A regular hexagon, also known as a perfect hexagon, has six equal sides and six equal angles. You can draw a perfect hexagon with a ruler and a protractor, or draw an arbitrary hexagon with a circular object and a ruler, or even a freer hexagon with just a pencil and your intuition. If you want to know how to draw a hexagon in various ways, just follow these steps.
Step
Method 1 of 3: Draw a Perfect Hexagon with a compass
Step 1. Draw a circle with a compass
Place the pencil on your compass. Set the compass to the appropriate width for the radius of the circle you are going to create. The width of the term can be several centimeters. Next, place the end of the compass on the paper and rotate the compass until you make a circle.
Sometimes it's easier to draw a half circle in one direction, then go back and draw another half circle in the other direction
Step 2. Place the end point of the compass to the edge of the circle
Place it at the top of the circle. Do not change the angle or setting of the compass.
Step 3. Make a small mark on the edge of the circle with a pencil
Make it different, but don't be too obvious. You will need to delete it later. Remember to maintain the angle you've made for the run.
Step 4. Place the end point of the compass to the mark you just made
Place the endpoint of the term right at the mark.
Step 5. Make another mark on the edge of the circle with a pencil
This will create a second mark that is pointing away from the first, the same distance. If you've moved clockwise or counterclockwise around the circle, continue like that.
Step 6. Make the last four marks in the same way
You should return to the first mark where you started. If you don't, there's a chance that the angle of the compass changes as you do this, perhaps because your grip was too tight or the compass was slightly widen accidentally.
Step 7. Connect the dots with a ruler
The six places where you mark the edge of the circle are the six points of your hexagon. Use a ruler and pencil to draw straight lines connecting adjacent dots.
Step 8. Erase the guide lines
This includes circles, markings along the edges of the circle, and any other markings you have made in this process. Once you've removed the guide lines, your perfect hexagon is done.
Method 2 of 3: Draw Any Hexagon with Circular Objects and Ruler
Step 1. Draw the rounded edges of the glass with a pencil
This will create a circle. It is important to use a pencil because later you will have to erase the marks you have made. You can also draw the rim of an inverted bowl, a bottle or food container, or other round objects.
Step 2. Draw a horizontal line through the center of the circle
You can use a ruler, book, or object with straight sides to do this. If you have a ruler, you can find the midpoint by measuring the length of the line and dividing the length in half.
Step 3. Draw a big X on the halved circle, so that the circle is divided into six equal parts
Since you already have a horizontal line running through the center of the circle, the X must be higher than it's width for the sections to be equal. Think of it like dividing a pizza into six equal parts.
Step 4. Turn each of the six sections into a triangle
To do this, simply use a ruler to draw a straight line on the curved part of each section, connecting it with two other lines to form a triangle. Repeat this process six times. You can think of it like throwing away the “edges” of your pizza slice.
Step 5. Erase the guide lines
The guide lines include the circle, the three lines that separate the circle into six sections, and any other markings you have made during this process.
Method 3 of 3: Draw Any Hexagon with Just a Pencil
Step 1. Draw a horizontal line
To draw a straight line without a ruler, just draw the start and end points for the horizontal line. Then, place your pencil at the starting point and watch the ending point as you draw a straight line towards that point. The length of this line can be only a few centimeters.
Step 2. Draw two diagonal lines from the end of the horizontal line
The diagonal line on the left side should point to the outside, and the diagonal line on the right side should point to the outside right. You can think of each of these lines forming an angle of 120 degrees with the horizontal line.
Step 3. Draw two more diagonal lines going inward from the bottom end of the first two diagonal lines
The lines should form the reflections of the first two diagonal lines. The line on the bottom left should look like a reflection of the line on the top left, and the line on the bottom right should look like a reflection of the line on the top right. While the diagonal lines above move outward from the top horizontal line, the diagonal lines below will move inward (from the lower end of the top diagonal line) towards where the base of the hexagon will be.
Step 4. Draw another horizontal line connecting the two bottom lines
This line will form the base of the hexagon. This line should ideally be parallel to the top horizontal line. With that, your drawing of the hexagon is complete.
Tips
- When drawing with a compass, if you connect every other sign instead of just the six marks, you will get an equilateral triangle.
- The tip of the pencil on the compass should always be sharp in order to minimize errors from markings that are too wide.
