By CraftingStepByStepPublished Updated
Based on a video by Art for Kids Hub.
This Christmas tree drawing looks a lot harder than it is. You build it from four stacked tiers with ragged zigzag edges, add a trunk, a star and a handful of ornaments, then color it with oil pastels so the branches look like real pine needles. The lesson comes from Rob at Art for Kids Hub, who draws it side by side with his son. Kids around six and up can follow along, and the outline takes about ten minutes.
You need a black marker, a sheet of paper and something to color with. That is the whole list.
Most kids draw a Christmas tree as a neat triangle with even teeth along each tier. It reads as a tree, but it looks like plastic. Rob calls his version crazy zigzags: some points long, some short, a few leaning sideways. That uneven edge is what makes the tree look like a real fir. If you want to practice tree shapes without the holiday trim, try our how to draw a tree lesson first.
A fine point black permanent marker gives you a bold outline that will not smear when you color over it. Plain printer paper works for practice. Use a heavier sketch paper for a drawing you want to keep, because oil pastels are waxy and thin paper can tear or curl.
Oil pastels are what give this tree its texture. They are soft, so you can lay dark green down in short strokes and blend light green over it with your finger or the pastel itself. They also snap easily. A broken piece still colors fine. No oil pastels? Crayons give a similar waxy look, and colored pencils let older kids layer the greens with more control.
Two small tricks make this drawing pop off the page. The dark band under each tier makes the branches above look like they stick out. And every ornament keeps a white spot in the same corner, with a little shadow on the opposite side. Pick one direction for your light and stay with it. For more on this, see how to shade.
This version is an indoor tree on a red tree skirt. You can put it outside instead, with snow on the ground and birds in the branches. Swap the round ornaments for candy canes, stars or a looping garland. Try a gold star or a purple tree. There is no wrong answer here.
Draw a small tree on the front of a folded card and you have a homemade Christmas card. Cut a few out to make Christmas gift tags. Teachers can run it as a classroom art lesson and tape the finished trees to a window. For a 3D version, build a paper Christmas tree next.
10 steps · about 19 minutes.Check off each step as you go and your progress saves automatically.
Turn your paper the tall way. Put a small dot in the middle, about an inch from the top, so the star has room later. From that dot, draw an upside-down V, but curve both sides as they drop. Close the bottom with a zigzag. Make it a crazy zigzag: mix big points and little ones, and let a few lean. That uneven edge looks like real branches.
Tip
Do not measure the points. The more random they are, the more natural the tree looks.
Start a little inside the bottom corner of the top tier. Draw a curved line out and down on each side, a bit wider than the tier above. Close it with another crazy zigzag. Repeat this two more times so you have four tiers in all, each one wider than the last. Stop the bottom tier well above the edge of your paper so the trunk and skirt fit underneath.
Tip
Switch which side you start on for each tier. It keeps your hand from smudging fresh marker.
Under the middle of the bottom tier, draw two short lines down for the trunk. Now draw a wide oval around the base of the trunk. This is the tree skirt, where the presents would sit. Add a second curved line along the bottom half of the oval, running parallel to it. That double edge makes the skirt look like folded fabric.
Tip
Want an outdoor tree? Skip the skirt and draw a wavy snow line across the bottom instead.
Draw the star without drawing through it. Start with a small upside-down V right above the tip of the tree. From each side, draw a short straight line out for the side points. Come back in and down to make the bottom points, then meet in the middle with one more upside-down V. Five points, one clean outline, no lines crossing inside.
Tip
Keep the star small. A big star makes the whole tree look top-heavy.
Draw small circles all over the tree. These are glass ball ornaments. Put two or three on the top tier and more as the tiers get wider. Spread them out so no two touch, and tuck a few right up against the zigzag edges. Leave the trunk and skirt bare. Count them when you are done. Fifteen to twenty fills a tree this size.
Tip
Vary the spacing a little. Ornaments in neat rows look like polka dots, not decorations.
Grab a dark green oil pastel and start at the top tier. Color in short lines that fan out. On the left side, curve them to follow the edge. In the middle, go straight down. On the right, curve them the other way. Go around the ornaments, not through them. Press harder near the top of each tier and lighter as you get to the zigzag.
Tip
Work one tier at a time. Doing the whole tree in dark green first makes blending harder.
Switch to light green and color right on top of the dark green. Press firmly. The light layer smooths out the strokes and fills the little white gaps you missed. Keep going in the same direction as the dark green, fanning out across the tier. If you go sideways, you lose the needle texture. You can add another pass of dark green and blend again.
Tip
Oil pastels snap. If yours breaks, keep using the pieces. They color the same.
Move down to the second tier and repeat the fan strokes. Before you blend, press a thicker band of dark green right under the zigzag of the tier above. That is a shadow. Blend light green over it, then go back in with dark green to deepen it. The top branches now look like they stick out over the lower ones. Do the same for every tier.
Tip
The darker the band under each tier, the more 3D the tree looks.
Color the trunk with light brown. Add a dark brown, or a touch of black, right under the bottom branches so the trunk looks shaded. Fill the tree skirt with solid red. Then run a little brown along the top edge of the skirt where the tree would cast a shadow. It makes the skirt look like it sits on the floor.
Tip
Test dark colors on scrap paper first. Black oil pastel goes a long way.
Color each ornament red, but leave a small white circle in the top-left corner. That highlight makes them look like glass. Put it in the same spot on every ornament. Use dark green to add a little shadow on the bottom-right of each one so it looks like it hangs off the tree. Finish by coloring the star yellow, then sign your drawing.
Tip
Light from the top left means shadows on the bottom right. Keep every ornament the same.
Keep going
How to Draw Santa Claus
How to Draw a Christmas Tree
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Question 1 of 5
Why leave about an inch of space above the top tier?
Quick reference
5 questions, answers, and one-line explanations. Tap to expand.
1.Why leave about an inch of space above the top tier?
Answer: To make room for the star later
The star sits on the tip, so it needs headroom on the page.
2.What makes the tier edges look like a real fir tree?
Answer: Uneven zigzags with mixed point sizes
Ragged, irregular points read as needles instead of plastic.
3.Which way should the green pastel strokes go on each tier?
Answer: Short lines that fan out from the top
Fanning strokes follow the branches and look like needles.
4.How do you add shadow under each tier?
Answer: Press dark green under the tier above
The branches above block light, so the area just below them is darker.
5.What makes the red ornaments look like shiny glass?
Answer: A white highlight in the same spot on each
A consistent highlight suggests one light source hitting glossy glass.
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