# How to Draw a Betta (tons of pictures)



## myexplodingcat

A few notes before I start:

There are 9 posts to this guide; please don't post until all mine are up! It will make things confusing to read.

This isn't a hard-and-fast guide, nor am I the best at drawing bettas. It's just a guide to the basics, and once you've learned the basics, you should definitely allow your own style to develop. Maybe you like bright pink lineart on a somber-colored fish and you can make that look cool! Try out weird stuff and see if it works. It's a good idea to learn how to make it look mostly realistic before you try crazy stuff, though--it often makes your crazy stuff look better. *speaking from experience*

I'll also take this opportunity to apologize to anyone on dialup. XD

I'm going to use male pronouns for the Bettas, but obviously you can draw females like this too.

Sabina88 kindly offered to let me use her betta Adamantium for this demonstration.

That said, let's dive in! (pardon the fish pun)

Tips:
- If you're using pencil and paper, draw lightly.
- If you're using Photoshop, never draw on the background layer. EVER. It makes everything insanely complicated.
- If you're drawing digitally (PS, Paint, GIMP, etc), use Ctrl+Z or Command+Z to undo, and Ctrl+Y or Command+Y to redo. There are probably also buttons for this at the top of whatever program you're using if you don't like keyboard shortcuts.


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## myexplodingcat

Step 1. Look hard at the betta you're drawing.

What's his body shape? Is he actually a perfect football? Where's the arch in his back--is it right behind his face, or in the middle? Are his fins smoothly finished, or more crowntail-like? How much does his beard stick out? How long are his fins compared to his body? If he's dual-colored, how far does his body color spread into his fins? The answers to these questions might surprise you!

Some bettas have anal fins as large as their body! Some have almost rectangular bodies, or their eyes are placed a little lower on their face than usual. Getting these details into your drawing goes a long way to making your drawing look recognizably like the Betta in question.

This is Adamantium, below:


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## myexplodingcat

Step 2. Pick and draw your basic skeleton.

If you're a beginning artist, pick the clearest picture provided to you and use that pose exactly. Once you get used to the proportions of Bettas and watch how they look when they twist around and turn, you can try drawing in more creative poses. Until then, stick with the basics--you're less likely to get frustrated that way.

Also, for your first few drawings, try to pick a betta photographed at a simple side view.

IMPORTANT PHOTOSHOP NOTE: Never draw on the background layer! It makes everything needlessly complicated and will waste your time. Make a new layer to get started and make sure you're drawing on that one! Name it "sketch layer" or something similar. I've found that my eyes catch when I'm on the wrong layer more easily if I name them rather than leaving them as "Layer 1," "Layer 2" and so on. It also helps to keep track of the layers better.

LESS IMPORTANT PHOTOSHOP NOTE: I recommend using at least one bright color for the sketch layer. It won't show up in the final drawing, I promise! I've used a ton of colors in my example sketches so it's easier to see. I apologize to the colorblind folks :/

Look carefully again at the betta's face shape and draw a triangle-ish shape for the head. What you're going to count as the "head" is from the tip of his face to just past his gills. Next, mentally "measure" the head and look at your picture. How many "heads" long is his body? What you're counting as the "body" is from just past his gills to where his tail starts. Mark where the body should stop, and draw a line from there to the tip of the face.

Adamantium has kind of a rounder face, and his body is the length of two "faces."


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## myexplodingcat

Step 3. Draw his two body arcs to outline his body.

Usually, the widest part of a betta's body is one of two places: the end of his face (by his gills), or at the arc of his back. Keep that in mind as you outline his body.

Top arc first: note where his hunch is. Nearly all bettas have a little bit of a bend upwards and back down to the tail, but few are the same. Try to capture the curve in your drawing.

Then the bottom. Normally the bottom arc tapers up more than you'd think past the gills. Most of the betta's organs are right behind the gills, so I guess it makes sense that that's usually the widest part.

Adamantium's widest part is right in the middle of his body, where his back arch peaks. The end of his body, by his tail, doesn't come to a point; it has a blunter shape.


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## myexplodingcat

Step 4. Mark where his fins end, and outline them.

Use the head as a unit of measurement again. From the end of the body, how many heads tall is the dorsal (top) fin? How long is his tail? How tall is his anal fin (the big bottom one)? How long are his ventrals (the narrow ones below his face)?

Measuring straight from his body to the top of his dorsal, Adamantium is 1 1/2 head lengths or so. His tail is a little longer. His anal fin is almost two head lengths. With the picture I'm using, I can't see how long his ventrals are--they disappear behind his anal fin.

One more fin: the pectoral. These are pretty easy to draw.

IMPORTANT: I'm marking out where I measured in gold. You don't need to draw those lines! Or any of the text on any of these, for that matter. I hope you can read my handwriting.


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## myexplodingcat

Step 5 FOR PHOTOSHOP 

Make a new layer and name it "lineart." Change your color to something more serious--a dark color you can find on the betta works well, as do varying shades of gray. Consider your fish when you pick your color.

In the lineart layer, take your new color and draw neatly over your guides--all you need to draw is the outline of the body and fins (even where the fins meet the body; you can erase this part later if you decide your drawing looks better without it, but keep it for now). If you drew the eye and/or marked the gills, draw over those too, you want to keep them.

Next, either make a completely white layer or right-click your background layer and select "Layer from Background." Name it "whitelayer." Put your sketch layer underneath it, and your lineart above it. Ta-daaaa!

Step 5 FOR PAPER

Clean up your lines. All you need is the outline of the fins and body right now. You can keep the gills and the eye if you drew them, too, but all of our skeleton sketching needs to go. Test out your eraser and make sure it doesn't smear first--I recommend the white plastic/latex erasers. This is why there was a tip on drawing lightly.


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## myexplodingcat

Step 6 FOR PHOTOSHOP ONLY

Pen-and-paper people can ignore this part; you guys might want to color after you put in the details.

Tip: If the fish is black, use very dark gray. True black is difficult to work with.
Other tip: It's probably not quite as bright as you think. Double-check.

In Photoshop, this is ridiculously easy. All you need to do is make a layer just under the lineart but above your whitelayer, and you pretty much have a coloring page like out of your childhood.

I recommend making two color layers, actually. The first one (name it basecolor) should be the basic color that occupies most of the fish. The second one (name it color details or something like that) should have details like body color that extends into the fins, ribbing, fin highlights, scale details--and you do need at least some of those details. After you do your details, you can go back to the base color and fill in a little shading, or any variations in the base color.

Adamantium has a pretty neutral palette: pale yellow-gold and a warmish gray, with coral streaks here and there in his fins. He has a gray stripe in his tail and I'll need lots of highlights in his fins to capture their texture.

Here I'll show both his base layer and his full, detailed pic.

Step 6 FOR PENCIL/PAPER ONLY

Add your details first, guys. Take a look at the Photoshop version's details--the difference between the first pic and the second for that step. That's what you're aiming for too.

*Now* you should color if you want to.

If you choose to color, use light strokes and try not to make individual colored pencil lines (or whatever you're using) visible unless you're doing it intentionally, to catch the fin texture or scales or some other detail.

Step 6 FOR PAINTERS

Watercolor people, follow the Pencil/Paper instructions.

Any opaque paint, follow or adapt the Photoshop instructions.

Did I miss anyone?


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## myexplodingcat

Step 7. Background!

This is optional, but it's kind of nice to throw in a little background, and now's the time to do it. Photoshop people can make a layer; watercolorists might go for a wash; really, just do whatever you like to give your pic that final touch. I just used a solid color that shows off the fish's palette.

You're done! Enjoy your betta, experiment, and have fun!


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## myexplodingcat

Finally: a test!

This is another of Sabina's bettas. His name is Owl. Feel free to draw him (he's a plakat) and post your work. If you want helpful critiques on how to improve, say so in your post.

Please don't critique others who haven't asked for it, and make sure all your criticism is constructive!

If this thread turns out to be helpful for lots of people, perhaps it could become a sticky? You decide!


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## Sabina88

It came out amazing, 
You did a good job on the tutorial, im deffinitly going to use these steps, im horrible at drawing bettas lol


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## myexplodingcat

Thanks! 

If you want to practice on Owl and post it, I could help you troubleshoot. If not, that's fine too!


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## Sabina88

Hmm I think ill give him a try, id appreciate the help, ill either do him today or tomorrow


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## BlueLacee

Good job. *scrambling for paper and scrolling to the top*


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## Sabina88

My version of Owl. I need to work on the body shape, also sorry for the shading in mechanical pencil, and this was more for the drawing then the coloring. 

Anyways here he is :-D


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## myexplodingcat

Sabina88 said:


> My version of Owl. I need to work on the body shape, also sorry for the shading in mechanical pencil, and this was more for the drawing then the coloring.
> 
> Anyways here he is :-D
> View attachment 336130
> 
> View attachment 336138


His body shape looks pretty good to me! I'm more concerned with your proportions: his fins are a little big in your drawing. His tail is also slightly rounder in the photograph, and his dorsal a little less round.

I would also shade his body in a little, or perhaps add some detail to his body to suggest a scale pattern. That can finish off a drawing really nicely and make it look more like the fish.

Well done!


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## Sabina88

Thank you :-D
and lol I was actually going to add a attempt at some scalling but I got interrupted and forgot to add some, I didn't even think of it till you mentioned it haha 
Thanks for the tips  Ill try that next time I draw a betta, for some reason I find plackets harder to draw then longer finned bettas, im not really sure why.


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## Betta Nut

This is mostly for fun, but suggestions welcome!

I only found out last night that I really like working with MS Paint.
So I decided to do another fish, and see what I could do with it. I am not brave enough yet to try different poses. Plus linework is hard, since I am on a laptop using only a touchpad.
The challenge is enjoyable though 

I had been having troubles matching colors, but then I discovered I could "cheat" and place the photo beside the picture, and use the eyedropper thing to steal the proper color... oops! 

I only use it for hard to match washed out colors though, obviously, since many are still off, heh.


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## Sabina88

That came out awesome! I wish I had that much skill in MS paint 
The tail fin and head are my favorite, it looks like its done in acrylic paint


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## Betta Nut

Thanks 

I can already see a couple mistakes, I should of done the bright rays on the tail last, so my trying to highlight them didnt go over the bright part. Also, I forgot to do anything for his pec fins


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## myexplodingcat

If you ever want a fancier drawing program, GIMP is free and a lot of people like it.

But it seems like you're doing just fine with Paint


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## Kiara1125

myexplodingcat said:


> Finally: a test!
> 
> This is another of Sabina's bettas. His name is Owl. Feel free to draw him (he's a plakat) and post your work. If you want helpful critiques on how to improve, say so in your post.
> 
> Please don't critique others who haven't asked for it, and make sure all your criticism is constructive!
> 
> If this thread turns out to be helpful for lots of people, perhaps it could become a sticky? You decide!


Excuse me ... this is *my* betta. I have picture s of him growing up because I bought him as a female VT.


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## Betta Nut

Yeah. I actually didn't know Gimp was a free program. I'd actually prefer to do stuff not on the computer.. paints, pencils, etc.. But this is all I have for now, and I do kinda like the paint program. Aside from the stealing color trick, there really aren't any shortcuts, so it feels kinda close to the real thing


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## Kiara1125

Is this better? I think I need to start copyrighting all my pictures ...

Added extra pictures to prove that he's mine.


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## myexplodingcat

Whoops! Made a mistake: Owl belongs to Kiara1125, not Sabina. Sorry, Kiara! I must have misread the thread his pic was in--if I'd seen he was yours instead, I'd have asked you for permission. Sabina must have been terribly confused as to what I was asking.

Ahhhh, Kiara... I'm sorry, it was an honest mistake! I double-checked everything before I posted but apparently it wasn't enough 

You don't need to prove anything, I believe you! I just misread something.


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## Kiara1125

Probably, but it's alright. I'm just slightly disappointed that Sabina never said anything about it. Oh well, problem solved now, thank you.


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## myexplodingcat

Kiara1125 said:


> Probably, but it's alright. I'm just slightly disappointed that Sabina never said anything about it. Oh well, problem solved now, thank you.


I'm sure it was nothing personal! Ahhh I feel bad now  I wish we could edit past posts, that would make this so much easier


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## myexplodingcat

Would you like a drawing of him to make it up to you? 

Or... her, you said, didn't you? Man, I must have really misread something D:
Or was he just marked as a female VT?


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## Sabina88

Kiara1125 said:


> Probably, but it's alright. I'm just slightly disappointed that Sabina never said anything about it. Oh well, problem solved now, thank you.


Sorry about that, I never read that part so I didn't notice it. I thought you guys had talked about using Owls pic so I didn't think anything of it when I was asked if Owls pic could be used too.
Im glad everything worked out though


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## Kiara1125

It's fine! Still, I said that Owl was marked/bought as a VT female and he turned out to be a plakat! xD Still, it's nothing personal. I just wanted to fix everything. Still, myexplodingcat, calm down and read slower. lol I do the same thing whenever I'm stressed or excited. Course, my personality doesn't help with that. xD


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## Sabina88

Lol he's definitly not a female anymore, he deffinitly turned out to be a beautifull male
Is he more orange or red in person?


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## myexplodingcat

Not my best work, but here he is! I need sleep.

He was kinda fun to draw though. Although his color palette is actually rather difficult! It must be a fish thing, what with the tank interfering in the photo's color and all.

If you want a higher-quality version, as always, PM me with your email.


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## Kiara1125

Sabina88 said:


> Lol he's definitly not a female anymore, he deffinitly turned out to be a beautifull male
> Is he more orange or red in person?


He's more red. His body is a flesh tone and the blue on his fins are visible without any flash (like in the pictures I posted). He truly is a gorgeous boy and he's the most gorgeous cambodian that I've ever seen.



myexplodingcat said:


> Not my best work, but here he is! I need sleep.
> 
> He was kinda fun to draw though. Although his color palette is actually rather difficult! It must be a fish thing, what with the tank interfering in the photo's color and all.
> 
> If you want a higher-quality version, as always, PM me with your email.


What do you mean by higher quality? Do you mean a bigger picture or a new drawing? Either way, very nice job! I love it.


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## myexplodingcat

I mean the same drawing, but cleaner and less pixelated. It has to do with the way you save a jpeg from Photoshop. It just looks better.

The higher the quality, the bigger the file. The forum has restrictions on file size, so the best I can usually post is medium quality. If you Google "jpeg quality difference" you'll see what I mean.


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## Kiara1125

Oh, I see what you mean. It doesn't matter to me. I like the drawing the way that it is.


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## amphirion

good thread. i was thinking about making one myself but never got around to it. 
only went as far as trying to help people draw scales:









here's a drawing that i did from someone here in a thread back when...









looking back at it, the body is a bit too long. i should try drawing bettas again. thanks for the inspiration!


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## Kiara1125

amphirion said:


> good thread. i was thinking about making one myself but never got around to it.
> only went as far as trying to help people draw scales:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> here's a drawing that i did from someone here in a thread back when...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> looking back at it, the body is a bit too long. i should try drawing bettas again. thanks for the inspiration!


I think your drawing is gorgeous! I would just thicken the body to help balance out the length and to lengthen the ventrals along with smooth out the stomach. Imagine a tiny stomach bulge instead. So, keep the stomach the same (but smooth out how it connects to the gills) and create the rest of the body the same thickness of the stomach, but a TINY bit thinner. I'll try and draw to show you what I mean. Do you mind if I make a few lines over your drawing?


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## amphirion

Kiara1125 said:


> I think your drawing is gorgeous! I would just thicken the body to help balance out the length and to lengthen the ventrals along with smooth out the stomach. Imagine a tiny stomach bulge instead. So, keep the stomach the same (but smooth out how it connects to the gills) and create the rest of the body the same thickness of the stomach, but a TINY bit thinner. I'll try and draw to show you what I mean. Do you mind if I make a few lines over your drawing?


sure, thanks for asking. i think the thing was, i was drawing an actual fish. not an ideal one--if it was an ideal fish, i would have definitely drawn longer ventrals, i would have made it a full halfmoon with a hawk too....


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## Kiara1125

amphirion said:


> sure, thanks for asking. i think the thing was, i was drawing an actual fish. not an ideal one--if it was an ideal fish, i would have definitely drawn longer ventrals, i would have made it a full halfmoon with a hawk too....


Oh, certainly understandable. Gorgeous fish though! I bet he was such a beauty in real life if he's so gorgeous in a drawing! Your shading work is amazing though.


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## OpalBones

Does anyone have any advice on how to get the fins really soft and silky looking? Mine always look too stiff. :T


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## amphirion

OpalBones said:


> Does anyone have any advice on how to get the fins really soft and silky looking? Mine always look too stiff. :T


what type of medium are we talking about? digital or traditional?

with digital, i always opt for soft brushes as well as messing around with the opacity. softer lines allow for blending, and opacity allows you to start at a light hue and then darken it to your preferences. also, as i get darker, my brushes get smaller-- work from general shading to fine details.


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## OpalBones

amphirion said:


> what type of medium are we talking about? digital or traditional?
> 
> with digital, i always opt for soft brushes as well as messing around with the opacity. softer lines allow for blending, and opacity allows you to start at a light hue and then darken it to your preferences. also, as i get darker, my brushes get smaller-- work from general shading to fine details.


Digital. I use a bamboo tablet and the free program FireAlpaca. 


Ah that sounds like it could work and I will have to test it out. Thank you, Amphirion!


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## Pippin

:thankyou::thankyou::thankyou::thankyou::thankyou::thankyou::thankyou:
I can't get a picture of the betta that I drew up, but I looks much nicer than my previous attempts at drawing bettas.
:thankyou::thankyou::thankyou::thankyou::thankyou::thankyou::thankyou:


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## MY2BETTAS

VERY GOOD.You are very brave ,I believe you will only get stronger and [email protected] drawing. Not sure if its something you want to continue doing but if so I say stick with it.agin, VERY GOOD!


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