Steps to Draw a Spider

No matter where you live in the world there are spiders. According to the Australian Museum spiders are ancient animals that have a long history of provoking both fear and fascination. Most spiders are harmless to humans. Spiders come in various sizes, but they all have eight legs. Bites from some spiders – such as the mouse spider, brown recluse and funnel spiders – can cause symptoms such as chills, fever, vomiting and difficulty breathing. The encouraging news is that only one percent of black widow bites are fatal. According to Dragoart, the best way to draw a spider is by incorporating shapes into your design.

Draw a hexagon for the base of the thorax. About a third of the waydown the thorax, sketch in a large circle to represent the abdomen, the biggest part of the spider’s body.

Mark in a mixture of bent and straight lines for the spider’s legs. Dragoart cautions that at this point the spider will look like it is floating, but don’t worry about it.

Use the line in the middle of the leg as a guide and retrace all around the leg. This is to flesh it out and give it some texture by making them bigger at the top and smaller as you get close to the bottom. Also add a joint or two in each of the legs. When you are finished you will have eight shapes that look like crabs legs.

Shape the thorax and the abdomen. Spiders aren’t exactly round, so Dragoart suggests that you think of a home-made hamburger patty to give you an idea of the sort of shape you are looking for.

Add a bell shape to the middle of the thorax hexagon. Sketch two little half-circles that look like ears on either side of the bell. Add two medium size circles circles on the bottom outside corners of the bell. Just under the bell shape draw four small circles.

Draw two ovals to represent the spider’s mandibles on the bottom side of the thorax. On the bottom draw two little leaf-shaped marks for the internal teeth. On the outside of each mandibles, add a line for the fangs. Retrace around the fangs just like you did for the spider’s legs, so you end up with three lines, with the original one in the middle.

Give the spider some hair on her legs. Use short, sharp strokes to get the desired effect.

Shade in a few extra dark areas to give the spider more lumps and bumps. When you are finished, erase your original circle and hexagon lines.

Australian Museum: Spiders

http://australianmuseum.net.au/Spiders

Wonders World: Top 10 Very Deadliest Spiders

http://www.wonders-world.com/2010/06/top-10-very-deadliest-spiders.html

Dragoart: How to Draw a Spider

http://www.dragoart.com/tuts/127/1/1/how-to-draw-a-spider-and-web.htm