How to Draw a Respiratory System Diagram

Use One View for Airways and Another for Gas Exchange

A respiratory system diagram should separate the route followed by air from the tiny surfaces where gases diffuse. A body overview can locate the nose, trachea, bronchi, lungs and diaphragm, but it cannot resolve individual alveoli at the same scale.

Use the labeled respiratory system diagram reference for the source plate, structure table and prompt. This guide describes an educational drawing workflow for typical anatomy, not a diagnostic image or a model of a particular patient.

Step 1: Mark the View and Anatomical Sides

Start with a torso outline and identify the person’s right and left. In an anterior view, anatomical right appears on the viewer’s left. A profile section of the head can show connections between the nasal cavity, pharynx and larynx without hiding them behind the face.

Write the viewing direction before adding labels. If you combine a head section with a torso overview, state that they serve different explanatory purposes rather than pretending the whole image is one literal section plane.

Reference: OpenStax, Anatomy and Physiology (first edition), Figure 22.2, Major Respiratory Structures, CC BY 4.0. Resized and converted to WebP; original labels unchanged.

Step 2: Connect the Main Air Passage

Trace the route from the nose or mouth through the pharynx and larynx into the trachea. Split the trachea into right and left main bronchi, each entering the corresponding lung.

Keep the esophagus separate. It is a food passage, not a continuation of the lower airway. The digestive system diagram is useful for comparing these adjacent routes without merging their functions.

Use a short sequence as a checking aid:

Nose or mouth → pharynx → larynx → trachea → bronchi → bronchioles → respiratory region and alveoli.

This is an overview, not an exhaustive list of every branching airway generation. During exhalation, air travels back along the passages in the opposite direction.

Step 3: Place the Lungs and Diaphragm

Position a lung on each side of the thorax and place the diaphragm beneath them. The right lung normally has three lobes, while the left has two. Use a suitable lobar reference if your lesson needs those boundaries; the main overview does not label them individually.

Draw the diaphragm as a muscle separating thorax and abdomen. During quiet inspiration, it contracts and descends, helping increase thoracic volume. Do not route an airflow arrow through the diaphragm or into the abdomen.

Keep a muscle-motion arrow visually distinct from an airflow arrow. A legend should explain what each line means.

Step 4: Add an Enlarged Alveolar-Capillary Inset

Use a separate panel to show a small air space next to pulmonary capillary blood. Label it enlarged, not to scale. Connect it to the lung overview with an inset guide, not an arrow implying that the whole lung empties into one giant sac.

Draw oxygen moving from alveolar air toward blood and carbon dioxide moving from blood toward alveolar air under normal pulmonary conditions. These diffusion arrows cross the respiratory membrane; they are not bulk airflow arrows down a bronchus.

A diagram showing capillaries can link to a separate heart and blood-flow reference. Avoid adding a full circulation map to an already crowded airway panel.

Step 5: Review Labels and Make a Blank Copy

Check the full air route, the person’s right and left sides, and every leader-line endpoint. Confirm that the diaphragm is a breathing muscle and that the alveolar inset uses the correct gas directions.

Duplicate the reviewed drawing for a worksheet. Replace labels with numbered pointers, retain the viewing direction and arrow legend, and keep an answer key. Preserve the OpenStax attribution when reusing the source plate.

Final Review Checklist

• The head and torso views are named, with anatomical sides consistent.
• The trachea branches toward the lungs rather than the stomach.
• Small structures are placed in an enlarged inset with an explicit scale note.
• Oxygen and carbon dioxide move in the correct directions across the alveolar-capillary barrier.
• Diaphragm movement is separate from airflow.
• Labels, references and an answer key are retained where needed.

References and Scope

1. OpenStax Anatomy and Physiology: Organs and Structures of the Respiratory System — conducting and respiratory zones, airway structures and illustration source.
2. NHLBI: How the Lungs Work — The Respiratory System — airways, alveoli, gas exchange and associated structures.

Prepared by the AcaDraw product team; source and label check on October 22, 2026. Independent medical review has not been completed. This material is for education and is not for diagnosis or treatment.