How to Draw a Christmas Ornament

Draw a big circle in the middle of your page with a pencil. Press lightly. These are guide lines, and you will erase them later. Make the circle as round as you can. If freehand circles give you trouble, trace a cup or a jar lid. Then draw a small rounded box on top of the circle for the ornament's cap, and a little circle above it for the hanging loop.

Now dress up the cap. Draw a circle for the loop at the top. Then add the metal clasp that holds the ornament on. Lisa makes it curve around and form a little heart shape in the middle, then loops down and makes another heart on each side. It looks fancy, but it is only a few curls. You can keep it simpler with a plain rectangle cap.

Draw the bow as a big sideways figure eight, with one loop on each side of the ornament loop. Then draw two ribbon tails coming down and out. Go back and double each line so the ribbon has thickness. It does not need to be the same width everywhere. Ribbon is fabric, so it twists and moves. Cut a little notch into the end of each tail.

Fix any spots you do not like, then grab a black permanent marker. Trace the ball carefully. Try to go around in one long, sweeping line instead of lots of short strokes. That keeps the circle smooth. Trace the loop and the heart-curl clasp the same way. Lisa uses a regular Sharpie here because the ornament is the star of the drawing.

Switch to a finer marker for the ribbon bow. The bow sits behind the ornament, so a thinner line keeps it from fighting for attention. Trace both loops, the tails and the notched ends. Follow your doubled pencil lines so the ribbon keeps its width. Where the bow passes behind the loop, stop the line so the loop stays in front.

Let the ink dry for a minute so it does not smear. Then erase all the pencil marks. Hold the paper flat with your other hand and rub gently. Check around the bow loops and the clasp. Little pencil lines like to hide there. A clean drawing makes the colors look brighter in the next steps.

Color the clasp and the hanging loop gray. That reads as metal. If you have a silver or gold crayon or marker, use it here. Metallic colors catch the light and look great on a holiday card. Color lightly and stay inside your black lines. The little heart curls are small, so slow down.

Color the ribbon bow red. Lisa uses two reds, a brighter one and a deeper one, to give the fabric some texture. One red works fine too. Color along the length of the ribbon, not across it. Strokes that follow the ribbon make it look like it bends and flows.

Pick a color for the glass. Lisa chooses green. Color the whole ball very lightly with gentle pressure. This pale layer is the base. You are about to add darker color on top and leave some areas light for the reflection, so it matters that you start faint. Too much color now and there is no room left for a shine.

Now build the shine. Press harder near the edges and color in curved arcs that follow the round shape. Add a few circles under the clasp to show its reflection. Leave a patch at the top right almost white. Darken the color around that patch so it pops. Cover it with your fingertip if you need to. Add color a little at a time. You can always add more.