How to Draw a Donut

In the center of your page, draw one large, even circle. This outer edge sets the overall size of your donut, so give yourself plenty of room around it for the drips and sprinkles that will spread out later, especially near the bottom where the icing is about to run down past this line. A slightly imperfect circle is totally fine here — real donuts are rarely perfectly round either.

In the middle of the large circle, draw a smaller oval to form the donut's signature hole. Keep it noticeably smaller than the outer circle and positioned right in the center, since this hole is what instantly tells the eye "donut" rather than "cookie" or "bagel" before a single other detail goes in. A slightly squashed, oval shape rather than a perfect little circle actually looks more natural here too.

Along the lower portion of the outer circle, draw a wavy, uneven line that dips down below the original circle in a few places, like icing that's melted and slid partway down the side before setting. Let some drips hang lower than others rather than keeping them all the same length, since that irregularity is exactly what makes melted icing look convincing instead of scalloped and decorative. This drippy edge is the detail that gives the donut its glossy, freshly-glazed feel.

Around the small oval hole in the center, draw a second wavy line tracing just outside the original hole shape, echoing the same drippy, uneven quality as the icing edge you drew in the previous step. This shows the icing pooling and dripping slightly into the hole itself, just like it does around the outer edge. Together, these two wavy lines are what separate the plain donut shape from a donut that actually looks glazed.

Across the icing-covered top of the donut, scatter small rectangular and oval shapes in random directions and at random angles — these are the sprinkles. Vary their length and angle from one another rather than lining them up neatly, and spread them fairly evenly across the surface while leaving a little breathing room here and there so the donut doesn't feel overcrowded. This step takes a bit of patience since there are a lot of small shapes to place, but it's also the single detail that makes the donut look genuinely festive and bakery-fresh.

Now for the most satisfying part!

• Donut base (the visible edge beneath the icing): Warm golden-brown, like a freshly baked pastry

• Icing: Bright, vivid pink or your favorite glaze color, filling the whole top surface and dripping down over the edge

• Icing shading: A slightly deeper shade of the same icing color along the drips and around the inner hole, where the glaze pools thicker

• Icing highlight: A small streak of white or very pale pink near the top of the donut to suggest the glossy shine of fresh icing

• Sprinkles: A mix of bright colors — red, yellow, blue, green, purple, and white — scattered so no two neighboring sprinkles share the same color

• Hole (center): Leave it white or very pale to represent the empty space, with a thin warm-brown ring around the inner edge to suggest the baked dough peeking through

Once the color goes on, that glossy pink glaze dripping over a golden base, dotted with a rainbow of sprinkles, is exactly what makes this donut look good enough to reach right off the page. 🍩