How To Draw Cute Crabs + Seashells (Patreon)

Hello lovelies,

After drawing a beachy crab illustration this month I thought it would be the perfect time to make a little step-by-step guide for drawing cute crabs and pretty seashells! ☀️🦀🐚

I’ve made a little drawing guide about shells before but that was a couple of years ago now so I wanted to update it while we were drawing crabs.

Let’s start with a regular beach crab:

1. First we’re going to draw a simplified version of the crab skeleton to act as a guide. Start by drawing a big oval, and then an ‘L’ shape coming out of either side to be the front legs.

2. Next, draw two more ‘L’ shapes on either side but a little bit above the first set, and this time angle them out a bit more. I have mine overlapping to show that the middle set of legs is in front of the back set. Crabs often have 8 legs plus claws, but sometimes they have 6 and that’s much easier to draw!

3. Then draw two little curved lines coming out of the top of the oval (these will be the eyes), and two more coming out of the bottom (these will be the claws).

4. Now that the guide ‘skeleton’ is drawn, we can start properly sketching the crab! Start by outlining the oval.

5. Then draw the front set of legs (not the claws yet) by following the shape of the skeleton starting at the body and coming down to a point on the ground.

6. Repeat that for the middle set of legs. It’s up to you how thick to draw the legs, some crabs have quite thick legs but some are quite skinny!

7. The back legs will be partially obscured by the ones in front, and now you can also draw the eye shapes which stick out above the crab’s body.

8. Draw the claws coming out from the front of the body, and give them a little smile too!

9. Now you can hide the guide skeleton and erase any overlapping areas, and it’s all finished! 

Now let’s draw a cute hermit crab:

1. We’ll start with a guide again but this one is much simpler! Draw a pointed cone shape with an oval at the bottom so that it kind of looks like an upside-down ice cream cone.

2. Start the proper sketch by drawing two pointy ‘V’ shapes extending out the bottom from the centre line of the cone opening.

3. Then add a pointy set of legs - one on either side.

4. Draw another set of pointy legs just above those and angled out to the sides a bit more.

5. For the shell, trace around the top of the cone shape but with three or four bumps on either side.

6. Now draw a curved line following the opening of the cone shape, and to make the shell look like it has a spiral shape you can draw a few curved lines from one side of the shell to the other with a slight angle.

7. Next, add the eye shapes pointing out above the shell opening.

8. Give them a smiling face and a little line on each claw.

9. Now you can remove the guide and erase any overlapping areas that shouldn’t be there (like through the eyes). And that’s it!

I like to draw red and orange crabs because they’re the ‘classic’ crab colours, but actually they come in lots of colours!

Especially if you’re drawing a hermit crab, their shell can be any colour and I like the idea of the hermit crabs choosing the most beautiful shell they could find so don’t be afraid to decorate it.

Shells come in lots of lovely shapes and colours, and these are just a few ideas to get you started.

I especially love drawing shells in multiple colours with a pretty blended gradient - I use my crayon brushes to get this effect but you could use any soft texture brush that you have.

I hope this little guide helps you add some beautiful shells and cute crab characters to your next beachy scene! 💖