Learn how to draw Celtic knots with a pencil, a ruler and a simple dot grid. My beginner's guide takes you from first dots to a finished, woven knot.
I used to think Celtic knots were for people with years of training and a very steady hand. Every time I looked at a page of the Book of Kells, I wondered how anyone kept track of all those twisting lines. Then someone showed me the trick: almost every knot is built on a simple grid. Once you see the grid, the magic turns into a method.
So this is the guide I wish I had when I started. You don't need fancy supplies or any drawing experience. You need a pencil, a ruler, an eraser and an hour where nobody needs you.
A Little History of Celtic Knots
Interlace patterns turn up in Roman mosaics and early Christian art across Europe, but monks in Ireland and Britain took them further than anyone. Between roughly the 7th and 9th centuries, they filled manuscripts such as the Book of Durrow, the Lindisfarne Gospels and the Book of Kells with knotwork, and carved it into high crosses that you can still walk up to today.
Nobody left us a dictionary of what each knot meant. Most people read them as symbols of eternity and connection, because a well-drawn knot has no beginning and no end. The triquetra, with its three linked loops, is often read as the Trinity. Take any meaning you hear with a pinch of salt, and enjoy the knots for what they are: beautiful, patient pieces of design. If you want the bigger picture, my post on Celtic art explained covers knots, spirals and key patterns together.
What You Need to Start
- A pencil. An HB for the grid and guide lines, and a softer 2B for shading later. A 0.5mm mechanical pencil keeps lines neat.
- A clear ruler. Being able to see through it makes lining up dots much easier.
- A good eraser. A plastic eraser for clean lines and a kneaded one for lifting graphite in tight corners.
- Smooth paper. Plain printer paper is fine for practice. Squared or dotted paper saves you measuring.
- A fine black pen (optional). For inking the finished knot.
Sit somewhere with good light and give yourself room. Knotwork rewards patience far more than talent.
+ Join Our Writing Community for FREE
Chain Story Online
Fun, free, flash fiction writing with writers just like you. You have ~100 words to begin a story or continue a story and make it yours.
Story Bible Studio
Digital space for writers to plot, plan, and build better stories. Designed by writers for writers. Your final draft awaits.
The Grid Method: How Celtic Knots Really Work
Every knot in this style is a cord (or a few cords) running diagonally across a grid, going over and under itself until it meets its own tail. The grid tells you where the cord can go. Here is the simplest way to set one up.
1. Draw your grid
Draw a rectangle lightly and divide it into squares. For a first knot, try three squares across and two down, with each square about 2cm wide. Put a dot on every corner of every square. Then put a second dot in the centre of each square. These two sets of dots are your anchors.
2. Draw the diagonal guide lines
Using the ruler, join the dots with light diagonal lines so they form a lattice of diamonds across the rectangle. These lines are the path of your cord. Where a diagonal reaches the edge of the rectangle, round it off with a curve so it turns back into the grid instead of running off the page.
3. Add breaks for variety
A plain lattice gives you a plait, which is lovely on its own. To make more interesting knots, draw a short line along a grid edge and treat it as a wall the cord can't cross. At each wall, curve the cords away instead of letting them cross. Moving these breaks around is how one grid can give you dozens of different knots.
How to Draw Celtic Knots Step by Step
4. Double the lines
Now give the cord some width. Draw a line a few millimetres either side of each guide line, so the single path becomes a ribbon. Keep the gap even all the way round, including on the curves. This is the slowest stage, so put on some music and take your time.
5. Weave over and under
Pick any point on the ribbon and follow it with your finger. At the first crossing, let it go over. At the next, under. Then over, then under, all the way round. Wherever the ribbon goes under, rub out the bit of its outline that would be hidden. If you ever arrive at a crossing that should be both over and under, you've skipped one, so trace back to find it.
6. Clean up and ink
Erase the grid, the dots and the guide lines. Go over the final outline in pen if you like, then erase any pencil left underneath once the ink is dry. Step back and look at it. That first finished knot is a great feeling.
Taking Your Celtic Knots Further
Once the basic panel feels comfortable, there is plenty to explore:
- Shading. Use a soft pencil to darken the ribbon just before it dips under another strand. It makes the knot look raised off the page.
- Colour. Fill the ribbon with a wash of watercolour or coloured pencil, or colour the background and leave the cord white.
- Borders. Stretch the grid into a long, thin strip for a border around a card or a page.
- New shapes. Try the triquetra, a circle of knotwork, or a knot with animal heads in the style of the old manuscripts.
If you enjoy this kind of slow, careful drawing, you may like calligraphy for beginners or a daily habit of sketching for ten minutes.
Final Thoughts on Celtic Knots
Celtic knots look complicated, but they are built from simple steps: a grid, some diagonals, a few breaks and a steady over, under, over, under. Start small, accept that the first few will be wobbly, and keep a sketchbook of the ones you like. Before long you will be designing your own.
Knots and stories have a lot in common: threads that cross, disappear and come back again. If you like that kind of weaving, try a round on Chain Story Online, where writers take turns adding to a shared story. And if you want somewhere to keep characters, places and plot threads for your own writing, have a look at Story Bible Studio.
Related reading: Celtic Art Explained: Knots, Spirals and Their Meaning · The Book of Kells: Why It's Still Ireland's Greatest Treasure
Enda Storrie is a writer and the creator of Story Bible, the planning journal and app for writers, and Chain Story Online, a free collaborative storytelling platform.
P.S. Enjoyed this? Become an insider and I'll send you one of my favourite posts every couple of weeks.
