How to Paint a Dolphin: Step by Step for Beginners

A dolphin painting is one of those subjects that delivers maximum charm for minimum technical effort. The shape is graceful and curved, the palette is limited (just a few blues and greys), and the playful energy of a dolphin breaching the water is instantly readable even with the simplest brushwork. Dolphins are a coastal favourite for beginners because they evoke holidays, the ocean, and that childlike sense of wonder almost everyone associates with seeing them in the wild.

Here is the full step by step from the Paint Juicy team. The breaching pose that gives the dolphin its dynamic motion, the sleek body shape technique, and the splash work that anchors the dolphin in the ocean it just leapt out of.

What you need before you start

Dolphin palettes are simple. Mostly blues and greys for the body, plus white and ocean colours for the splash and water.

Acrylic paints in these colours: Titanium White, Mars Black, Cerulean Blue, Ultramarine Blue, Phthalo Blue, Cobalt Teal, Yellow Ochre, and Payne's Grey (or a cool grey mix). The grey range is what gives the dolphin body its natural slate-blue appearance. Our guide on the best paint for paint and sip projects covers acrylics basics.

A canvas in horizontal (landscape) orientation. Dolphins breaching need horizontal room for the ocean and the leaping motion.

Brushes: a wide flat for the sky and water, a medium round for the dolphin body, a fine round for facial details, and a small flat for splash texture.

Plus pencil, palette, water, paper towels and an old shirt.

Step 1: Paint the sky and ocean background

Dolphin scenes need an inviting tropical sky and water combination. Soft blue sky above, deeper teal-blue ocean below, with a horizon line dividing them.

Mark a horizon line lightly with a pencil and ruler, slightly above the centre of the canvas.

For the sky, mix Cerulean Blue with a generous amount of Titanium White. Paint horizontal strokes across the upper portion of the canvas, fading toward white near the horizon.

For the ocean, work in three layers as in the beach scene tutorial. Deep dark blue (Ultramarine Blue plus a touch of black) at the very horizon line. Mid teal (Cobalt Teal plus a touch of white) in the middle of the ocean area. Pale teal (Cobalt Teal plus much more white) at the bottom of the canvas in the foreground. Use horizontal strokes throughout to suggest calm water surface.

Add a few horizontal white wave streaks across the middle of the ocean for surface texture. Subtle, not heavy.

Let the background dry completely before sketching the dolphin.

Step 2: Sketch the breaching dolphin shape

Dolphins have a streamlined torpedo body shape with distinctive features. A rounded head with a long beak (rostrum), a curved back with a triangular dorsal fin, two pectoral flippers (the side fins used for steering), and a powerful horizontally-oriented tail (the fluke).

Take your pencil and start with the body. Sketch a long curved S-shape representing the dolphin's spine, arcing upward from the water. The dolphin should be in the middle of the canvas, leaping out of the water at a dramatic angle. Draw the body wrapping around the S-curve, like a banana shape: thicker in the middle, tapering toward the head and tail.

For the head, draw a rounded shape at the front of the body. Then extend the beak forward from the head, a long pointed tube shape. The mouth opening is at the front of the beak.

For the dorsal fin, draw a triangular curved fin rising from the top of the back, roughly in the middle of the body. The fin should curve backward slightly, swept by motion.

For the pectoral flippers, draw a curved flipper shape on the visible side of the body, just behind the head. The flipper should be paddle-shaped, curving outward and slightly downward.

For the tail, draw the body tapering down to the fluke (the horizontal tail fin). The fluke is wider than expected and oriented horizontally, not vertically. It curves slightly with two pointed lobes.

Mark a small splash area at the base of the dolphin where it would have just broken the water surface.

Keep the pencil light.

Step 3: Block in the dolphin body

Dolphin colour is a slate blue-grey, darker on the back and lighter on the belly. The two-tone body is the signature look of bottlenose dolphins.

Mix Payne's Grey with a touch of Ultramarine Blue and a touch of white for the dark upper body colour. Mix Titanium White with a tiny touch of Yellow Ochre and a tiny touch of Cerulean Blue for the pale belly colour.

Load your medium round brush with the dark upper colour. Paint the upper half of the dolphin's body, including the top of the head, the back, the dorsal fin, and the upper portion of the tail. Use long flowing strokes that follow the curve of the body.

Now paint the belly using the pale colour. Cover the underside of the dolphin from the lower jaw, along the belly, to the underside of the tail. The belly is much paler than the back.

Where the dark and pale colours meet (along the side of the dolphin's body), blend the transition softly with a clean damp brush. The boundary should be a soft gradient, not a hard line. Real dolphins have a smooth fade from dark back to pale belly.

For the dorsal fin and pectoral flippers, paint them in the dark upper body colour with slightly darker shadow tones along the trailing edges.

Step 4: Add body highlights and shading

Real dolphins have wet shiny skin that catches light in distinctive ways. Adding highlights makes the painting look like a real dolphin in real sunlight.

Take your fine brush with pure Titanium White. Add a few thin highlight strokes along the upper edges of the dolphin's back where light would catch most strongly. The highlights should follow the curve of the body, suggesting wet skin reflecting the sky above. Just a few highlights, not many.

Add a small highlight along the upper edge of the dorsal fin where it would catch light. And a small highlight along the upper edges of the pectoral flippers and the tail fluke.

For shadow areas, add a slightly darker version of the dark body colour (your dark colour plus a touch more black) under the dorsal fin, behind the pectoral flippers, and on the underside of the tail fluke. The shadows give the dolphin three-dimensional weight.

Stand back from the canvas. The dolphin should look alive and dimensional, like it is actively in motion through the air.

Step 5: Paint the eye and face details

Dolphin faces are tiny but they are what give the painting personality. Take your time on this step.

Take your fine brush with Mars Black. Paint a small dark almond-shaped eye on the side of the head, positioned just behind and slightly above the rostrum (beak). Real dolphin eyes are smaller than you might expect.

Add a tiny white catchlight dot to the eye. This is what brings the dolphin to life and makes it look like it is actively looking at you.

For the mouth, paint a thin curved line along the lower edge of the rostrum, extending back toward the head. Real dolphin mouths curve upward at the back, giving them their iconic smiling expression. The upturned mouth is what makes dolphins look so friendly.

Add a small dark dot for the blowhole on top of the head, just behind the eye area. This is a distinctive feature that confirms the animal is a dolphin (or marine mammal more broadly).

Step 6: Add the splash and water effects

The breaching dolphin needs a splash to suggest the moment it broke the water surface. The splash is the dynamic energy of the painting.

Take your medium round brush with pure Titanium White (clean brush first). At the base of the dolphin where the body meets the water surface, paint a halo of white spray and disturbance. Use small circular dabbing motions to create a foamy splash effect at the water line.

Add streaks of white water rising upward from the splash area, suggesting droplets and spray flying into the air around the leaping dolphin. Use your fine brush for the smaller droplets and your medium brush for larger spray streaks.

Add a few water droplets on the dolphin's body itself, suggesting that the leap is so recent that water is still dripping off the wet skin. Small white dots scattered across the body, particularly on the lower portions.

For the water around the splash, add a few horizontal disturbance ripples in pale blue and white, suggesting the surface waves caused by the breaching motion.

Optional: add a second dolphin silhouette in the distant water behind the main one, suggesting a pod. Or add a few seagulls in the sky overhead as small black M-shapes. Or add a small distant island silhouette on the horizon.

Common mistakes and how to fix them

The body looks flat. You skipped the two-tone dark back and pale belly. Add the pale belly underneath the body and blend the transition softly. Without the two-tone effect, the dolphin looks like a flat blue shape rather than a real animal.

The mouth looks frowning or neutral. Real dolphin mouths curve upward at the back, creating that iconic smile. If yours looks unhappy, repaint the mouth line with a more pronounced upward curve at the back. The smile is the dolphin's signature feature.

The splash is too small. Beginner splashes are often too modest. Real breaching dolphins create big splashy disruptions on the water. Make your splash more dramatic with bigger spray and more droplets to convey the power of the leap.

Why we know this works

Dolphins are a long-running favourite at Paint Juicy coastal sessions in Queensland and New South Wales, where guests are inspired by the marine life they see along the coast. The breaching pose is the most dynamic and popular composition because it captures the moment of joy and freedom that dolphins represent in beginner art. Our FAQ on what to bring covers the basics for a coastal session with us.