How to Draw an Orca

Today you will learn how to draw an orca, a highly intelligent oceanic predator also known as the killer whale. Orcas are incredible creatures forming the largest members of the dolphin family. We will take you step-by-step on how to draw an orca, from basic shape sketches to outlining and adding color.

Before starting, get all of your drawing supplies together. For our drawing tutorials, you can use any medium you have on hand like crayons, markers, Procreate, or Photoshop.

We are using Procreate for our drawing tutorial. If you want to follow with Procreate, we have a great selection of Procreate texture brushes for you to choose from.

If you want to draw other sea creatures, check out how to draw a dolphin or a sea turtle for more drawing fun.

Step 1 - Sketch the Orca Base Shapes

In the first step, we are going to sketch and combine easy shapes to form our orca. We recommend using a medium that is easy to remove like a pencil.

Sketch the Main Body Shape

Begin by sketching a long bean-like shape. This is the main body shape for your orca drawing. You can create more of a curve or change the angle. The angle will determine how the overall pose of the orca will look.

As we will be going for a slightly angled pose, one side is flatter than the other.

At the bottom end of the main body, sketch a long V shape. This is the tail end of your orca as seen in the image below.

Sketch the Fins of the Orca

On the opposite end of the body shape, sketch an oval for the beak. This is where the orca’s head will be. On the middle top part of the body, sketch a peak for the dorsal fin. As our orca’s body is angled, only part of the dorsal fin is visible.

At the bottom of the body shape, sketch two rounded pectoral fins. Looking at our example below you will see we sketched the one fin at an angle.

Lastly, sketch a rough triangle at the bottom of the tail shape for the flukes.

Step 2 - Outline the Sketch of the Orca

In this outline step, switch to a more defined medium. Begin outlining the rough sketches you made for your orca. In our example below, some sketch lines were not outlined as they were no longer needed.

We also added a small change to the tail flukes to add more definition. An indent was added in the middle while the sides were slightly curved out.

With your main orca shape outlined, go ahead and remove the rough sketches. Use your sketching medium to draw what will be the black and white pattern areas on the orca. You can refer to our example below or use a reference image for more accuracy.

Once you are happy with how your pattern looks, outline it the same way you did for the body. Now that your outlines are done, you can remove all the sketches from your drawing.

Step 3 - Add Color to your Orca

In the final step we are ready to start adding some color. An orca has two main colors. These are a dark gray and white with a slight variation in shades.

White was applied to the belly, the patch near the eye, a small patch on the back and part of the flukes. Dark gray was added to the rest of the orca body.

For shading, use a softer medium and a lighter hand. We opted for a light baby blue over some of the white areas. Add more definition by shading the bottom section of your orca in a much darker gray. This will give the illusion that light is coming from above.

You can also define the eye region a bit more with shading. Below is the final result of our orca drawing.

Well done on learning how to draw an orca! Why not add some surrounding fish to accompany this beautiful and majestic creature? Share your drawing with friends and family or add it to a customized project. We hope you enjoyed following this tutorial and drawing an orca with us.