What would winter drawing ideas be without the addition of a merry and bright Christmas tree drawing tutorial? Follow along for an easy, cute cartoon method of making a festive evergreen!
Now, who is the person writing this article? My name is Ms. Marshall, and I’m an artist and teacher who hand-draws each and every one of the illustrations on this site — from Christmas drawings to lessons on color theory. Ready for today’s tutorial? Let’s go!
Christmas Tree Drawing
As I explained in our snowman drawing tutorial, please feel free to take artistic liberties with these instructions, and alter any step you’d like to change the end result. Creativity is all about personal choice!
1. Sketch a tall triangle in pencil.
As you can see in the time-lapse video of my art process, below, it’s important to start with an erasable pencil sketch of a tall triangle in order to plan the shape of the tree. We needed a similar geometric foundation for our present drawing, too!
2. Add branches, ornaments, and a stem.
Next, roughly following the triangle of the pencil sketch, begin inking in the jagged “in and out” lines of the Christmas tree branches. (Make them more curved and fat than our sea urchin drawing‘s spines, though.) Add in circular ornaments on the tip of each branch, and place a star at the very top.
3. Layer in festive color.
A Christmas tree is a rich, dark viridian green, and is traditionally paired with bright red and sparkly white or yellow, so use those colors liberally as you select your shades. I’d also suggest picking a dark color for your background so the luminance we’re about to add in will really stand out.
4. Color in shading and highlights.
The shading is what makes our tree look three dimensional (as with our Santa drawing), and the highlights are what make it sparkle! Now, here’s where you have a choice: how much sparkle do you want? (With our holly drawing, we went full out.)
I’m torn between whether I like the above or below Christmas tree drawings better. Do you prefer the brightness to be more subtle like the picture on top, or really exuberant, like the one on the bottom?
5. Celebrate and share your art.
There you have it: Your drawing is complete! Ahh… holiday lights reflecting in the winter snow is such a comforting and cozy sight.
Now let’s see the video of my drawing process (replete with all the times I messed up and had to erase)! Good thing one of the benefits of drawing is embracing the journey.
VIDEO: How to Draw a Christmas Tree
Is “Christmas Tree” Capitalized?
Given that I’m an English teacher in addition to being an artist, I can’t resist adding in an educational lesson. The answer to the question, “Is the term Christmas tree capitalized?” is that “Christmas” is always capitalized because all holidays are proper nouns (including Pi Day), but in this context, “tree” is not, unless it’s part of a title, as it is in the heading above.
Christmas Tree Drawing Fun!
I hope you enjoyed this Christmas tree drawing tutorial. If you want an easy, fun art activity to go with it, check out my free prinable Christmas coloring pages. What would you like me to illustrate and teach next? Do share!
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!
