Learn to Draw a Top Hat
There are quite a few different designs for top hats, but the steps you’re going to learn today can be used for any style.
So whether you want to draw your top hats tall, short, or tattered and torn, we can show you how to draw it.
Are you ready to make some top hat drawings? Let’s get started.
But first we need our supplies.
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Art Supplies
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Step by Step Top Hat Drawing
If you want to get good at drawing you’ll need to learn how to break objects down into simple shapes and forms. Once you start doing this you’ll begin to see these shapes and forms in everything you look at. It will become much more obvious with practice.
The basic shape of your top hat drawing will be a cylinder. Therefore we will sketch out a cylinder the same size as we want our hat to be.
You can make it taller, or shorter, as needed for the style of hat you want to draw.
Add a foreshortened circle to the bottom of your hat for the brim. When you do this, draw through your cylinder. This will make it easier to draw things correctly.
Now draw a line for the trim piece. Make sure you draw it curved. When drawing this part of your top hat there are many different ways you can make it.
You can make it thinner, or maybe add a buckle to the band.
You want your drawings to look balanced, but they don’t have to be perfect. Just do the best you can and know that your drawings will improve with practice.
You can leave your top hat like this. Or, you can give it some character. To do this make some of your lines curved instead of everything looking perfect.
Keep working on your sketch, adding in any extra details you want in your drawing.
Top Hat Outline
Making a top hat outline is really easy. Simply trace over the pencil lines you want to keep with a black pen or marker.
You could also use a different color pen, or not add an outline at all. This will depend on your artistic style and what you think looks good.
When doing your top hat outline you can use thin lines, thick lines, or a combination of the two.
Again, do whatever you think looks good. If you’re not sure what you prefer, then you probably need more practice so you can develop your style.
You can also add in some shading with a pen if you want to have them in your drawing.
How to Draw a Top Hat with Markers
Learning how to draw a top hat with markers is really easy. And there’s only a few things you need to keep in mind when using them.
First, if you want to be able to blend your colors together you need to use alcohol based markers. Bic, Sharpie, and Copic for example. As well as many others.
Second, you need to work while the colors are still wet or they won’t mix together. This isn’t a big deal. Just make sure you work on a section at a time.
Third, you need to use colors that are similar to each other if you want to create a smooth transition of color. If your markers are too different they will leave a harder edge.
Most top hats are black, but you don’t want to color it in solid black. That will make it look flat and boring.
Objects that are black will reflect the colors around them. Blue and purple are a good choice to use for adding a bit of color to a black object.
For my top hat drawing in this example I used a blue and a couple of grays. I didn’t use black at all. You could make your hat much darker though and use black as your darkest color.
Just make sure you use two or three different colors for your hat. You could use black and a couple different grays. Or you could do a totally different color like brown. In which case you’ll want to use a couple different shades of brown.
We have an entire tutorial on how to use markers to color your artwork.
A white Gelly Roll pen can be used to add highlights.
Top Hat Drawing Ideas
There are so many different ways you can draw your top hats. And even more uses for them. You can change the overall look of your drawing by making a few small changes. Or you can simply change the colors you use.
I like adding top hats to my snowmen. But you can add them to just about anything you can think of. They look pretty cool on scarecrows and skulls.
Final Thoughts & Next Steps
Not that you know how to draw a top hat, what’s the next step? If you want to get good at art and drawing you need to practice. The more you practice the better you will get.
Learning to draw should be fun and easy. You should feel relaxed, not stressed. Now that you have learned how to draw a top hat, you can add them to any drawing you want.
They can help make your characters look more interesting. And they’re pretty easy to draw.
If you’re having trouble coming up with ideas for what to draw, try picking a theme and doing a series of drawings while sticking to that theme. It will help you develop your skills and your artistic style. It’s also a great way to improve your creativity.
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