How to Draw Santa Claus

Reviewed by Jeanine Hattas Wilson

Last Updated: December 5, 2023

Need a picture of Santa for a Christmas card or decoration? Drawing him is relatively simple. Start by outlining his body with simple shapes. Add some detail to his jolly face and belly like a bowl full of jelly. Finish by coloring him in and you have got a drawing of Santa perfect for cards and decorations.

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:

Outlining Santa's Body

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1
Outline Santa's head. He is a round and jolly person, so many of the outlines you will begin with are done by drawing circles and ovals. Draw a circle toward the top of your paper. Create another horizontal oval underneath for the neck and beard.
- Draw your oval shape so that it intersects your first circle. The top of the oval should be about halfway up the circle for the head.
- Add guidelines for the face. Draw a horizontal line down the center of your circle and a horizontal line across. The horizontal line should be at the same level as the top of your oval. These lines will help you space out the eyes and form the nose.
- Add two more horizontal lines near the bottom of your circle for the mouth.
- Use a pencil for the outlines. Draw lightly so you can easily erase any mistakes and the outlines later.
2
Draw two large circles for the body. The first circle should intersect the bottom oval on Santa’s head. The top of it should be at the same height as your bottom horizontal face line. Your second circle should be bigger than your first one and intersect it. The top of this circle should reach the middle of your first body circle.
- The top of your two circles will be Santa’s chest. Keep it round and make it slightly wider than his head.
- The bottom of your two circles is Santa’s belly. Make it about one and a half times larger than the circle for the chest.
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3
Add the arms and hands. To draw Santa’s arms, you want to draw two fat ovals for each arm. The shoulders should start about where the lower oval for Santa's face and his chest meet. His hands are two circles with three fat zig-zags for the fingers, and an upside-down “U” shape for the thumbs.
- He should look like a snowman at this point.
- It’s ok if the ovals for the arms overlap the circle you drew for the chest. You'll eventually erase your intersecting lines and make Santa look more three-dimensional.
4
Draw Santa’s legs. Drawing Santa’s legs is very similar to drawing his arms. Draw two shorter, fat ovals for each leg extending down from his belly. Then add two ovals for the feet.
- Santa is a little top heavy, meaning that his upper body is bigger than his lower body. Try to make sure that your ovals are not longer than the rest of his body.
- When drawing the legs, start the top ovals, the thighs, at a wider point, closer to the outside of Santa’s belly. Then angle the legs in just a little bit.

Part 2

Part 2 of 3:

Drawing Santa’s Face

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1
Begin with the nose. Use the middle horizontal line as a guide point to begin. The bottom of the nose should be at the same level as your middle horizontal line.^{[1]
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- Draw a round circle-like shape for the nose. You don’t want the circle to connect at the top, so leave it open. ^{[2]
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- Then add the nostrils. On either side of the circular nose, draw a “C” shape. One forward “C” for Santa’s right nostril, and one backwards “C” for his left nostril.
2
Draw the mustache. Draw two “S” shaped lines extending horizontally from the ends of each nostril. Then draw the bottom of the mustache by adding a few zig-zags underneath your “S” shaped curves.
- To help you keep the mustache even, place a small dot under the nose in the center. Then when you draw the bottom of mustache, draw your zig-zags so the lines meet at the dot.
- Add two round lines starting at the top of the nose on each side. Bring these lines down to meet near the edge of the mustache. These are Santa’s cheeks.
3
Draw Santa’s eyes. Draw two large upside-down “U” shapes on top of the cheeks to form the eyes.
- If you’d rather have your Santa look a little less cartoony, you can draw two smaller circles above the cheeks for the eyes. These eyes won’t be connected to Santa’s cheeks and will give him a bit of a more realistic look. ^{[3]
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- Add the pupils to the eyes. Inside the eyes, draw two circles. One larger for the white part of the eye, and one smaller one for the pupils.
- If you have room and want to, you can add smaller circles inside the pupils to make Santa's eyes look shiny. Color in the pupils.
4
Give Santa some eyebrows. Draw two “S” shaped lines above the eyes, similar to what you drew for the top of the mustache. Then above your “S” shaped lines, draw two bushy zig-zagging lines for the tops of the eyebrows. Connect these lines to your “S” shaped lines to complete the eyebrows.
- If you don't have enough room to make Santa’s eyebrows very bushy, you can draw two rounded rectangle shapes above his eyes.
5
Draw Santa’s beard. Begin by drawing zig-zagged lines on either side of Santa’s head. Start the lines at the same height as the tops of his ears. Follow the outside of the oval shape you drew for Santa’s head. You’ve already drawn the rough outline of Santa’s beard, so now you just need to define it.
- The more zig-zagged your lines are the more cartoony the beard the beard will look. If you want the beard to look more realistic, draw softer “S” shaped lines.
- Continue down and have the beard lines meet in the middle of Santa’s chest.
6
Draw Santa’s hat. Start drawing Santa’s hat in between his eyebrows. Unlike Santa’s eyebrows and mustache, you want to draw smaller circle-like lines for the fuzzy white part of the hat. Think of it like drawing small clouds. Then follow your original outline for Santa’s head as you draw the top of his hat.
- Extend the line you draw for the bottom fuzzy part of the hat outward around the head, and have it meet by his ears.
- As you draw a curved line up to form the top of the hat, you can extend the top of the hat above your original outline for Santa’s head to make it look proportional.
- On one side of his head, draw a curved line moving inward a bit. And instead of connecting it to the line of the hat from the other side, leave it unconnected.
- Then bring the other line over and past the other edge of the hat to add the stocking portion of it. Draw a small, puffy ball at the tip.
7
Draw the mouth. Draw two “U” shapes under Santa’s mustache to give Santa a big smile.
- Then to make the mouth and beard look more realistic, draw two zig-zagged lines extending from each tip of the mustache. Do not connect these lines to the outside of Santa’s beard, though. Leave a little space.
- Now, draw the sides of Santa’s face. Connect the top part of the beard you just drew, which extended from the mustache, with two wavy vertical lines on each side of Santa’s head. Bring these lines up to meet with the bottom of Santa’s hat.
- If done correctly, Santa’s beard will wrap around his face.

Part 3

Part 3 of 3:

Adding Santa’s Clothes and Coloring

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1
Go back over and outline Santa’s body. With the face and beard completed, you can now outline Santa’s body, and begin to add more detail.
- Draw over the outer edges of your original circles and ovals. You want to fill out Santa’s body now, making him look more three-dimensional.
- Only draw the outer edges of your shapes. Erase any intersecting parts to give your drawing weight.
- Once completed, you will have a three-dimensional looking Santa that has a hat, but still no clothes.
2
Sketch in Santa’s clothes. Santa wears a waistcoat that extends to knees, a belt, baggy pants, boots, and gloves.
- Start with Santa’s waistcoat. Draw the bottoms of the coat by drawing a curved line on the outer side of each of Santa’s legs. The lines should curve away from his legs until each line reaches the knee. Then draw two curved lines back up and connect these lines by the belly button area. The bottoms of the waistcoat get a white fringe similar to his hat.
- Add the belt. The belt is a thick rectangle that curves slightly around Santa’s belly. The bottom of the belt is where the two flaps of the waistcoat meet around the belly button. Add a square buckle in the middle and two belt loops, one on either side.
- Add a circular button or two in the center of the waistcoat.
- Below Santa’s waistcoat are his pants which can be drawn with a few vertical zig-zag lines. He also has big boots which go up to his shins.
- Finally, draw two rectangular cuffs on his sleeves where his wrists are and make sure his hands are outlined.
3
Color in your Santa. Add extra details before doing this if you like, such as making his beard longer or his belt buckle more elaborate. Erase any extraneous lines you may see. Then color him in.
- Santa’s hat, coat, pants, and boots are all red. His boots are slightly darker than the other red garments.
- The fringes on his hat and coat, including his cuffs, are white.
- You can make his gloves and belt brown, or even green if you like.

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What shape does the beard need to be?

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Santa's beard is long and fluffy. Go for a cloud-like shape.

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How do I draw multiple Santas?

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Use transparent parchment paper, put it on a template and sketch out the lines with pencil. Fix the parchment paper on top of your drawing paper and gently scratch it with nails.

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How can I draw Santa's reindeers?

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Draw a horse without the mane. Add antlers if it is a boy; don't if it is a girl.

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Tips

If you want to use markers/watercolors to color your drawing, use paper that is relatively thick and line over your pencil more darkly before doing so.

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Draw lightly in pencil so that you can easily rub out mistakes.

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Take your time when drawing. Though you may want to speed up, keeping a steady pace will help you get more details correct.

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