So. This lesson – a fish cartoon – is based on a tuna… 'yellow fin' to be exact. But you'll notice right off the bat – I've put a sort of 'character' spin on it. By twisting the spine – altering the basic structure of the fish… we can come up with a really neat-looking take on it. And yes, the same can be done with other animals too.

It's lessons like these that are meant to inspire creativity. Dig deep when you're drawing – always strive to come up with something different… while at the same time – something unique to you!

The fish…

How to Draw a Tuna Fish Cartoon

It begins with a basic framework. The grey depicts the spine and head alignment. The blue – the body and head area… approximately!

As always – this framework stage, is only meant to give you an appreciation of the subject's structure. Sketch it lightly, look at it, remember it… whatever helps. It's amazing to see how things can be broken down into simple lines and shapes. ALL THINGS!

Framework for drawing a fish cartoon

Looking at a real tuna – you can compare how the features indicated here – colored lines… compare with those on a real fish.

The orange line is only there to show you how the snout of the fish – emerges from the center of its 3D head – allowing the appreciation of 'depth' ahead of time. If it helps!…

Developed framework for drawing a fish cartoon

So first thing then – give your tuna an eye, and begin bringing the head into view…

Drawing the head of a fish cartoon

Does the cross help? See how the eyes are offset about it? Does this make sense to you? You know… it comes with practice. Nothing wrong with redoing a drawing (a lesson!) many times until you get it right. Practice? How about repetition!

Things are coming along nicely…

Drawing the head and fin of a fish cartoon

In the example below – the body of the fish cartoon is coming into view. Matching up with a real tuna – you can see that fins are placed accordingly. Although!… I did stray a bit here. The lower side fin – actually – should be centered. And there should only be one! BUT… I decided to keep going with the look at hand. It's not a perfect reflection – but something I wanted to continue with. That's a huge part of the fun when drawing!

Tuna coming along…

Drawing the body of a fish cartoon

Neat how the fish just sort of 'bends' around the framework we created. Truly – especially if you're just beginning drawing. A framework is like 'training wheel's'. Take them off when you're comfortable with the structure. Let your right brain run wild – the framework replacing the left for the time being. Not a must. Just a thought. 🙂

Here's what we've got so far…

Completing the fish cartoon drawing

You've simply GOT TO color this fish. Blues, yellows, gold… it's just so neat looking. Have fun with this.

Below is mine, finished. Notice again – those bottom fins are all wrong. Should be just one! But, instead of starting from scratch – I thought… 'let's just see where it goes'. Turned out all right. How about yours!?

Cartoon drawing of a tuna fish

So in the end, you've got your own version of a tuna fish cartoon. OR… is it a mackerel? A jack like the previous lesson?

Hey – I hope you had fun creating this one. Keep at the drawing… see you soon for another lesson!