Hi, welcome back to another directed drawing tutorial at Simple Easy Drawing! Today we’re drawing an octopus, and honestly, this one is a little special to me. Oswald was one of my favourite shows when I was growing up, so I couldn’t make a collection of cute drawings without adding a simple drawing of an octopus to it.
The good news is that you don’t need to be great at drawing to make this one. The head is just a simple rounded shape, and the tentacles are basically a bunch of curvy lines. They don’t even need to match perfectly. That’s part of the fun.
We’ll draw the octopus one step at a time, add some little suction cups, give him a face, and then finish everything with colour. If your tentacles come out a little wonky, don’t erase them straight away. You might actually like them better that way. Grab a pencil and let’s give it a try.
Here’s an easy step by step tutorial that will help you create a simple and easy octopus drawing.
Materials you will need:
- A piece of paper
- An HB pencil
- A dust-free eraser
- A black sketch pen for outlines
- Crayons or color pencils for coloring
Please note: In each step, the new parts of the drawing will be highlighted in orange, while everything you’ve already drawn will stay in black.
Step 1: Draw the octopus’s head
Start by drawing the rounded head of the octopus near the middle of your paper. It has a shape that’s a little wider at the top and narrows slightly toward the bottom.
Leave the bottom open for now because we’ll connect the tentacles there. You don’t need to make the head perfectly symmetrical.
Step 2: Draw the octopus’s tentacles
Now it’s time to add the octopus’s eight tentacles. Starting from the bottom of the head, draw long, curved lines spreading outward in different directions.
Try giving each tentacle a slightly different curve. Some can bend to the left, some to the right, and others can hang down toward the bottom of your paper.
Step 3: Complete the octopus’s tentacles
In this step, we’ll finish connecting and shaping the tentacles around the bottom of the octopus. Follow the existing curves and add the other sides of the tentacles so each arm has a complete shape.
Don’t worry about making every tentacle exactly the same size. Having some shorter and some longer makes the drawing more interesting.
Step 4: Add suction cups to the octopus’s tentacles
Your octopus is starting to look much more recognizable now. Next, add small round suction cups along the tentacles.
You don’t need to draw them perfectly or add exactly the same number to every arm. Small circles and dots placed along the curves are enough to give your octopus some fun detail.
Take your time with this part. These little details make a big difference.
Step 5: Draw the octopus’s face
Now let’s give your octopus a friendly face. Draw two small round eyes near the middle of the head, then add a simple curved smile underneath them.
Keep the face simple. A couple of small eyes and a smile are all you need to turn the drawing into a cute octopus.
Step 6: Colour your octopus
Now comes the fun part, adding some colour to your octopus!
In the first example, I used blue for the head and tentacles, with a few lighter details on the suction cups. You can use the same colour or choose something completely different like a blue-ringed octopus, with an orange body and bright blue rings or spots on the tentacles. You could also draw some bubbles, seaweed, fish, or other ocean animals around your octopus to turn it into a little underwater scene.
You did it!
Great job, you now have your own octopus drawing! If you want to come back to this lesson later, I’ve attached the full picture here so you can save it and use it whenever you want to practice how to draw an octopus step by step.
If your first attempt doesn’t look exactly like the example, that’s completely fine. Try drawing another one and experiment with making the tentacles longer, shorter, or more curved.
You could even draw a whole group of octopuses swimming together. Add some bubbles and seaweed around them, and you’ll have a fun underwater picture to colour.
If you enjoyed this lesson, you can also try my crab drawing tutorial or my axolotl drawing to continue your streak. See you soon.
