How to Draw a Gingerbread Man

Turn your paper so it is tall, not wide. Near the top, put two small dots side by side. That gap is the neck. Start your marker on the left dot and draw a big round head up and over to the right dot. Do not close the circle. The open bottom is where the arms and body will connect later.

From the right neck dot, draw a line curving up and out. Round off the end like a hot dog, then bring a second line back down and in toward where the body will be. The arm points up, so your gingerbread man looks like he is waving hello. Keep it thick. Gingerbread arms are short and chubby, not long and thin.

Put a new dot on the left, a little below the neck dot. Draw the second arm from the neck dot out and down, round off the end, and bring it back up to the new dot. This arm hangs down so he is not waving with both hands. From the bottom of each arm, draw a long line straight down the page. Those two lines are the sides of the gingerbread man's body.

At the bottom of each body line, curve out and round off a foot. Bring the line back up the inside of the leg, make a rounded notch between the legs, and come back down for the other foot. Now the outline is finished. Want a gingerbread girl instead? Connect the two body lines with a flat line for a dress and add two small feet under it.

Draw two circles side by side in the upper half of the head. Make them big. Large eyes are what make a gingerbread man look happy instead of spooky. Leave them white for now. If you like, add a few short lines on the outside of each eye for eyelashes, the way Hadley does on her gingerbread girl.

Under the eyes, draw a wide curved line for the top of the mouth. Bring a deeper curve around underneath to close it, so the mouth looks like a hot dog bent into a smile. Rob makes his big and goofy, like the gingerbread man in Shrek. Draw a second curve inside the mouth to show the opening. Any mouth works here, so have fun with it.

Above each eye, draw a small jelly bean shape for an eyebrow. Tilt them a little for a surprised or cheeky look. Skip them if you prefer a plain face. Go down to the chest and draw two circles, one above the other, in the middle of the body. These are the gumdrop buttons. You will color them later, so draw them a good size.

Near the end of each arm, draw a wavy line that goes up and down like a small W. Then draw a second wavy line a tiny bit below it and connect the two at both ends. That closed squiggle looks like a piped line of icing. Do one on the waving hand and one on the lower hand. You will leave these white when you color.

Draw a longer wavy icing line across the waist, from one side of the body to the other, and close it into a band. That is his belt. Now add a short band of icing near the bottom of each leg, the same way you did the hands. On a gingerbread girl, put the wavy line along the hem of the dress or across the neck instead.

Pick a warm brown oil pastel or crayon and color the whole body, head, arms and legs. Work around the eyes, the inside of the mouth and every icing band so they stay white. Color the mouth red, the buttons purple or any candy color you like, and the eyebrows blue. Go over the brown twice for a rich, baked cookie look.