How to Draw a Brittlestar

In this quick tutorial you'll learn how to draw a Brittlestar in 6 easy steps - great for kids and novice artists.

The images above represent how your finished drawing is going to look and the steps involved.

Below are the individual steps - you can click on each one for a High Resolution printable PDF version.

At the bottom you can read some interesting facts about the Brittlestar.

Make sure you also check out any of the hundreds of drawing tutorials grouped by category.

How to Draw a Brittlestar - Step-by-Step Tutorial

Step 1: Begin by drawing a small star

Step 3: Draw another leg next to it (in the next space) and make it more curvy

Interesting Facts about the Brittlestar

Brittlestars are a variant of the starfish. Though the two species are closely related, there are some key differences between a brittlestar and a starfish. The brittlestar has more flexible arms that it uses to crawl across the ocean floor. The common brittlestar is found most frequently near Britain and other parts of Europe, and are also known as “serpent stars” because of the flexibility of their limbs that resemble the movement of snakes. In the center of the body is what is known as a “disc,” from which the five arms extend outward. These arms are about five times as long as the disc itself, which is about one centimeter across. The brittlestar can appear in a wide variety of colors, from purple to grey to red and anywhere in between. Their arms, however, are fairly consistent in their coloring most of the time, as they are usually white or grey in color with pink or reddish markings.

Did you know?

• Along each arm of the brittlestar are spines that give the creature a rather intimidating appearance.
• They are a scavenging species, often consuming dead organic matter that they find on the ocean floor. They also catch particles that are floating by them in the water, through a process that is often referred to as “suspension feeding.” Most common ocean predators will eat the brittlestar.
• Most of the time, the brittlestar lives in large colonies of up to thousands. However, it is not at all uncommon to see them in a more solitary state under beds of seaweed and other marine plant life.
• Though they are commonly eaten by other predators of the sea, the brittlestar’s spines do not taste very good, making them rather unpopular fare for other animals.
• This animal has a surprisingly high life expectancy of about ten years in the wild.

Breeding season occurs between May and January, and it is believed that a brittlestar will only spawn one offspring each season. A week after being born, the brittlestar young will separate from its parent and drift along in bodies of plankton for about three weeks. After this time, it will metamorphose into a young brittlestar, abandoning its larval stage for good. Their unique spines on their arms make it easy for this marine animal to blend in its with natural surroundings, which in addition to the nasty taste of the spines on their arms, help them to avoid being preyed upon by larger creatures.