Home »
Misc »
How to sketch a basketball
How to sketch a basketball
How to Draw a Basketball
Throw some hoops with us today! Learn how to draw a realistic Basketball the easy way! Follow along and learn how to draw a realistic basketball in this full step-by-step tutorial where we cover the very basic elements of detailing and coloring! This will be a great challenge for experienced and beginner artists.
Table of Contents
- 1 Step-by-Step Easy Basketball Drawing Tutorial
- 1.1 Step 1: Drawing a Perfect Circle
- 1.2 Step 2: Create Quadrants in Your Basketball Shape
- 1.3 Step 3: Adding More Gridlines
- 1.4 Step 4: Finishing the Foundation Grid
- 1.5 Step 5: Drawing the Lines on Basketballs
- 1.6 Step 6: Constructing the Second Strip
- 1.7 Step 7: Drawing the Third Basketball Strip
- 1.8 Step 8: Finishing the Lines on Basketballs
- 1.9 Step 9: Creating Realistic Basketball Drawing Texture
- 1.10 Step 10: Applying a Base Color Coat to Your Basketball Drawing
- 1.
![]()
11 Step 11: Coloring the Lines on Basketball - 1.12 Step 12: Contouring Your Realistic Basketball Drawing
- 1.13 Step 13: Adding More Shading
- 1.14 Step 14: Begin Highlighting Your Easy Basketball Drawing
- 1.15 Step 15: Strengthening Your Highlights
- 1.16 Step 16: Finishing Your Highlights and Shadows
- 1.17 Step 17: Finishing Your Realistic Basketball Drawing
- 2 Video Tutorial on How to Draw a Basketball
- 3 Frequently Asked Questions
- 3.1 How Do You Draw a Simple Basketball?
- 3.2 How Do You Draw Basketball Texture?
Step-by-Step Easy Basketball Drawing Tutorial
Basketballs are a fantastic object to draw for beginner and experienced artists alike. The perfectly round shape and lines on a basketball can pose a challenge to all artists. A slightly oval ball with crooked lines will lack the realism that many of us crave. To help you create that perfect shape of a basketball drawing, we begin the tutorial with a series of construction steps.
These initial steps will set up the round shape and help you plan out the path of the signature lines on a basketball. Take a look at the basketball drawing outline below.
As you will see from the outline above, the last eight steps of the tutorial involve coloring and shading. For these coloring steps, you can use any medium that you choose. If you prefer to work with a more physical medium like acrylic paints or coloring pencils, then you can simply adjust the instructions to suit your process.
A digital drawing tablet is also a great medium for this drawing tutorial.
Step 1: Drawing a Perfect Circle
The first step of this realistic basketball drawing tutorial is arguably the hardest. Once you have your circular base, you can build off of it to create the lines on basketballs with ease.
A quick note, if you are working with a physical medium, we suggest using a light and easily erasable pencil for the construction steps.
If you are using a digital medium, draw the construction steps on a separate layer to the final outline and details.
Begin by locating the center of your drawing area. Once you have found it, you can now draw a large circle. If you do not feel comfortable drawing a perfect circle by hand, try using any round object that you can find. You can easily trace this round object to get a perfect base for your easy basketball drawing.
Step 2: Create Quadrants in Your Basketball Shape
In this step, we are going to divide our base circle into four different quadrants. These divisions will help us to place the lines of basketballs in later steps. You can easily divide the circle into four quarters by drawing a center vertical line and center horizontal line.
Step 3: Adding More Gridlines
Continuing to set up the gridlines, simply draw two vertical lines on either side of the central division lines. This step is quick and easy.
Step 4: Finishing the Foundation Grid
To finish the grid, begin by drawing a rectangle that lines horizontally, with the top and bottom line sitting alongside the middle dividing line. Where these lines meet the edge of the circle, draw two short verticle lines to join them. For the vertical grid lines, do the same, by drawing two shorter lines connecting the outer two verticle lines.
This will achieve a full grid on the circle that will help us wrap the pattern lines around the ball.
Step 5: Drawing the Lines on Basketballs
In this step, you are going to begin using the grid to help you draw the signature lines on basketballs. Begin with the first strip that wraps around the ball from the upper left side to the bottom right side.
Step 6: Constructing the Second Strip
You can now draw the second line, curving up and around the top left segment of the basketball drawing.
You want this second strip to run from the bottom left corner of the horizontal rectangle, and meet the edge of the circle in the segment between the two grid rectangles on the top right.
TIp: you want these two lines to cross just around the top left overlap of the two grid rectangles.
Step 7: Drawing the Third Basketball Strip
You can now draw the third strip. This one should curve up and away from the bottom of the basketball drawing, with the top being almost parallel to the first strip, and then back down to the right side of the basketball.
Step 8: Finishing the Lines on Basketballs
To finish the lines on your easy basketball drawing, create a shorter, slightly curved strip at the top left corner of the ball. This strip should curve underneath the other strip at this point.
Once completed you are ready to erase any still visible construction lines, grid lines, and overlapping lines.
Step 9: Creating Realistic Basketball Drawing Texture
We now begin to add details and texture to our easy basketball drawings. Along the right edges of the basketball, and along the lines of each strip, use small dots to create a realistic basketball texture.
Try to make the dotting more condensed around the edges of the ball, as this will help create a more three-dimensional and realistic basketball drawing.
Step 10: Applying a Base Color Coat to Your Basketball Drawing
For the base color coat, find a slightly brown-orange shade. Use a large regular brush and apply an even coat of this shade to the entire shape of your basketball drawing.
Step 11: Coloring the Lines on Basketball
For the signature basketball strips, you will need a smaller fine brush and some black paint. Using these tools, carefully trace the strips and fill them to create an even and dark coat.
Step 12: Contouring Your Realistic Basketball Drawing
In this step, you are going to use a soft blending brush and some black paint to create some contouring on your basketball drawing. Contouring is a fantastic way to add more dimension to a drawing. Apply a light layer of contouring to the edges of the basketball.
The strips on a basketball are slightly indented, so you can also apply thin strips of light contouring around the strips to emphasize this.
Step 13: Adding More Shading
In this step, you are simply going to emphasize the contouring from the last step in certain places. Use a soft brush and a little more black paint and enhance the contoured areas, particularly around the edge of the ball.
Step 14: Begin Highlighting Your Easy Basketball Drawing
The very left upper right side of the basketball will catch the light, emphasizing the three-dimensional nature of your basketball drawing.
Using a soft brush and some white paint, lightly color this area. Once you have applied the white paint, use a clean brush to gently blend all of your colors together.
This blending technique will create a much smoother and more realistic transition between all of your colors.
Step 15: Strengthening Your Highlights
Now that you have the highlighted base, you can begin building up the intensity of the white color. Again, using a soft brush, apply highlights to the part of the ball where all of the strips converge. You can also add highlights to these parts of the black strips.
Step 16: Finishing Your Highlights and Shadows
Just before we finish our easy basketball drawing tutorial, you can now further emphasize your highlights and shadows. Use a fine brush and some white paint to add final highlight strips between the black lines. Finally, use a soft blending brush and some black paint to add a final layer of shading around the edges of the ball.
Step 17: Finishing Your Realistic Basketball Drawing
To complete this step, make use of a fine sharp brush and the corresponding color to trace the outline and inner texture lines to create a final seamless result without any visible dark outlines or texture lines. This helps us achieve a more natural look.
Complete the step by using a soft brush and black paint to apply a ground shadow.
Hopefully, by the end of this tutorial, you will have created a realistic basketball drawing with texture and contouring. Drawing a basketball is actually very easy when you break it down into simple steps, although it can seem intimidating at first. You now have all of the necessary drawing skills to draw many more types of balls, including tennis balls, soccer balls, and cricket balls.
Video Tutorial on How to Draw a Basketball
Frequently Asked Questions
How Do You Draw a Simple Basketball?
Although a basketball drawing may seem intimidating, it is actually very simple when you can break it down into construction, detail, and coloring steps. In this easy basketball drawing tutorial, we show you exactly how to create a perfect realistic basketball drawing.
How Do You Draw Basketball Texture?
Basketballs have a rough, dotted texture. To create this texture in a basketball drawing, you can simply create a pattern of small dots throughout the ball.
Basketball Drawing - How To Draw A Basketball Step By Step
Basketball is one of the most popular sports in the world, with millions and millions of passionate fans around the world.
Because of this popularity, people show their love for the sport with many artistic and creative pursuits like paintings, drawings and fanart.
If you love basketball as well, then you may have tried to draw a basketball before and found it to be harder than you expected.
The lines on a basketball can make it a bit tricky to draw, but we will be showing you how to do it easily!
This step-by-step guide on how to draw a basketball in 6 easy steps will make it easier than ever for you to draw!
What's in this Blog Post
- How to Draw A Basketball – Let’s get Started!
- Step 1
- Step 2 – Draw in the first lines in your basketball
- Step 3 – Next, let’s add in some more lines to your basketball
- Step 4 – Now, add in a vertical line for your basketball
- Step 5 – Next, add in the final details
- Step 6 – Finish off your basketball drawing with some color
- Here’s how you can make your basketball drawing even better…
- Your Basketball Drawing is Complete!
Step 1
The first step of this guide on how to draw a basketball is going to be simple to start with.
For this step, we shall be drawing a perfect circle that will be the outline of your basketball.
Drawing a perfect circle freehand can be really difficult, so there are some tools you can use to help you.
The best tool for drawing a circle is a drawing compass. This tool helps you draw a circle with ease, so if you have one then it would be great for this step!
If you don’t have one, you could also use a circular object like the cap of a glue stick and then draw around it to make a circle.
Step 2 – Draw in the first lines in your basketball
Now that you have the outline of your basketball, you can start to draw in some lines of the ball. For this step of your basketball drawing, we shall add in one curved line.
This first line will extend from the top to the bottom of the basketball with a slightly curved line.
If you do have a compass, you can also use it to make this curved line down the ball.
Step 3 – Next, let’s add in some more lines to your basketball
We’re slowly building up the details of your basketball drawing, so we shall add in some more as we go along.
For this step, we shall be adding in a very curved line horizontally to the basketball as it appears in the reference image.
These lines could be a bit tricky to get right, so you could use a pencil to draw in the lines and then use a pen to go over it when it looks good to you.
Step 4 – Now, add in a vertical line for your basketball
For step 4 of this guide on how to draw a basketball, we will continue to draw in more details. For this step, carefully draw in another horizontal line to the basketball.
This line should be only slightly curved at a horizontal angle.
With this line done, we can move on to the next step!
Step 5 – Next, add in the final details
You’ve very nearly finished your basketball drawing at this point, and it only needs one more line to be complete! This final line will be a mirror image of the upper line you drew in step 3.
As you can see in the reference image, it will look exactly like that line except inverted.
Once you have that line drawn, you’re essentially finished with the drawing! If you want to add in some extra details, you could also do that to set it apart a bit.
An example of what you could do is draw on the brand logo of your favorite basketball brand onto your basketball! How will you personalize your basketball drawing?
Step 6 – Finish off your basketball drawing with some color
With those final details drawn in, you have successfully learned how to draw a basketball! Now that you have it drawn, there’s just one more step for you to do and it’s a fun step!
Your basketball drawing needs some color, and there are a few ways that you can make this your own.
Basketballs traditionally come in a bright orange, so that should make for a beautiful picture! You could also get creative and use some of your own favorite colors as well.
Once you choose some colors, you can have some fun with which art mediums and tools to use.
You could play around with some paints, watercolors or colored pens to bring some amazing color variations to your drawing.
You could also try to draw in a background for your drawing. You could maybe draw in a basketball court in the background and maybe draw in a hand above it to show the basketball is about to be intercepted! How will you finish off your basketball drawing?
Here’s how you can make your basketball drawing even better…
Get your head in the game as we make your basketball sketch look even better!
This drawing of a basketball has no logos on it, and that would be something you could add to make it even more distinct.
If you have a favorite basketball brand in real life, then that could be something you could add.
On the other hand, it could also be fun to create your very own basketball brand logo that you could add to this one. Which logo would you like to add to this basketball?
A basketball is one of many things you will need to play this incredible game. You could show off some of the other equipment you would need for a basketball by adding them to the picture!
For example, you will need the right footwear for the job, and you could show what you would like to wear during a basketball game.
Then, you could show the uniform you would also like to wear during a game.
If you can think of any other basketball equipment, then be sure to add them here!
If you’re adding equipment to your basketball drawing, you could take it even further by adding a character to your basketball drawing. There are a few options you could go for if you were to do this.
One would be to show yourself interacting with the basketball. Another would be to draw your favorite professional basketball player performing some cool moves.
What kind of art style would you use for a character in the image?
Once you have everything you want in your basketball sketch, you could then show where it is all taking place by adding a background.
Basketball can be played in all sorts of places, so you have options!
It could be as simple as a backyard court with a basket attached to the wall. Or, you could draw a massive stadium with lots of fans cheering in the background.
It all depends on where you would like to play basketball yourself!
Your Basketball Drawing is Complete!
With the final details drawn in and the colors finished, you have learned how to draw a basketball!
We really hope that you had a great time using this guide, as our aim was to make sure that it was not only helpful but also fun to use.
If you follow the guide steps and take it slow, you will definitely do a great job at drawing your basketball!
Drawing and coloring is just half the fun, though, as there is still plenty you can do to add in more fun details to your drawing.
We spoke about how you can use different colors and art mediums to personalize your drawing, and also how you could draw in a great background for it.
You could also maybe cut out a drawing of your favorite basketball player and stick it on to make it look like the player will be intercepting the ball!
The possibilities are endless, and the only limit is your imagination! We can’t wait to see what you come up with to finish your drawing.
This step-by-step guide is just one of many more that we will be bringing out!
We really hope that you will keep checking out our site to make sure you never miss out on our great drawing guides we will have for you.
Lastly, we would love to see how you finish off your basketball drawing, so once it’s done we hope that you will share it on our Facebook and Pinterest pages for us to enjoy!
We can’t wait to see your incredible drawing!
How to draw a basketball step by step - DrawingNow
Basketball is the only mobile equipment needed to play the game of the same name. Basketball has become an American icon; in fact, it is the only major sport that originated entirely in America.
Basketball is a relatively young sport. In 1891, a physical education teacher at a college in Massachusetts was instructed to develop a new game "for the amusement of schoolchildren in the winter." The teacher organized eighteen young people into two teams and appointed team captains for each.
The first basketball game was played with a soccer ball; the targets consisted of half-bushel-sized peach baskets that hung at each end of the gymnasium. During the game, the guys scored only one point.
The first basketball baskets had bottoms; The referees were supposed to pick up the balls when the basket was made. By the early 1900s, the first string nets were being used. Early basketballs were made from leather, which worked well on indoor courts but was damaged by the asphalt surface of outdoor courts. K 19In the 90s, most consumer basketballs were made from rubber or other durable materials to alleviate this problem.
Did you know? Warm basketballs bounce better than cold ones because materials are more flexible in warm conditions. Professional basketball should be able to bounce about four feet when dropped from a height of six feet. Today, basketball is a symbol of both the sport and athletics in general.
Dive into the game and hone your skills with this easy, step-by-step basketball lesson.
All you need is a pencil, a piece of paper and an eraser. You can also use markers, crayons, crayons or whatever to shade your finished basketball!.
If you liked this tutorial, see also the following drawing guides: Guitar, Soccer Ball, and Teddy Bear with Heart.
Basketball Step by Step Instructions
1. Start by drawing a circle. This outlines the shape of basketball.
2. Draw a curved line across the basketball, not in the center but close to one side. This is the first edge of the ball or recessed lines.
3. Draw another curved line going in the opposite direction and intersecting the first one at a perpendicular angle. This is the second edge of the ball.
4. Draw a curved line from the side of the basketball to a vertical curved line, forming another edge.
OTHER EASY DRAWING GUIDES:
5. Continue the edge drawn in the previous step on the other side of the vertical line, attaching it to the edge of the ball on the opposite side.
6. Next, draw a curved rib line below the horizontal line, extending from the side of the ball to the vertical rib line.
7. Continue the line on the other side of the vertical edge, continuing towards the ball.
8. Next, you'll specify the depth of the recessed lines, giving the ball a three-dimensional look. To do this, draw a curved line parallel to the vertical and horizontal lines of the ribs.
OTHER EASY DRAWING GUIDES:
9. Draw curved lines parallel to those of the upper and lower ribs. Then, carefully erase the guide lines from the dots that the lines intersect each other with. This allows you to get a solid recessed line.
10. Color your basketball. The most common colors are orange with black ribs. Basketballs, however, can be found in a wide variety of colors. Early balls were brown. Some have white markings or represent the country's national colors such as red, white and blue.
Others may be pink, black, green, or other colors.
Are you in the mood for more fun and games? Learn to draw soccer balls, teddy bears and more with our easy object drawing tutorials.
The Complete Basketball Drawing Tutorial in One Image
Like this Drawing Guide?
Leave a comment below or follow on Pinterest.
How to draw a basketball hoop and ball step by step Easy Drawing Tutorials
Basketball is an iconic American sport. Its legendary players such as Michael Jordan and LeBron James are considered heroes. Today it is the only sport whose origin lies exclusively in America.
How did basketball start? It was a rainy day in 1891. James Naismith taught physical education at the YMCA in Massachusetts. Stuck inside, what was his class supposed to do? With a soccer ball and two hemisphere peach baskets, Naismith invented the game we now call basketball.
School football teams helped popularize the sport; when the weather was too cold to practice outside, they would go inside and play basketball.
Did you know? Early basketball baskets had a bottom, so each time a point was scored, the ball had to be retrieved from the basket. The bottom of the basket was later removed, but the balls were too big to fall through. Instead, a long pole was used to push the ball out of the top of the basket.
Actual baskets were used until 1906 when a metal rim and back panel was introduced. The rear shield also prevented fans with balcony seats from getting in the way of shots and allowed for rebound.
From its humble roots, basketball has spread throughout the world. Not only do professional teams exist in many countries, but public parks often have outdoor basketball courts.
Recreational basketballs can be seen outside houses and on the streets. This half-court version of the game is often referred to as "streetball". Other side effects of the game, including a beach version that allows you to carry a ball, have been invented.
Would you like to draw a basketball? Doing so is easier than ever with this easy, step-by-step drawing guide.
All you need is a pencil, pen or marker and a sheet of paper. You can also color your finished drawing.
If you liked this tutorial, see also the following drawing guides: Baseball Bat, Baseball Cap, and Basketball Player.
Basketball Hoop Step by Step Instructions
1. Start by drawing a flattened oval. Then draw a smaller oval inside the first one. This forms the rim of the basketball hoop.
2. Extend two straight lines horizontally from one side of the rim. The top line should be longer than the other. Then extend lines down from the ends of those lines. Connect them at the bottom using a straight line. This connects the rim to the back panel.
3. Draw a curved line down one side of the rim. This starts the outline of the network.
4. Draw a curved line down from the other side of the rim. Connect the lines at the bottom using a wavy, irregular line. Then draw diagonal parallel lines across the net.
Follow them in parallel lines on the opposite diagonal. The result will be a hatch or checkerboard pattern that indicates the lines of the network.
OTHER EASY DRAWING GUIDES:
5. Draw perpendicular diagonal lines in the inner oval of the hoop, indicating the opposite side of the mesh.
6. Draw a circle covering the bottom of the net. This will become basketball.
7. Draw a curved line across the basketball. Perpendicular to this line, draw three additional curved lines. These are basketball stitches.
8. Draw a four-sided shape using four straight lines. The extension from the rim should be in the center of this shape. It's a basketball shield.
OTHER EASY DRAWING GUIDES:
9. Draw a smaller four-sided shape inside the first one. Extend a pair of straight lines from the rim to the point where it attaches to the backrest, providing additional support for the rim.
