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How to Draw a Crumpled Paper
Draw a crumpled paper in 14 easy steps, about 11 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: a crinkly ball.
Step 1: A crinkly ball
Draw a big ball out of short straight lines. Push some corners out and some in. Make the bottom flat.
Tip No round curves here: scrunched paper is all straight folds and corners.
Step 2: Middle zigzag
Start at the dip on the left. Draw a zigzag of 4 lines across and stop at the right dip.
Tip Down, up a little, down a little, then up to the dip: 3 corners.
Step 3: Top crease
Start at the dip on the top left. Draw down, across and up, and stop at the top right corner.
Step 4: Big M
Start at the zigzag's left corner. Draw a big M up and down and stop at its right corner.
Tip The M's tops touch the top crease's corners. Its middle touches the zigzag's middle corner.
Step 5: Top folds
Start at the top point and the top dip. Draw 2 lines down and stop at the top crease's corners.
Step 6: Bottom creases
Pick a spot under the zigzag's middle. Start there, draw 3 lines up and stop at the zigzag's 3 corners.
Step 7: Bottom triangle
Start at the same spot. Draw 2 lines down and stop at the 2 ends of the flat bottom.
Step 8: Side creases
Start at the zigzag's left and right corners. Draw a line down and out, and stop at the edge.
Tip Count the folds: there are 15.
Step 9: Blue ruled lines
In sky blue, draw 3 lines on the big left fold and 3 on the big right fold.
Tip They are the lines of the notebook page. Each set slants its own way because the page is folded.
Step 10: More blue lines
Draw 2 more blue lines on each of the 2 big folds at the bottom.
Tip Stop each line just before the black lines.
Step 11: A red margin
In red, draw 1 short line across the left set of blue lines, near their lower ends.
Tip Notebook paper has one red line down the side.
Step 12: Floor shadow
Under the ball, draw a long flat oval shadow. It hides behind the flat bottom.
Step 13: Light grey folds
Go over your lines. Colour 6 folds light grey, so that no two share a side. Leave the rest white.
Tip Look at the picture to see which 6.
Step 14: Darker shadow
Colour the shadow on the floor a darker grey, and your crumpled paper is done!
Your finished drawing
Follow the steps above and this is where you end up: a crumpled paper, drawn by you.
Every step in one picture
