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Based on a video by Art for Kids Hub
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A snowflake looks tricky to draw because it has so many matching parts. The secret is a few light pencil guidelines. Once you have six evenly spaced spokes, every arm of the snowflake follows the same pattern, and you repeat it all the way around. This lesson comes from Art for Kids Hub, where Rob draws side by side with his son Jack. It takes about six minutes and works for kids as young as five.
You need a pencil, an eraser, a black marker, a sheet of paper and something to color with.
Real snowflakes form as ice crystals, and ice crystals grow in a six-sided pattern. That is why you start with one straight line and an X. Together they make six spokes, and each spoke becomes one arm. Try to keep the angles between the spokes about the same. You can use a ruler, but eyeballing it works fine. A slightly wonky snowflake still reads as a snowflake.
This drawing uses a trick from bubble letters. You never trace on top of the pencil line. You trace around the outside of it, so every thin pencil stroke turns into a thick arm with a black edge. That gives the snowflake its chunky, cut-paper look and leaves room inside for color. Press lightly with the pencil so the guidelines rub out cleanly at the end.
No two snowflakes are alike, and yours does not need to match the video. Keep the line and the X, then change the details:
The only rule: whatever you draw on one arm, repeat on all six.
Light blue colored pencil gives the soft, icy look in the video. For more depth, color the edges a darker blue and leave the middle of each arm pale. Silver or white gel pen on dark paper looks great too. A black cardstock snowflake drawn with a metallic marker makes a nice night-sky effect. Older kids can use what they learned in how to shade to fade each arm from dark to light.
A snowflake drawing is handy all winter. Cut it out and tape it to a window. Draw a small one on the front of a folded Christmas card. Make a classroom snowstorm where every kid designs a different flake. Shrink it down for Christmas gift tags. If you want a 3D version, try a folded and cut paper snowflake, or a crocheted snowflake to hang on the tree.
New to drawing? Start with how to draw for the basics.
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Draw a snowflake in 9 easy steps: a line and an X for six even arms, V branches, a bold marker outline and light blue color. An easy project: about 15 minutes. Materials cost about $3 to $6. You need 5 things, including drawing paper or sketch pad, pencil and eraser. The 9 steps start with draw a Line and an X to Make the Snowflake's Six Guidelines and draw Upside-Down V Shapes Around the Snowflake Center.
9 steps, about 6 minutes. Tap a picture to jump to that step. Your progress saves automatically.
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Use your pencil and press lightly. Draw one straight line down the middle of the paper. Put a dot where you think the center is. Now draw an X through that dot, one diagonal line and then the other. Try to make all the lines about the same length. You now have six spokes, and each one will become an arm of the snowflake.
Snowflakes always have six sides. A line plus an X gets you there every time.
Stay in pencil. Near the center, draw an upside-down V between two of the spokes, with the point sitting on a line. Turn your paper a little and draw the next V, starting where the last one ended. Keep turning and drawing until you have gone all the way around. The six Vs join up into a star shape in the middle of the snowflake.
Turning the paper is easier than twisting your wrist. Draw each V the same way up.
Go to the end of one spoke. Draw a long V that opens up toward the tip, one line on each side of the spoke. Right above it, draw a shorter V. Those two Vs are the branches. Rotate the paper and repeat on the next arm, long V and then short V, until all six arms have their branches. Keep these pencil lines light too.
Match the branch size on every arm. Draw one, then copy it five times.
Switch to your black marker. Do not draw on top of the pencil line. Trace around the outside of it, like a bubble letter. Start at the center, go up one side of the arm, around the long V, around the short V at the tip, and back down the other side. Each thin pencil line turns into a thick snowflake arm.
Leave a small, even gap between the marker and the pencil line. It keeps the arm thickness steady.
Repeat the same bubble trace on the remaining five arms. Go up the side, around each V branch, around the tip and back to the center. Turn the paper as you go so you are always working on the arm closest to you. When you finish, all six arms should have a bold black outline, with the pencil star still sitting in the middle.
Stop each arm a little short of the center star. You will close the gap in the next step.
Now join the arms together. Trace around the outside of each upside-down V in the center, the same way you traced the arms. Connect from the base of one arm, around the V, to the base of the next arm. Keep going all the way around the snowflake once more. When you get back to the start, the outline is one closed shape.
Go slow around the inner points. That is where the lines are closest together.
Look at each of the six sections in the center. Inside one, draw a small V. Then draw an upside-down V that connects both sides, so you end up with a diamond. Move around the snowflake and draw a diamond in every section. These little windows make the center look like a real ice crystal instead of a flat star.
Keep the diamonds small so a band of snowflake shows around each one.
Put the marker down and let the ink dry for a minute. Now grab your eraser and rub out all the pencil marks inside the snowflake. That means the six spokes, the center star and the V branches. Hold the paper flat with your other hand. What is left is a clean black outline of your snowflake, ready to color.
Erase in one direction, not back and forth. It keeps the paper from wrinkling.
Pick a light blue colored pencil or marker. Color inside every arm, every branch and the center bands, but leave the diamonds white. Keep your strokes going the same way so the color looks smooth. Turn the paper as you work around the arms. When you are done, you have a bright, icy snowflake that stands out on the white page.
Add a darker blue along the edges of each arm for a frosty, shaded look.
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How to Draw a Snowflake
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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 does a drawn snowflake start with six spokes?
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5 questions, answers, and one-line explanations. Tap to expand.
1.Why does a drawn snowflake start with six spokes?
Answer: Ice crystals grow in a six-sided pattern
The line plus an X gives six spokes, matching how ice crystals form.
2.Why press lightly with the pencil for the guidelines?
Answer: So they erase cleanly at the end
Light guidelines vanish once the ink outline is in place.
3.How do you trace each pencil arm with the marker?
Answer: Around the outside, like a bubble letter
Tracing around the line turns a thin stroke into a chunky arm.
4.Why turn the paper while drawing the arms?
Answer: You always work on the arm closest to you
Rotating the page keeps every repeat at a comfortable angle.
5.What should you do before erasing the pencil lines?
Answer: Let the marker ink dry for a minute
Erasing over wet ink smears the outline.
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