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Jellyfish Drawing Ideas

One jellyfish to draw per press: a named kind, a part, a study in light or an imagined one.

Jellyfish Drawing Ideas

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  1. A jellyfish in three parts: bell, oral arms, tentaclesTentacles hang from the rim of the bell. The oral arms hang from around the mouth, in the middle.

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Kinds of jellyfish 14

  • A blue blubber jellyfish with eight arms and no tentacles Light blue to dark blue or purple, with a large rounded bell and eight arms in place of tentacles.
  • A box jellyfish, a square bell with a stalk at each corner The bell is box-shaped. Each of four lower corners trails a short stalk with tentacles.
  • A cannonball jellyfish, a dome with a brown rim Named for its shape and size. The rim of the dome is often brown, and a cluster of arms hangs below.
  • A compass jellyfish from above, brown V marks on its bell The bell carries brown markings shaped like long V's, set around it like the spokes of a wheel.
  • A crystal jelly drawn with the fewest lines you can It is almost entirely transparent and colorless. Use the lightest pencil you have.
  • A flower hat jelly, pinstriped bell and tentacles coiled at the rim The bell is translucent with opaque pinstripes. The tentacles coil against the rim when not in use.
  • A fried egg jellyfish from above, yellow in the middle The yellow center looks like an egg yolk and gives the jellyfish its name.
  • A lion's mane jellyfish, a mass of long trailing tentacles One of the largest known jellyfish. The largest recorded had tentacles around 120 feet long.
  • A moon jelly side on, four rings showing through the bell It is almost see-through, and four horseshoe-shaped rings show through the top of the bell.
  • A Pacific sea nettle with a golden-brown bell and long spiraling arms The whitish oral arms are long and spiraling, and 24 maroon tentacles trail behind the bell.
  • A Portuguese man o' war, a gas-filled float above long tentacles Not a true jellyfish but a colony of many small units. A sail on the float catches the wind.
  • A purple-striped jelly, stripes fanning out over the bell The bell usually carries a radial pattern of stripes. Curve each one over the dome.
  • A spotted jelly, spots on its bell and clubs on its arms It has eight frilled oral arms, each ending in a club. Scatter the spots over the top of the bell.
  • An upside-down jellyfish resting on the sea floor, arms up It lives mostly bell-down on the bottom, its underside pointing upward.

Parts and movement 14

  • A bell cut in half to show the jelly inside The bell is a layer of clear jelly called mesoglea, which is 95 percent water or more.
  • A jellyfish drifting, bell tilted to one side Tilt the dome and let everything below it trail the other way, like the tail of a kite.
  • A jellyfish in three parts: bell, oral arms, tentacles Tentacles hang from the rim of the bell. The oral arms hang from around the mouth, in the middle.
  • A jellyfish seen from below, the mouth in the middle The mouth opens on the underside. Draw the oral arms spreading out from it toward the rim.
  • A jellyfish seen from directly above, divided into quarters True jellyfish are built in fours. Mark the circle into quarters before you add anything else.
  • A polyp fixed to a rock, the stage before the swimming jellyfish The polyp stage lives attached to the seabed and can last far longer than the jellyfish it makes.
  • A smack of jellyfish seen from below, dark against the surface Jellyfish in a group are a smack. From underneath each one is a ring with a dark middle.
  • An immortal jellyfish turning back into a polyp This small jellyfish can return to the polyp stage after it has matured. Add a return arrow.
  • The bell drawn as an umbrella, open and half closed The bell is umbrella-shaped. Draw it wide and shallow, then taller and narrower as it squeezes.
  • The jellyfish life cycle in four drawings A planula larva settles as a polyp, the polyp buds off ephyrae, and an ephyra grows into a medusa.
  • One pulse in three frames: bell open, bell squeezed, bell open The bell pulses to push the animal along. Move it a little higher on the page in each frame.
  • Oral arms beside tentacles: wavy ribbons and fine threads Draw the arms as wavy ribbons from the middle and the tentacles as thin lines from the rim.
  • Tentacles drawn by pressing and lifting the pen Start each line firmly at the rim and lift as you go, so that it thins to nothing at the tip.
  • Tentacles swept one way by a current Bend every tentacle with the same curve. The bell stays upright above them.

Light and see-through 14

  • A glow from inside the bell Shade from the edges of the page inward and leave the middle of the bell the lightest thing there.
  • A helmet jellyfish lit from within, red in the dark A red jellyfish of the deep sea that shuns light and lights itself from inside with red flashes.
  • A jellyfish crossed by sunbeams from above Rule three slanted beams down the page. Where one crosses the bell, leave the rim white.
  • A jellyfish made only of dots, densest at the rim Crowd the dots at the edges of the bell and thin them out toward the middle.
  • A jellyfish on blue paper, only its highlights in white pencil Let the paper be the body. Put white on the top of the dome and along the edges of the arms.
  • A jellyfish under the surface with its reflection above it Seen from below, the surface acts as a mirror. Draw the bell again above it, upside down and broken.
  • A mauve stinger glowing at night The second half of its Latin name means night light, and it can glow in the dark. Shade the sea black.
  • A pale jellyfish left blank inside a dark scribbled sea Scribble the water dark and stop at the outline. The jellyfish is the paper you left alone.
  • A see-through bell with the far rim drawn through the near one Draw the whole ellipse of the rim, front and back. Seeing the back edge makes it look like glass.
  • A shaded bell with a highlight lifted out by an eraser Shade the whole dome evenly in pencil, then rub out one curved streak near the top.
  • A wet wash left to bloom into a bell Drop color into a damp half circle and let it spread on its own. Add tentacles when it is dry.
  • A white-pen jellyfish on black paper, tentacles in dashes Dome first, then broken lines for tentacles. A few white dots around it read as drifting specks.
  • An Atolla jellyfish flashing in deep black water A deep-red jellyfish of the deep sea. When attacked it sets off a series of flashes of light.
  • Two overlapping jellyfish, darker where they cross Each is one pale tone. Where the two bells overlap, lay the tone twice.

Imagined jellyfish 14

  • A carousel under a jellyfish bell, fish riding around the rim The oral arms are the center pole. Hang a seahorse or a fish from each tentacle.
  • A city hanging from the tentacles of a giant jellyfish Windows are lit in houses strung along every tentacle. Small boats row between them.
  • A jellyfish as a bedside lamp The bell is the shade, with a fringe of short tentacles. One longer tentacle is the pull cord.
  • A jellyfish as a hot-air balloon with a basket Hang a small basket from four tentacles and stripe the bell like balloon cloth.
  • A jellyfish as a parachute over the sea The tentacles gather to a single point below, where a small crate hangs.
  • A jellyfish as an umbrella in the rain The bell is the canopy and the tentacles are the rain running off its rim.
  • A jellyfish chandelier hanging from a ceiling Turn the oral arms into curved brass arms and hang a glass drop from each tentacle.
  • A jellyfish wind chime The bell is the cap. The tentacles are tubes of different lengths with a clapper in the middle.
  • A jellyfish with strings of lights for tentacles Each tentacle is a wire with a small bulb every little way. Loop two of them together.
  • A night sky inside the bell of a jellyfish Fill the dome with dark sky, stars and a crescent moon. Leave the rim and the tentacles pale.
  • A rain cloud with jellyfish tentacles for rain Give the cloud the scalloped rim of a bell. The rain falls in long wavering lines.
  • A weeping willow drawn as a jellyfish The crown is the bell and the hanging branches are the tentacles. Add a trunk and it is a tree again.
  • An upturned teacup pouring tentacles of tea The cup is the bell, the handle sticks out to one side, and the tea falls in thin streams.
  • The moon as a jellyfish, its reflection the tentacles A full moon sits low over the sea. The broken streaks of light on the water hang down from it.

How it works

A jellyfish is a dome with lines hanging from it, so it forgives a shaky hand. These jellyfish drawing ideas name the kinds, take the body apart, and then work on the hard part: drawing something you can see through.

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The parts of a jellyfish

The dome is the bell, a layer of clear jelly that is 95 percent water or more. Tentacles hang from its rim. The oral arms hang from around the mouth, which opens in the middle of the underside. The bell squeezes and opens to push the animal along, so the same jellyfish can be drawn wide and shallow or tall and narrow.

  • Make the oral arms wavy and the tentacles straighter, and never draw two the same length.

Questions and answers

What is an easy jellyfish to draw?

A jellyfish in three parts: a dome for the bell, wavy ribbons for the oral arms and thin lines for the tentacles. A jellyfish as an umbrella in the rain uses the same three. Easy, under More filters, holds 18.

How do you make a jellyfish look see-through?

Draw the far rim of the bell through the near one, so that the whole ellipse shows. Keep the shading pale, and go darker only where two see-through shapes overlap.

Is a Portuguese man o' war a jellyfish?

No. It looks like one, but it is a siphonophore: a colony of many small units that works as a single animal. A gas-filled bladder with a sail keeps it afloat on the surface.

What is a group of jellyfish called?

A smack. When conditions suit them, jellyfish also gather in vast swarms called blooms. On the list a smack is drawn from below, dark against the surface.

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