How To Draw A Lollipop Step by Step

Han Sumi
6 min readNov 29, 2023

--

Drawing a cute, colorful lollipop is a fun way to practice your art skills. With just a few simple steps, you can create a delicious-looking lollipop on paper. This comprehensive guide will walk you through the entire lollipop drawing process from start to finish. Grab your paper and art supplies and let’s get started!

Introduction

Lollipops make for wonderfully whimsical subject matter. Their playful colors and fun shapes inspire the imagination. Though they may seem complex, lollipops are actually quite easy to draw. All you need are some basic art supplies and a bit of patience.

In this tutorial, you’ll learn a simple method for constructing a lollipop from scratch. Step-by-step instructions break down the drawing process into manageable pieces. With the help of accompanying visual aids, you’ll understand each phase of the sketching sequence.

By the end, you’ll have your very own hand-drawn lollipop ready to be colored in with vibrant hues! So let’s pop our art sketchbooks open and get started on sweetening up our pages!

Step 1: Drawing the Stick

The first component we’ll tackle is the all-important lollipop stick. While simple, laying down an accurate foundation is crucial for the rest of the piece.

Supplies Needed

Gather your drawing tools. For this step, you’ll need:

  • Paper
  • Pencil
  • Eraser (optional)

Use blank printer paper or sketch paper. Standard №2 pencils work perfectly. Sharpen your pencil before you begin. OPTIONAL: Have a pencil eraser on hand for fixing small mistakes.

The Basic Stick Shape

To draw the stick:

  1. Lightly sketch a vertical line smack dab in the center of your paper. Try to make it about 5–6 inches tall.
  2. Place a short horizontal line crossing your vertical line about 1⁄4 of the way down from the top.
  3. Add a tiny circle at the end of the vertical line to represent the sticky candy portion later on.

Check proportions as you go to ensure accurate size and placement. Take your time and use an eraser to correct small errors. Once you’re happy with the basic lollipop stick shape, you can move on!

Step 2: Creating the Round Shape

Now we’ll develop the candy part of our lollipop. We’ll tackle constructing a circle next. Circles can be tricky, but don’t worry! Follow the guidelines below to make a scrumptious sphere.

Planning the Proportions

Prep your workspace for the next sequence:

  • Rework any bits of the stick needing improvement
  • Ensure your pencil tip is still nicely sharpened

Okay, let’s make a yummy candy circle:

  1. Using your original vertical line for guidance, lightly sketch a pencil dot about 2 inches above the tiny endpoint circle.
  2. Taking the top dot as an anchor, draw a circle around it. Overlap the vertical line inside the shape.
  3. Use the vertical line as an inner guide to maintain even proportions all around the circle.

Take your time on this step! Feel free to use an eraser as needed.

Check Your Work

Before moving forward, check a few things:

  • Is your circle round or does it look elliptical? Adjust until circular.
  • Did you accidentally make the circle too small or too large? Redraw until proportionate with the stick.

Once your candy sphere looks tasty, we can add the delicious details!

Step 3: Adding Details

What would a lollipop be without tantalizing swirls and shiny gleams? Let’s deck out our candy with some classic design elements.

For embellishing the lollipop:

Creating Swirl Lines

  1. Using curved lines, add 4–5 bold swirls emanating from the center of your candy circle.
  2. Overlap the swirls slightly around the perimeter of the circle.
  3. Try to vary the size, shape, and thickness of each one you draw.

These dynamic lines will make your lollipop look soft, sweet, and scrumptious! Feel free to add more swirls if desired.

Adding Dimensional Effects

Use clever shading techniques to make your lollipop pop off the page:

  1. Draw several small circles of various sizes near the outer edges of the candy shape.
  2. Lightly shade around the bottom half of the largest circles to ground the lollipop visually.
  3. Add some small upside-down arcs across the surface to indicate glossy highlights.

Don’t overdo the dimensional elements — a subtle touch looks best. Once complete, let’s make this candy dazzle!

Step 4: Coloring the Lollipop

What better way to make a hand-drawn lollipop shine than by coloring it in with zesty hues? Pull out your coloring supplies and bring this piece to life.

For coloring:

Choosing Colors

Select vivid colors that bring a burst of flavor. Some classic color combinations include:

  • Pink and green
  • Red and yellow
  • Purple and orange

Rainbow colors also look fun and lively together. Pick whichever candy-coated combo makes you happy!

Applying Color

  1. Solidly fill in the main lollipop candy shape with your base color. Leave no gaps or white space.
  2. Use a secondary color on the swirl embellishments, alternating as you work your way around the circle.
  3. Color the stick, circles, highlights, and other details last.

Take your time with this step — it’s very satisfying to see your lollipop art come to fruition!

Step 5: Shading and Highlights

Let’s increase the realism of our drawn lollipops with some strategic shading and well-placed highlights. This helps convey a mouthwatering, 3D form!

For light and shadow effects:

Adding Shadows

Make shadows using soft pencils, muted shades of your base color, or gray:

  1. Lightly shade underneath the candy swirls circling outward from the stick.
  2. Blend the shading gently to create subtle gradients from light to dark.
  3. Deepen the tone as you move further down on the candy shape.

These shadows give the illusion the swirls and glossy candy are popping upwards.

Creating Highlights

Now for some sugary sheen:

  1. Add white or very pale yellow highlights circling the upper candy edge.
  2. Place reflective accents along some of the upper swirl ridges too.
  3. Use a white gel pen or metallic marker for ultra-bright gleams if desired.

High contrast highlights make things shine beautifully. Add as many accents as you wish!

Step 6: Final Touches

We’re in the home stretch now! Just a few subtle enhancements left to go. These extras will polish your piece into a professional-looking finished product.

For the finishing details:

Refining Outlines

Crisp outlines lend visual appeal. Go over all existing pencil lines with black pen:

  1. Use either standard or extra-fine point sizes for tracing.
  2. Work slowly and carefully to keep lines precise.

This step neatens everything up beautifully!

Extra Embellishing

Consider any last embellishment opportunities:

  1. Extend candy swirls outward behind the main shape.
  2. Add tiny stars, hearts, or bursts randomly across the surface.
  3. Outline with metallic gel pens for dazzling effects!

Embrace creative freedom here — the options are endless!

Signing Your Work

Don’t forget to sign your name! Add it prominently near the bottom of the paper.

Voila! Your custom lollipop art is complete and ready to delight viewers. Nicely done!

Tips and Tricks

Drawing lollipops offers wonderful chances for creative expression. Whether enhancing this particular treat tutorial or crafting your own new flavors, keep these handy tips in mind:

Creative Variations

Customize your lollipops endlessly by:

  • Changing shapes from circles to squares, hearts, stars, etc.
  • Adding textures like drips, cracks, or chunky sprinkles.
  • Using real-life references for unique visual inspiration.

There are so many creative flavors to explore!

Helpful Resources

These handy aides will further improve your overall drawing abilities:

  • Quality drawing paper (smooth, acid-free)
  • Variety of pencil types (H graphite scale is great)
  • Blending stumps and erasing shields
  • Beginner art tutorials (books, YouTube, Skillshare, etc.)

Don’t be shy supplementing self-teaching with outside help — we all start somewhere! Keep leveling up your skills.

Relax and Have Fun!

Above all, make sure you relax and enjoy the artistic process:

  • Work at your own pace
  • Don’t worry about perfection
  • Explore and experiment freely

Art should feel playful. Learn as you go and let your creativity guide you. The rest will organically fall into place.

Conclusion

That concludes our crash course on crafting charming hand-drawn lollipops! You now have all the techniques needed to sketch and color a beautiful bonbon. Well done sticking with it til the sweet end!

The skills covered here barely scratch the surface for the possibilities that exist when merge drawing with confectionary cuteness. Let your newfound lollipop knowledge now spur you onward to develop your own unique candy landscape masterpieces! Sky’s the limit for what you can imagine and create.

So grab your coloring supplies and let your inspiration carry you to ever-greater sugary heights! Just be careful not to get lost in the cavities of your imagination — wouldn’t want a toothache from all this tasty thinking! Happy drawing!

--

--

Han Sumi

I'm Han Sumi (an illustrator and Comic Artist) and I started Easy Draw For Kids Blog to help Kids draw every thing in a fun cartoon style - really easily!