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Based on a video by Art for Kids Hub
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Steps written out by Crafting Step by Step · Published · Updated
This Christmas wreath drawing comes from Rob at Art for Kids Hub, who draws it side by side with his daughter. You start with a big bow, then wrap a bumpy pine ring around it, hang round ornaments on the greenery and color the whole thing in. It takes about six minutes and works for kids as young as five.
You need a black marker, a sheet of paper and colored pencils for the finish.
Most people try to draw the circle first. That leaves the bow squeezed into whatever space is left. Rob flips the order. The bow goes near the top of the page, and the wreath grows out from it. Because the bow is already there, the pine ring stops at its edges and looks like it passes behind it. That trick is called overlapping, and it is the easiest way to make a flat drawing look 3D.
The zigzag edge does the rest. A smooth ring reads as a donut. A messy, spiky line reads as pine needles right away.
Printer paper is fine for practice. For a drawing you want to keep or hang up, a heavier drawing pad holds marker ink without bleeding through. A fine point black permanent marker gives the bold outline in the video. Nervous kids can sketch in pencil first and trace over it.
The video colors with colored pencils: two greens for the pine, red for the bow and ornaments, and yellow for little berries. Washable markers work too and fill the big green ring faster, which helps younger kids who run out of patience.
Go big. A wreath that fills most of the page leaves room for ornaments and is much easier to color than a small one.
Draw it on folded cardstock and it becomes a handmade Christmas card. Cut it out and tape it to a window or the front door, the way Rob suggests at the end of the video. Small versions make good gift tags. For a classroom, every kid can decorate their own wreath and you can line them up as a holiday banner. If you want the real thing, see how to make a Christmas wreath.
New to drawing? Start with how to draw for the basics.
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Draw a Christmas wreath with a red bow, pine edges and shiny ornaments in 10 easy steps. An easy project: about 30 minutes. You need 4 things, including colored pencils or markers, black fine point permanent marker and pencil and eraser. The 10 steps start with draw a Rounded Square for the Christmas Wreath Bow Knot, draw the Two Big Loops of the Christmas Wreath Bow and add 3D Curves and Wrinkles to the Wreath Bow Loops.
10 steps, about 7 minutes. Tap a picture to jump to that step. Your progress saves automatically.
Tick each step off as you go.
Start near the top of your paper, in the middle. Draw a small square, but round off the corners as you go so it looks soft. This is the knot in the middle of the wreath bow. Keep it small. Everything else in the drawing grows out from this little shape, so leave plenty of empty space around it on every side.
Put the knot about a third of the way down the page. The wreath needs room below it.
From the top and bottom corners of the knot, draw two lines going out on each side. Make them long. This is a big wreath bow. Now close each side with a curve. Go up from the top line, dip in a little, then come back out and down to the bottom line. You end up with two loops shaped a bit like a bow tie.
Draw one loop, then look at it while you draw the other so they match.
Make the bow look 3D. Inside the bottom of each loop, draw a curve that dips down and swings back into the knot. Then add wrinkles. Draw two or three short curved lines in each loop, starting at the knot and reaching out. Your bow might look different from the video. That is okay. The most important thing is to have fun with it.
Keep wrinkle lines short. Long ones make the bow look striped.
Draw two ribbon tails hanging down from the knot. Start with two lines down the middle, close together at the top. Then draw a line on the outside of each one. Let the tails spread apart as they go down, so they flare out at the bottom. Close each end with a V shape, like an upside down letter A. Now the bow is done.
Make the tails different lengths for a more natural ribbon.
Start on one side of the bow and draw a zigzag line that curves down and around under the ribbon tails and back up to the other side. This is the inside edge of the wreath. Make the zigzags messy. Some small, some big. That is what makes it look like pine needles. Try to keep the overall shape round like a circle.
Take your time. A slow zigzag stays round better than a fast one.
Now draw the outside of the wreath with the same crazy zigzag, only bigger. Start up by the bow and go all the way around. Point some zigzags one way and some the other. Going a little faster can help the line look loose and natural. Stay close to your line, though. You want a full pine ring, not a tangle of scribbles.
Keep the gap between the two rings about the same all the way around.
Fill in the top of the wreath between the two bow loops. Draw a short zigzag line that peeks out above the knot and stops where it touches each loop. The wreath keeps going behind the bow, so you never draw through it. That is called overlapping. The bow sits in front of the pine, and the drawing starts to look 3D.
Stop every line the moment it touches the bow.
Decorate the wreath with ornaments. Draw big circles for the main ornaments, two on the left side and two on the right, about the same size. Then add two smaller circles between each pair of big ones. You can decorate yours any way you want. Candy canes, little presents or snowflakes all look great on a wreath.
Spread the ornaments out so the green still shows between them.
Time for color. Grab a green colored pencil and fill in the pine ring. Color around the ornaments and leave them white for now. Use a darker green along the outer edge if you have one. It gives the wreath some depth. Pause the video whenever you need more time. Coloring the whole ring takes a while.
Color in short strokes that follow the zigzags. It looks more like needles.
Color the bow red, and the big ornaments too. Add little yellow berries in the small circles. To make the ornaments look shiny, press harder on one side for a darker red and leave a tiny white spot near the top for a highlight. Rob adds shading. His daughter skips it to keep things easy. Both versions look great.
A soft colored pencil blends shading more smoothly than a hard one.
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How to Draw a Christmas Wreath
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5 questions covering what you just read. No signup, no score saved, and you can stop after this one.
Question 1 of 5
Why draw the bow before the wreath?
Quick reference
5 questions, answers, and one-line explanations. Tap to expand.
1.Why draw the bow before the wreath?
Answer: The wreath goes behind it
Drawing the front object first means the wreath can tuck behind it cleanly.
2.What kind of line makes the wreath look like pine?
Answer: A loose zigzag
Uneven zigzags pointing different ways read as pine needles.
3.What makes the bow loops look 3D?
Answer: Curves inside and wrinkle lines
An inner curve and a few wrinkle lines suggest folded ribbon.
4.How do you make a red ornament look shiny?
Answer: Dark on one side, a white spot
A darker side plus an uncolored highlight makes a round, glossy ball.
5.Where should a darker green go on the pine ring?
Answer: Along the outer edge
Darker edges give the ring depth so it does not look flat.
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