How to Draw a Candle

Draw a light vertical line down the middle of your page. It keeps the candle straight. Then draw a straight line across near the top for the top of the candle. Bring a line straight down on each side and close the bottom. You now have a tall rectangle. Press softly. Most of these lines get erased or reshaped later, so keep them faint.

Turn the box into a cylinder. From the top corners, draw a curve that dips slightly in the middle and comes back up. Flip that curve to draw the back edge, so the top becomes a thin oval. Do the same at the bottom, but make that curve a little steeper. The bottom sits lower than your eye, so you see more of its roundness.

At the top center, draw a short bent wick leaning a little to one side. Then draw the flame. Start high on the center guideline, at the tip. Curve down and out to each side, then round off the bottom so it wraps around the wick. The flame looks like a teardrop pointing up. Keep it narrow and tall.

Erase some guidelines first. Then add a puddle of wax at the bottom. From each bottom corner, step up a little and curve the line down and out onto the table. Round it off and tuck it back in. Across the front, draw a row of small bumps along the bottom. These scallops look like wax that pooled and hardened.

A burning candle never keeps a sharp rim. Start at the left side of the front edge and bend it down. Add a few small curves as you move across toward the right. Then do the same along the back edge, dipping down and back up. Clean up the old straight top line. The candle now looks like it has been burning for a while.

Draw a few small ovals down the front of the candle. These are the tips of the drips. Stagger their heights so no two line up. From the top of each oval, draw two lines going up to the rim, fading them out as you go. Add a couple of drips on the sides too, bulging out past the edge. They give the candle a melted outline.

Now add contrast. Trace the wick to make it a bit thicker and darker, darkest at the base. Fade it out as it goes up into the flame. Then go lightly around the flame outline, starting at the bottom and working up to the point. Soften the edges as you go. A hard, dark outline makes the flame look like a cutout.

Shade a little gray inside the bottom of the flame, near the wick, and fade it up. Then work around the whole perimeter of the candle. Darken the outer edge and blend it in toward the drips. Go down each side and around every drip at the base. This firms up the shape before you start the background.

Here is the trick. Use the side of your pencil and shade the background along the top of the candle and around the flame. Make it darkest next to the flame and fade it out as you move away. The white paper inside the flame now looks bright. Work all the way around the flame and down the sides of the candle.

Draw a light horizontal line behind the candle for the back of the table. Then plant the candle. Shade a shadow across the base and under the puddle of wax, and stretch it out toward the right. The shadow gets lighter as it moves away. Finish by darkening the shadows under the drips and along the sides, then sign your candle drawing.