How To Draw A Pirate Ship | Basic Guide 

Welcome back, talented minds! Today, we will go into the mysteries of the sea and explore the dark side of the sea journey. Do you know that the thieves who plunder people in the sea are known as the pirates? They use their special ship, which is known as the pirate ship, especially to serve the purpose of looting.

Pirate ships are of different shapes and sizes. Some ships were big and mighty, while others were just small ships. Pirates were clever, so they used different-sized ships, always ready to surprise the people.

What you will need

• A pencil
• An eraser
• A sheet of paper
• Coloring kit
• Ruler
• 30 minutes

How To Draw a Pirate Ship

Today, we’ll learn how to draw a pirate ship by following a simple and effective process. This guide has all the required steps to turn your blank paper into an amazing piece of art. Pick up your magical pencil and let the process begin.

Step 1: Add the Main Base to the Pirate Ship

The main base of the pirate ship is known as the “hull.” It is a strong structure that cuts the water while the ship cruises through the water. It is pointy from the front and back sides and wide in the middle.

To draw the pirate ship’s hull, we’ll draw a straight horizontal line slightly above the bottom of the page. Make sure to leave the room beneath this line. On the left side of this line, we’ll draw a vertical line that is slightly curved outwards. The length of this line is slightly smaller than the half of the baseline. 

On the right side of the baseline, we’ll draw another vertical line that is curved outwards. This line is more slanted towards the outside and is greater in length than the left line. 

We’ll draw a wavy line to connect the left vertical line to the right vertical line, as shown in the image. Right under this line, we’ll draw two more wavy lines of the same shape and size. This completes the hull of the pirate ship. 

Step 2: Add the Guard Fences to the Ship for Both Sides

The guard fences are often known as the railings. They serve more than one purpose. Mainly, they are used for safety purposes. Imagine the ship is tossing up and down in the sea storm; pirates need something to cling on. The railings serve that purpose. They’re also used as decor objects.

To draw the railings, we’ll draw a small horizontal line slightly above the hull of the ship on the left side. Now, we’ll draw multiple vertical lines to connect this horizontal line to the hull of the ship.

In a similar fashion, we’ll draw a small horizontal line on the right side of the ship and connect it with multiple vertical lines. The fence of the pirate ship is ready.

Step 3: Sketch a Pirate Flag on It

The flag of the pirate ship is also known as the “Jolly Roger.” Normally, this flag is present in the middle of the ship.

To begin with, we’ll draw the pole of the flag. The pole is an elongated structure. We’ll draw two straight vertical lines parallel to each other. These lines should be long enough to raise the flag high on the ship.

At the top of the pole, we’ll draw a tiny circle resting on the pole. As shown in the image, we’ll draw the flag on either side of the pole by making several wavy lines.

Step 4: Add Another Two Sails for the Pirate Flag

The sails help the ship cruise the sea by the air currents. The bigger the sail, the greater the force will be generated. 

On this ship, we’ll draw two sails. A bigger and a smaller one. But there’s a common thing in both. Both are of the same shape. 

To draw the upper sail, we’ll draw two horizontal parallel lines bisecting the pole of the ship. On the left side of the lines, we’ll draw a curved line to connect these lines. On the right side, we’ll draw another line that is curved outside to connect these horizontal lines. The upper sail is ready.

We’ll draw another sail under the first sail using the same pattern. The sails are giving a distinctive feature to the pirate ship. 

Step 5: Draw the Pirate Symbol on the Flag and Sail

It’s time to give our drawing a fierce and scary look. A pirate ship is not a friendly ship; it is here to plunder people. It has fierce signs on its sailings and the flag to scare people instantly.

On the sailings and the flag, we’ll draw a most common pirate sign: the skull and the crossed bones behind it. 

To draw this classic pirate symbol, we’ll draw an oval-shaped structure on the sail. The bottom of the oval is slightly narrower than the top part. This oval structure represents the skull. We’ll draw two circles on the upper side of the skull to represent the empty sockets of the eyes. Under the eyes, we’ll draw a small rectangle that represents the nose.

To draw the mouth, we’ll draw a rectangle under the triangle. Behind this skull, we’ll draw bones, as shown in the image. The fierce look of pirates is here. This symbol is traumatizing for anyone peacefully enjoying the sea and suddenly coming across it.

We’ll draw a similar symbol on the flag as well.

Step 6: The pirate ship is ready 

Yayyyyyy! Our pirate ship is all set to sail in the sea and to deliver some fear. 

We’ll use the eraser and erase the unnecessary lines on our drawing to make it look clean and tidy. 

The fun part of the drawing is yet to begin. We have drawn the pirate ship’s basic structure, but more details still need to be added. Let’s start this fun process.

Taking your pirate ship drawing to the next level

Details in art reflect a more artistic touch. The more details in a drawing, the better the drawing looks. Are you confused about how to make your pirate ship look more appealing? No worries, we’ve got you!

We’ll guide you through different processes that will help you make your drawing more attractive and lively. These steps are:

Adding background to your drawing 

A drawing without a background seems incomplete. A background drastically increases the beauty of the drawing by adding meaning to it. A background could be of any type. 

It all depends on your creativity and imagination to draw the background. It could be a dark theme or a light theme. Whatever suits your taste.

In our case, we have drawn the sea as the background for the pirate ship. It is obvious that the ship is sailing across the sea and searching for the gold. To draw the sea, we’ll draw wavy lines under the pirate ship’s hull.

Adding colors to your drawing 

Now is the time to unleash your inner artist. Use your artistic skills and color your drawing beautifully. Adding colors to your drawing will give it a lively touch. Without colors, the drawing seems dead and dull. We need to color it to give it a fresh, live appearance.

You can color it using poster paints, marker colors, pencil colors, or crayons. It all depends on your preference. Make sure to color the drawing nice and tidy, as it’s the secret sauce for an amazing drawing. 

Another thing to keep in mind is to color the ship with realistic colors. A pirate ship reflects terror. To make it look fierce, we’ll color it with dark colors. The symbol should be colored red. 

Overall, colors will simply take our drawing to the next level.

P.S Bonus Tips 

The art doesn’t end here. It has no limits. It can be molded in any way, and any detail can be added to it. It’s all mind games. You should take yourself beyond limits and try multiple things with your drawing. 

You can add a blazing sun as the background. If you’re more of a night person, you can add a moon and stars on top of the paper. You can also write your name on the hull of the ship. This ship is larger in size than other boats like rowboats and sailboats. For that reason, we can add as much detail to its body.

There are billions of ideas like these. You should explore and try multiple ideas on your drawing and see what suits your drawing the best.

That way, you’ll have an amazing drawing.

Conclusion 

Drawing a pirate ship is a fun and easy process if you follow the steps. We started by drawing the pirate ship’s main base, also known as the hull. Then, we added the railings to the ship. Later, we added the flag and the sails. We added the skull with bones on the flag and the sailings as a symbol. 

To make our drawing more realistic and professional, we upgraded our drawing.

Remember, young artists! Drawing should always be taken as a fun process. If you aren’t satisfied with your results, just try again. Practice is what makes you perfect. Try repeatedly, experiment with your drawing with multiple ideas, and we’re confident you’ll have an amazing drawing within a few minutes.

Thanks for reading & feel free to check out more of our articles!