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Based on a video by Art for Kids Hub
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A nutcracker looks tricky with all its buttons, straps and that big mustache. This lesson from Art for Kids Hub, where a dad and his daughter draw side by side, breaks it into simple rectangles. You build the body first, add the face, then dress him up with straps, boots and color. Plan on about 15 minutes.
All you need is a black marker, a sheet of paper and colored pencils or markers.
A real nutcracker is a wooden toy turned on a lathe, so it is made of blocky, stacked shapes. That makes it one of the easiest characters to draw. The hat is a rectangle. The head is a rectangle. The arms, legs, mouth and nose are rectangles too. Once the skeleton is down, the face and details are what turn a robot into a soldier.
The video draws the plain body first and then pauses. That is your chance to stop and add your own details before watching theirs. No two nutcrackers in a toy shop look the same, so yours should not either.
Use the whole page. The nutcracker is tall and skinny, so turn your paper upright and start the hat close to the top edge. A fine point black permanent marker gives the bold outline you see in the video. Sketch paper holds up better than printer paper if you color with markers. The finished drawings here are colored with colored pencils. Crayons work fine for younger kids.
The classic soldier has a red jacket, black hat with gold trim, black boots and white beard. In the video the straps are brown, the pants orange and the base bright green. Try a blue or green jacket for a different regiment, a white hat for a king, or gold buttons down the front. Add pink cheeks so the face looks friendly.
You can change the shapes too. Swap the tall hat for a crown, give him a sword or a scepter in one hand, or draw a row of buttons instead of the crisscross straps. A shorter, wider body makes a chubby, cute nutcracker. A taller one looks more like the wooden soldiers on a mantel.
A tall drawing like this fits the front of a folded Christmas card. Cut it out and tape it to a window, or shrink it down for Christmas gift tags. Classrooms can draw a whole row of nutcrackers before a trip to see The Nutcracker ballet. Pair it with how to draw Santa or how to draw a candy cane for a full holiday page.
Want to practice faces first? Try how to draw a face.
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Draw a Christmas nutcracker in 10 easy steps: stack simple rectangles, add a curly mustache and crisscross straps, then color him in. An easy project: about 40 minutes. You need 4 things, including colored pencils or washable markers, black fine point permanent marker and pencil and eraser. The 10 steps start with draw the Nutcracker's Tall Hat and Head as a Big H, draw the Nutcracker's Jacket and Belt and draw the Nutcracker's Jacket Hem, Long Legs and Stand.
10 steps, about 14 minutes. Tap a picture to jump to that step. Your progress saves automatically.
Tick each step off as you go.
Near the top of your page, draw two long lines straight down, side by side. Connect them with a line across the middle so it looks like a big H. Close the top to finish the hat. Then connect the bottom, but let that line run past both sides. Those little extra bits become the nutcracker's shoulders.
Start right near the top edge. The nutcracker is tall, and you need the whole page for him.
From each end of the shoulder line, draw a curve that comes down and bends in toward the waist. Connect the bottom of the two curves. Under that, draw two short lines straight down and connect them to make a thin rectangle. That is the belt. He is already starting to look like a nutcracker.
Put a small dot where you want each curve to end. It keeps both sides of the jacket even.
Below the belt, draw two short curves that flare back out, then connect them. That is the bottom of the jacket. From there, draw two long lines straight down for the pants. Stop before the bottom of the page. Draw a line across that runs past both sides, two short lines down, and close it. Now he has a base to stand on.
Leave enough room under the legs for the base. If you run out, make the base shorter.
Draw a line straight down from the jacket to the base, a little in from one side. That is the inside of his left leg. Do the same on the other side for his right leg. Now you have two tall legs with a gap between them. If the video moves too fast, pause it and catch up.
Keep the gap between the legs narrow. Wooden nutcrackers stand with their legs close together.
Draw a line from the shoulder down to the bottom of the jacket. Add a short line out at the top and one at the bottom, the same length. Connect them with a line down the outside. That is one rectangle arm. Repeat it on the other side. Draw a circle under each arm for the hands.
Repeating a shape on both sides is good practice. Compare the two arms before you close the second one.
At the bottom of the head, draw two short lines up and connect the top to make a small rectangle. From there, draw two lines straight down to the belt for the long beard panel. Add a line across under the teeth. Split the small rectangle with a line down the middle, then split each half again. Those are his big nutcracker teeth.
This is a good place to pause and add your own details before following along.
Draw two short lines near the top of the head. Put a circle in the middle of each for the pupil, then a tiny circle inside for the shine, and color the rest of the pupil in. Add a U shape under each eye. Draw a small rectangle nose between them. For eyebrows, draw a short line down, a line across, a diagonal to close it, and fill it in.
Slant the eyebrows down toward the nose and he looks serious, like a toy soldier should.
Under the nose, draw a backwards C and a regular C next to each other. Curve a line down and back up for the bottom of the mustache, then an S curve along the top, and color it in. Repeat on the other side. For the beard, draw a zigzag across the bottom of the beard panel and fill in the space under it.
Nutcrackers have huge mouths so the nut fits inside. The beard can look like it sits in his mouth. That is fine.
Draw a curve down from each side of the hat, then a zigzag to the shoulder for fluffy hair. Add a V at the top of the hat with a diagonal line to each side. On the jacket, draw two lines one way and two lines the other way to make an X strap. Add another X below it, then repeat both on the other side.
Draw each strap as a pair of lines. Pairs look like real straps instead of scribbles.
Add two lines across the top of each arm for the shoulders, and one near the bottom for the cuff. Draw an A shape on the jacket hem with a line on each side. Then draw a line across each leg near the base for his shoes. Above that, add a rainbow-shaped line on each leg for the top of the boots.
Forgot the shoes? Add the line now, like they do in the video. It still works.
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How to Draw a Nutcracker
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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
What simple shape is most of the nutcracker built from?
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5 questions, answers, and one-line explanations. Tap to expand.
1.What simple shape is most of the nutcracker built from?
Answer: Rectangles
A real nutcracker is a turned wooden toy made of blocky, stacked shapes.
2.Which way should you turn your paper for this drawing?
Answer: Upright, because he is tall
He is tall and skinny, so an upright page gives the legs and stand room.
3.Your nutcracker runs off the bottom of the page. What fixes it next time?
Answer: Keep the hat and head short
A short hat and head leave room for long legs and the stand.
4.How should you draw each crisscross strap so it stays neat?
Answer: Two parallel lines per strap
Two parallel lines crossed by two more keep the X crisp instead of messy.
5.Before the face details go on he looks like a robot. What changes that?
Answer: Bold brows and mustache
Dark, bold facial details are what turn the blocky body into a soldier.
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