The biggest, meanest shark to ever swim the oceans. Learn how to draw your very own Megalodon with these step-by-step instructions. Stay tuned for more tutorials!

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Step 1 – Very rough sketch

To begin drawing this monster shark we need to sketch out a very simple, rough design. The head needs to be large and squarish while the tail end is fairly small. the tail fin is approximately 1/3 to 1/2 the size of the body. I have added large over-the-top teeth.

Step 2 – Detailed sketch

Now that you have a good rough sketch it’s time to start working on the details of the Megalodon. Most sharks have 2 main tones of skin. The upper half is a greyish blue and the lower half is whiteish grey/blue. I have added a border line to help define where these two colours will go.

Step 3 – Refining all the details.

It is time to work on the final outlines and add flow lines that will help to distinguish the shapes. I have added a few scratches here and there to break up any large areas on the shark.

Step 4 – Adding colour

Each part of the Megalodon needs to be filled out with a solid colour. I have chosen quite neutral blue/ grey colours and light red for the gums. This red colour will help bring focus to the head.

Step 5 – Shadow and highlights

The last step is to add shadows and highlights, for this illustration I have kept it very simple only adding in a few places. I have also added fins in the background. The fins can be added using colour but I liked the effect of using just shadow. Finally using the same colour as the shadows I have added some more, less obvious scratches on the skin.

A few notes

Here are a few notes on what details I decided to add to my Illustration to give the Megalodon more character.

Sharks have black eyes, I did experiment with big white eyes but they were too friendly.

I have added bite marks to the dorsal fin.

Sharp teeth with a lot of gum on show. I wanted the eye to be drawn to the head and this really helped create contrast in that area.

lots of sharp edges made sure this shark was a bit fierce looking.


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Prefer to work from paper? Download the tutorial below!