Draw a Blue Tang
Blue tangs are beautiful tropical saltwater fish that go by many other names: Paracanthurus hepatus, regal tang, palette surgeonfish, hippo tang, flagtail surgeonfish and the blue surgeonfish. Many people will recognize it as the forgetful sidekick named Dory in the Disney movie, "Finding Nemo". Drawing one might seem daunting, but it is actually pretty simple. Here's how to capture on paper the bold colors and smooth lines that make the blue tang striking. In this wikiHow, you will learn how to draw a blue tang!
Contents
Steps
Realistic Blue Tang
- Draw a slightly skewed oval.
- The oval should be horizontal.
- Make sure that you are using a pencil for the draft sketch so you can erase it afterwards to make it neat.
- Add the fins and tails.
- For the tail, just draw a long triangle at one opposite end, with the point towards the fish body.
- For the fin, just draw an elongated heart-shaped figure placed 1/3 across from the left.
- Add more fins and the face.
- For the anal fin, just add a long curved line from the belly to the tail. It doesn’t need to look perfect, just to add some textures to the fish.
- For the pelvic fin, draw a skewed “V” that points slightly towards the tail.
- Draw a circle for the face just so you know where to draw the gills. Also, draw 2 peaks for the fish’s beak.
- Using a pen, draw on top of your sketch.
- Put in mind the overlapping lines and parts that should be hidden.
- The lineart might not look perfect and crisp but it should look neat when the pencil is erased.
- Erase the pencil sketch and add details.
- You can add a line for the dorsal fin and you can make the eyes bigger or fuller.
- You can also add extra lines to separate the color. I added some of those lines to the tail.
- Color your Blue Tang.
Cartoon Blue Tang
- Draw a round tear-drop figure.
- Add fins and tail.
- for the tail, just draw a triangle pointing towards the body.
- For the dorsal and anal fins, draw lines that would separate them from the body. Simple lines would do just as long as it looks like fins.
- For the pelvic fin, just draw a small dome at the fish’s underside.
- Draw the gills and fin.
- For the gills, just draw a simple vertical line for the guide, about 1/3 across the body
- For the fins, draw pointed butterfly wings-like figures on the side.
- Add face.
- Aside from the face you can also add other details like hats, ribbons, bags etc.
- Using a pen, draw on top of your sketch.
- The lineart might not look perfect and crisp but it should look neat when the pencil is erased.
- Color the Blue Tang.
A Sketch-Style Blue Tang
- Draw a shape that looks like a lemon with the far right tip cut off; this will be the body.
- At the open side of the body, draw a sideways triangle, with the “top” inserted in the opening. Make the “bottom” of the triangle slightly curved in, as this will be the tail fin. Extend the tips of the triangle a little so that the tail is fancier, and from each tip draw a line back to the body. Make them close to parallel with the sides of the triangle.
- Draw the eye and gill, positioned as shown.
Draw the top and bottom fins. They are just slight extensions of the body; the bottom fin starts at about the halfway point on the body. The top fin starts right above the eye. - Draw the black pattern on the body.
- Draw the mouth and pectoral fin (the fin that is next to the gill).
- Color it in. Blue tangs have very distinct colors and patterns. Your tang will look great in color (use a real picture or the example colored sketch as a reference).
- Finished.
Tips
- To make the fish look more realistic, make the edges of the fins slightly ragged looking.
- Most tangs have the same basic body shape. Experiment with different types of tangs by drawing different patterns and using different colors!
Things You'll Need
- Pencil or pen
- Paper
- Markers, crayons, colored pencils, etc.
