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Draw a Fish
Draw a Fish lets you sketch a fish and watch it swim alongside other people’s drawings in a shared online aquarium. Make something beautifully detailed or gloriously wonky, then visit the tank to see the company it keeps.
Community drawings swimming together in Draw a Fish’s public tank.
- Cost
- Free to draw and browse
- Devices
- Computer and phone
- Controls
- Mouse or touch
- Sharing
- Submitted fish appear in a public tank
What is Draw a Fish?
Draw a Fish is a browser drawing toy connected to a community aquarium. Draw a fish facing right, add color and use “make it swim!” to send it into the tank. The site animates the drawing so your doodle becomes one of the fish swimming around with everyone else’s creations.
How do you draw and add a fish?
Start on the drawing page with a fish facing right. The toolbar has a small color palette, brush-size control, eraser, Undo, Clear and Flip. A simple outline, tail and eye are enough to give your drawing a recognizable shape.
A fish-probability readout appears as you draw. If your first attempt is more scribble than fish, the editing tools make it easy to adjust. When you are happy with it, choose “make it swim!”. Treat this as sharing your artwork, not just previewing a private doodle.
What can you do in the tank?
You can visit the tank without drawing anything. It offers Most Recent, Most Popular and Random views, plus a slider for the number of fish shown. The ranking page provides another way to browse the community’s drawings.
The tank also lets you drop food pellets. On a computer, use Shift-click or right-click; the touch instructions offer a double-tap or long press. Watching the different drawings swim together is much of the appeal.
Does it work on a phone, and what should you know?
Yes, drawing and adding a fish work on a phone. A finger is fine for a quick doodle; a mouse gives you a little more precision for small details.
The aquarium contains user-submitted artwork, so its contents change and are not curated by Distractory. Keep names, contact details and anything private out of a drawing you submit.
What we like about Draw a Fish
The rough drawings belong here as much as the elaborate ones. A lopsided outline can be just as enjoyable to watch as a carefully colored tropical fish. That takes the pressure off being good at drawing.
We also like that the result leaves the drawing canvas. Seeing the community’s odd little creations swimming together gives a tiny sketch somewhere to go.
Site operated by Alden Hallak.
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