Ship Coloring Pages
15 free printable pages, ready to download and print.
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Ships give you two subjects on one page: the vessel, which is hard-edged and man-made, and the sea, which is neither. Most ship pages fail on the water rather than on the hull. These 15 ship coloring pages cover pirate ships, cruise liners, sailing regattas, submarines, an aircraft carrier and a Viking longship. Every design downloads as a free printable PDF sized for US Letter paper.
Pirate Ship Sailing on Rough Stormy Seas and Sailboat in a Colorful Regatta Race are the two best water exercises. Cruise Ship With Passengers Waving on Decks and Aircraft Carrier at Sea With Planes on Deck have the most small detail. Viking Longship With Warriors Rowing is the one with the most distinctive shape, and Submarine in Underwater Exploration is the only page here set below the surface.
Water is horizontal. Every stroke you make on the sea should run across the page, never up and down, with the darkest tone at the horizon and lighter as it comes toward you. Leave narrow bands of bare paper for foam along each wave crest and a broken wake behind the hull. That one rule about stroke direction does more for a ship page than any amount of detail on the rigging.
Working boats make up the rest of the set, and each one puts the water in a different mood. Container Cargo Ship at a Busy Port is the single page where flat water is correct, and the stacked containers are a legitimate excuse to use every color in the tin. Fishing Boat Hauling in Nets at Sea, Ferry Boat Crossing a Harbor and Speedboat Racing Across a Lake cover calmer water and wake. Icebreaker Ship Pushing Through Arctic Ice replaces the sea with broken plates of ice, and Ancient Roman Galley With Oarsmen and Vintage Steamship on a Wide River fill in the historical end.
Related sets: Pirates, Ocean Animals and Aircraft.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you color the sea?
Horizontal strokes only, and darkest at the horizon. Build the color in even layers running across the page, letting it lighten as it comes toward the foreground, and leave thin unbroken bands of white paper along the crest of each wave and in the wake behind the hull. Vertical strokes are the single most common thing that makes water look wrong.
How do you color sails?
Very lightly. Sails are canvas catching the light, so keep them close to white, add a pale gray or cream only on the side away from the wind and in the curve of the belly, and leave the sunlit face untouched. Racing sails often carry bold colored panels, which is worth using on the regatta sheet.
Were Viking longships really shaped like that?
Yes. Long, shallow-drafted and symmetrical at both ends, so they could be beached and rowed off again without turning, and light enough to be carried between waterways. The carved prow was real, though the shields along the gunwale were mostly for display in port rather than at sea, and the horned helmet is a nineteenth-century invention.
Which ship pages suit younger children?
The pirate ship and the sailboat have the boldest outlines and the largest sail areas, and work from about age four. The aircraft carrier and the cruise ship carry a great deal of small detail across their decks and suit ages eight and up.