Easy Crystal Drawing Tutorial
Crystals come in a vast range of colours, shapes, and sizes.
This makes them really interesting to draw!
If you want to learn how to draw a crystal, but you’re not sure where to start, this post is for you.
From simple gems to complex crystal clusters, and even crystals with a 3D effect, we’ll cover everything you need to know to start drawing crystals.
So read on to learn how to draw different types of crystals with these crystal drawing tips and techniques.
Crystal Bullet Journal Ideas
Before learning how to draw a crystal, here are some ideas for including one in your bullet journal:
- Crystal cover page design. You can create a small cluster of crystals as a doodle on your cover page, or have them going round the edges of the page as a crystal border, similar to a crystal cave.
- Include crystal doodles in your weekly spreads
- How to draw crystals page: create a page explaining how to draw different types and shaped crystals step by step.
- Habit or Mood Crystal Tracker. You can create trackers (such as habit trackers, mood trackers, etc) and include crystals in your tracker. You can draw 31 crystals on a page for a mood tracker, and fill in each crystal with a color that represents your mood each day. Or you can draw a crystal cluster, and split it so each section is a different day of the month.
- Birthstone monthly calendar: to mark out different months for the year at the start of your bullet journal, draw a series of crystals that represent each month’s birthstone, such as a garnet for January, an amethyst gem for February, and so on.
- Crystal ball: Draw a crystal ball as part of a fortune-telling theme.
- Chakra crystals: Draw a set of crystals that correspond to each of the seven chakras, with each crystal representing a different color and energy.
- Crystal collection page: draw any crystals you own, and write a little description of what that crystal does.
- Crystal quotes page: draw crystal doodles alongside a page of quotes all about crystals and gems. E.g “life will always be rocky when you are a gem”
I hope these crystal bujo ideas are helpful!
Now let’s learn how to doodle a crystal.
Equipment You Will Need to Draw a Crystal
Here is a list of what you need to draw a crystal:
- A piece of paper, a sketchbook, notebook or a bullet journal to draw onto.
- A pencil to plan out your shapes.
- An eraser to remove any pencil markings or outlines.
- A fineliner pen (black is suggested, but you can use whatever colour you’d like).
- A ruler to draw your lines straight.
- Colours if you want to add colour to your crystals in whatever medium you’d like, such as coloured pencils, markers, pens, or watercolours.
- A white pen if you want to add highlights to your crystals.
That’s everything you will need to draw a crystal.
How to Draw a Crystal – Step by Step
Below is a step by step tutorial on how to draw a crystal:
Step 1: Using a pencil, draw a rough outline to show the shape of your crystal. Use light strokes, so the pencil outline can be erased later.
Think about the different shapes your crystal could be. If you want the crystal to be long and thin, draw a thin rectangle shape, whereas if you want to create a gem that is more rounded or similar to a diamond, create a rounder outline to work on.
Step 2: Clearly define the outline of your crystal by drawing straight lines in pencil. You can use a little more pressure than the initial sketch, and a ruler to help make your lines straight (if you want).
Step 3: Once you’ve created the crystal outline, use the pencil to add the details into the shape.
Consider the angles, and how the lines inside the crystal will join to create faces of the crystal. If you’re creating a long, thin crystal with points at the top and bottom for example, it is recommended to draw lines coming from the points vertically, to create the different planes on the crystal towards the edges.
Step 4: Once you are happy with your crystal in pencil, go over the final lines for your crystal using a fineliner. It is recommended to use black to create a clear outline and strong contrast, but you can use whatever colour you want.
Step 5: Rub out any pencil markings and initial outlines using the eraser.
Now you have a line drawing of a crystal!
Step 6: If you want to add colour to your crystal, you can use whatever colours you’d like in a medium of your choice. Shades of purple or pinks are classic colours used for crystal drawings.
Step 7: If you want to make the crystal look more realistic, you can also add white highlights in chalk, pastels, or gel pen wherever the crystal would hit the light, and darken the sections that would be in shadow.
And your crystal is done!
To help quickly recap each step for drawing a crystal, below is a pictorial:
How to Draw a Crystal cluster – Step by Step
Below is a step by step tutorial on how to draw a cluster of crystals:
Step 1: Start by drawing a rough outline for the crystal cluster in pencil. Use really simple, rough lines.
Step 2: Again with a pencil, draw the individual clusters in the crystal into your pencil outline. Demonstrate how you’d like the crystals to be layered and the angles they should come out at from the center. Don’t be afraid to plan some different shapes for the crystals in the cluster to keep it interesting; it’s recommended to use long rectangular crystals at the back, and shorter, more rounded crystals at the front, to create the layered effect. Use light strokes with the pencil so it can be erased easily, and don’t worry about making the lines straight; just create a rough space for the crystals to be drawn onto. Start by mapping out the largest crystals at the back, and work your way round to the smaller ones at the front.
Consider the layering of each crystal; draw the complete outlines for any crystals you want to appear towards the front, whereas the crystals at the back won’t be fully visible behind the front crystals, so only add in the outlines you’d actually see.
Step 3: Once you have the outlines mapped for each crystal, go in and add the lines and detail for each individual crystal. Use a pencil in case you want to change the details in your crystals, and consider how the lines will join together to create planes on each crystal. Don’t be afraid to mix up the details, to make each crystal in the cluster look unique.
Step 4: If you’re happy with how your crystal cluster and the details are looking in pencil, go over the final lines to keep with a fineliner in whatever colour fineliner pen you like (black is recommended). You can also use a ruler to help make the lines as straight as possible.
Step 5: Rub out any pencil markings and outlines, so you have a line drawing of a crystal cluster.
If you just want a line drawing of a crystal cluster, you can finish here.
If you want to add colour and more detail, read on!
Step 6: Now it’s time to add details into your cluster.
To add shading and light details, you first need to decide where the light source will be around your cluster.
This will help you identify which parts of the cluster will catch light, and the sections that will be in shadow. Remember that even though they are joined together, each individual crystal will have some parts reflecting light and other parts in shadow, as each crystal has a number of faces at different angles.
Step 7: Add in darker shading into the parts of each crystal that will be in the shadow. The crystals at the back would likely be slightly darker than the front crystals. Identify the parts that will be reflecting light, and leave a space to add the highlights in.
Step 8: Now add colour to your crystal. You can use whatever colour you’d like in whatever medium you wish (just make sure your paper is thick enough to hold any watery mediums). If you want to add highlights, consider the parts of the cluster that will be reflecting light and try not to add any colour in those parts which should be brilliant white. It is much easier to put white on top of no colour than it is to make an existing colour white.
Step 9: If you’re adding highlights, use white chalk, pastels, or a white gel pen to add in white details wherever the crystal cluster would hit the light.
And your crystal is done!
Here is a step by step pictorial showing how to draw a crystal cluster:
How to Draw 3D Crystal – Step by Step
Below is a step by step tutorial on how to draw a crystal with a 3D effect:
Step 1: Start by deciding your crystal shape. Tall, pointed crystals that look like pencils are a good crystal to practice drawing with a 3D effect, as they are very easy to make look 3D.
Step 2: Identify the outline of your crystal by drawing straight lines using a pencil. You can also use a ruler to help make your lines straight. If you are drawing a tall pencil shaped crystal, you can draw a long, tall rectangle with a triangle on the top of the rectangle.
Step 3: Now begin the outline of your crystal using a fineliner. Typically it’s recommended to use a black pen to create a contrast, but if you want your crystal to look realistic, you could use a darker shade of the colour you want your crystal to be (such as dark pink if you want to create a pink crystal).
Draw over the top two lines in the triangle, and the outer two vertical lines in the rectangle. Do not go over the horizontal lines in the rectangle however; these will need to be moved slightly to create a 3D effect.
Step 4: At the bottom of the triangle, draw two diagonal lines downwards from the outer corner towards the center. Leave a gap in between the lines, and try to make them symmetrical.
Step 5: Now join the two dropped diagonal lines with a horizontal line.
This has dropped the line of the triangle slightly, to create the faces of the crystal and will help add to the 3D effect.
Step 6: Repeat this shape at the bottom of the crystal. Make sure the diagonal lines are at the same angle that was used at the bottom of the triangle, and stop at the same point vertically.
Step 7: Draw two vertical lines joining the point at the bottom of the triangle to the point at the bottom of the rectangle.
Step 8: Now draw two diagonal lines from the bottom points of the triangle, joining them at the very top of the triangle.
Now you have a line drawing of your crystal. Use an eraser to remove any remaining pencil lines.
Step 9: It’s time to work on adding depth and dimension to the crystal.
First identify a light source. At the opposite side of the light source will be the darkest area of the crystal.
Now identify the surfaces on the crystal that will catch light, and the sections that will be in shadow. The pane of the crystal that is closest to the light source will be the lightest in colour, whereas the part of the crystal furthest away from the light will be the darkest.
Step 10: Now use shading techniques to add darkness to the sections of the crystals that should be in shadow. Cross hatching is a good technique to build up darkness; you can use it on the sections of the crystal that should be darkest and in shadow.
Step 11: If you want your crystal to be in colour, you should add some colour before adding any highlights in this step. This is so you can leave space for the whiteness of the paper to show through, as it is much easier to represent highlights with an absence of colour than it is to put white on top of a darker colour.
Choose colors that complement each other and enhance the 3D effect, such as light pink for the brighter areas of the crystal, and deep purple. You can watercolor, markers, or colored pencils.
Step 12: Now add highlights to the areas that will catch the light. The highlights should be bright and crisp to create a contrast with the shadows. You can use any medium in white for small parts that will really be reflecting light, such as white chalk or gel pen.
Step 13: To add an even greater 3D effect, you could add a background to the crystal. This can be done by using different shading and coloring techniques to create the illusion of distance and depth, such as adding shading under the crystal so it appears to be 3D on a surface. Continue to think about where the light source is if you’re adding a shadow to the background of the crystal. You can even just add a block colour to the background, to help the lighter colours in the crystal stand out.
Tips for Drawing a 3D Crystal
Below are some tips for drawing a 3D crystal:
- Work on a simple crystal shape as you learn how to draw in 3D. A tall, pencil shaped crystal is recommended, as it’s easy to work with.
- Pay attention to how the lines inside the crystal will join to create angles and planes. You’ll want to intersect the lines to create the illusion that the faces of each crystal are at slightly different angles, to add to that 3D effect.
- Think about the tools you use; you can use a black fineliner pen to create a contrast, but you could use a darker shade of the colour you want your crystal to be in to make it more realistic.
- Identify a light source; the pane in the crystal closest to that light source will be reflecting the light.
- Opposite the light source will be the darkest part of the crystal. Add shading to the darkest areas of the crystal (the area furthest away from the light source).
- Consider how the background will add to the 3D effect. You can add a shadow behind the crystal to make it look even more 3D against a background, or if you’re working on white paper, you can make the background a different colour to help the white highlights POP.
- Overall, the key to creating a 3D effect in a crystal drawing is to pay attention to the interplay between light and shadow. By using shading, highlighting, and color, you can create a crystal that looks like it’s popping off the page.
Easy Crystal Drawing Tutorial – Final Thoughts
I hope this post has covered everything you need to know to start drawing beautiful crystals and gems with confidence!
And you will enjoy doodling different crystals in your bullet journal.
Related Easy Drawing Posts
If you enjoyed this post on how to draw a crystal, you might like these other posts on easy drawing tutorials:
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- How to draw a book for beginners
- How to draw lavender flowers
- How to draw leaves – easy step by step tutorials
- Christmas tree doodle tutorial
- How to draw a snowman
- How to draw a candy cane
- Easy Snowflake drawing tutorials for beginners
- How to draw a Christmas ornament
- How to draw a Santa hat
- How to draw holly leaves – step by step tutorial
- How to draw a pig – easy tutorial for beginners
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