A regular hexagon, also called a perfect hexagon, has six equal sides and six equal angles. You can draw a perfect hexagon using a ruler and protractor, a slightly less precise hexagon with a circular object and a ruler, or finally a more rough hexagon using only a pencil and your intuition. If you want to know how to draw a hexagon in various ways, just follow these steps.
Steps
Method 1 of 3: Draw a perfect hexagon using a compass
Step 1. Draw a circle with a compass
Place a pencil in your compass. Open the compass to an appropriate width for the radius of your circle. It can have a diameter of about 10 centimeters. Then place the tip of the compass on the paper and draw a circle.
Sometimes it's easier to draw a semicircle in one direction and then go back to the starting point and draw another semicircle in the other direction
Step 2. Move the tip of the compass to the edge of the circle
Move the tip approximately over the top of the circle. Do not change the angle or settings of the compass.
Step 3. Make a small mark on the edge of the circle with the pencil
Make it visible, but not too much - you'll have to erase it later. Remember to keep the angle you set for the compass.
Step 4. Move the tip of the compass to the mark you made
Place the tip exactly on the mark.
Step 5. Make another mark on the edge of the circle with a pencil
This should create a second mark at the same distance from the first mark. If you started the movement in one direction around the circle, continue in the same direction.
Step 6. Make the last four marks using the same method
You should end up at the starting point with the last position, right on the mark where you started. If not, it is likely that the angle of your compass will have been altered during your plots, maybe you pressed it too hard on the paper or it got a bit loose.
Step 7. Connect the dots with a ruler
The six places where your marks cross the edge of the circle are the six points of your hexagon. Use your ruler and pencil to draw a line segment that connects the adjacent points.
Step 8. Erase your guidelines
These include your original circle, markings on the edges, and any other marks made during construction. Once you've cleared your construction lines, your perfect hex is complete.
Method 2 of 3: Draw a hexagon using a round object and a ruler
Step 1. Draw a circle using a glass and pencil
It will form a circle. It is important to use a pencil, as later you will need to erase the marks you made. You can also follow the edge of a cup, jar or tin can or anything else with a round base.
Step 2. Draw a horizontal line through the center of your circle
You can use a ruler, book, or straight edge to do this. If you have a ruler, you can find the middle by measuring the width of the circle and dividing it in half.
Step 3. Draw a cross on the circle thus halved, dividing it into 6 equal parts
Since you already have a horizontal line in the middle of the circle, the X will need to be a little taller than it is wide for all six parts to be equal. Just think about cutting a pizza into 6 equal pieces.
Step 4. Turn each of the six sections into triangles
To do this, just use a ruler to draw a straight line under the curved part of each section (the chord), connecting it to the other two straight lines to form a triangle. Repeat this process six times. You can think of this as the “crust” around your pizza slices.
Step 5. Erase your construction lines
Construction lines include the lines from your original circle, the three lines that separate the circle into six sections, and any other marks made along the way.
Method 3 of 3: Draw a rough hexagon just with a pencil
Step 1. Draw a horizontal line
To draw a straight line without a ruler, simply draw the start and end point of the horizontal line. Then place your pencil on the starting point and, looking down at the end point, draw a straight line in that direction. This line will be a few inches long.
Step 2. Draw two diagonal lines from the end of this horizontal line
The diagonal line on the left side should open to the left and the diagonal line on the right side should open to the right. You can think of each of these lines forming an angle of 120 degrees with the horizontal line.
Step 3. Draw two diagonal lines, this time going inward, from the lower ends of the first two diagonal lines from point 2
They should create a mirror image of the first two diagonal lines. The bottom left line should look like a mirrored line compared to the top left line and the bottom right line should look like a mirrored line in a mirror compared to the top right one. While the upper diagonal lines were pointing outward from the upper horizontal line, these two diagonals should point inward, thus forming the space where the base of the hexagon will take place.
Step 4. Draw another horizontal line connecting the two lower lines
This will form the base of the hexagon. It should ideally be parallel to the top horizontal line. This will complete your hex.
Advice
- If, while using the compass method, you connect every second coordinate system - instead of six - you'll end up with an equilateral triangle.
- The pencil point on the compass should be well sharpened to minimize errors due to too thick tracing.