This surf art tutorial is brought to you by Bob Penuelas, an illustrator famous for his surfing comic strip, Wilbur Kookmeyer. Created by Bob Penuelas in 1986, Wilbur Kookmeyer was a regular two-page feature in Surfer Magazine, gaining a cult following in the surfing community.
You probably spent a lot of time in high school, or at work, daydreaming plus doodling a thousand perfect cartoon waves in your notebook. This tutorial will help you change your throw-away wave doodles into works of art you’ll want to keep forever.
Remember, there are many ways to draw a wave, this tutorial only covers a few techniques, but hopefully, with these simple pointers, you’ll discover many more ways to draw a wave. Have fun!
P.S. If you’re looking for inspiration, check out these surfing illustrations.
Drawing a basic wave
The following illustrations plus captions by Bob Penuelas take you through the basic steps of drawing a wave.
Step 1
Sketch in the basic shape of the curl, spray, foam plus base of the wave.
Step 2
Add an extra line running parallel plus below the curl line to define the thickness of the lip.
Step 3
Add a flow line starting at the lip plus curve it around to suggest roundness of the liquid lip. Continue that same flow line around with a half oval down to the base of the wave to show the concave curve of the wave face.
Step 4
Add the rest of the flow lines. Gradually make each flow line less steep as you move away from the curl, to show the tapered shoulder. Continue the flow lines into the tube to show hollowness.
Step 5
Add simplified spray with thin wispy lines. Add the foam explosion with a series of explosion lines getting bigger as they moving away. Maybe add a foam ball in the tube. Round off the foam at the base of the wave so it won’t look flat.
Step 6
Add shading on the wave face with smaller contour lines. Gradually make the lines darker as you get further into the tube. Use crosshatching to add more depth. Lightly shade foam plus base of the wave. Maybe shade the sky a little, too.