fin underneath the body for the lower pelvic fin. The fish silhouette is now complete - body, tail, top fin, side fin, bottom fin.

In the center of the head area, draw a small circle for the eye. Place a smaller solid circle inside it for the pupil, slightly off-center so it has direction.

Keep the eye small relative to the head. Goldfish have round eyes but they aren't oversized like a cartoon character. The pupil is the darkest spot on the drawing at this stage, so press a little harder when you fill it in. Leave a tiny dot of paper white near the top of the pupil - that's the highlight that will make the eye look alive when you shade later.

Separate the head from the body with a curved line that arcs from the top of the body across the head, then back down toward the bottom. That's the gill.

For the mouth, work on the front of the head. Bring the snout out, in, and down to form the top of the lip. Then step in and back out for a small lower lip, with a slight overlap that gives the mouth dimension. Refine the eye edges while you're here - clean up the circle, darken the pupil a touch more.

Switch to the tip of your pencil. Starting near the gill, draw a row of small overlapping curves - little U-shapes or half-circles that face the head.

Layer the next row of scales behind the first, offsetting them so they nest into the gaps. Keep going all the way to the base of the tail. Make the scales slightly smaller as you move toward the back. Don't fill the entire body - fade the texture out as you reach the top edge and the belly so the pattern doesn't feel uniformly busy.

Use the side edge of your pencil for broad shading. Darken across the top of the head and fade the value down toward the belly. Add a band of darker reflection across the center of the body - that's the line that makes the fish look round instead of flat.

Darken the center of each scale to deepen the texture. Push the shadows in the tail and fins so they pull away from the body. Add a small highlight inside the eye by leaving paper white, then tighten any final details. Sign your work in the corner - your goldfish is done.