How to Draw a Soccer Ball Step by Step (Easy for Beginners)

Most soccer ball drawings go wrong in the same place: people try to draw a grid of hexagons and end up with a honeycomb. The trick is to start in the middle with one black pentagon and let everything grow out from its five corners. In this lesson I'll show you how to draw a soccer ball step by step, the classic black-and-white kind (the same ball most of the world calls a football), resting on the grass with a shine on top. All you need is a circle you're happy with and a little patience at the edges.

How to draw a soccer ball step by step - finished colored soccer ball drawing — One black pentagon in the middle, five more peeking around the edge, and white patches stitched in between. This is the ball you'll have after step ten.

Think of the pictures as a checklist for your pencil: the blue lines are this step's job, and the gray ones are already done. Draw only the blue part, check it against the picture, then move to the next step.

Quick overview
⏱️ Time: about 20 to 25 minutes with coloring
🎯 Level: easy, fine for kids from about 7 up
✏️ Steps: 10
⚽ You'll draw: a classic black-and-white soccer ball on the grass

Supplies for a Round, Even Soccer Ball

A pencil you can press lightly with (HB works well)
A soft eraser
Something round to trace if you like, such as a small bowl or a roll of tape
A black marker or fineliner for the final lines
A black marker, a light gray pencil and a green crayon or pencil for coloring
Plain white paper

Tracing the circle is not cheating. The panels are the real lesson, and a lumpy circle makes them look wrong even when they're drawn right.

How to Draw a Soccer Ball Step by Step

Step 1: Draw a light circle and a ground line

Draw a straight ground line low on the page, then a big circle that just touches it. Make it large, about two thirds of the paper's height, because the patches near the edge get small and you'll want room for them. Put a small cross a little above the center of the circle. That's where the middle pentagon goes.

💡 Tip: Press so lightly you can barely see the circle. Light lines are easy to fix if the first try comes out egg-shaped.

Step 2: Trace the round outline of the ball

Go over the circle with a firm, steady line. I turn the paper a little at a time as I go, so my hand always makes the same short curve instead of reaching around. If one side looks flat, fix it now. Every seam you add later will show off a dent in the outline.

💡 Tip: Draw the circle in four quarter curves rather than one big sweep. The joins are easier to smooth than one long wobble.

Step 3: Draw one pentagon in the middle

Around the cross, draw a five-sided shape with one point at the top. It should be roughly as wide as a quarter of the whole ball. Keep the five sides close to the same length, but let the bottom side sag just a touch, since the ball curves away from you there. This pentagon decides how every other patch will look.

💡 Tip: Mark five dots first, like the points of a star, and then join them. Fixing a dot is much easier than fixing a line.

Step 4: Add five seams from the corners

From every corner of the pentagon, draw one short line pointing straight out, away from the center. Each one is about as long as a side of the pentagon. These five lines are the seams between the white hexagons, and they show you exactly where the black patches at the edge belong.

💡 Tip: Point each seam away from the cross, like the spokes of a wheel. If one leans sideways, the patch at its end will slide too.

Step 5: Draw the pentagons at the edges

At the end of each seam, draw a black patch shape that gets cut off by the outline. Start at the seam's end with two short sides that spread out, then bend them toward the edge of the ball. Because the ball curves away, these patches look squashed and only partly visible. That squashed look is what makes the ball seem round, so don't try to draw them as full pentagons.

💡 Tip: Draw the top one first, then the bottom two, then the sides. Working opposite pairs keeps the spacing even.

Step 6: Join the patches into hexagons

Now link each edge patch to its neighbor with one curved seam. These lines run around the ball, roughly parallel to the outline, and they close off the white hexagons. Count the sides of each white shape as you go: the ones touching the middle pentagon should have six. If you get five or seven, a seam has wandered.

💡 Tip: Curve these seams the same way the outline curves. Straight lines here flatten the ball like a coin.

Step 7: Add a shine and mark the shady side

On the top black patch, draw a small rounded streak and a dot next to it. That's the shine, as if a light is above and to the left. Then lightly sketch a curve inside the lower right of the ball, following the outline. You'll color gray outside that curve later, so it's only a guide.

💡 Tip: Keep the shine small and near the top. A big shine in the middle makes the ball look like glass.

Step 8: Draw two grass tufts on the ground

Next to the ball on each side, draw a clump of pointed grass blades growing from the ground line. Make the blades different heights and let some lean left and some lean right. Grass that is all the same height looks like a fence, so mix tall and short.

💡 Tip: Small kids can skip the grass and just draw a flat oval shadow under the ball. It still looks like it's sitting on the ground.

Step 9: Ink the lines and erase the guides

Trace every keeper line with a black marker: the outline, the pentagons, the seams, the shine and the grass. Leave the cross, the ground line and the shading curve in pencil. Once the ink is fully dry, erase all the pencil so only the clean drawing is left.

💡 Tip: Ink the outline last. If a seam runs a hair past the edge, the thick outline covers it.

Step 10: Color the soccer ball

Fill all six pentagon patches with black, leaving the shine streak and dot light gray. The hexagons stay white. Color a soft light gray along the lower right side of the ball, where your shading curve was, so the ball looks round instead of flat. Finish with green grass and a gray oval shadow under the ball.

💡 Tip: Color the black patches with a marker, not a crayon. Crayon black looks streaky on big shapes and wipes onto the white panels.

Why Soccer Ball Drawings End Up Looking Flat

A honeycomb of equal hexagons. Flat tiles never look round. Start with one pentagon and let the patches near the edge shrink and squash.
Full pentagons at the edge. The outer patches should be cut off by the outline. Drawing them complete makes the ball look like a sticker.
Straight seams everywhere. Only the lines near the middle can be almost straight. Toward the edge, bend them with the curve of the ball.
A wobbly circle. A dent in the outline drags every seam with it. Trace something round if freehand circles are hard for you.
No shading at all. A white ball on white paper floats away. A thin gray band on one side and a shadow underneath fix it.

Fresh Kits and Colors for Your Ball

Once the classic version feels easy, swap the black for your favorite team colors, or draw a white ball with bright orange patches for a snowy game. You can also lift it off the ground with a few motion lines behind it, or park it inside a goal net. If you're putting together a whole sports page, the basketball drawing tutorial uses the same wrap-around seam idea on a different ball, and the baseball bat drawing step by step lesson adds a bat, a ball and a glove to the set.

Free Soccer Ball Coloring Page and Step Guide PDF

The free soccer ball coloring page shows the finished ball in color at the top, with a key that tells you which color goes where, and a big outline below for coloring. The step-by-step PDF guide holds all 10 steps with pictures and tips, so you can practice away from the screen. Both print on Letter or A4 paper.

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Free PDF

Soccer Ball Coloring Page

1 pageUS LetterColor key

Black outlines with a colored example and the color names at the top. Ready to print and color.

⬇️ Download Coloring Page

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Free PDF

Step-by-Step Soccer Ball Drawing Guide

6 pagesA4All 10 steps

Every step picture with its instructions and tips, to keep beside your paper while you draw.

⬇️ Download Drawing Guide

📱 On a phone? Tap a download button, then open the file and choose Share → Save to Files or Print. On a computer, the PDF opens or saves straight to your Downloads folder.

Pin the Soccer Ball Steps for Practice Day

How to draw a soccer ball step by step - all 10 steps on one page (Pinterest) — All ten soccer ball steps in one tall picture. Save it for the next rainy afternoon or print it for the art corner.

Every link below is a full step-by-step tutorial with a picture for each stage and its own free coloring page.

Basketball Drawing: An orange basketball flies toward a hoop with a white backboard and a diamond net in this how to draw a basketball step by step lesson.
Baseball Bat Drawing: Draw a wooden bat with a taped handle, a stitched baseball and a brown glove with this baseball bat drawing tutorial.
Shoes Drawing: Build a red high-top sneaker and a low-top from the sole upward in this how to draw shoes tutorial.
Earth Drawing: Another round subject with shapes that wrap the edge, this time continents, in the Earth drawing step by step guide.
Grass Drawing: Turn one bending blade into clumps and a whole meadow with this grass drawing tutorial.

Soccer Ball Questions Kids Often Ask

What shapes are on a soccer ball?

A classic soccer ball has 12 black pentagons and 20 white hexagons. From the front you only see about six pentagons, one in the middle and five partly hidden around the edge.

What is the easiest way to draw a soccer ball?

Draw a circle, put one pentagon in the middle, add a short line from each of its corners, then draw a patch at the end of each line and join them with curved seams.

How do you make a soccer ball drawing look 3D?

Let the patches near the edge get smaller and get cut off by the outline, curve the outer seams, and add a gray band on one side plus a shadow under the ball.