How to Draw a Human Heart Diagram Step by Step

All 18 parts on the diagram

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The outline 1

Apex The lower tip. It points down and to the body's left.

The chambers 5

Right atrium The upper right chamber. It receives blood from the body.
Left atrium The upper left chamber. It receives blood from the lungs.
Right ventricle The lower right chamber. It pumps blood to the lungs.
Left ventricle The lower left chamber. It pumps blood to the whole body.
Septum The wall between the two ventricles. Its full name is interventricular septum.

The vessels 5

Superior vena cava It opens into the right atrium's upper part.
Inferior vena cava It opens into the lower part of the right atrium.
Pulmonary trunk It carries blood from the right ventricle toward the lungs. Older books call it the pulmonary artery.
Aorta It carries blood, left ventricle to body.
Pulmonary veins They bring blood from the lungs into the left atrium.

The valves 4

Tricuspid valve It lies between the right atrium and right ventricle. It has three cusps; the drawing shows two.
Mitral valve It lies between left atrium and left ventricle and is also called the bicuspid valve.
Pulmonary valve It sits where the right ventricle opens into the pulmonary trunk.
Aortic valve It sits where the left ventricle opens into the aorta.

The finished heart 3

Deoxygenated blood Blood low in oxygen. The right side sends it to the lungs.
Oxygenated blood Blood rich in oxygen. The left side sends it to the body.
Heart wall (myocardium) The muscular wall. It is thickest around the left ventricle.

How this list was compiled: Every name and what each part does read on 2026-10-01 in three texts. Wikipedia, Heart, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart : four chambers; the interventricular septum; the tricuspid, mitral, pulmonary and aortic valves; the venae cavae, pulmonary trunk, pulmonary veins and aorta; the much thicker left ventricle; deoxygenated blood through the right side and oxygenated blood through the left. Gray's Anatomy (1918, public domain), The Heart, https://theodora.com/anatomy/the_heart.html : the somewhat conical form, the apex directed downward, forward and to the left, the four chambers, the ventricular septum, the tricuspid and the bicuspid or mitral valve, the semilunar valves at the pulmonary and aortic openings, the venae cavae, the four pulmonary veins, and a left ventricle wall about three times as thick as the right. SEER Training Modules, Structure of the Heart, U.S. National Cancer Institute, https://training.seer.cancer.gov/anatomy/cardiovascular/heart/structure.html : chambers, the four valves, the pulmonary trunk, myocardium, and which side carries deoxygenated and oxygenated blood. The order of the steps is our own. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-10-04. The cut-open heart (the placing of the chambers, the wall between them, the valves and the great vessels) follows the normal heart in Tetralogy of Fallot.svg by Mariana Ruiz Villarreal (LadyofHats), 2006, public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tetralogy_of_Fallot.svg; the trunk crossing in front of the aorta was checked against Gray's Anatomy (1918), fig. 498, public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gray498.png. Simplified into five steps for copying. Own work; nothing traced. Licence: own work

How it works

An easy way to draw a heart diagram is to build it in layers. Each picture adds one layer in heavy lines: outline, chambers, vessels, valves, shading. Tap a part to read about it.

Read the full guide

Outline and chambers

Draw a rounded cone, broad at the top, its tip (the apex) pointing to the lower right. Inside, draw a small atrium above a larger ventricle on each side, joined by a gap. The wall left between the ventricles is the septum.

Vessels and valves

Add the two venae cavae at the right atrium, the pulmonary trunk rising from the right ventricle, the aorta arching out of the left ventricle and the pulmonary veins at the left atrium. Then put two flaps in each gap and two small cups across the foot of the trunk and of the aorta.

Shade and label

To finish the human heart diagram sketch, shade the deoxygenated side one way and the oxygenated side another, then write in the names.

The heart is drawn as if it faces you, so its right side is on your left.
Leave the thickest wall around the left ventricle: it pumps blood to the whole body.

Questions and answers

How do you draw a diagram of the human heart easily?

Start with the outline, a rounded cone whose tip points to the lower right. Draw the four chambers inside it, then the vessels on top, then the valves. Shade the two sides differently and label each part. The five pictures above show each stage.

How do you draw and label the heart?

Draw it first, then label the four chambers (right atrium, right ventricle, left atrium, left ventricle), the septum, the tricuspid, mitral, pulmonary and aortic valves, and the vessels: aorta, pulmonary trunk, superior and inferior vena cava, pulmonary veins.

Which side of a heart diagram is the right side?

The side on your left. The diagram shows the heart of a person facing you, so the right atrium and right ventricle are on the viewer's left and the left atrium and left ventricle are on the viewer's right.

Why is the left ventricle drawn with a thicker wall?

Because its wall is thicker. The left ventricle pumps blood to the whole body, which needs more force than pumping to the lungs, so its muscle is much thicker than the right ventricle's.