How to Draw the Pillsbury Dough Boy

The Pillsbury Dough Boy is a 14-oz. 8 3/4-inch crescent roll who made his plump debut in October of 1965. The Pillsbury Dough Boy's real name is Poppin' Fresh. He was initially created and drawn by a freelance artist named Chet Noice, who sold the idea to Pillsbury. Ad agency artist Martin Nodell drew Pillsbury's version of Poppin' Fresh. Learn how you can draw this lovable American icon for yourself.

Things You'll Need

• Pencils
• Sketch pad

Instructions

1. Draw light lines until you have the outline of the Pillsbury Dough Boy. Start with the band at the base of the baker's cap the dough boy wears. This will give you a jumping-off point for his head and the rest of the baker's hat. Work from a reference photo for best results. Draw the two lines of the band around the base of the hat with slight curves to suggest dimension. Add a small circle in the middle of the band and the word "Pillsbury" in it.

2. Draw the hat next. Start at the left and right sides of the hat band and draw the hat so it balloons outward. Then add a couple of lines where you'll shade the creases of the hat.

3. Place a round, slightly plump circle beneath the hat. This will be the Pillsbury Dough Boy's head. Draw two circles for his eyes. There are no details to the eyes, so you can go ahead and shade them with your pencil. Draw a light line from the corner of each eye and shade for depth, then two diagonal slashes. The slashes help define the Dough Boy's smile.

4. Add one straight line between the slashes, and draw a half circle with the widest part going down from the horizontal line. Bring the half circle all the way up until you shape the mouth. The Pillsbury Dough Boy had a very wide mouth. Sketch in light pencil shading to give his wide smile depth.

5. Draw the dough boy's body without lifting your pencil off the paper. There's no hard definition in the shape of the Pillsbury Dough Boy's body, so start with one arm and work your way down to his legs and back up to his second arm. Be sure to add a little pooch to his belly. Don't forget to add the bow tie around his neck, since this is the only distinguishing feature of his body. The dough boy is all white, so draw the tie thick and add shading around the edges to make it stand out.

6. Apply shading with your pencil around the lines you made at the eyes. Deepen the color to give a little depth. Darken the shading around the inside edges of the dough boy's mouth for definition, then apply a couple of diagonal pencil strokes to his body to enhance his plump appearance. Since there are no hard lines or any real definition on the Pillsbury Dough Boy, you'll achieve most of the final look by shading his very general shape.

Resources

• Pencil Shading