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how to draw a cupcake step by step

How To Draw A Cupcake Step By Step (Easy Drawing Tutorial)

I like to consider myself a cupcake addict and for good reason. They look amazing and taste even better. But, they also make a great subject for paintings and drawings. So, I figured that it would be a great idea to design a detailed but easy step-by-step guide on how to draw a cupcake.

After trying a few cupcakes drawings, I’m convinced that it is an all-encompassing guide for beginners to gain some valuable experience at drawing.

There’s a plethora of different shapes, lines and curves that make up a great cupcake drawing and I’m thoroughly excited to share my own take on how to draw a cupcake with you below.

Reference

For this cupcake drawing, I think we should use a reference image that has different elements to it and so I found this image. I think it’s perfect and will make for a challenging but fun tutorial to follow.

Cupcake Drawing Reference

Based on this design, it would make more sense to build the base and work our way up. We’ll start with the cupcake itself, followed by icing, candle and lastly the decoration.

Steps For Drawing A Cupcake

Step 1

Step 1

Let’s begin this cupcake drawing with two vertical lines that are straight and are slanted.

Both lines should look as if they could eventually meet at a center point if you were to keep extending them even though you won’t be.

Step 2

Step 2

When your two lines are approximately 5- 8 cm in length, connect them with a slightly rounded horizontal line. This is now the cup that is being drawn to completion.

Step 3

Step 3

As you can tell from our reference image above, our paper cup that holds the cake has a fence/triangle design. So, fill out as many mini triangles as you possibly can until you reach the opposite end.

Step 4

Step 4

At the point at which each triangle ends, draw a straight line that connects to the horizontal baseline. Do this until there are no points that require a line.

Step 5

Step 5

If you can tell, this drawing is based on an eye-level perspective because I feel like it’s easier but better to draw. So, instead of the cake looking flat, we can actually see a portion of it like you would in person.

To do this, draw a rounded and curved line on either sides of your cup that’s about 2 cm in length.

Thereafter, draw two more curved and rounded lines that are connected to the ones you first drew.

They should not extend beyond your first lines at all. Now connect these two specific lines with a wavy or curvy horizontal line until they meet.

The first layer is the cake and the second layer will be the icing.

Step 6

how to draw a cupcake step 6

Repeat the steps above adding another layer. Each layer should be shorter in length, creating what looks like a mountain or triangular shape.

Step 7

how to draw a cupcake step 7

Add one more layer of a similar size to the top of your icing but instead of connecting your lines, leave an empty space at the top.

Step 8

how to draw a cupcake step 8

In the space between your last layer of icing, let’s add the candle.

You want to draw two parallel lines about 4 cm in length. At the top of these lines, connect them with a slightly curved line.

To decorate your candle, we’re going to create swirling effect by drawing parallel lines that are slanted and which curve like a wave or a reversed ‘S’ shape.

Step 9

how to draw a cupcake step 9

Now let’s complete our candle by drawing a triangle at the top.

When you’ve added these lines which look like a triangle, draw a short straight line at the tip which will represent the twig.

Step 10

how to draw a cupcake step 10

Now, let’s fill in the top two layers of our cupcake icing with decorations.

Start with a small triangle that fills in that empty space by the candle.

Thereafter, draw small rectangles that are rounded at the corners. These will look like the sprinkles used on most cupcakes and biscuits.

Step 11

how to draw a cupcake step 11

Once you have draw a few sprinkles on your cupcake icing, all that’s left is to color it in and you’re done.

As you can tell, the first first layer above the cup is the cake itself.

You can use a cream like I have with a touch of brown or you can opt for different shades of brown for a chocolate cupcake or bran cupcake.

The cup can be any color you like, so feel free to play around with different shades.

I wanted to color code this drawing similarly to our reference image so I went with two shades of lilac for the icing.

As for the candle, I filled in our wavy shapes with color while leaving every alternate one white. This creates the effect that we are going for in this cupcake drawing.

cupcake drawing tutorial

Conclusion

I really hope you enjoyed this tutorial on how to draw a cupcake. It can seem quite intimidating to draw something from a picture but when you really sit down and plan, things start to fall into place.

With that being said, please head over to the comment section and let me know what drawing tutorial you would like for me to cover.

Also, be sure to check out some of my other fun and easy drawing tutorial linked below.

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