How to Draw a Dolphin in Procreate on an iPad Pro?

We are starting an ocean animal series here since we’ve already drawn some fish and a great white shark. This page will show you how we drew a simple dolphin – on the iPad Pro with Procreate.

How to Draw a Dolphin (Video)

How to draw a simple dolphin with black/grey/white colors.

We don’t often paint with canvas and paint, just due to cost. When you’re learning, it’s much more cost-efficient to use an iPad or other drawing tablet like the Surface Pro or somethng else. We like the iPad Pro (M2) with Procreate s/w but you can use so many different solutions to paint or draw digitally. Up to you!

Outline Brush: Inking | Baskerville – customized. I go into settings change stabilization and drop the taper down a bit. Here are the two settings I modify. Baskerville brush leaves a trailing taper that looks cool for sketching some things, but for many objects – simple objects – it’s nicer to have the line stop when you lift your Apple Pencil. That’s why I change the settings and create a custom brush (Baskerville 1).

Baskerville brush on Procreate (iPad Pro) for outlining drawings/paintings.Baskerville inking pen settings for drawing or painting subjects in Procreate on iPad Pro M2.
Baskerville Inking Brush settings on Procreate to decrease taper and remove stabilization oddness.

Brush Size: 2%

Paint Opacity: 100%.

Color: I use a black or light grey to outline the figure.

Shading: I use the Airbrushing | Soft Brush or Medium Brush usually for all my shading of simple things. It’s just really smooth and easy to manipulate. I vary the opacity of the brush depending what layer I’m putting down. Top layers are less opaque so the bottom layers show through a bit.

Layers: To be honest, I’m often confused by the layers I create so I only use them when it really helps. Otherwise, I just tend to do everything on the top layer over the background layer.

When drawing a dolphin, the most time is spent drawing the exact body form to match the animal. It’s quite an odd shape. If you thought drawing heads and faces was difficult… Try this!

Some dolphins have a slightly darker top (dorsal) area that helps them to remain hidden from predators looking down in the water. Their belly is white like most fish and sharks, to help them stay hidden from bottom predators looking up.

How Drawing Dolphins Can Be a Career for You

Dolphins are loved by people all over the world. If you ask anyone what their favorite sea animal is, there’s a very good chance they say dolphin, whale, or seahorse.

Why? They’re cute! They’re smart! They love people. They follow our boats and jump around out of the water doing crazy flips. We saw spinner dolphins do this in Hawaii often.

Drawing marine animals that are well loved can be a way you can add value to your art. Many people buy dolphin art. Many hotels along the coast of many countries buy dolphin art for their lobbies and rooms. They’re much more likely to buy dolphin art than shark art – right? Makes sense, right? Ha!

Dolphins in pods are a huge draw for people buying art for hotels and other businesses having an association with the ocean, islands, vacation. Consider becoming an expert dolphin artist. Create a new style or copy the basics of someone else’s style and start selling dolphin art as soon as you can.

If you drew dolphins every day for a month, two months, you’d be an expert on it – wouldn’t you?

Do you think you could make money with it by then? You’d have maybe 100 paintings. Different angles. Different dolphin species. Different lighting. Doing different things. How many people in the world have drawn 100 different dolphin paintings? Not many. How many have painted 200? 600?

See what I’m saying?

There is an opportunity for you. For ANYONE, to start drawing something you love to draw and that has marketability, and start selling it within a month or two.

WHY NOT FOCUS ON MAKING SOMETHING YOU SPECIALIZE IN – YOUR DAY JOB?

I’ve done this over and over througout my lifetime. This Art Day Job is my latest attempt to learn some things about art and to help others do it and sell art. I had an uncle who was a great artist. I had countless opportunities to learn from him. I never did.

Now, as I’m a bit older, I see the foolishness of it. I should have done it in my teens.

My daughter is doing it now. She’s. 14. She is quite good. She could do it as a career someday. Maybe next year if she wanted to explore money-making aspects of the field. Not sure she cares yet.

WHY CONTINUE THE 9-5 GRIND for SOMEONE ELSE? WHY NOT COMMIT TO 100% MAKE SOMETHING OF YOURSELF? WHY NOT BE YOUR OWN BOSS?

Some Interesting Dolphin Info

Dolphins are some of the most intelligent and social animals in the ocean and really anywhere in the world. They belong to the cetacean family, which includes whales and porpoises, and are known for their playful behavior, problem-solving abilities, and strong social bonds.

Dolphins communicate using a complex system of clicks, whistles, and body movements, and they often work together in groups, or pods, to hunt for food. Their intelligence is so advanced that they’ve been observed using tools, like sponges, to protect their snouts when hunting along the seafloor.

Dolphins can be found in oceans and seas worldwide, from tropical waters to cooler coastal areas. Some species, like the bottlenose dolphin, are more well-known and studied, but there are about 40 different dolphin species, including some that live in freshwater rivers.

Dolphins are carnivores, and their diet mainly consists of fish, squid, and crustaceans. They can live up to 50 years in the wild, and some species, like the orca (which is also a dolphin), are apex predators, meaning they have no natural predators.

Mind-blowing Facts About Dolphins

  • Dolphins can stay awake for up to two weeks straight by resting one hemisphere of their brain at a time while the other half stays alert.
  • Some dolphins have been observed naming each other with unique whistles, which act like personal names.
  • The echolocation ability of dolphins is so precise they can detect the size, shape, and speed of objects even in murky or dark waters.

Why Becoming an Expert on Painting Dolphins Can Create a Career

When it comes to art, dolphins are incredibly popular, especially in coastal and ocean-themed art. Their friendly and playful image makes them a favorite subject for artists creating work for homes, offices, and vacation destinations. Art with dolphins in it sells well in tourist areas like near beaches, and is often seen on everything from fine art prints to souvenirs like coffee mugs, t-shirts, hats, necklaces, keychains, and notebooks.

Dolphins are a symbol of freedom, joy, and harmony with nature, making them appealing to a wide audience. Pieces featuring dolphins in their natural habitats – leaping out of the water or swimming in a pod – are especially popular!

Actionable Takeaway

Begin today. Start drawing and painting digitally on your iPad with Procreate – at least one dolphin each day. Do it for at least thirty days – but why put a limit on it? To become one of the best, among hundreds of other dolphin specialists, create more than one a day and go for three months. Or just don’t stop. After you can competently draw/paint dolphins, start selling them on EBay, ETSY, SHOPIFY, or your own website platform. Make YouTube videos about how you draw dolphins. Post reels on Instagram.

This simple action, done consistently, creates a habit that can be the basis for CHANGING YOUR LIFE.

If it’s not dolphins, draw something you LOVE TO DRAW. Become an expert. Put your own spin on it. Draw your own style. See what people like. Draw that way. Sell paintings. Sell digital art. Sell online. Sell at shows.

CHANGE YOUR LIFE WITH LEARNING HOW TO DRAW ONE THING REALLY WELL!

How to Draw Sharks >

How to Draw an Orca >

How to Draw Ocean Animals >