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A sailboat with white sails and a blue hull floating in a harbor, its rippled reflection below, a lighthouse and little houses on the far shore, and a wooden pier on the right.
The finished drawing.

How to draw

How to Draw a Sailboat in a Harbor

  • Challenge (level 5 of 5)
  • 45 min
  • 18 steps
  • Ages 10–14 (a guide, not a rule)
Start Drawing Draw on Screen Print

Draw on paper: Paper, Pencil, Eraser. Optional: A ruler for the mast and pier, Colored pencils: blues, white, red and brown.

Draw it on the screen

This harbor scene puts several skills together: a boat built from simple lines, sail edges curved from straight guides, a far shore drawn small and pale, a pier in one-point perspective, and a reflection. Calm water works like a wobbly mirror, so the reflection is the boat upside down, straight below it.

Rather color it? Print the sailboat coloring page.

Step by step

  • New lines: purple, thick and glowing
  • Lines you already drew: gray
  • Guides: dashed blue, draw them lightly
  • Erase: dotted pink with an eraser
  1. Step 1 diagram, with the new lines highlighted
    Step 1 of 18 Draw a light horizon line across your paper, a bit above the middle. It is your eye level. The sea is below it and the sky above.
  2. Step 2 diagram, with the new lines highlighted
    Step 2 of 18 Below the horizon, draw the hull: a long deck line that dips a little in the middle, a curved bow on the right, a short stern and a flat waterline.
  3. Step 3 diagram, with the new lines highlighted
    Step 3 of 18 Add a small cabin on the deck with three round windows, and a stripe along the hull just above the waterline.
  4. Step 4 diagram, with the new lines highlighted
    Step 4 of 18 Draw a tall straight mast up from the cabin, a little taller than the hull is long, and the boom: a line from the mast back over the stern.
  5. Step 5 diagram, with the new lines highlighted
    Step 5 of 18 Draw two light, straight guides: one from the top of the mast to the end of the boom, and one from high on the mast down to just above the front of the cabin.
  6. Step 6 diagram, with the new lines highlighted
    Step 6 of 18 Draw the back edge of the big mainsail as a gentle curve that bulges out past its guide. The mast and boom are its other two sides.
  7. Step 7 diagram, with the new lines highlighted
    Step 7 of 18 Draw a straight wire from the top of the mast to the bow. The front sail hangs on it: draw its back edge and its bottom edge as soft curves.
  8. Step 8 diagram, with the new lines highlighted
    Step 8 of 18 Add a small flag at the top of the mast.
  9. Step 9 diagram, with the new lines highlighted
    Step 9 of 18 Far away things are small: draw a lighthouse on a rock on the left, three little houses on the right and a tiny boat. Use thinner lines.
  10. Step 10 diagram, with the new lines highlighted
    Step 10 of 18 Draw the far shoreline just below the horizon and low hills behind it. Stop wherever the boat, lighthouse or houses are in front.
  11. Step 11 diagram, with the new lines highlighted
    Step 11 of 18 Now a pier on the right, in one-point perspective. Mark a vanishing point on the horizon, then draw the pier's edges aimed at it, with light lines to check.
  12. Step 12 diagram, with the new lines highlighted
    Step 12 of 18 Draw posts under the pier down to the water, and planks across the top. Both get smaller and closer together as the pier goes back.
  13. Step 13 diagram, showing what to erase
    Step 13 of 18 Erase the horizon line, the vanishing point and the light guides for the sails and the pier.
  14. Step 14 diagram, with the new lines highlighted
    Step 14 of 18 Plan the reflection: draw a light, upside-down copy of the boat straight below the waterline. The mast top's reflection is as far below as the mast is above.
  15. Step 15 diagram, with the new lines highlighted
    Step 15 of 18 Fill the reflection with short flat lines, broken by ripples: close together under the hull, far apart under the white sails. Do the posts too.
  16. Step 16 diagram, showing what to erase
    Step 16 of 18 Erase the reflection guide. Add short ripple lines across the water: small and close near the far shore, longer and farther apart near you.
  17. Step 17 diagram, with the new lines highlighted
    Step 17 of 18 Shade a light value on the far hills: far things are pale. Shade the hull a middle value, leaving the stripe white. The sails stay white too.
  18. Step 18 diagram, with the new lines highlighted
    Step 18 of 18 Cross-hatch the side of the pier and the near posts darkest. They are close to you and in shadow, so they get the strongest value.
A sailboat with white sails and a blue hull floating in a harbor, its rippled reflection below, a lighthouse and little houses on the far shore, and a wooden pier on the right.

You did it!

Your drawing does not have to look like this one. Every artist draws a little differently.

Color it on screen Print a practice sheet

Tips for this drawing

Helpful hints

  • Use a ruler for the mast so it stands perfectly straight; a leaning mast makes the boat look like it is tipping over.
  • Draw reflection lines flat, never slanted, even under a slanted sail edge.
  • Leave little gaps in the reflection lines: the gaps are what make the water look like it moves.

Common mistakes

  • The reflection is drawn off to one side, like a shadow. A reflection is always straight below the object. Check with a vertical line from the mast.
  • The far lighthouse is drawn as big and dark as the boat. Things far away are smaller and paler. Use thin lines and only light shading.
  • The sails are straight triangles and look stiff. Curve the back edge of each sail a little past its straight guide.

Make it simpler

Draw only the boat and its reflection: the hull, the mast, two sails, then upside-down flat lines below the waterline. Add a single line for the far shore.

Horizon line

Over open water the horizon is at your eye level. The far shore sits just below it, and the pier's vanishing point is on it.

Curves from guides

Draw a straight light guide between two corners of a sail, then draw the real edge as a gentle curve beside it. The guide keeps the curve the right length and direction.

Reflection

Calm water is a wobbly mirror. The reflection is straight below the object and upside down, and reaches as far below the waterline as the object reaches above it. Ripples break it into short flat lines.

Size and distance

The lighthouse, houses and tiny boat are far away, so they are small and drawn with thinner lines. The pier's posts and planks shrink as they go back.

Value

Far hills get a light value, the hull a middle value, and the near pier the darkest value. White sails stay the lightest.

Practice first: One-Point-Perspective Street.