How to Draw a Snail

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The first step – as usual – is to observe the whole picture and possibly every detail on it, especially the size of the shell in comparison to the size of the body.

If you are not sure how to begin, then just take another piece of paper or draw on the backside of a used envelope and make a quick sketch according to the tutorial. It is OK if you make mistakes, just do it! Make as many mistakes as possible!

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This is the easiest part. Draw a fuselage-like shape. This shape may also look like a cross-section of the wing of an airplane.

The length of this shape will determine the length of the whole snail’s body.

Relax; you do not need to draw a perfect shape on the first try. Click on the picture, it will open in a new tab.

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The next step is to outline the shell, the eyes (the upper ones), and the tentacles (the lower ones).

You do not need to make a perfect curve of the shell, make as many rough pencil strokes as necessary.

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Now you can draw the shell spiral line. It’s OK to make many pencil strokes, if you make a mistake, erase and draw a new one; no one cares at this stage, so take it easy.

Outline the wavy part of the snail’s foot (the lowest line on its body).

The only thing I would suggest to pay attention to is, to keep all body parts in good balance…

…that is, please draw a well-balanced-sized shell to the size of the body, not too big and not too small. Also appropriate length of the eyes and the tentacles, please observe the first picture if you are not sure.

As your drawing is becoming more distinct, and the shape of the snail is now obvious, you are getting more and more confident, don't you!? You can tell your friends that you already know how to draw a snail :)

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Erase all unnecessary pencil lines and begin drawing the growth lines on the shell, one by one.

It’s a bit time-consuming work but if you do it well and patiently, your snail drawing will look very nice when ready – especially the shell will look great.

Draw small ball-like shapes on each tip of the eyes and tentacles, so it looks more natural and realistic.

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Take a little softer pencil (I used 6B) – if you do not have a soft pencil handy, then HB will do the job as well. Draw a nice outer contour on the entire body and the shell as you see in the picture.

Erase all the rest of the unnecessary remaining pencil lines. For narrow spaces, you can use a pencil-type-eraser.

You can begin to make darker strokes on the shell; this will create a necessary accent and will look more realistic.

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Continue to accentuate the growth line strokes on the shell as you see in the picture. At this stage, your shell should already look more realistic and 3D.

Very gently and softly, outline the pattern on the snail’s body. It looks like a kind of mosaic. Click the above picture to see the detail.

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If you enlarge the above image, you’ll see that the mosaic-like pattern on the body looks as if many small pebbles were placed all over the snail’s body. Draw something similar.

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At this stage, you can say you absolutely know how to draw a snail with confidence. Now you know how to do it with every little detail.

Darken the spaces among the mosaic on the snail’s skin. Notice the darker trench across the length of the body, a kind of fold. Make something similar.

Was it easier than you imagined? I am sure it was and you did a very good job!