Cute Food Doodles: 15 Easy Snacks and Treats to Draw

Snacks are some of the most forgiving things to draw. A donut is two circles, a cookie is one wobbly circle with dots, and nobody will ever tell you your pizza slice has the wrong proportions.

These fifteen cute food doodles each grow out of one main shape, so you can pick the shape you feel like drawing and go from there. All of them fit in a notebook margin and take a minute or two each.

A cupcake in four stages

Start with the cupcake: a simple base, a soft top and a few tiny details.

1. Draw the wrapper as a trapezoid: a flat line on the bottom, a longer flat line above it, and two slanted sides joining them so the shape is wider at the top.
2. Fill the wrapper with four or five vertical lines for pleats. Lean the outer ones the same way as the sides.
3. Draw the frosting as three stacked bumps that get narrower as they go up: a wide puffy curve sitting on the wrapper and overhanging it a little, a medium one above, and a small pointed swirl on top.
4. Scatter short dashes over the frosting for sprinkles, pointing in different directions. Add a small circle on the peak with a curved stem for a cherry.

Treats that start from a circle

• Donut: draw a circle, then a much smaller circle in the center. Add a wavy line running around between them for the edge of the icing, and scatter sprinkle dashes inside the wavy line.
• Cookie: draw a circle with a slightly bumpy edge. Add six or seven small filled blobs for chips. For a bite, replace part of the edge with three small scallops that curve inward.
• Fried egg: draw a loose, wobbly blob like a puddle. Put a clean circle inside it, a bit off-center, and add a small curved line near the top of the circle as a highlight.
• Sushi roll: draw a short cylinder, which is an oval on top with two straight sides and a curved bottom. Inside the top oval, draw a smaller oval, then two or three tiny shapes in the middle for the filling. Dot the ring between the ovals for rice.
• Candy: draw a circle or a short oval. Add a small triangle on each side with its point touching the candy, like a bow tie, and draw two short lines inside each triangle for wrapper twists.

Treats that start from a triangle

• Pizza slice: draw a tall triangle pointing down. Replace the top edge with a thick, slightly arched band for the crust. Add three or four circles for toppings and a couple of drip curves hanging off the sides.
• Ice cream cone: draw a narrow triangle pointing down and cross it with diagonal lines both ways for a waffle pattern. Sit a round scoop on top as a circle with a wavy bottom edge that overlaps the cone. Add one drip running down.
• Slice of cake: draw a triangle lying on its side for the top of the slice. Drop a straight line down from each of the two near corners and join them at the bottom to make the cut side. Draw one or two lines across that side for layers, and a wavy line along the top edge for frosting.
• Taco: not quite a triangle, but close: draw a half circle with the flat side up, like a bowl. Along the flat edge, add a row of bumpy curves for lettuce and a few small circles and squares peeking out for filling.

Treats that start from a box

• Toast: draw a square with rounded bottom corners. Give the top two rounded bumps that puff out wider than the sides, like the top of a loaf. Draw a second outline just inside the first for the crust, and a small square of butter in the middle.
• Popsicle: draw a tall rectangle with a fully rounded top. Add a short, narrow stick below the center. Take a bite out of one top corner with two small scallops, and draw one drip on the side.
• Fries: draw a plain carton as a trapezoid that is wider at the top, with a shallow dip curved into its top edge. Behind that edge, draw eight or so narrow rectangles at slightly different heights and angles. Leave the carton blank or add a single stripe.
• Burger: stack it from the top down. Draw a dome for the top bun with a few seed dashes, a wavy line for lettuce, a thick rounded bar for the patty, a thin strip with a triangle corner hanging down for cheese, and a flat rounded bar for the bottom bun.

One from a twisted line

The pretzel is the odd one out. Draw a heart shape, but instead of closing it at the bottom, let the two lines cross each other and continue down and outward into two short ends. Thicken it by drawing a second line alongside the first, and add a few dots for salt.

The small details that sell it

Most of these foods are plain shapes until you add one tiny thing. Pick from this short list:

• Sprinkles: short dashes at random angles, never lined up in rows.
• Drips: a narrow U shape hanging from an edge, some longer than others.
• Bite marks: two or three scallops curving into the shape, with a few crumb dots nearby.
• Steam: two or three wavy vertical lines above anything warm, like the pizza or the toast.
• Shine: one short curved line near the top of anything glossy, such as icing or an egg yolk.

You can also give any of these a simple face: two dots set wide apart and a small curve between them, placed low on the shape. The guide to making doodles look cute covers faces, blush marks and softer shapes in more detail.

Building a snack page

For a full page, draw the biggest treats first with space between them, then fit smaller ones into the gaps and finish with filler such as dots or tiny stars. Tilt a few so they are not all upright.

Add one or two accent colors with a highlighter or marker: pink for icing, yellow for cheese and butter. Let the outline dry first, since gel and felt-tip lines can smudge.

Two sets pair well with this one. Add something fresh with a few simple fruit doodles, whole and sliced, and give your snacks a drink with mugs, teapots and other cafe doodles.