How to Draw an Easy Chain
Learning how to draw a chain is really easy. We’ll show you step by step how to draw, outline, and color your chain drawings with markers.
After you’ve learned the technique for drawing a chain you can use your knowledge to create cool works of art. They’re a great addition to tattoo and graffiti art.
Art and drawing are skills anyone can learn. It just takes practice and repetition. The more you practice the better you will get. Try to make your creative time part of your daily routine and habits.
Let’s get our supplies and get ready to have some fun learning how to draw a chain.
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Art Supplies
- Thin black marker
- Paper or cardstock
- Markers
- Pencil
- Click Eraser, Pink Pearl Eraser
- White Gelly Roll pen
Chain Sketch Practice
Doing some quick sketches before working on your drawings is a great way to warm up and get familiar with what you’re going to be drawing.
And they only take a few minutes to complete. Here’s how you do a chain sketch practice exercise.
First you need to get some paper and something to sketch with. You can use any type of paper and whatever you have handy to sketch.
Then you set a timer for three or five minutes. And just do as many sketches as you can before you run out of time. You’ll probably want to use some reference photos as well.
Another option is to do as many quick sketches as you can before you run out of room on your paper. Either method is fine. Just be sure you’re doing quick sketches and keeping your lines loose.
You could use this method to work through some ideas you might have for your artwork. Or simply use it to warm up your drawing muscles.
How to Draw a Chain (Easy Step by Step)
Learning how to draw a chain is pretty easy. It’s all about getting the links to connect and look like they’re hooked together.
The first thing you need to do is draw an oval for the inside of the first link.
Then, draw a slightly larger oval around that for the outside of your first link.
To draw the second link, start with the inside again. It should overlap your first link and go just past the inside edge of it.
Don’t worry about things being perfect. The goal is to get the basic technique of drawing a chain down. The more of them you draw the better they will look.
Now draw another oval that’s slightly larger for the outside edge of your second link.
Make sure you’re drawing light enough to be able to erase. Which is actually something you should get in the habit of always doing anyway.
Now we need to make it look like the chains are hooked together. To do this we need to erase some of the lines.
Erase the intersecting lines of the first link where it goes through the top of the second link.
Then erase the second link where it intersects the bottom of the first link. They should now look like they are connected through each other.
If you want to draw your links going in a different direction you can follow the same exact process and just change the angle of the links.
It might be helpful to draw a line to represent where you want your chains to go if you’re trying to get a specific design.
For example, if you want your chain to make a circle you could draw out your circle first. Then you would make your links going along the circle.
Chain Outline
Making your chain outline is really easy. All you need to do is trace over your pencil lines with a black pen or marker.
You can make your lines thin, thick, or a variation of line weights. And you could use a different color as well.
How you make your chain outline will depend on your artistic style. But don’t worry if you don’t know what that is yet.
Your artistic style will develop over time with practice. Just experiment with different ideas and try new things. Have fun and don’t be afraid to mess things up.
How to Draw a Chain with Markers
Learning how to draw a chain with markers isn’t as difficult as you may think. There’s really only a few things to keep in mind when using markers for your artwork.
First, if you want to be able to blend your colors together you’ll need to use alcohol markers. There’s a lot of different brands out there like Bic or Sharpie.
Second, you need to use colors that are similar to each other if you want to create smooth transitions of colors. If they’re not similar you’ll end up with a hard edge.
Third, you need to work while the markers are still wet. This shouldn’t be too much of a problem if you work in smaller areas at a time.
Another thing you’ll probably want to do is use two or three colors for each section of your drawing. For example, this chain was colored using light gray, medium gray, and blue gray.
The colors were blended together using the light gray by going over the areas where they meet.
We have an entire lesson on How to Use Markers if you need more help.
To finish up this chain drawing, a white Gelly Roll pen was used to add some highlights.
Final Thoughts and Next Steps
Now that you know how to draw a chain, what’s next? Well, if you want to get good at drawing and creating art you need to practice.
See how many cool ideas you can come up with for drawing chains. You could add them to a dog. Or try drawing a chain that’s broken.
Have fun and see what you can come up with. Challenge yourself to draw a series of chain drawings this week. Your creativity will improve along with your art skills.
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