To learn how to draw Santa, start with a circle for his face, add a fluffy brim and a floppy hat, then a big bumpy beard, a puffy mustache, a round nose and two eyes. The easy Santa face below takes 10 steps, with each new line in red. Print the whole sheet, or try the full-body Santa next.
Updated by the Frugal Santa elves
Easy · 10 steps
New lines are red. Gray lines are the ones you already drew.
Step 1 of 10
Draw a big circle in the middle of your paper. This is Santa's face, so press lightly: some of it will hide later.
The arrow keys work too, and on a phone you can swipe the drawing.
1Draw a circle Draw a big circle in the middle of your paper. This is Santa's face, so press lightly: some of it will hide later.
2Add the hat brim Draw a long, fat sausage shape across the top of the circle. This is the fluffy white brim of Santa's hat.
3Draw the hat From the left end of the brim, draw a big curve up and over to the right. Let the tip flop down, then draw a short line back to the brim.
4Add the pom-pom Draw a ball on the tip of the hat. That's the pom-pom!
5Draw the beard Draw a big bumpy cloud from one end of the brim, around under the face, to the other end. Add a curved line across the face for the top of the beard, and erase the circle below it.
6Add the mustache Right on the beard line, draw two puffy shapes that meet in the middle, like a fluffy bow.
7Draw the nose Draw a round nose sitting right on top of the mustache.
8Eyes and eyebrows Draw two small ovals for eyes and color them in. Above each eye, draw a fluffy eyebrow.
9Cheeks and a smile Draw a little circle on each cheek. Under the mustache, draw a smiling mouth.
10Color him in Color the hat red, his face peach, and his cheeks and nose pink. Leave the beard, brim and pom-pom white.
Frugal Santa · frugalsanta.lol/how-to-draw-santa/ · Free to print at home or in class.
Draw Santa from the top of his face down, one shape at a time, and save the color for the very end. Start with a palm-sized circle in the middle of the page, so the hat and beard have room. Lay a long sausage shape across the top of the circle for the brim, then build a floppy cone on it and stick a ball on the tip. Next comes the beard: a bumpy cloud that hangs from one end of the brim to the other and wraps under his face. Then add the mustache, the nose sitting on top of it, the eyes, the eyebrows, the cheeks and a smile. Each shape covers part of the one before it, which is why the order matters. Draw in pencil and press lightly, so you can rub out the bits of circle hidden behind the brim and beard. Trace your best lines in black marker, let the ink dry, erase the pencil and color him in.
Little artists can stop after the nose and grab the crayons, because a circle, a hat and a beard already say Santa. Older kids can do all 10 steps, then try the full-body Santa below.
A Santa hat is three shapes: a fluffy brim, a floppy cone and a pom-pom. Draw the brim first, as a long rounded band, a bit like a hot dog bun lying on its side. From the left end of the brim, draw a curved line up and over toward the right, like half a rainbow that keeps going past the top. Let the tip droop down on the right side, past the end of the brim. Then draw a shorter line from the tip back down to the right end of the brim, which makes the inside of the fold. Put a ball on the tip for the pom-pom. To make the hat look soft, add one curved line that follows the fold, then color the hat red and leave the brim and pom-pom white. On a Santa face, the brim sits right across his forehead, so draw it before the hat, and the hat always looks like it is sitting on his head.
Draw the brim, a long rounded band.
Add a floppy cone that droops to one side.
Put a pom-pom on the tip.
Add a fold line, then color it red.
Santa's beard is easiest as one big shape with a bumpy edge, like a cloud. Start at one end of the hat brim, swing down past his cheek, make a row of round bumps along the bottom and come back up to the other end of the brim. Five to seven bumps look fluffy, while one long smooth line looks more like a bib. The top of the beard follows his face: draw a gentle curve from cheek to cheek, just under where the mustache will go. For texture, pick one of the three looks below. A cloud beard stays plain and clean, which is best for coloring in. A curly beard gets small curls scattered inside, with none of them touching the edge. A long beard ends in a soft point and gets a few long wavy lines from the mustache down. Leave the beard white and draw any texture lines in light gray or blue, so the beard still looks soft.
Build a whole Santa from two big shapes: a small circle for his head and a large egg for his body, flat along the bottom. Keep the head less than half as wide as the body, so he looks round and jolly. Put the brim, hat and pom-pom on the head first, then let a long beard hang over the top of the egg to cover his neck and chest. The face goes in next, smaller than on the easy Santa: a puffy mustache, a round nose, two eyes and rosy cheeks. Arms follow: a fat sleeve on each side, hanging down to his middle, with a fluffy cuff and a mitten at the end. Then dress him: a belt across the middle with a square buckle, a fur stripe down the front and a fluffy band along the bottom of his coat. Last come two short legs and big boots with the toes turned out. This Santa has more small parts, so take your time.
Harder · 8 steps
New lines are red. Gray lines are the ones you already drew.
Step 1 of 8
Draw a small circle for the head. Under it, draw a big egg shape for the body, flat at the bottom.
The arrow keys work too, and on a phone you can swipe the drawing.
1Head and body Draw a small circle for the head. Under it, draw a big egg shape for the body, flat at the bottom.
2Hat and pom-pom Draw a short brim across the top of the head and a floppy hat above it. Add a pom-pom on the tip.
3The beard Draw a long bumpy beard from one end of the brim to the other, hanging over his chest. Add a curved line across the face for the top of the beard.
4The face Add a puffy mustache, a round nose and two oval eyes. Give him two little eyebrows and a circle on each cheek.
5Arms and mittens Draw a fat sleeve on each side, hanging down to the middle of the body. Add a fluffy cuff and a mitten with a thumb.
6Belt and fur Draw a belt across the middle with a square buckle. Add a fur stripe down the front and a fluffy band along the bottom.
7Legs and boots Under the fluffy band, draw two short legs. Add two big boots with the toes pointing out.
8Color him in Color the suit and hat red, the belt and boots black, and the buckle gold. Make the mittens green and leave all the fur white.
Frugal Santa · frugalsanta.lol/how-to-draw-santa/ · Free to print at home or in class.
You need paper, a pencil, an eraser and something to color with. Any plain paper works: printer paper is fine, and thicker card stock holds up better under markers. An ordinary No. 2 school pencil, which is about the same as an HB, makes lines that are easy to erase. Pencils marked H are harder and draw lighter lines, and pencils marked B are softer and darker, so an H pencil is handy for very faint guide lines. A black felt-tip marker or fine pen makes the final outline crisp. For color, crayons, colored pencils and washable markers all work. Santa needs a red for his hat and suit, a peach or light tan for his face, pink for his cheeks and nose, black for his eyes, belt and boots, and gold or yellow for the buckle. The white paper does the work for his beard, brim and pom-pom, so you may not need a white at all.
The best Santa drawing tip for kids is to draw lightly in pencil first and make it neat at the end. Light lines are easy to erase, so a wobbly circle can be fixed before anyone sees it. Leave plenty of room around the face circle, because the hat and beard take up more space than you think, and Santa shouldn't run off the edge of the page. Draw the big shapes first and the tiny details last: hat, brim and beard before eyes and eyebrows. Trace over your best lines with a black marker, wait a minute for the ink to dry so it doesn't smear, then erase every pencil line, including the bits of circle hidden behind the beard. Color the big red parts first and the small pink and black parts last. Leave the beard, brim, pom-pom and mustache white, and press softly with a pink pencil on his cheeks for a rosy glow.
| If your Santa… | Try this |
|---|---|
| There's no room for the beard | Start the circle higher on the page and smaller than your fist. |
| The beard looks like a bib | Give the bottom edge more bumps, five to seven of them. |
| Santa looks grumpy | Tip the eyebrows up at the outside ends and add a smile under the mustache. |
| The hat looks stiff | Curve the top more and let the tip droop past the brim. |
| The colors smudged | Let marker lines dry for a minute before you erase or color. |
Santa gets a red suit and a white beard because writers and artists pictured him that way long before anyone drew him at a kitchen table. The 1823 poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" gave him cheeks "like roses," a nose "like a cherry" and a beard "as white as the snow," along with a broad face, a little round belly and clothes of fur from head to foot. That still works as a checklist for your drawing. The cartoonist Thomas Nast first drew Santa for Harper's Weekly, in a picture called "Santa Claus in Camp" in the January 3, 1863 issue, and went on to make 33 Christmas pictures for the magazine through 1886. The painter Haddon Sundblom's Santa first appeared in Coca-Cola ads in 1931, in The Saturday Evening Post, and his last version came in 1964. Those ads helped fix the red suit in people's minds, but Coca-Cola's own history page says Santa wore a red coat before Sundblom painted him.
Read the whole poem on our Night Before Christmas page, and find out who the first St. Nicholas was on the St. Nicholas Day page.
No. A call with Santa uses your microphone and no camera, so Santa hears you but never sees you or your paper. That makes your drawing something fun to describe out loud instead. Finish your Santa before the call and keep it in your lap. When Santa says hello, tell him you drew him, then describe it: the color of his hat, how many bumps his beard has, whether his pom-pom flops left or right. Ask him something about it, too, such as which color mittens he likes best. Santa is an AI video character. He listens and answers out loud, live, in a few short sentences, and every call goes its own way, so there's no telling what he'll say. After the call, the wishes he heard come back as a list with store prices, lowest first. A grown-up runs the account and buys the minutes, at $1 a minute.
Talk to Santa on a live video call, or read how a call with Santa works first.
Once Santa is done, he needs company. These pages from the North Pole pair well with a drawing afternoon.
Yes. Press Print the steps above either lesson. The easy Santa face prints all 10 steps on one page, and the full-body Santa prints all 8 on one page. If you print the whole page from your browser, you get both lessons on two pages.
Keep it. A slightly squashed circle makes a friendly Santa, and the brim and beard hide most of it anyway.
Tip the eyebrows up at the outside ends, add a smile under the mustache and put rosy cheeks right under his eyes.
Yes. Tracing the finished Santa through thin paper is a good way to learn the shapes. Then try once more without tracing.
Yes, in any drawing app. If your app has layers, draw the circle and guide lines on one layer and the final lines on another, then hide the guide layer instead of erasing.
Yes. Print the step sheet for each table, or show the one-step view on the classroom screen and press Next together.
Live videoHe can't see it, so describe it: the red hat, the bumpy beard, the floppy pom-pom. Santa answers live on a video call in your browser. $1 a minute.
Call Santa
Santa coloring pages16 free pictures of Santa and the North Pole to print or save.
Letter to SantaFill in a letter on festive paper, print it and mail it north.
The Night Before ChristmasThe full 1823 poem, ready to read aloud on Christmas Eve.
Santa's reindeerAll nine names in order, what they mean, and which one you are.