Draw The Human Heart And Label Its Parts

Download Article

You probably have a lot of experience drawing a cartoon heart with the rounded top and point at the bottom. If you'd like to challenge yourself by drawing a more realistic human heart, create the main portion of the heart that includes the atria and ventricles. Then, draw the arteries and veins that extend from the heart. You can make your heart as detailed or colorful as you like!

1
Draw the lower half of an acorn shape so it's tilted to the left. Use your pen or pencil to start drawing the main part of the heart. This should look like an open-ended acorn that's missing its cap. Draw the shape so it's tilted about 120 degrees to the left.^[1]
- The main shape will be the basis for the left and right ventricles.
- Although you can draw this freehand, you could lightly sketch a right triangle with the right angle in the upper right corner. Make an oval that touches each point of the triangle. Then, draw the main part of the heart within them.
2
Make a rounded bump at the top of the heart for the right atrium. Draw a half-circle or bump that extends from the top left corner of the heart. It should be about 1/3 the size of the heart's body and come about halfway across the top of the heart. This will be the right atrium chamber.^[2]
- The right and left sides of the heart may look switched, but that's because you're drawing the heart from the opposite direction.
- If you like, draw a line between this bump and the main part of the heart. This line that runs horizontally can represent the tricuspid valve that separates the right atrium and ventricle.
Advertisement
3
Sketch a forked tube extending from the top of the rounded bump. To make the superior vena cava, draw a tube coming from the top of the right atrium. Make the tube fork about the same length as the bump you made for the right atrium chamber.^[3]
- Blood enters the right atrium through the superior vena cava.
4

Draw the rounded aorta tube next to the bump. You'll need to sketch an upside-down U-shaped tube that nestles next to the tubular vena cava that you drew. It should extend down into the left ventricle. Make the aorta wider than the vena cava.^[4]

Tip: For even greater detail, you can draw 3 narrow tubes that extend a little way from the top of the aorta. Keep in mind that these tubes are the upper part of the aorta.
5
Sketch the tubular pulmonary artery going under and over the aorta. Start drawing a tube directly below the aorta's curve so it fills the gap. This pulmonary artery should start at the top of the main heart segment and branch off in 2 directions. Make 1 of the smaller tubes branch off and go under the aorta to the left while the other tube goes over the aorta to the right. Each of these tubes should fill the space between the aorta.^[5]
- You'll probably need to erase a little part of the aorta where the left tube of the pulmonary artery passes over it.
6
Go back and draw small gaps between the tubes. Now that you've drawn all the main features of the human heart, you'll need to draw small curved lines to show gaps between segments. For example, make a tiny curve between the aorta and pulmonary artery tubes.^[6]
- Consider drawing a tube extending down from the bottom of the heart on the left side. This can be the inferior vena cava.
Advertisement

1
Simplify the details for a cartoon-style human heart. Instead of filling in lots of small veins or details, take a large black pen or marker and go around the outline of each heart segment. This will make them stand out so they're easier to color in if you like.
- For an even more basic heart drawing, just draw the boundaries of the heart, but don't draw the main arteries or large veins.
2

Use markers or crayons if you'd like to make the heart colorful. To draw in the heart as though it were a coloring page, use bright crayons, markers, or colored pencils. Then, fill in each part of the heart with a different color so they stand out.^[7]

Tip: You can still color in the heart even if you'd like to make the heart look realistic. Try coloring in most of the heart with dark red shades and use touches of blue for some of the veins.
3
Shade in veins and details to make a hyper-realistic heart. Use a fine black ink pen to show depth and fill in spaces between parts of the heart. Then, use charcoal or a pencil to shade or cross-hatch so each part looks three dimensional.^[8]
- To determine which parts of the heart to make the darkest, decide where you'd like to make shadows and light appear. For example, shade the lower half of the heart and make the upper segments lighter.
- If you'd like to make a colorful heart instead of leaving it black and white, you could use burgundy or dark rusty red to fill in the darkest spaces of the heart.
4
Label the parts of the heart if you'd to reference it for anatomy. If you're trying to identify parts of the heart for a class you're taking, it's good practice to draw the heart yourself and label each segment. You can refer to your textbook in order to label the:^[9]
- Aorta
- Superior vena cava
- Inferior vena cava
- Right and left atria
- Right and left ventricles
- Pulmonary veins and arteries
5
Make small arrows that show the flow of blood for another study aid. If you're learning about how blood circulates through the body and the heart, draw tiny arrows within the heart's segments. Consult your anatomy book to draw arrows that show where the blood enters the heart, the valves it moves through, and the direction it exits the heart.^[10]
- Consider making the arrows for deoxygenated blood blue and oxygenated blood red.
- At its simplest, the blood flows into the right atrium, through the right ventricle, and through the pulmonary valve to the lungs. The left atrium gets blood from the lungs and it flows to the left ventricle before going through the aorta to the rest of the body.
Advertisement

Add New Question

Question

How does the heart work?

Musarrat Mahbub

Community Answer

The heart works like a pump and beats 100,000 times a day. The heart has two sides, separated by an inner wall called the septum. The right side of the heart pumps blood to the lungs to pick up oxygen. The left side of the heart receives the oxygen-rich blood from the lungs and pumps it to the body.
Question

What are the main parts of the heart?

The main parts of heart are its 4 chambers (i.e. right atrium, right ventricle, left atrium and left ventricle). These are the most important parts of the heart.
Question

How big is the human heart?

The size of each heart varies from person to person, but an average measurement is the size of a fist.
Question

How can I draw a diagram of the human heart and label its different parts?

Google search for anatomical drawings of the heart and use a textbook or website to help you label it.
Question

Can I have another easy way to draw a heart diagram?

Yes, you can draw it in a kind of boxed fashion. With a square split into four, top 2 for atria and bottom 2 for ventricles, and then just have the blood vessels leaving. Thats what I did for Biology as otherwise I'd be there forever trying to draw the heart. Maybe just Google 'heart diagrams box' for some examples.
Question

What is the function of the heart?

The function of the heart is to pump blood around the body.
Question

What are the best colors to use for this illustration?

Mostly red, but you can use blue and maybe dark yellow. For the real colors, use purple, dark pink, dark and light red and blue.
Question

How can you make the heart look real when it's just a drawing?

Realism takes a lot of skill. You need to define a light source so you can render realistic light and shadow. You need to study proportion and shape. It takes practice.
Question

Where is the heart located in the human body?

in the middle of your chest, right under your neck.
Question

What color is a heart?

The heart looks red because of the oxygenated blood flowing through it, but it's actually more of a brick color.

Show more answers

Ask a Question

200 characters left

Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered.

Submit

Use a pencil, pen, marker, charcoal, or whatever you feel most comfortable with to draw the heart.

Thanks for submitting a tip for review!

Things You'll Need

Paper
Pencil or pen
Colored pencils, markers, or crayons, optional

About This Article

Article SummaryX

To draw a human heart, first draw what looks like the lower half of an acorn that's missing its cap. This will be the outline of the left and right ventricles. Draw a rounded bump on the top left half of the acorn shape, which will be the right atrium. Then, sketch a forked tube coming off the top of the rounded bump. This will be the superior vena cava, which is what blood enters the right atrium through. From there, draw an upside-down U-shaped tube next to the first tube you drew with three smaller tubes coming off the top of it for the aorta. Next, draw another tube extending off the top of the acorn shape right underneath the upside-down U-shaped tube you drew. This will be the tubular pulmonary artery. Finally, shade in your drawing and add veins to make it more realistic. You can also color in your drawing with red and some touches of blue.

Did this summary help you?

Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 575,365 times.

Did this article help you?