How to Draw a Light Bulb in 8 Steps
This tutorial shows how to draw a light bulb in eight steps with simple illustrations and a breakdown of it’s various parts.
The example is of an incandescent light bulb with a traditional design. You can see what it looks like in the preview step by step illustration above.
It’s recommended that you start the tutorial in pencil and make light lines. This will allow you to more easily correct mistakes. You can darken trace over your drawing with darker lines once you have all parts of the light bulb outlined.
Step 1 – Draw the Glass Dome of the Light Bulb
Start by drawing the glass done of the light bulb. This should have a fairly round upper part and get narrower towards the bottom. Make the bottom end of the outline flat.
Step 2 – Draw the Screw Threads
Below the glass bulb add the base. Draw this with an angled bottom.
Below the base draw the screw thread. These should have the same angle as it’s bottom. In this example there are three in total. You can define each thread with a pair of parallel liens for it’s top and bottom and that are joined by the slightly rounded sides.
Step 3 – Draw the Bottom
Draw the bottom of the light bulb’s base getting narrower as it goes down ending with a little bump part on the very bottom (the electrical connector).
Step 4 – Connect the Threads
For this simple step draw the areas in between the thread to connect them together.
Step 5 – Draw the Glass Base
Inside the done add the glass base that supports the wires that hold the filament. Draw it with a thicker part at the bottom followed by a thinner part and finally a little “cap” at the very top.
Step 6 – Draw the Support Wires
From the glass base draw some support wires. Add a longer pair going up from the thicker part of the glass base and a shorter pair going from the “cap” at the top.
Step 7 – Draw the Filament & Finish the Line Drawing
For the last part of the light bulb draw the filament. Create it by connecting the wire from the previous step with a few curved lines that run in between them.
Once done with the above you can trace over your drawing with darker pencil lines or a black marker.
Step 8 – Color the Light Bulb
To color the light bulb you can make the glass bulb yellow or a light grey depending on if you want to show the light bulb being on or off. Also, leave a little white spot on one of it’s side as shown in the example to show a reflections that helps indicate that the glass is shiny and reflective.
Make the glass base a yellow grey or orange.
Color the base grey with a darker grey or black on the very bottom for the connector.
If you are making the light bulb yellow a marker can be a good coloring option as they tend to be bright kind of like a glowing light bulb. You can use a regular pencil to add the greys.
Conclusion
Incandescent light bulbs have a fairly distinct and traditional look. Drawing one is fairly easy as long as you have some basic knowledge of it’s different parts. This guide lists the different parts of such a light bulb and breaks up the drawing process into simple steps to make it even easier. Hopefully you’ve not had any trouble following along.
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