Suddenly, I realized that our Christmas art ideas round-up was missing an important piece: How to make a Christmas stocking drawing! Join me as we explore this creative project.
First, some quick background about the person writing this article. My name is Ms. Marshall, and I’m an artist and teacher who enjoys getting cozy and creating winter drawings for the holidays. I hand-draw each and every illustration on this site, with love. Ready for the tutorial? Let’s go!
Christmas Stocking Drawing
As I explained with our reindeer drawing tutorial, feel free to modify or change any of the instructions in this art lesson. After all, creativity is all about personal choice!
1. Start with an erasable sketch.
I highly recommend starting with an erasable sketch (like we did with our candy cane drawing), since the shape of the stocking takes a few tries to get right. You’ll want room for the sock shape (wider than an actual foot), plus the puffy fluff at the top, all sketched at an angle and hanging off a nail in the wall.
2. Ink in “soft” decorations on our Christmas stocking drawing.
To create the illusion of a Christmas stocking made of knit fabric, ink in patterns that look soft. For example, unlike our Christmas tree drawing, which has pointy edges, the tree decorations on our stocking should have rounded “branches.” I also recommend adding in a few diamonds, which give the effect of snowfall without complicated snowflake patterns. We’re going for simple and cute, here!
3. Consider the background and add color.
Usually Christmas stockings are hanging from a nail on a fireplace mantel, meaning there’s some sort of dark bricks or hearth in the back. Just make sure that background is dark enough contrast well with the classic red and green decorations of the stocking. You may want to add a festive holly drawing along the side!
4. Decide: What’s in your stocking?
As you may know from the history and tradition of Christmas stockings, they’re usually filled with small gifts by Santa (or his illustrious helpers) in the middle of the night. If you choose to go this route, feel free to refer to my present drawing lesson. In my case today, however, I took the suggestion of my young daughter to “Have lots of sparkles zipping out of the top like magic!” I find the effect lovely.
4. Add shading, highlights, and sparkle.
As with our Santa hat drawing, the shading and highlights are really key to create the three-dimensional effect. Make sure to add extra dark shadows behind the stocking so it looks like it’s hanging away from the wall. Congratulations — you’re now finished!
VIDEO: How to Draw a Stocking
Christmas Stocking Drawing, in Sum
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial on Christmas stocking drawing! For further cozy winter art fun, check out my lesson on snowman drawing. Happy holidays — and beyond!
Want more? Check out my free Christmas coloring printables for an easy, fun activity!
The author and artist, Lillie Marshall, is a National Board Certified Teacher of English who has been a public school educator since 2003, and an experienced Reiki practitioner since 2018. All art on this site is original and hand-drawn by Lillie. She launched DrawingsOf.com Educational Cartoons in 2020, building upon the success of her other sites, AroundTheWorldL.com (established 2009), TeachingTraveling.com (founded 2010), and ReikiColors.com. Subscribe to Lillie’s monthly newsletter, and follow @WorldLillie on social media to stay connected!
