Turtle Tuesday Club is a free weekly turtle art project. Artist Lee Eisenbarth draws a new turtle every Tuesday for his son Henry. Explore original turtle illustrations, free phone and desktop wallpapers, species trivia, a turtle personality quiz, and conservation spotlights on endangered turtle species. A new turtle art drop arrives every Tuesday at 11:30 AM Eastern.
The project is a planned 52-week series covering sea turtles, freshwater turtles, and tortoises from around the world; 17 editions have been published so far. The personality quiz matches you to one of 8 turtle species. All content is family-friendly and free to download under Creative Commons (CC BY 4.0).
Conservation status (IUCN Red List): Endangered. Habitat: Tropical & subtropical coastal waters worldwide. The ultimate zen vegan. Named for the color of their fat, not their shell. They can hold their breath for five hours by slowing their heart rate to one beat every nine minutes.
Conservation status (IUCN Red List): Critically Endangered. Habitat: Coral reefs & tropical coastlines. The reef's quiet bodyguard. Recently discovered to be the first known biofluorescent reptile — they glow neon green and red under UV light.
Conservation status (IUCN Red List): Vulnerable. Habitat: Eastern United States forests & meadows. Lives a century and builds a mental map of every log and stream in its territory. If relocated, it will try to walk home until it dies.
Conservation status (IUCN Red List): Least Concern. Habitat: Ponds, lakes & slow rivers across the Americas. The most popular pet turtle and one of the world's 100 worst invasive species. Adapts to basically any freshwater habitat on the planet.
Conservation status (IUCN Red List): Endangered. Habitat: Mary River, Queensland, Australia. Grows a green algae mohawk and breathes through specialized glands in its cloaca (butt), allowing it to stay submerged for 72 hours.
Conservation status (IUCN Red List): Vulnerable. Habitat: Open ocean, all tropical & temperate seas. The largest turtle on Earth, weighing up to 2,000 pounds. Dives deeper than the Empire State Building is tall on a single breath.
Conservation status (IUCN Red List): Vulnerable. Habitat: Atlantic, Pacific & Indian Ocean coastlines. Named for its massive head and jaw muscles that crush conchs like party favors. Uses Earth's magnetic field to navigate back to its home beach.
Conservation status (IUCN Red List): Critically Endangered. Habitat: Gulf of Mexico & Atlantic coast. The smallest and rarest sea turtle. Known for the 'arribada' where thousands of females storm the same beach on the same day to nest.
Conservation status (IUCN Red List): Least Concern. Habitat: Central Asian steppes & deserts. The first Earth creatures to travel around the Moon and return home alive in 1968, months before Apollo 8.
Conservation status (IUCN Red List): Vulnerable. Habitat: Northern Australian coastal waters. The homebody of sea turtles. Stays exclusively in Australian waters and doesn't leave the continental shelf.
Conservation status (IUCN Red List): Least Concern. Habitat: Ponds, marshes & streams across North America. Vivid red and yellow streaks on dark skin. Their hatchlings can survive being frozen solid through winter, thawing out in spring unharmed.
Conservation status (IUCN Red List): Vulnerable. Habitat: Tropical regions worldwide. Participates in the arribada: synchronized mass nesting events of up to 500,000 individuals over a few days.
Conservation status (IUCN Red List): Least Concern. Habitat: Lakes, rivers & swamps, eastern North America. Virtually unchanged for 40 million years. Can't retract into its shell, so it evolved a legendary bite force instead.
Conservation status (IUCN Red List): Vulnerable. Habitat: Galápagos Islands, Ecuador. Can live past 175 years. Their shell shapes helped Charles Darwin form the foundation of the theory of evolution.
Conservation status (IUCN Red List): Vulnerable. Habitat: Southeastern United States rivers. The largest freshwater turtle in North America. Features a bright pink, worm-shaped lure on its tongue to attract prey.
Conservation status (IUCN Red List): Least Concern. Habitat: Rivers, lakes & streams across North America. Flat, leathery, pancake-shaped disc with a snorkel nose. Can absorb oxygen through its skin underwater.
Conservation status (IUCN Red List): Endangered. Habitat: Namaqualand, Northern Cape, South Africa. The world's smallest tortoise — a thumb-sized, black-speckled dweller of South Africa's Namaqualand that hides from predators and heat inside narrow rock cracks.
Turtle Tuesday Club is a free weekly turtle art project created by artist Lee Eisenbarth, who draws a new turtle every Tuesday for his son Henry. The project began on March 4, 2026 and runs as a 52-week series spanning sea turtles, freshwater turtles, and tortoises from around the world. 17 editions have been published so far. Every illustration is free to download under Creative Commons (CC BY 4.0).