Draw a Winter Landscape
Draw a snowy winter landscape using pencils, crayons, or watercolors. Practice perspective, shading, and adding trees, hills, and cozy houses.
About this tutorial
Draw a snowy winter landscape using pencils, crayons, or watercolors. Practice perspective, shading, and adding trees, hills, and cozy houses.
What you need
Instructions
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Step 1
Gather all the materials listed so you are ready to start drawing.
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Step 2
Find a comfortable well lit workspace where you can sit and draw.
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Step 3
Place your paper in landscape orientation on the table.
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Step 4
Lightly draw a horizontal horizon line a bit below the center of the paper.
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Step 5
Mark a tiny vanishing point on the horizon with a small dot.
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Step 6
Sketch a cozy house in the foreground using simple shapes like a square and a triangle.
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Step 7
Sketch a second smaller house closer to the vanishing point to show distance.
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Step 8
Draw rolling hills behind the houses using curved overlapping lines.
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Step 9
Draw pine trees of different sizes to show depth by making nearby trees larger and distant trees smaller.
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Step 10
Add a door and windows to the nearest house using simple rectangles and squares.
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Step 11
Draw smoke curling from the chimney using soft wavy lines.
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Step 12
Add falling snow by dotting small circles or little plus signs across the sky.
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Step 13
Shade under eaves and along the bottom of hills with soft pencil strokes to make shadows.
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Step 14
Color the scene using your chosen materials using lighter tones for far away objects and stronger tones for things up close.
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Step 15
Share your finished winter landscape on DIY.org
Fun facts
How do I guide my child to draw a snowy winter landscape step by step?
Start by having your child lightly sketch the horizon and simple hill shapes to create depth. Add a few cozy house outlines and triangular trees, placing closer objects larger for perspective. Use pencils to refine lines and shading for shadowed snow, then add color with crayons or watercolors—layer light washes for sky and darker tones for foreground. Finish with white highlights or fingerprint snowflakes. Encourage imagination and praise effort.
What materials do I need to draw a snowy winter landscape with children?
Gather basic supplies: drawing pencils, eraser, pencil sharpener, crayons or watercolor paints, brushes, and thick paper or watercolor paper. Add a ruler for straight roofs, a cup of water, a palette or plate for mixing, and scrap paper for testing colors. Optional items: white gel pen or gouache for snow highlights, cotton balls for texture, and washable smock or table cover to protect clothing and surfaces.
What ages is this snowy winter landscape drawing activity suitable for?
This activity suits a wide range: toddlers (2–4) can explore with crayons and simple shapes; preschoolers (4–6) can draw basic trees, hills, and houses with guided steps; school-age children (7–10) can practice perspective, shading, and layering colors; older kids (11+) can experiment with detailed composition and watercolor techniques. Adjust complexity, supervision, and materials to match your child’s fine-motor skills and attention span.
What are the benefits and easy variations for drawing a snowy winter landscape?
Drawing winter scenes builds fine motor skills, spatial awareness, color mixing, and observational drawing. It also encourages creativity and calm focus. Easy variations: create a nighttime scene with dark washes and star highlights, add animals or people for storytelling, use collage (cotton for snow) or mixed media combining crayons and watercolors. Try limited palettes or textured tools like sponges for snowy effects to keep the activity fresh and engaging.
Watch & Learn
Need help?
What can we use if we don't have the exact drawing materials listed (like colored pencils or markers)?
Substitute crayons, watercolor paints, charcoal, or collage from magazine scraps and still follow the step to 'place your paper in landscape orientation' and 'color the scene using your chosen materials'.
My second house doesn't look farther away—how do I fix the perspective?
Lightly erase and redraw the second house smaller and closer to the tiny vanishing point on the horizon so it matches the instruction to 'sketch a second smaller house closer to the vanishing point' and shows distance.
How can I change the activity for different age groups?
For toddlers glue pre-cut square and triangle shapes for the 'cozy house' and use stickers for 'falling snow', for early elementary have them draw the horizon and vary tree sizes, and for older kids add careful 'shade under eaves' and use lighter tones for distant objects to practice atmospheric perspective.
What are simple ways to extend or personalize the winter landscape after finishing the basic steps?
Add warm yellow color or a gel pen glow to the 'door and windows', draw footprints in the snow leading from the front door, texture pine trees with short pencil strokes, or film your process to 'share your finished winter landscape on DIY.org'.