We asked illustrators and artists to draw the oceans. Here’s what they created – and how you can join in

Artists and illustrators have been drawing the oceans for Greenpeace’s #DrawTheOceans challenge. Here are some of the beautiful drawings they’ve created for World Whale Day – and how you can get involved.

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The Greenpeace’s #DrawTheOceans challenge is well underway – and we have some amazing submissions from all sorts of artists and illustrators already. 

As it’s World Whale Day this week, the first theme is whales. Love whales? Draw your favourites and share your art on Instagram using the hashtag #DrawTheOceans – for a chance to be featured alongside these artists. Scroll down for a whale drawalong to get you started!

Check back over the coming months for more artworks as they’re added – and more themes to inspire you to draw the magical scenes in our deep blue sea.

Quentin Blake

A light grey whale painted in watercolour with dark grey spots that give it a mottled texture, with spidery handwriting underneath reading 'Grey Whale' and a the signature of Quentin Blake with the year 2021

Find Quentin Blake on Instagram.

Oliver Jeffers

Watercolour drawing of a round whale with its tail sticking out the water, with the text 'Go on... Draw a whale for Greenpeace' over it in crayon

Find Oliver Jeffers on Instagram.

Charlie Adlard

Watercolour painting of a black and white whale breaching in a blue sea with white foam spray all around

Find Charlie Adlard on Instagram.

Ashton Attzs

Find Ashton Attzs on Instagram.

Cindy Lane

A finely detailed painting of a whale in greys and white on highly textured white watercolour paper

Find Cindy Lane on Instagram.

Molly Lemon

A dark blue whale tail splashing out of the top of blue waves with many different textures and tones, that appear almost mountainous, with an orange and blue and white sky in the background.

Find Molly Lemon on Instagram.

Katherine Quinn

A dark blue whale on a pink background with seven translucent plastic carrier bags in the foreground.

Find Katherine Quinn on Instagram.

Klara Hawkins

A light blue whale on a dark blue background with sea life such as coral and fish above and below. There are white bubbles coming off the whale and she has a little smile. The artist's signature is written in white under the whale.

Find Klara Hawkins on Instagram.

Jane Foster

A monochrome black line drawing of a whale on white background. The whale has a little smile and a closed eye, and three black water drops coming from her blowhole. The back end of the whale is decorated with a pattern of semicircles in stripes and there are similarly regularly patterned waves made up of concentric semi-circles underneath, layered in three lines on top of each other.

Find Jane Foster on Instagram.

Kristjana Williams

Intricate line drawing of two whales surrounded by the most detailed leaves, flowers, fruits and ferns, with other exotic fish swimming around

Find Kristjana Williams on Instagram.

Anna Suessbauer

A roundish whale with a square forehead, painted in many different colours - bright pink, light blue, yellow, orange, purple, red with a white belly with blue paint splashes on it - and a tiny tail and two tiny eyes, on a dark blue background with a royal blue trail behind it.

Find Anna Suessbauer on Instagram.

Veronica Rolands

Large blue whale graphhic with other sea creatures around, and a diver wiping tears from the whale's big eye

Find Veronica Rolands on Instagram.

Marcus Walters

A line cartoon of a black and white whale breaching out of the blue water which fills nearly half the square. There is a single cloud in hte sky and the whale, who is on its back, is crying increasingly large tears down into the water.

Find Marcus Walters on Instagram.

Emma Jayne

Drawing of a large white whale with a underwater scene underneath it and a pirate ship on its back just above the water line

Find Emma Jayne on Instagram.

Chloe Hall

Pattern illustration of four different species of whales laid out across the whole piece, in pale blue watercolour with @chloehallillustration text bottom centre

Find Chloe Hall on Instagram.

Karen Obuhanych

Abstract painting of a whale and baby whale in teal watercolour with very feint teal line drawings of the sea floor underneath, bubbles around and three lines of the sea's surface above.

Find Karen Obuhanych on Instagram.

Friederike Ablang

Round motif of a grey and white whale on a black disc, with a heart-shaped water spurt coming out of its blowhole with 'Draw a what for Greenpeace' written above it in white along the curve of the black disc

Find Friederike Ablang on Instagram.

Join the global art contest with your own oceans-inspired artwork

The Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise is sailing through the Indian Ocean, to document the threats our oceans face, and put pressure on governments to protect them. 

We need your help on this mission, to flood the internet with artworks of the beautiful and majestic creatures we want to save – from whales, to dugongs, sharks, dolphins and sea turtles.

Whether you’re a confident artist or just love to doodle, join our Draw The Oceans Challenge and post your art on Instagram using the hashtag #DrawTheOceans. 

A selection of the most creative will appear right here on the Greenpeace UK website.

Here’s a draw-along with Jelly Armchair illustrator, Cat Faulkner, to get you started:

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