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Spider Drawing Ideas

One spider to draw per press: a named spider, a web, a pose or a friendly one for Halloween.

Spider Drawing Ideas

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  1. A spider drawn from two circles and eight bent linesA small circle in front and a larger one behind. All eight legs join the front circle.

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Named spiders 16

  • A cellar spider hanging upside down, legs as thin as hairs Also called a daddy long-legs spider. It hangs upside down in a messy, uneven web.
  • A crab spider on a petal, front legs held wide It holds its two front pairs of legs out to the sides and can scuttle sideways, like a crab.
  • A cross orbweaver, a white cross on its abdomen White markings on the back form a cross. The body color runs from pale yellow to dark gray.
  • A diving bell spider in its bubble of air underwater It lives almost entirely underwater, in a bell of silk that holds its air. Draw the bell as a dome.
  • A green huntsman spider on a leaf The body and the long legs are bright green, with a darker green stripe down the paler abdomen.
  • A ladybird spider, orange back with black spots The male has a bright orange back with four large and two small black spots. The female is black.
  • A net-casting spider holding a small web in its front legs It stretches a small web across its front legs. The body is long and thin, like a stick.
  • A raft spider standing on the surface of a pond Many raft and fishing spiders have a pale stripe down each side. Dimple the water under each foot.
  • A spinybacked orbweaver with six spines Six spine-like points stick out around its abdomen, which is wider than it is long.
  • A tarantula from above, legs spread Tarantulas are large and often hairy. Draw short strokes along every leg, pointing to the foot.
  • A trapdoor spider lifting the lid of its burrow Trapdoor spiders dig burrows and close them with a door hinged with silk. Show two legs and a gap.
  • A wolf spider with her spiderlings riding on her back After hatching, the young climb up the mother's legs and crowd onto the top of her abdomen.
  • An ant-mimic spider waving its front legs like antennae It lifts its front legs and waves them the way an ant moves its antennae. The body has a waist.
  • The front eyes of a jumping spider, two large and two small Jumping spiders have eight eyes. The middle pair of the front row is far larger than the rest.
  • One goldenrod crab spider drawn twice, white and yellow This crab spider can change between white and yellow. Sit each one on a flower of its own color.
  • The raised flap of a peacock spider, patterned like a fan The male lifts a colorful flap on its abdomen to display. The whole spider is about 5 mm long.

Webs 16

  • A dusty cobweb in the corner of a ceiling Cobweb is the word for a web that looks abandoned. Drape it in loose swags with no spider.
  • A funnel web in the grass, a flat sheet with a tunnel at one side Funnel weavers spin a flat sheet of web that is not sticky, with a funnel-shaped retreat.
  • A sheet web lying flat across the top of a bush Sheet webs lie in a horizontal plane. Draw it as a sagging cloth pinned to the twig tips.
  • A small web between two flower stems, a leaf caught in it Bend the stems toward each other a little. The leaf pulls its part of the web down.
  • A spider resting on an X-shaped web decoration, legs in pairs Some orb spiders rest with their legs stretched out in an X along four zigzag bands of silk.
  • A spider's spinnerets with a thread coming out The spinnerets sit at the tip of the abdomen and let out the silk. Show two legs guiding the line.
  • A web between two fence posts at sunrise, lit from behind Shade the background dark and leave the threads as the lightest lines on the page.
  • A web in the fork of a bare branch The two twigs are the frame. Fan the spokes out from the fork and join them with curved rungs.
  • A web on a foggy morning, drops strung along it Draw the threads lightly and the drops as small circles. Leave a white highlight in each.
  • A zigzag band of silk down the middle of a garden spider's web The band is called a stabilimentum. What it is for is still debated.
  • An orb web filling the gap between a gate and its post Anchor it at three points: the gate, the post and the ground. The spider sits at the hub.
  • An orb web half built: frame and spokes, no spiral yet The spider builds a frame, then the spokes, and adds the sticky spiral last of all.
  • An orb web in white pen on black paper Spokes first, then the spiral. Let every strand sag a little between one spoke and the next.
  • An orb web seen edge on, a single slanted line Most orb webs hang in a vertical plane. From the side: one line, a spider, and two anchor threads.
  • An orb web with its builder drawn to scale Keep the spider small: a web is often around twenty times the size of the spider that made it.
  • The sticky spiral of a web close up, droplets on the thread The last spiral a spider lays is covered in sticky droplets. Draw one thread as a string of beads.

Poses and close-ups 16

  • A jumping spider in mid-jump, a safety line trailing behind Before it jumps it fixes a line of silk to where it stands. Draw the line as a fine arc.
  • A small spider and its much larger shadow Light it from low down and to one side. The shadow's legs stretch long across the wall.
  • A spider beside an ant, legs and body parts counted Draw the two the same size. Count legs, body parts and antennae on each and write the totals underneath.
  • A spider beside its shed skin, an empty copy of itself A spider must molt to grow, because its outer skin cannot stretch. Draw the old skin as a pale twin.
  • A spider drawn from two circles and eight bent lines A small circle in front and a larger one behind. All eight legs join the front circle.
  • A spider from above with its parts labeled Two body parts joined by a narrow waist, eight legs, and no antennae. Label each one.
  • A spider in side view, abdomen raised From the side the front part is low and flat and the abdomen is a tilted egg behind it.
  • A spider lowering itself on one thread, side on The thread runs from the tip of the abdomen. Gather the legs in, with one pair holding the line.
  • A spider on its way back up, reeling in the line Front legs reach up the line, back legs bundle the used silk. The thread is taut above, slack below.
  • A spider walking across a ceiling, upside down Draw it the usual way, then turn the page around. The ceiling line is at its feet.
  • A spider with its legs drawn in, small as a button Fold every leg over the body. Only the knees stick out around the edge.
  • A spider's face with the two pedipalps beside the mouth The pedipalps are two small limbs at the front, not legs. Spiders have no antennae.
  • A spiderling ballooning, up on tiptoe with its abdomen to the sky It climbs to a high point, lifts its abdomen and lets out fine threads until the wind takes it.
  • A wolf spider carrying her round egg sac behind her The silk egg sac is fixed to the spinnerets, and she holds her abdomen up so it clears the ground.
  • One spider leg with its seven parts Each leg has seven parts and ends in claws. Draw every joint as a slight bend.
  • Three eye patterns: jumping spider, wolf spider, orb weaver Most spiders have eight eyes, and their layout differs from one family to the next.

Friendly and Halloween spiders 12

  • A fuzzy round spider with two big front eyes and six small ones Borrow the face of a jumping spider. Make the two middle eyes as large as you dare.
  • A Halloween paper spider with folded zigzag legs A black paper circle with eight zigzag strips, hung on a string. Add two stuck-on eyes.
  • A haunted house window with a web in each corner Four quarter webs frame the glass. One small spider sits in the corner that still has a light on.
  • A mother spider as a school bus, spiderlings riding on her back Wolf spiders carry their young this way. Give every passenger a different face.
  • A smiling spider waving with four legs and holding on with four The four on one side wave. The other four grip a thread running up off the page.
  • A spider lowering itself to look a jack-o'-lantern in the eye The pumpkin's eye is a triangle of light. The spider hangs level with it, a dark shape.
  • A spider lying in a hammock it has spun between two toadstools The hammock sags in the middle. Four legs are crossed behind its head.
  • A spider on a swing made from its own thread Two threads hang from a twig and a third joins them as the seat. Six legs stick straight out.
  • A spider playing its web like a harp It sits at one side and plucks the spokes with two legs. A few notes drift off the strings.
  • A spider's eight eyes, a candle flame reflected in each Draw the eyes as dark domes and put the same small flame in every one, each at its own angle.
  • A spiderling ballooning past a full moon on a single thread Small spiders travel on threads of silk carried by the wind. The moon is a plain circle behind.
  • A web with BOO spelled out in silk Draw the web first, in pencil. Thicken the strands that make the three letters.

How it works

A spider is two body parts and eight legs. What tells one kind from another is easy to see and draw: the eyes, the markings, the web. These spider drawing ideas name the spiders, draw their webs and end on friendly ones for Halloween.

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Draw a spider correctly

Two body parts, joined by a narrow waist. The front part carries the eyes and all eight legs; the abdomen behind carries the spinnerets, where the silk comes out. There are no antennae: the two short limbs beside the mouth are pedipalps.

  • Bend every leg at a knee. Eight straight legs make an asterisk, not a spider.

Questions and answers

What is an easy spider to draw?

A spider drawn from two circles and eight bent lines: a small circle in front, a larger one behind, and every leg joined to the front one. A spider lowering itself on one thread is next. Easy, under More filters, holds 19.

How many eyes does a spider have?

Most have eight, in four pairs. A jumping spider has two very large ones in the middle of the front row; a wolf spider has two large ones above a row of four small ones. Some spiders have six.

How do you draw a spider web?

In the order a spider builds an orb web: a frame, then spokes out from the middle, then the spiral laid across them. Let each strand sag a little between spokes.

What is the zigzag in a garden spider's web?

A band of silk called a stabilimentum, or web decoration, which some orb-web spiders add to their webs. It often takes the form of a zigzag, and what it is for is still debated.

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