How to Draw Nuk Pacifiers

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Last Updated: May 28, 2026

If you've been drawing kids but have never had to draw a pacifier, you'll probably want to include one when the kid is so young in your drawings. Although some pacifiers differ in appearance, drawing Nuk ones, being one of the more popular brands, is a treasured keepsake to store for reference when needed, and is presented in the article below.

1

Draw the pacifier's shield.

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The mask is generally just one part with an additional handle talked about momentarily.
- Draw the shield from left to right. Although you start with the drawing on the left, keep everything mirrored to ensure it's even and straight.
- Draw a sideways U-shape; however, open the sides of the U so that they almost become oval. Avoid drawing them as if they were circular.
- Taper the top side so it becomes more round, and stops.
- Repeat drawing the same thing for the right-hand side of the shield, but leave a significant gap between the two sides.
- Connect the shield's sides, but only on one side. Drop the two sides so they become the bottom rounded edge of a heart-shaped or smile-shaped shield.
- Connect the top of the shield. You'll need to connect the two sides so they become more U-like in the middle, so that the overall shape of the pacifier mask looks like a heart with a more rounded bottom.
- Draw the branding, if possible. The Nuk branding is most often found on the shield or within the handle. It's written in all capitals "N U K" in bold, rounded and blocky geometric sans-serif shapes. They can be later colored solid standard red, though some use white or a matching color.
- The rounded U is wide, with the K having thick, friendly angles.

2

Don't forget the vent holes.

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They were designed so that the baby still breathes if the pacifier presses fully against the baby's face, and are a requirement of all modern pacifiers.
- They can be drawn as two circles, and they must be drawn (one on each side) in each of the pacifier's top curved spots, almost shaped like a person's shoulders.
- Make sure they don't extend to the edges of the shoulders of the top sections of the pacifier's heart shape, but that they are wide enough to make an impact on the general look of the pacifier's mask.

3

Draw the handle.

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Drawing the handle is the easiest part, though it can be more intricate, to keep the handle from interfering with the remainder of the drawing and confusing those who color the shield in.
- Draw a small oval central point in the mid-center of the pacifier's shield. This becomes the center of the mirror.
- Draw a C-shaped ring so it is shaped almost like an oval. Bring the sides out a little, but make sure they remain mirrored. It must contain a wider end (where the kid or parent can hold) at the bottom, and lead to tapered sides, to a point in the mid-center of the shield where it connects to the small oval center you just sketched. This one, starting at the top of the central point (as mentioned above), forms the outer ring of the handle.
  - Ensure you point this shape down, unless you have a child holding the ring with their fingers, or intending to remove it from their mouth.
- Draw an inner oval, parallel to the outer oval drawn previously. This oval should be smaller and as tall as the oval's center-point bottom, where it connects, from both ends. This mirroring while staying parallel forms the handle.
- Make sure neither oval drops off the shield, and that they are perfectly symmetrical.

4

Draw the nipple.

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Don't worry about getting these nipples perfect and exactly to scale. General drawings of the nipple aren't ever perfect unless they're drawn to scale at the pacifier factory in a CAD system and include the latest and greatest features.^{[1]
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- Drawing the nipple can be tricky for some. However, it'll depend on several other factors and how intricate you want them to be.
- Avoid having to draw the nipple if the pacifier will be inserted into a cartoon's mouth. When the nipple is inserted into the user's mouth, it wouldn't be seen from the outer edge and should be omitted.
  - Only draw this nipple if the pacifier is lying somewhere.
- Draw the nipple's neck. Find a place on the unattached side of the nipple (not containing the handle), and extend two parallel horizontal lines to two center points.
- Watch out for the bottom. Draw the neck of the bottom, so the bottom line droops at a sloped diagonal line, then form a curved corner outward.
- Look out for the top. Continue the top line so that it reaches just past the location where the bottom started to slant downward.
- Curve the tip. Use a bulb line downward, meeting at the bottom line with a soft, round point. Look for a shape that mimics a slanted teardrop or side-profile mitten thumb.
- Watch for a curved piece of rubber, called the "material ridge," that connects the nipple to the nipple's plumbing gasket. It is a collar where the nipple connects.

5

Color the pacifier's shield.

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Color the mask a tan/off-white color, if you want the classic look. However, for more current colors, keep them sex-specific and neutral, while thinking of the word "calm" with blue and purple or pink (but not the highlighter or light colors of these hues).
- At the same time, the center ring's rubber should be colored towards a quieter hue of either yellow or orange, OR darker pink or medium blue; however, these colors always differ on the type of pacifier being mentioned^{[2]
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- For the back of the pacifier (from the mask to nipple side), color in the nipple and outstretched arm, except for those that are orthodontic.
  - Non-orthodontic ones (geared to newborns and infants up to about age 2), color them a shade of yellow. For the youngest, thickest nipples, the color will be darker (like a thick dirt yellow) than those for slightly older babies. However, those older ones will be a lighter yellow without crossing into highlighter yellow territory.
  - For orthodontic ones, leave their nipple's bodies blank. Let the background become your paper's main color canvas.
    - Draw only the hidden lines. The lines of the mask must be drawn through the middle of the nipple.
    - Outline with soft shades. Use light blues, light greys, or soft lavender to give the silicone nipple a visible boundary.
    - Add white light reflective highlights. Use sharp white streaks or curved crescents along the outer edges of the tip.

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Pacifier shapes have changed. In the 1970s, 1980s, and even in the early to mid 1990s, they were designed in a figure-8 pattern. However, they also had two curved inward patterns with nothing in them. Think of the 1970s and 1980s as pinched butterflies. These pacifiers prevented drool rashes.

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Avoid an ultra-dirty color, unless the pacifier has accidentally fallen out of the baby's mouth and onto the floor and hasn't been cleaned since.

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Avoid drawing excessive holes on the pacifier’s nipple. Drawing excessive holes on it shows excessive wear, and if it were in real life, it should've been discarded, not just drawn.

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