Megan Doodles: Kawaii Sea Creatures

I was inspired by our summer reading theme “Oceans of Possibilities” to doodle some new kawaii creatures. You can make your own underwater landscape with just one basic shape. All you need is a simple circle (or half circle for the jellyfish) to populate your marine menagerie with cute little critters!

Octopus

1. Draw a circle.
2. Add smaller circles to the bottom for tentacles. It’s ok if you can’t fit all 8 on there because drawing 3-dimensional creatures on a 2-dimensional piece of paper is hard work and sometimes you can’t see all the angles. Add cute eyes and smile!

Crab

1. Draw a circle and 2 smaller circles on top with a dot in the middle for the eyes. And a cute smile!
2. Draw 2 claws. You can make a claw with a V connected by 2 half circles and 2 lines connecting them to the body of the crab from step 1.
3. Add 3 legs on either side of the body. You can make legs by making an L shape off the left and right sides of the first circle.

Jellyfish

1. Draw a half-circle with the flat side on the bottom. Add a few squiggle lines coming from the flat side.
2. Add a couple of shorter squiggles from the bottom.
3. Add cute eyes and smile!

Pufferfish

1. Draw a circle. Add a small scalloped fin to the left side. You can make a scalloped fin by drawing 2 lines with space in between and connecting them with a scalloped, or wavy, line. Add another small scalloped fin on the right inside of the circle. Add a larger scalloped tail to the right, outside of the circle.
2. Add cute eyes and smile!
3. Add points or small peaks to the inside and outside of the circle for the pufferfish spines.

Shark

1. Draw a circle. Add a small fin to the left side. To make a fin, draw a triangle that is open on one side. Add a small fin on the right inside of the circle.
2. Add a line on the bottom inside of the circle for a belly. Add a shark fin to the top of the circle. Add a tail to the outside of the shark on the right side of the circle. You can make a tail by drawing 2 lines with space in between and connecting them with a concave line.
3. Don’t forget the gills. And add cute eyes and a smile!

Lobster

1. Draw a circle. Add 2 curved parallel lines with a little space between the right side. Add a little scalloped edge to the bottom.
2. Add another curved line between the first 2, just slightly to the right of the first line. Then add several curved horizontal lines between the curved line you just drew and the outer right line.
3. Add 2 claws similar to the crab claws. Add the first one to the bottom left on the outside of the circle. Add the 2nd claw near where the circle and the body meet.
4. Add a few lines to the circle, almost like bangs going from the top middle to the outer left of the circle. Add 2 curved antennae from the top of the circle.
5. Add cute eyes and smile!

For extra fun, I like to add a little pink to the cheeks of my kawaii creations. Once you’ve drawn all your animals you can add bubbles, coral, kelp and waves to bring your underwater artwork to life! Send us your finished seascapes to kids@dbrl.org.