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How to Draw a Canopic Jar

13 steps · Medium · about 10 min

Draw a canopic jar in 13 easy steps, about 10 minutes. Free, with a printable worksheet.

Each picture adds one red line. Draw that line, then scroll to the next picture. Rub out any dashed helper lines at the end. First up: the jar.

Step 1: The jar
Draw a tall pot: a flat top, round shoulders and sides sloping in to a flat bottom.
Tip Leave room above the pot for the lid. The pot is widest near its top.
Step 2: The headdress
From the jar's top left corner draw a tall dome over to the right corner. Add a curve across it.
Tip The lid of a canopic jar is shaped like a head. The curve runs from edge to edge.
Step 3: The face
Hang a U from the curve: start near its left end, touch the jar, go back up. Add 2 eyes.
Tip Make the U wide. The chin just touches the top of the jar.
Step 4: Pupils and smile
Colour a big black dot in each eye, leaving a tiny shine. Draw a U smile below.
Step 5: The headband
Above the face draw 2 more curves across the dome, from side to side.
Tip Each curve bends the same way as the first one.
Step 6: Side stripes
On each side draw 2 straight lines from the outside edge across to the face.
Step 7: The name box
Down the middle of the jar draw a tall thin box.
Tip Egyptians wrote on the front of the jar in a neat column.
Step 8: Three signs
In the box draw a round sun, a zigzag for water and a little dome.
Tip Leave a gap between the signs so each one is easy to see.
Step 9: The ground
Draw a ground line under the jar, poking out on both sides.
Step 10: Peach and cream
Colour the face peach and the name box cream. Leave the eyes white.
Step 11: Yellow stripes
Colour the headband, the very top, the middle stripe on each side and the sun yellow.
Step 12: Sandy jar
Colour the jar sandy yellow, going around the name box.
Tip Real canopic jars were carved from pale stone.
Step 13: Blue stripes
Go over your lines. Colour the other stripes and the little dome blue. Your canopic jar is done!