Long before the advent of the Christmas holiday, ancient peoples used evergreen trees in their worship. Some hung boughs of fir or spruce trees above their doorways and windows in order to keep away witches and evil spirits.
Celebrations involving evergreen trees often took place on or around the winter solstice, the shortest day and longest night of the year.
The solstice typically falls on December 21 or 22, and these ancient celebrations in honor of the return of the sun god correspond to the modern Christmas holiday held on December 25.
Today, evergreen trees or their artificial counterparts are brought indoors and decorated with ornaments and lights in countries all over the world. Some trace the tradition of putting lights on a tree to religious reformer Martin Luther, more than 600 years ago.
Scroll down for a downloadable PDF of this tutorial.
Would you like to draw your own evergreen tree or Christmas tree? Follow this easy, step-by-step drawing tutorial. You will need a piece of paper and a pencil, pen, or marker.
You may also want to use crayons, markers, or colored pencils to color your finished tree. Our example includes the colors green, brown, yellow, red, and blue.
Each step in this drawing guide is accompanied by an illustration. Note that the new lines added in each illustration are highlighted in blue. Sketch lightly at first, as you may be erasing some lines as you go along.
If you liked this tutorial, see also the following drawing guides: Cartoon Tree, Palm Tree, and Apple.
Step-by-Step Instructions for Drawing a Christmas Tree
To begin, draw two perpendicular lines. The horizontal line should be short and cross near the bottom of the vertical line.
Draw a small rectangle on top of the horizontal line.
Draw an oval around the horizontal line.
Draw a short line descending from each of the outer edges of the oval. Draw a small, curved line at the bottom of the rectangle.
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Connect the short lines descending from the oval using a curved line.
Draw four horizontal lines crossing the vertical line.
Draw an equilateral triangle - a triangle in which all the sides are the same length - beginning at the top of the vertical line.
Draw another, larger triangle intersecting the first.
Draw a third triangle, even larger, intersecting the second.
On each of the three triangles, connect the bottom two points using a long, curved line.
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Erase the guide lines. You can now clearly see the shape of your tree. On each side of the bottom portion of the tree, draw an elongated triangle.
Connect the two triangles using a straight line.
Connect the exterior points of the two triangles using a curved line.
Erase the guide lines from the interior of the tree. Draw a star on top of the tree. To do this, begin by drawing an upside down triangle with its point meeting the top point of the tree. Then, draw another triangle on top of and intersecting the first.
Within the top triangle portion of the tree, draw curved lines connecting the top point to each of the bottom points. Do the same connecting the bottom line of each tree portion to the points below. Draw a curved line intersecting the trunk of the tree.
Erase the guide lines from within the tree. You now have a completed evergreen tree.
To form ornaments or lights, draw small circles all over the tree. If the circles intersect an existing line, erase the line from within the circle.
Color the tree and Christmas ornaments.
For more great Christmas & Winter drawing tutorials, see the 43 Fun Christmas & Winter Art Tutorials for Kids post.
Printable Drawing Tutorial
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Very helpful.
🙂
Worst christmas tree of mine but great
Who cares if your drawing doesn't look good if you had fun drawing it? 😎