How to Draw a Diya in Five Easy Steps

how to draw a diyaeasy diya drawingdiya drawing step by stepdiwali drawing ideasoil lamp drawing

A diya is the small clay oil lamp lit in rows for Diwali, and it makes a lovely first drawing because it is only three shapes: an oval, a bowl and a teardrop. What makes it read as a lamp and not a dish is one idea: the rim is pinched into a point on one side, and the flame stands on that point. Draw the pinch and the teardrop and it says diya before any colour goes down.

The finished diya tutorial drawing on a dark canvas: a terracotta clay lamp on a small foot, its rim pinched into a spout on the right, dark oil inside the rim, a gold band with hanging scallops and five gold dots across the bowl, an orange teardrop flame with a pale yellow middle standing on the spout, a soft warm glow around the flame and a dark shadow on the ground under the lamp

What you need

Everything happens in the Grovetracks editor on the default dark canvas: the ellipse tool for the rim and the flame circle, the line tool for guides and the foot, the freehand brush for the outline and colour, and the eraser for the guides. If you like, put the colour on a layer under the line art. Colours: grey blue for pencil, warm cream and dark brown for the outlines, terracotta, a darker red brown, a very dark brown for the oil, gold, orange, pale yellow, and a little white.

Step 1: Draw an oval and a bowl

Step 1 of the diya: thin grey blue pencil shapes on a dark canvas, a wide flat oval a little left of centre, the lower half of a deeper oval hanging under it as the bowl, and a small circle off to the right of the oval for the flame

With the ellipse tool and a thin brush (width 2), draw a wide, flat oval a little left of the middle of the canvas, about half the canvas wide and only about a quarter as tall as it is wide. That is the rim. Under it, draw a curve from one end of the oval round to the other, dipping about as deep as the oval is tall plus a little more: the bowl. Last, draw a small circle just off the right end of the oval for the flame.

The common mistake is a rim that is too round. Keep the oval flat, as if you are looking at the lamp from just above the table.

Step 2: Add the spout and the flame line

Step 2 of the diya: the same pencil oval, bowl and circle, now with a narrow V drawn off the right end of the rim to a point under the circle for the spout, a thin line rising from the point through the circle and leaning slightly left for the flame, a short tick near its top, a curved band across the bowl, and a small trapezoid foot under the bowl

Switch to width 1. From the top and bottom of the rim's right end, draw two short lines that meet in a point just under the flame circle: that is the spout. From the point, draw a line straight up through the circle, leaning a little to the left, and add a short tick where the flame will end, about the height of the bowl above the rim. Draw one curved band across the bowl, following the curve of the rim, about a third of the way down. Finish with a small trapezoid under the bowl for the foot.

The mistake here is a fat spout. Keep the V narrow, so the rim ends in a clear point.

Step 3: Find the outline

Step 3 of the diya: a confident warm cream outline over the pencil guides, showing the rim as one oval pinched into a point on the right, a thinner inner rim line, the bowl curve running up into the underside of the spout, the trapezoid foot, a band across the bowl with nine small hanging scallops and five dots under it, and a teardrop flame with a smaller teardrop inside it standing on the spout

With the brush in warm cream at width 6, trace the rim in one line: round the oval and out along the V into the point, then back. Trace the bowl at width 6, letting its right end run up under the spout, and the foot at width 5. Draw a thinner inner rim line at width 3, just inside the first, for the thickness of the clay.

At width 4, trace the band, then hang a row of little scallops under it at width 3 and tap five dots below those. Now the flame: a teardrop at width 5, round at the bottom where it sits on the spout and drawn up to a point at the tick, with a smaller teardrop inside it at width 3, and a short line for the wick.

The one mistake to watch: the flame's round end goes at the bottom. Draw it point down and it turns into a drop of water.

Step 4: Add flat colour

Step 4 of the diya: the pencil guides are gone, the bowl is flat terracotta on a darker red brown foot, a lighter clay ring runs round the rim around dark brown oil, the band is gold with gold scallops and dots, the flame is orange with a pale yellow middle, and everything sits under a dark brown lamp outline and a deep orange flame outline

Erase the pencil guides. There is no fill bucket, so colour goes on like a marker. Run terracotta at width 30 along the inside of the bowl curve, then zigzag across the middle at about width 36. Fill the foot with darker red brown, run a lighter clay ring round the rim at width 12, and fill the inside of the rim with very dark brown for the oil. Paint the band gold at width 7.

For the flame, run orange round just inside its outline at width 18, add one wide orange stroke up the middle, then pale yellow low in the middle. Finally, redraw the lamp outline in dark brown on top, the pattern in gold, and the flame outline in deep orange.

The mistake here is colouring right up to the outline with a wide brush. Keep the broad strokes a little inside the curve and let the outline cover the edge.

Step 5: Add one shadow and one highlight

Step 5 of the diya: the finished drawing, with a soft warm glow around the flame, a dark shadow on the ground under the lamp, a darker red brown shadow down the left of the bowl, a light clay highlight down the right of the bowl and along the front of the rim near the spout, and a small white core at the base of the flame

Here the light is in the picture: it is the flame. On the bottom layer, draw a big ring in orange at width 60 and very low opacity (about 8%) around the flame, then one short wide stroke up the flame at about 16%, for the glow. Draw a flat dark oval under the foot for the ground shadow. On the bowl, add a darker red brown stroke down the left side, away from the flame, and a light clay stroke down the right side and along the front of the rim, toward it. Last, add a small white stroke at the base of the flame.

Do not skip the white core. That one small stroke is what makes the flame look hot.

Draw it yourself

Open the editor on grovetracks.com and light a diya of your own: a row of three, a different pattern on the band, or a flame that leans in the breeze. For a head start, open any step's gallery page above and branch it to pick up from exactly that stage. Every step shows its lineage back to the first oval, and the finished lamp's Made from section walks the whole tutorial.

If you enjoyed this one, the same marker style colouring works on How to Draw an Owl, and How to Draw Light in Line Art goes further into drawing a glow.