Whether you think snails are cool or icky, you probably like their shells. They’re nice things to collect from the woods or at the beach, and they’re not hard to draw either. This wikiHow explains two easy ways to draw a snail shell.
Steps
Method 1
Method 1 of 2:
Drawing a Pointy Shell
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1Sketch a lopsided diamond shape. The left side should come to a sharper point than the right.
- This shape serves as a guideline for the drawing. Make it dark enough that you can easily see it but light enough to erase it later on. When in doubt, lighter is better.
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2Add some curves to the left side of the diamond starting near the middle. These are guidelines for the spirals in the shell. The curves start large and far apart, but they quickly become closer together and smaller as you draw them. The leftmost curve is the smallest.Advertisement
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3Draw one curve sloping down and to the left along the right of the diamond. This will become the opening of the shell. This curve should end close to but not touching the other curves.
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4Connect each curve with a bump shape. Connect them both at the top and bottom, and don't forget to connect the opening also. Just like the spirals, these bumps become smaller and closer together the further to the left they go.
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5Erase the diamond shape. Now that you've connected all the curves, you have a closer shape to the outline of the shell than the diamond was. You don't need that as a guideline anymore, so you can erase it.
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6Connect a "C" shaped line to the top and bottom of the right edge of the shell. This finishes the opening or "lip" of the shell.
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7Refine the drawing. Neaten any curves and bumps you want to and fix any proportion issues. Erase any lines you no longer need. Keep editing the drawing until you're happy with the final product.
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8Darken your final lines. You can do this by pressing harder with your pencil or by using an ink pen. Digitally, you can quickly make your final lines dark by using a clipped layer.
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9Color, shade, or leave as is. You're finished with the drawing!
- Pointy snail shells like this one often have stripes.
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Method 2
Method 2 of 2:
Drawing a Round Shell
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1Sketch an oval. It should be slightly wider than it is tall.
- This shape serves as a guideline for the drawing. Make it dark enough that you can easily see it but light enough to erase it later on. When in doubt, lighter is better
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2Draw a spiral. It should connect to the circle from the bottom left, and it should finish slightly down and to the left of the center. The spiral will curve into itself counter-clockwise.
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3Add a gentle curve from the start of the spiral to the circle. This separates the front of the shell from itself opening.
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4Complete the opening of the shell. This will start at the highest point of the shell and end at the curve from the previous step. The shape will look slightly like a backwards "L". It will follow the curve of the circle.
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5Refine the drawing. Neaten any curves you want to and fix any proportion issues. Keep editing the drawing until you're happy with the final product.
- You're done with the circle guideline now, so you can erase it.
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6Darken your final lines. You can do this by pressing harder with your pencil or by using an ink pen. Digitally, you can quickly make your final lines dark by using a clipped layer.
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7Color, shade, or leave it as it is. You've just drawn a round snail shell!
- It helps to shade a round snail shell in curving bands of color.
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