Step 7. Work on the red uniform, for this we intensify the red tint and make the shadows burgundy. Also apply the general tone to the remaining elements. Shade the skin beige, gray on the hair and black for the boots. (Colored pencils red, burgundy, black, gray, beige)
How to Draw Nutcracker
The story of The Nutcracker is based on the E.T.A. Hoffmann fantasy story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, about a girl who befriends a nutcracker that comes to life on Christmas Eve and wages a battle against the evil Mouse King and his army.
Fun Facts about Nutcracker:
- The story was written in 1816… Whoa, that’s over 200 years ago!
- In Germany, nutcrackers are believed to bring good luck and are often given to children as Christmas presents.
- The success of The Nutcracker abroad is due mostly to Russian-American choreographer George Balanchine, who created a production for the New York Ballet in 1954. In 1993, this version was made into a film.
- The Nutcracker has been the most widely performed ballet in the world.
- The nutcrackers resemble people with large mouths which the operator opens by lifting a lever in the back of the figurine. (One could originally insert a nut into the mouth, press down and crack the nut.) Modern nutcrackers of this type serve mostly as decoration, mainly at Christmas time .
In this tutorial we used the following supplies:
All tools used in this tutorial and more you may find at NIL-Tech Store
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STEPBYSTEP10
Step 1. Start on drawing the basic lines and circles to outline the silhouette of the nutcracker. (Pencil B)
Step 2. Draw the nutcracker shape based on the construction line drawn on the first step. (Pencil B)
Step 3. Draw details of the nutcracker, such as the face, hair and features on the uniform. (Pencil B)
Step 4. Remove all unnecessary construction lines. And add the remaining small details to complete the nutcracker basic draft. (Pencil B)
Step 5. Start working on the colors by making the general tone of the uniform, for this use blue, red, yellow. (Colored pencils blue, yellow, red)
Step 6. Start on elaborating the blue and yellow tone. For this we use dark blue, light blue on blue elements, and ocher on yellow ones. (Colored pencils dark blue, light blue, ocher)
Step 7. Work on the red uniform, for this we intensify the red tint and make the shadows burgundy. Also apply the general tone to the remaining elements. Shade the skin beige, gray on the hair and black for the boots. (Colored pencils red, burgundy, black, gray, beige)
Step 8. Work on the remaining elements. For the skin make the shadows brown. On the gray elements use dark gray, and on the black use gray. While in light areas slightly add the tone of black. (Colored pencils black, gray, dark gray, brown)
Draw a Nutcracker Step-By-Step
Students will learn about using grids to plan out proportions and symmetry as they create a step-by-step drawing of a nutcracker.
By Julie Moses [Julie is a homeschooling art teacher who runs Miss Julie’s Art School in La Quinta, CA.]
What You Need:
- paper
- pencil
- black Sharpie® marker
- markers
- crayons
- metallic markers
- scissors
- Christmas wrapping paper
Start by folding your paper in half lengthwise. Then fold it into thirds, like you would fold a letter. You should end up with six boxes.
Draw (in pencil) a rainbow shape in the middle of the top two boxes. Leave room at the top of the page for the decoration on top of the hat. The ends of the rainbow should stop at the fold of the first third of the paper.
Draw a horizontal line to close up the rainbow shape. Then draw two more horizontal lines in the rainbow – one close to the bottom creating a thin shape and the second farther away creating a wider shape. In the top part of the hat, draw a decoration. It could be a poinsettia like mine, a snowflake, a Christmas tree, star, or whatever you want.
Draw a rectangle on the bottom of the hat just inside the second third of the paper.
Add a small circle in the middle of the box for the nose. On either side of the nose add a half circle and then draw a circle inside of those. For the mustache, draw a sideways ‘s’ just under the nose on each side. Close these shapes up with a happy face curve.
Draw a smaller rectangle under the nose that is halfway inside the face and halfway outside the face. Draw vertical lines to make the teeth.
Draw a long ‘V’ shape from the teeth to make the beard. From the corners of the face draw lines that slant in toward the center of the paper and then draw horizontal line to close up this shape. On the bottom of this shape draw a large ‘W’ to make the jacket bottom.
For the arms make a waterfall curve coming out from the left side of the head where the hat and the face meet. The waterfall should end just before the fold that separates the second and the final third of the paper. At the end of the waterfall, draw an oval, then draw a slanted line back up to meet the bottom of the face.
Repeat on the right side. Draw a horizontal line on each side of the arms at the bottom of the face. This will become the hair. Draw a rectangle behind the beard for the shirt.
Draw in the jacket and buttons. The button can be made with a series of backwards ‘5s’ on the left and regular fives on the right. Add texture to the hair and beard with wavy lines and add edging to bottom of the jacket. Outline pencil lines with black sharpie marker. Then color with whatever medium you like most. We used marker, crayon and a bit of metallic marker. If you have room on your paper you can add in the legs of the nutcracker. Add in background of your choice or cut him out and glue him to brightly colored wrapping paper.
