By CraftingStepByStepPublished
Based on a video by Cartooning Club Junior.
This cartoon Christmas elf comes from Cartooning Club Junior, and it is one of the friendliest holiday characters you can draw with a single black marker. You start with two eyes in the middle of the page and build outward: a big smile, pointed ears, a zigzag hat brim, a floppy hat with a pom-pom, then a little body in a belted tunic and striped stockings. The whole drawing takes about six minutes.
No pencil is needed. Kids as young as five can follow along, and older kids can add their own details once the basic elf is down.
Most cartoon characters start with a head shape. This one starts with the face. Placing the eyes first fixes the size of everything else, so the hat, ears and body grow around a face that already looks right. If you have tried drawing a face before, the same rule applies: wide-set eyes and a mouth tucked low between them read as cute and young.
The head is extra big compared to the body. That is on purpose. Chibi-style characters with a big head and short legs look friendly and are easier for kids to draw, because there are fewer long lines to wobble.
The video uses a black fine point Sharpie for every line. A thicker marker gives you bolder lines that are easier to color inside. Printer paper is fine for practice, but marker bleeds, so use a marker pad or heavier sketch paper for the version you plan to keep. The finished elf in the video is colored with green, red, brown and white. Alcohol markers give smooth, streak-free color. Washable markers or crayons work well for younger kids.
The classic look is a green hat and tunic, a white brim and collar, red and white stripes on the stockings and sleeves, a brown belt with a gold buckle, and brown boots. Add pink circles on the cheeks for a rosy, cold-weather face. You can swap green for red to make a Santa's helper, or give your elf short hair, freckles or glasses so it looks like someone in your family. For an Elf on the Shelf look, draw the arms hugging the knees and give the elf a red suit with a white collar.
An elf fits on the front of a folded Christmas card, on a letter to Santa, or cut out and taped to a window. Shrink it down and it makes a sweet Christmas gift tag. Pair it with a drawing of Santa and a few candy canes and you have a full North Pole scene for a classroom wall.
10 steps · about 6 minutes.Check off each step as you go and your progress saves automatically.
Start in the center of your page. Draw a small circle for the left eye, starting at the top, coming down and going back up. Leave a big gap and draw a matching circle on the right at the same height. Add a tiny circle at the top of each eye for a highlight. Fill in the rest of each eye with black. Those little white dots make your elf look bright and happy.
Tip
Make the gap between the eyes wider than you think. Wide eyes look cuter.
Line up with the bottom of the eyes and move in toward the middle. Draw the top of the mouth with a curve that goes up and then down. Go back to the left side and draw the bottom of the mouth, curving down and back up to meet the top line. Inside, add one small curve for the tongue. Your elf now has a big, cheerful grin.
Tip
Keep the mouth small and low. A small mouth between wide eyes reads as a young, friendly face.
Above the eyes, draw a long curve for the bottom edge of the hat. Under it, draw the bangs: a line that bends down over the left eye, runs across and bends up near the right eye. Add hair down each side of the face. Curve the chin below the mouth. Then draw a long pointed ear sticking out from each side of the hair, with a short line inside for the fold.
Tip
Point the ears out to the sides, not straight up, so they look like elf ears and not horns.
Start right in the middle above the hat line. Draw one point going up, then angled lines coming down and out to the left and right. Keep adding points as you go toward each side, about three on each half. Bring the ends of the brim down so they sit on top of the ears. This zigzag brim is what makes the hat look like an elf hat.
Tip
Work from the middle out. It keeps both sides even.
From the left edge of the brim, step down, then curve the top of the hat up, around and over to the left. Let it flop down into a pointed tip. Curve a line back in to the side of the brim to close the shape. Add a short curved fold line across the hat. Behind the tip, draw a round circle for the pom-pom. The elf's head is finished.
Tip
Let the hat lean to one side. A floppy tip gives the elf more personality than a straight cone.
Under the head, draw the sides of the body, angling slightly out and down. Close the bottom with a curve. Step up and draw another curve for the top of the belt. Leave a gap in the center and draw a square buckle, then trace a smaller square inside it. Add a curved collar under the chin and one small button in the middle.
Tip
Keep the body shorter than the head. The big head is what makes the elf cute.
From the bottom of the belt, draw lines going down and out on each side so the tunic flares like a little skirt. Close the bottom with a curve. Add a second curve near the bottom for the trim. Then draw a straight line from the collar down through the button and belt to the hem. That line shows where the tunic opens.
Tip
The trim will be white when you color it, so leave a band wide enough to see.
Draw a straight line down from the middle of the tunic to split the legs. Curve the bottom of each foot, rounding off the toe. Draw a line up from each foot to the tunic for the outside of the leg. Add a curve at each ankle for the top of the shoe. Then draw curved stripes across both legs, working up from the shoes to the tunic.
Tip
Line up the stripes on both legs at the same heights. It looks neater.
From the top of the body, draw a straight line angling out to the side, tucked behind the hair. Flatten the wrist with a short line, then follow the same angle back to the body. Add stripes across each sleeve. At each wrist, draw a thumb pointing up, then round the hand out and back to the wrist. The elf now waves both mittens in the air.
Tip
Draw the right arm as a mirror of the left so the pose stays balanced.
Start under one ear. Draw the hair coming down behind the arm, continue past the tunic and curve the ends around and out. Do the same on the other side, working in behind the body. The hair frames the elf and fills the empty space around the arms. Sign your name and the line drawing is done. Now grab your markers and color it.
Tip
Color the big green areas first, then the stripes, then the small details like the buckle and cheeks.
Keep going
How to Draw a Pie
How to Draw an Elf
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