Do you need an image of Santa Claus for a Christmas card or decoration? Drawing Santa Claus is quite easy to do. Start by outlining his body using simple shapes. Add some detail to Santa's face, and make his belly look like a bowl full of jelly. Finish by adding color and you'll have a Santa image perfect for Christmas cards and decorations.
Step
Part 1 of 3: Creating Santa Claus's Body Outline
Step 1. Draw the outline of Santa's head
Santa Claus has a round and playful body shape so that many of his lines consist of circles and ovals. Draw a circle on the top of the paper. Then, create a horizontal oval underneath for the neck and beard.
- Make an oval intersecting the first circle. The top of the oval should be about halfway around the head circle.
- Add guidelines for the face. Draw horizontal and vertical lines through the center of the circle. The horizontal line should be at the same height as the top of the oval. This line will help you define the distance between the eyes and create the nose.
- Add two more horizontal lines near the bottom of the circle for the mouth.
- Use a pencil to outline the shape. Draw it lightly so you can erase mistakes and easily outline the shape later.
Step 2. Draw two big circles as the body
The first circle should intersect with the bottom of the oval on Santa's head. Its top should be at the same height as the bottom end of the horizontal line of the face. Your second circle should intersect with the first circle and be larger in size. The top end of this circle should be at the midpoint of the first body circle.
- The top of both of your circles will be Santa's chest. Keep the shape round and make it slightly wider than the head.
- The bottom of your two circles is Santa's belly. Make it about one and a half bigger than the chest circle.
Step 3. Draw the arms and hands
The trick, make two fat ovals for each arm. Santa's shoulders start at the point where the lower oval of the face meets the chest circle. Make two circles for Santa's palms, with three fat zigzag lines for the fingers, and an inverted “U” for the thumb.
- Right now Santa should look like a snowman.
- The sleeve ovals may overlap with the chest circumference. Later you will remove the lines that intersect and make Santa Claus look more three-dimensional.
Step 4. Draw Santa's feet
How to draw Santa's legs is very similar to drawing his arms. Create two fat ovals, this time shorter, as each leg extends down from Santa's belly. After that, draw two ovals as the soles of the feet.
- Santa Claus's upper body is slightly heavier, which means it is larger than his lower body. Make sure the ovals of Santa's legs are no longer than his body.
- When drawing the legs, start with the top oval, which will become the thigh, at a wider point, close to the outside of Santa's belly. Then, slightly tilt the legs.
Part 2 of 3: Drawing Santa's Face
Step 1. Start with the nose
Use the center horizontal guideline as a starting point. The lower end of the nose should be at the same level as the center horizontal line.
- Draw a circle-like shape for the nose. Leave the top end of the loop open so it doesn't connect.
- Add nostrils. On both sides of the nose circle, draw a "C" shape: one for Santa's right nostril, and the other an inverted "C" shape for his left nostril.
Step 2. Draw Santa's mustache
Draw two “S”-shaped lines that run horizontally from the end of each nostril. Then, draw the bottom of the mustache by adding some zigzag lines under the curved “S” shaped line.
- To keep Santa's mustache balanced, put a small dot under the nose in the middle. Then, as you draw the bottom of the mustache, meet the zigzag lines at this point.
- Then, add two curved lines starting at the top of each side of the nose. Lower these lines to meet near the edges of the mustache. These will be Santa's cheeks.
Step 3. Draw Santa's eyes
Draw two upside-down “Us” over the cheeks to create the eyes.
- If you don't want to make Santa look like a cartoon, draw two small circles above the cheeks for the eyes. These eyes will not connect with Santa's cheeks and give him a more realistic look.
- Put the pupil on the eye. Draw two circles inside the eye. One larger circle for the white part of the eye, and one smaller for the pupil.
- If there's enough room and you'd like, you can add a small circle inside the pupil to make Santa's eyes sparkle. Dab color on the inside of the pupil.
Step 4. Draw Santa's eyebrows
Draw two “S”-shaped lines running over the eyes, similar to the one you drew for the top part of the mustache. Then, draw two zigzag lines above the “S”-shaped line as the top of the eyebrow. Connect the zigzag lines to the “S”-shaped line to complete the eyebrow shape.
If there isn't enough space in Santa's face to make his eyebrows look hairy enough, you can draw two obtuse rectangles over each of his eyes
Step 5. Draw Santa's beard
Start by drawing zigzag lines on either side of Santa's head. Start the line at the same height as the top end of the ear. Follow the outside of the oval of Santa's head. You've drawn a rough outline of Santa's beard so now you're pretty clear on it.
- The more zigzag lines you make, the more cartoon-like the beard will look. If you want the beard to look more realistic, make the outline of an "S" more subtle.
- Continue drawing down and meeting the lines of the beard in the center of Santa's chest.
Step 6. Draw Santa's hat
Start by drawing Santa's hat between his eyebrows. Unlike Santa's eyebrows and mustache, now you need to draw a smaller circle as a white pompom on the tip of the hat. Think of it like drawing a cloud. Then, follow the original outline of Santa's head when drawing the top edge of the hat.
- Extend the drawn line to create a furry bottom of the hat around the head, then meet at the ears.
- When you draw a curved line that goes up to form the top edge of the hat, you can extend it above the initial outline of Santa's head and make it look proportionate.
- On one side of the head, draw a curved line that moves slightly inward. Then, instead of connecting it with the hat line from the other side, leave it unconnected.
- Then, bring another line across the other edge of the hat to create a hanging part of the hat. Make a small fluffy ball at the end.
Step 7. Draw Santa's mouth
Make two "U" shapes under Santa's mustache for a big smile.
- Then, to make the mouth and beard look more realistic, draw two zigzag lines that extend from each end of the mustache. However, don't connect these stripes to the outside of Santa's beard. Leave some distance.
- Now, draw the sides of Santa's face. Connect the top of the beard just drawn, which extends from the mustache, with two wavy vertical lines from each side of Santa's head. Meet these stripes at the bottom of Santa's hat.
- If drawn correctly, Santa's beard will wrap around his face.
Part 3 of 3: Adding Santa Claus Outfits and Coloring
Step 1. Bold the outlines of Santa's body shape
Now that Santa's face and beard have been drawn, you can now thicken the outline of Santa's body, and start adding more details.
- Bold the outer edges of the initial circle and oval. It's a good idea to fill Santa's body now to make it appear three-dimensional.
- Only thicken the outer edges of your shape. Erase all the parts that intersect to give weight to the image.
- When you do, you'll get a three-dimensional-looking Santa Claus wearing a hat but still not dressed.
Step 2. Draw Santa's outfit
Santa Claus wears a coat that extends to the knees, a belt, oversized pants, boots and gloves.
- Start with Santa's coat. Draw the lower hem of the coat by making a curved line on the outside of each Santa's leg. These lines should curve away from the feet until they reach the knees. Then, draw two curved lines that come back up and connect these two lines in the navel area. The underside of Santa's coat has a strip of white fur, as does his hat.
- Draw Santa's belt. The trick, make a thick rectangle that is slightly curved in Santa's stomach. The underside of the belt is where the bottom two ends of the coat meet, around the navel. Draw a square buckle in the center of the belt and two belt loops, one on each side.
- Add 1-2 round buttons in the middle of the coat.
- Santa's pants are under the coat; To draw it, draw some vertical zigzag lines. Santa Claus also wears big boots that reach his shins.
- Finally, draw two rectangular cuffs on the arm where the wrists are, and make sure the palms are lined up.
Step 3. Color Santa Claus
Add extra details before coloring Santa Claus, if you want, such as lengthening the beard or adding a belt buckle decoration. Erase any lines that still appear to intersect. When you're done, color the image.
- Santa's hat, coat, pants, and boots are all red. However, the red color of the shoes is a bit darker than the others.
- The fur strips on Santa's hat and coat, including the cuffs, are white.
- You can make Santa's gloves and belt brown, or even green, if you like.
Tips
- Draw lightly with a pencil so that all mistakes are easily erased.
- Relax while drawing. Even though you may be in a hurry, keeping a steady pace will help you draw the details correctly.
- If you want to use markers or watercolors to color the image, use heavy paper and make the outline of your image slightly thicker before coloring.
