How to Draw a Mug Step by Step

This tutorial shows an easy way to draw a mug in six steps. The focus is on line drawing but there are also some basic coloring tips.

Mug drawing step by step
Mug drawing step by step

You can see a preview of the drawing steps for the mug in the examples above. In this tutorial it will have a fairly simple and common look. You can probably find many people drinking coffee from one that looks similar.

Start the tutorial in pencil and make light lines that are easy to erase in case you make a mistake. You can darken them later on with a black pen or marker.

For drawing a coffee cup see:

How to Draw a Coffee Cup Step by Step

Step 1 – Draw the Sides of the Mug

Mug sides drawing
Mug sides drawing

Begin by drawing a pair of vertical lines for the sides of the mug. This will help you set it’s height and width.

Step 2 – Draw the Bottom

Mug bottom drawing
Mug bottom drawing

Draw a curve for the bottom of the mug which should connect the two straight lines from the previous step.

Step 3 – Draw the Top

Mug top drawing
Mug top drawing

Draw the top of the mug where it’s overall shape is somewhat similar to an oval. Add the upper curve in a way where it connects to each of the sides. Draw the bottom curve where it stops just a little bet fore it reaches their side. This will help show that the walls of the mug actually have some thickness to them.

You will also want to draw the curves at the top of the mug significantly flatter (less rounded/closer to a straight line) than the one that defines it’s bottom.

Step 4 – Draw the Outer Shape of the Handle

Mug handle outline drawing
Mug handle outline drawing

On one side of the mug draw the outline of the handle. You can make it’s shape as shown in the examples.

Step 5 – Draw the Inner Shape of the Handle & Finish the Line Drawing

Mug line drawing
Mug line drawing

Inside the outline from the previous step draw a second smaller shape similar to the first one but slightly different at it’s base (again as shown in the example).

Once done with the handle you can trace over your drawing with a black pen, marker or darker pencil lines. Just be sure to confirm that your drawing looks good before doing so.

Step 6 – Color the Mug

Mug drawing
Mug drawing

You can make the mug one solid color, which can be pretty much anything you like. In this case it will be a light brown/pink. Just about any medium will work for this (paints, colored pencils, markers, etc…)

Before coloring you can also outline a a long highlight (light reflections) on one of the mug’s sides. These will help show that it has a smooth surface. Do this either very lightly with a regular pencil or with the same color you want to use for the mug. You can then color around it and afterwards also lightly go over the highlight with the same color you use for the mug (so that it’s not too bright).

You can also slightly shade the inner part of the mug (at the top). Do this as a bit of a gradient where the shading is darker towards the bottom and lighter towards the top. An easy way to do this is with a colored pencils (in this case a brown one).

Conclusion

This tutorial shows how to draw a fairly common looking mug that is often used for hot drinks such as coffee. In this case the mug is fairly plain but if you wish you can make it more interesting by adding some writing orĀ  picture to it.

For example you could add something like one of the following:

For other similar tutorials also see: