How to draw a spider clip art

Learn how to create a simple spider clip art and then see how to play with colors using the same cartoon character. Spiders are certainly not the most popular creatures in the world. They are feared by many even if these cute little insects are quite important in our environment. 

Indeed, spiders are eating a lot of annoying insects that are making our lives miserable. Yep ... spiders are important and crucial in our house and neighborhood. Let's see what makes these animals so special.

1. Spiders have long and sharp legs.
2. The tip of the body is round and pointed.
3. The body itself is larger near the head and narrower on the other end.
4. The head is round and smaller than the body.
5. The tip of the legs are sharp.
6. The mouth consists of two sharp triangles.
7. Eyes are small and made from circles.
8. The neck is short and thin.
9. Eight legs are needed to create a beautiful spider.

Nice! Now that you are more familiar with spiders, maybe they don't sound so scary after all! Let's proceed with the first step of this lesson featuring four easy steps to illustrate our spider clip art.

step 1 - using shapes and lines to create a template

Drawing accurate proportions can be a difficult task. That's why it's always a good idea to sketch a few shapes and lines to help us understand how the creature will look like once completed. In this case, you can draw a large oval shape to form the body and a small circle to create the head. Legs are represented by long broken lines.

step 2 - It's time to draw the character!

Using the guideline sketched in the previous step, you can now draw the character as shown below. Pay attention to body parts like the head, the body and the tip of the legs. 

Once these shapes are done, you can erase all orange shapes created earlier.

step 3 - working on the head

Inside the head, you can now draw the eyes using large circles. The pupils are made from small dots. On the bottom of the head, work on the mouth using two small triangles. We are already done! All we need to do is add colors. :)

step 4 - one color needed: Black!

For this example, the spider clip art was filled with a simple black color. Only the eyes are still white. In fact, the insect seems black, but the color used is closer to a dark grey one. All lines are black and that's why we can see all outlines while looking at the head or the body of the animal.

A nice spider clip art drawn in just four easy steps

Spiders are not that difficult to illustrate. Sketching accurate proportions might be challenging, but overall this animal can be drawn quite easily. Now that we have created this adorable character in just a few basic steps, let's try different colors (and one different approach) using the same design.

adding a subtle grey color

Instead of coloring the animal with a dark grey color, this example was filled with a much brighter grey color. The character already feels much warmer and visually easier to read. Indeed, the (almost) black cartoon spider was interesting, but also slightly more difficult to understand.

removing all lines and strokes

What if all lines, outlines or strokes were removed? Is the character still easy to read and recognized? Of course it is! This example is closer to what a logo would look like. It's not better or worse than all previous versions. It's simply different!

a real black spider ... with some nice effects!

For this other example, this time we are dealing with a real black spider. To make this one easier to read, bright shapes were added on all body parts and these new elements were partially hidden using transparency. See how all these reflections are making the character more enjoyable to look at?

Another color to conclude this tutorial

So far, only grey or black colors were added inside this cute spider clip art. Why not try something else? For this final example, the character was filled with a saturated brown color. Is it cuter? Better? It's all a matter of taste!

I hope you had fun working with this fun illustration. Don't hesitate to draw more cute spiders using your own shapes, colors and style. Be creative! Invent new patterns or textures to make the insect more appealing. Once you are done creating a beautiful spider, then feel free to sketch another animal from the list found here. Enjoy! :)

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