A Detailed Tutorial on How to Draw a Snowflake

Witnessing the first snowfall of the season outside your window never fails to excite. It's the signal to break out the sleds, the snowballs, and the hot chocolate by the fireplace.

It's also the time of year when cities and landscapes get covered in snow and people catch snowflakes on their tongues.

Since each snowflake is supposedly one of a kind, they have long been depicted in various forms of visual art.

So, if you're interested in learning how to draw one for yourself, keep reading!

In order to help you quickly and easily draw beautiful snowflakes, we've put together this simple guide with just six steps.

Let's Begin! How to Draw a Snowflake

Step 1

In this first part of our tutorial on drawing a snowflake, we'll establish a framework with a series of guiding lines.

Because these lines will be erased in the next step, a lighter pencil is recommended for this one.

First, using the ruler, draw a straight line down, and then add two more lines at the angle demonstrated in the illustration.

All lines should ideally be of the same length. In order to get your snowflake's angles just right, a drawing triangle will come in handy.

Second, sketch a hexagon as a starting point.

Once the snowflake's framework is established in pencil, we'll add another shape to complete the design.

To complete the hexagon, draw a line between each of the lines you drew near the center using a ruler while you are still working with a pencil.

At this point, you can use the reference image to help you visualize how your snowflake drawing should turn out.

Third, sketch out the snowflake's outline.

Now that you have all of your guidelines drawn, you can start sketching out your snowflake.

We will now draw thick outlines around the earlier guiding lines, using the lines you drew in steps 1 and 2.

For the time being, a pencil is still the best tool to use when drawing a snowflake.

Once you've traced the lines to make the snowflake look like it does in the picture, you can erase the inner lines of the hexagon from step 2 to make the inner portion of the snowflake a single solid shape.

Fourth, we'll sketch in the snowflake's finer features.

Now your snowflake is taking form in your drawing.

In the following steps, we will demonstrate a specific snowflake pattern that you can use, but once you get the hang of it, you can experiment with different patterns to create your own unique snowflakes.

Those "arms" protruding from the snowflake in the picture can serve as inspiration for your own drawing.

You can make them a permanent part of the snowflake design by erasing the starting points of the arms after you've drawn them.

Fifth, we'll sketch in the finishing touches.

Your snowflake is taking shape nicely; keep going! Adding a few tiny "arms" to the snowflake like you did in the last step will complete the design.

As soon as you're satisfied with the way it looks, you can erase all of the pencil lines you used and replace them with a pen or darker pencil to trace over.

If you do this, erase only after the pen ink has dried. The ink could get smudged if you erase before it dries.

Step 6: Add some color to finish it off.

Finally, you can say that you know how to draw a snowflake. You've drawn a fairly intricate pattern, so that's cause for congratulations; however, there's still one more thing to do before you can call it done.

Adding vibrant hues to your snowflake illustration is an exciting next step.

We have demonstrated one approach to coloring in your picture, but at this stage, you are free to use whatever colors inspire you.

You could stick with the traditional light blue shown in our example, or you could use a wide range of your favorite bright colors to make this snowflake stand out.

One way to give it your own touch is by picking the colors to use; another is to experiment with different types of art materials.

Acrylic paints, watercolors, colored pens, and pencils are just a few of the mediums you could use to create beautiful hues for your drawing.

You can practice by drawing several different kinds of snowflakes on the same page and coloring them in differently.

Please don't limit your imagination to just this one suggestion; we'd love to see what else you come up with!

Here Are Five Ways to Improve Your Snowflake Drawings

Here are some great ways to give your snowflake drawing that extra special touch.

As the old adage goes, "no two snowflakes are alike," which means there are endless ways to alter this pattern.

You can quickly and easily make a snowflake look very different just by playing around with the shapes of the branches.

You could experiment with making your own patterns, or you could get ideas from preexisting snowflake patterns. We have no doubt that you can create beautiful snowflakes.

After you've experimented with the various snowflake templates, you can fill a page with them. This would give the impression that this drawing of a snowflake was made in the midst of a picturesque snowstorm.

It would be awesome if you could fill the page with unique snowflakes if you did this.

Adding a scene to this snowflake sketch would be a lot of fun, too. You could, for instance, have a cartoon character stick out their tongue as if they were about to catch it.

That's one possibility, but can you think of any other settings for this drawing that would work just as well?

The blank snowflake sketch below is just waiting to be filled in with bright colors and creative mediums. Sometimes snow has a shimmering quality that could be incorporated into your work.

To achieve this stunning shimmer, you could, for instance, use glitter or glitter glue. You should experiment with different media and techniques if you have them.

Another option is to make snowflakes out of construction paper. This is a great way to spend some time, and the resulting drawing will be much more interesting.

You should find an adult to assist you, and then research how to find and use snowflake-cutting tutorials online. When you're done, you can glue them to the page for a more colorful final product.

To Sum Up: Your Snowflake Drawing Is Finished

We hope you had a lot of fun following along with this detailed guide on how to draw a snowflake.

At first glance, learning how to draw a snowflake might seem like a daunting task due to the complexity of the design.

However, as with any other drawing difficulty, if you break it down into a few simple steps, you will find that it becomes much more manageable.

Our intention in creating this guide was to help you achieve that, and to demonstrate that, with some preliminary preparation, you can quickly and easily draw a snowflake.

Now that you know how to draw a basic snowflake, there are countless ways to give it your own unique flair.

You can use the general framework of this manual as a jumping-off point for your own creative designs by modifying the various components as you see fit.

In order to come up with your own unique snowflake design, you could get ideas from pictures of others' designs.

Incorporating these patterns alongside stunning color palettes and various artistic mediums will result in stunning snowflake paintings.

Check back often so you don't miss any of the great step-by-step drawing guides like this one that we'll be uploading regularly.

Please post your completed snowflake masterpiece on our Facebook or Pinterest pages once you've finished drawing and coloring it so that the rest of us can marvel at your artistic ability.

We eagerly anticipate viewing your magnificent and one-of-a-kind snowflakes.