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Based on a video by Art for Kids Hub
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This ugly Christmas sweater comes from Rob at Art for Kids Hub, who draws it side by side with his wife. You draw a plain, cozy turtleneck first. Then the fun part: you cover it in snowmen, reindeer, zigzags and string lights until it is gloriously tacky. The whole lesson runs about four minutes.
You need a black marker, paper, and markers or colored pencils for the color.
The plain sweater is a blank canvas. Here is what makes it ugly, in the best way:
Pick two or three ideas, not all five. A clear theme reads better than clutter, even on an ugly sweater.
The ribbed collar, cuffs and waistband are what make this look like a knit sweater and not a T-shirt. Each band is two lines and a row of short strokes across. Keep the strokes close together and let them follow the curve of the band.
Want more texture? Add rows of small V shapes on the body, like knit stitches. Do it lightly in pencil first, then color over it. A darker shade of the sweater color along the sleeve seams adds a soft, puffy look.
Hosting an ugly sweater party? Draw the plain sweater on a folded card, photocopy it, and let each guest decorate their own invitation. Or turn it into a game at the table. Hand everyone the same blank sweater, set a timer for ten minutes, and vote on the ugliest one. Grandkids love winning that prize.
A small sweater also makes a cute gift tag. Draw it on cardstock, cut it out, punch a hole in the collar and tie it on with ribbon. Pair it with homemade Christmas gift tags for a full set.
Borrow a character for the front of your sweater. Try how to draw a snowman or how to draw a reindeer. Swap the zigzags for a row of Christmas lights, or put a little Christmas tree in the middle.
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Draw an ugly Christmas sweater in 10 easy steps: a ribbed turtleneck, then a snowman, a reindeer and string lights. An easy project: about 25 minutes. You need 4 things, including drawing paper or sketch pad, black fine point permanent marker and pencil and eraser. The 10 steps start with draw the Christmas Sweater's Thick Turtleneck Collar, add Ribbed Knit Lines to the Sweater Collar and draw the Sweater's Rounded Shoulders and Long Sleeves.
10 steps, about 4 minutes. Tap a picture to jump to that step. Your progress saves automatically.
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Start near the top middle of your paper. Draw a gently curved line across, then bring a short line down on each side and connect them at the bottom. You get a wide, rounded rectangle. That is the collar. Make it thick. Ugly sweaters have big, chunky turtlenecks, and a thick collar gives you room for the ribbing in the next step.
Leave plenty of space below the collar. The sweater gets big and fluffy.
Draw a line straight down the middle of the collar. Then add a curved line on each side of it, and one more near each end. The lines curve outward a bit as they get closer to the edges. That curve makes the collar look round, like it wraps around a neck. These short lines are the knit ribbing.
Odd numbers look tidy here. Five lines is a good count.
Start at one side of the collar. Draw a curve that swoops out for the shoulder, then keep going down and a little outward for the outside of the sleeve. Stop about two-thirds of the way down the page. Do the same thing on the other side. Wide shoulders make the sweater look oversized and cozy, which is what you want.
Match the two sides by eye. Draw one, then mirror it.
Find where each armpit would be, a little in from the shoulder line. Draw a line down from there that curves in slightly at the middle and back out near the bottom. Repeat on the other side. These two lines form the body of the sweater. The space between them and the sleeve lines becomes the arms later.
Start the body lines a bit below the shoulders, not touching them.
Connect the bottoms of the two body lines with a gentle curve. Let it dip a little in the middle so the sweater looks soft and slouchy instead of boxy. Now the body is a closed shape. It already reads as a sweater, even without the arms finished. Leave room underneath for the waistband.
A slight curve looks more like fabric than a straight ruler line.
Under the body, draw two short lines going down, like you did for the collar. Connect them with a curve that matches the one above it. That is the waistband. Fill it with short ribbing lines, the same as the collar. You can draw these lines closer together than the collar ribs. Go all the way from the left side to the right.
Tight ribbing lines make the waistband look stretchy.
Go back to the armpit on one side. Draw a line that comes down and follows the outside sleeve line. Make it long, so the sleeve ends close to the waist. Then join the two sleeve lines with a small curve at the bottom. Add a cuff the same way you made the waistband: two lines, a curve, then short ribbing lines.
Long sleeves look cozier. Let them reach down past the body.
Repeat the same steps on the other arm. Start in the armpit, draw a line down that follows the outside line, and join the two at the bottom. Add the cuff with two short lines, a curve and ribbing. Step back and look. You have a plain, cozy sweater. It does not look ugly yet. That comes next.
Check that both cuffs sit at about the same height.
Now make it ugly. Draw a snowman on the chest, a zigzag band across the top and bottom, and candy canes and diamonds on the sleeves. Then color. This sweater goes bright green with white zigzags, a white snowman and a green collar. Leave the snowman and the small shapes white at first so they pop against the green.
Color the big areas first, then go back for the small details.
On the second sweater, draw a big reindeer face in the middle with antlers and a round red nose. Drape a string of lights across the shoulders and put round ornaments down the sleeves. Color the body red and the sleeves, collar and cuffs green. Add orange zigzags to the first sweater for extra clash. The uglier, the better.
Give each light bulb a different color. That is what makes it look festive.
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How to Draw a Christmas Sweater
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