• 48 ideas
  • Checked October 2026

Easy Anchor Drawing Ideas

Press for an anchor to draw: a named kind, with rope or chain, a badge design, or one at sea.

Easy Anchor Drawing Ideas

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  1. A plow anchor, one pointed blade on a shankNamed for its likeness to a farm plow. Draw a blade like a plowshare hinged to the end of a bar.

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Kinds of anchor 12

  • A basket of stones lowered as an anchor The ancient Greeks used baskets of stones and large sacks of sand as weights for their ships.
  • A claw anchor curved like a cupped hand A claw-shaped design of the 1970s that stows easily on a bow roller. One wide curved scoop.
  • A flat fluke anchor laid on a deck A light, compact, flat design of the 1940s that is easy to store. The flukes lie in one plane.
  • A folding anchor, one arm laid along the shank A 19th century design with a pivot at the crown, so the idle upper arm folds flat against the shank.
  • A grapnel with four curved tines A shank with four or more tines and no stock. It is light, and also used to drag for gear lost overboard.
  • A mushroom anchor, named for its shape A mooring anchor that holds largely by its weight as it beds into the bottom. A stem on a round cap.
  • A plow anchor, one pointed blade on a shank Named for its likeness to a farm plow. Draw a blade like a plowshare hinged to the end of a bar.
  • A scoop anchor with a roll bar over its blade A modern scoop design: a large spade-like fluke with a sharp toe, and a hoop of bar arching over it.
  • A stockless anchor: heavy flukes on a pivot Patented in England in 1821. The flukes swing on a pivot at the end of the shank, and there is no stock.
  • A stone anchor: a holed rock tied with rope Early Maori canoes anchored with hollowed stones on ropes of flax.
  • An Admiralty anchor with its stock set crosswise Also called a fisherman. The stock sits near the ring, at ninety degrees to the two arms and their flukes.
  • An iron anchor with a wooden stock, Viking style The Ladby ship, probably of the 10th century, had an iron fluked anchor that would have had a wooden stock.

With rope and chain 12

  • A fouled anchor, rope caught around the shank On an Admiralty anchor one fluke always sticks up, so the rope tends to catch as the boat swings.
  • A shackle and pin through the ring of an anchor's shank The shank ends in a ring or a shackle where the rode is made fast. A circle through a U with a pin.
  • A swivel in a cable stretched between two anchors One anchor at each end of the cable and a swivel in the middle, with the boat made fast to the swivel.
  • A trip line tied to the crown of an anchor A second, lighter line fixed to the crown lets a stuck anchor be unhooked from an underwater snag.
  • A weight sliding down an anchor line A heavy weight lowered down the line in front of the bow flattens the pull on the anchor.
  • An anchor beside a heap of chain heavier than itself The chain can weigh more than the anchor, and its weight is critical to holding.
  • An anchor line let out at a long, low slant Scope is the length of rode let out compared with the depth of the water. More scope, lower slant.
  • An anchor with its rode: half chain, half rope The line from anchor to boat is called the rode. It can be rope, chain, or chain joined to rope.
  • Anchor chain close up: oval links, face on and edge on Each link passes through the next at right angles, so you see a wide loop, then a narrow slot.
  • Anchor rope laid out in long S bends on a deck Lay the rope in even bends so that it can run out freely, with the anchor waiting at one end.
  • Two anchors on one line, one behind the other Called tandem anchoring: two anchors set one behind the other on a single rode.
  • Two anchors set from one bow, lines 45 degrees apart Two anchors set about 45 degrees apart from the bow hold a boat facing into strong winds.

With wheels, stars and banners 12

  • A full anchor crest: wheel, rope border, banner, star Build it from the back forward: rope border, wheel, anchor, then the banner in front and the star on top.
  • A star sitting where the anchor's ring would be Five points, one pointing straight up, on the same center line as the shank.
  • An anchor behind a ship's wheel Draw the wheel first: a ring, eight spokes and eight handles. The shank runs down through its hub.
  • An anchor flanked by two stars above a scroll Keep everything mirrored on the shank: a star at each side of the ring, the scroll under the arms.
  • An anchor in a round frame of knotted cord Draw two circles close together and fill the band between them with short slanted strokes for the twist.
  • An anchor in solid black against a fan of sunbeams A half circle behind the arms and straight rays fanning out from it. The anchor stays solid black.
  • An anchor laid over a compass rose Draw the rose first: four long points, four short ones. The shank lies along the north to south line.
  • An anchor paired with a lifebuoy, one line through both The buoy is a ring with four bands. Pass the rope through the buoy and then through the anchor ring.
  • An anchor with a lettering scroll tied across its shank Draw the banner as a long band with folded ends. The anchor shows above and below it, never through it.
  • An anchor with flower stems twined up the shank Wind one stem around the shank in three turns, with leaves on the outside of every turn.
  • An anchor with your initial set on the stock Widen the stock into a small plaque and letter one capital on it. Keep the rest in plain outline.
  • Two anchors crossed at the shank Tilt each one 45 degrees. Decide which lies on top and break the other one where they cross.

On ships, docks and the sea bed 12

  • A boat swinging around its anchor, three positions An anchored boat needs room to swing as wind and current shift. Draw the boat three times on one arc.
  • A concrete mooring block on the seabed, chain rising Permanent moorings use a big weight on the seabed, most often a concrete block or slab.
  • A grapnel hooked fast under a rock ledge A grapnel can find such a good hook that it cannot be pulled free without a trip line from its crown.
  • A kedge anchor carried out in a rowboat A kedge may be taken out by a ship's boat and dropped so that a grounded ship can be winched off.
  • A sea anchor trailing in the water, touching nothing A sea anchor drags in the water and never touches the seabed. It slows the drift of the boat.
  • A small boat lying to its anchor, line off the bow The line leaves the bow at a slant and the boat points along it. Show the anchor small on the bottom.
  • A stockless anchor pulled up snug in its hawsepipe It is hauled up until the shank is inside the pipe and the flukes lie flat against the hull.
  • An anchor breaking out, the boat directly above it An anchor is freed by shortening the line until the boat is straight over it. Draw the line vertical.
  • An anchor dropping, chain running out after it Catch it just above the water: anchor upright, chain in a loose curve, the splash still to come.
  • An anchor dug into the seabed, one fluke buried Flukes hook on to rocks or bury themselves in a soft bottom. Hide one fluke under the sand line.
  • An anchor hanging from the cathead of an old ship's bow The ring end was hoisted to a timber sticking out from the bow, called the cathead.
  • An old anchor propped up on a dock as a monument Lean the anchor on its stock and one fluke. Add a low plinth and a bollard to give it scale.

How it works

Anchors to draw, 48 of them: kinds of anchor, anchors with rope and chain, designs with wheels, stars and banners, and anchors on ships, docks and the sea bed. The page opens on the 18 easy ones.

Read the full guide

The parts of an anchor

A ring at the top, a long shank, and two arms that end in flukes, the pointed teeth that grip the bottom. On the old Admiralty pattern a stock crosses the shank near the ring, at ninety degrees to the arms. Draw the stock and the anchor reads as the classic one.

From one anchor to a badge

Easy starts with a single anchor in outline. With wheels, stars and banners turns it into a design: a scroll across the shank, a frame of cord, two anchors crossed. Choose Any level under the button for all 48. Kind, under More filters, keeps the list to one group.

  • Draw the shank first as one straight line, then hang the ring above it and the arms below.

Questions and answers

What is the easiest anchor to draw?

A grapnel: one straight shank with four curved tines at the bottom and no stock. A plow anchor is one pointed blade on a shank. Easy holds 18.

What are the parts of an anchor called?

The ring at the top takes the rope or chain. The shank is the long central bar. The arms end in flukes, which dig in. The crown is where arms and shank meet, and the stock is the crossbar of older anchors.

What is a fouled anchor?

An anchor with its own rope or chain caught around it. On the Admiralty pattern one fluke always sticks up, so the rope tends to catch as the boat swings. Draw one loop of rope around the shank.

Why do old anchors have a crossbar?

The crossbar is the stock. It lies at ninety degrees to the arms, so when the rope pulls, the stock digs in and tips the anchor until one fluke catches and digs into the bottom.

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