Honey, Did You Pack Extra Socks?

A cozy travel essentials drawing inspired by the one thing we are always reminded to pack.

Difficulty: medium

Materials: pen and pencil

Monthly category: Travel Essentials

Imagine you are packing for a short trip and your mom is calling from the other room: “Honey, have you packed…” How would she finish that sentence?

I know mine always reminds me of an extra pair of socks. Winter or summer, long trip or short one, an extra pair somehow always feels necessary. So that is what we are drawing today: a soft little pair of socks.

Settle into a cozy corner, grab your favorite drink, and let’s start.

Settle In and Draw

Step 1: We will draw two socks, one on top of the other. First, let’s draw their silhouettes. Start with a line that goes at an angle, over the heel, and all the way to the toes. Place it near the right edge of the paper.

Step 2: Draw the same line for the second sock, just above it and a bit tilted. Then add a second line, from the tip of the toes to the ankle. The top of this sock is folded. Add the top of the bottom sock as well. This one is regular.

Step 3: Add the folded cuff of the upper sock. Draw an ellipse for the opening. Add a line from the bottom of the ellipse to the left, where the fold starts.

Step 4: Take your pen and trace the sketch. Leave out the tops for now. Add some folds near the toes and heels.

Step 5: With very light lines, add more fold lines all over. Avoid the area above the ankles.

Step 6: Add the ribbed knit pattern from the ankle to the top of the socks. Draw the lines lightly, and make them as parallel as possible.

The lines on the bottom sock are just vertical. On the top sock, they follow its tilt. They go in three directions: diagonal to the right from the ankle to the fold, diagonal to the left from the fold to the top, and almost vertical on the inner side.

Step 7: Now add the tops of the socks. They are made of little arches, like small rainbow shapes. Each one goes from one knit pattern line to the next.

Step 8: To add some details, let’s add two stripes near the top. To draw them, use the same little arch lines from the previous step. One stripe has two such lines. Then leave some space and draw another two lines for the next stripe.

The last thing to add is the seam lines. They are on the heels and near the toes. Each one is just a line made of many little dashes.

Step 9: Take your pencil, and let’s first add some color. The stripes and heels are a different color, so let’s go over them in pencil. Use an even, light tone.

Step 10: Now let’s add some shading. We already added the colored parts with pencil, so to avoid mixing them up, we will add the shading in a darker tone.

Add shading around the toes and all the bigger folds. Add it inside the opening of the top sock and below the folded cuff. Add the shadow that the top sock casts on the bottom one.

You can also add shadows to the colored heels. Just make sure the shadow is in a darker tone.

Gentle Tips for Easier Drawing

I think this was my first time drawing socks. The hardest part for me was the toe area. Like, how is it even supposed to look? I took a bunch of socks from my drawer and tried to arrange them so the toe part would look drawable. I did not succeed once. Conclusion: sock toes will look weird no matter how you draw them. So no stress.

A pair of socks is such a random thing to draw, but this one turned out surprisingly nice. It shows that almost anything can be worth drawing if you look at it long enough.

Wishing you a cozy day,

Yours in ink and paper

P.S. Could you do me a favor and share this with a friend? Just forward this email and say something like:

“Hey, these socks look smelly, so naturally I thought of you. Wanna draw together?”

And if you’re the friend... first of all, rude. Second, welcome! You should probably subscribe and draw with us every week.