How to Draw a Candy Cane

A candy cane is basically a cylinder with a curved upper part and a characteristic striped pattern. This step-by-step tutorial will show you how to draw a candy cane, convey its form and pattern, and create volume with light shadows.

Although this is a very simple subject, you should keep its cylindrical form in mind throughout the entire drawing process, since this understanding and artistic vision will help you correctly depict both the pattern and the shadows.

How to draw a candy cane step by step

Step 1: Sketch the candy cane’s curve

First, sketch a light line that curves around at the top to form the candy cane’s hook. After the curve at the top, the end should not extend too far. You can give the candy cane a slight tilt, as in our example, or draw it straight horizontally or vertically.

Step 2: Complete the candy cane’s outline

Now add another line alongside the first to complete the shape of the candy cane. Follow the long stem and continue around the inside of the hook. Tre to maintain an even thickness. Join the outlines at both ends with small rounded curves. Don’t forget that the candy cane is a bent cylinder with a smooth, continuous surface.

Step 3: Draw the candy cane’s stripes

Using simple, slightly curved lines, draw a repeating stripe pattern on the surface of the candy cane. Angle the lines diagonally across the straight section and curve them around its cylindrical form. Gradually change their direction around the hook to follow the bend.

Step 4: Darken the stripes and shade

Darken alternating stripes. Then add shadows to the surface of the candy cane. Now mentally divide the form into light and shadow areas and shade the darker parts. The shadow should lie along the left and lower sides of the form, considering that the light comes from the upper right.

There are many different kinds of candy, and the curved form of a candy cane with its characteristic stripes is one of the most popular. But this is not the only kind of candy you can draw. You can draw a lollipop, a piece of candy on a stick, or depict a candy in a wrapper.

The most important thing is spatial thinking and understanding that every form you draw has volume. A candy cane is an elongated cylinder curved at the top.

A lollipop is a flattened circular form with a long, thin cylindrical stick, while a wrapped candy is an elongated cuboid form with additional volumes on the left and right sides.