You may need some doodling inspiration to fill your sketchbook, or you might want to find some easy things to draw to practice and improve your skills. In this list, find 30+ easy drawing ideas for beginners. The drawings may be easy, but they look impressive!
All you need is a pencil and some paper to get started, so grab your supplies and draw whatever you like. I’ve included steps so you can complete each one. These drawings are simple, with a realistic style, but incredibly fun to do!
Disclaimer: Fine Art Tutorials is a reader supported site. When you make purchases through links on this site, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Contents hide
1 An eye
2 Cupcake
3 Dog
4 Pumpkin
5 Cat
6 Lips
7 Panda
8 Cherry
9 An umbrella
10 Cactus
11 Daisy
12 Butterfly
13 Mountain and lake
14 A face
15 Succulent
16 Owl
17 Palm Tree
18 Water droplet
19 Tent and campfire
20 Lion
21 Doughnut
22 Camera
23 Cup of coffee
24 Boat
25 Continuous line drawing
26 House
27 Hot air balloon
28 Pear
29 Figure drawing
30 Rose
31 Draw a cartoon portrait
32 Create flower doodles
An eye
An eye is fairly easy to draw. So it is a great place for beginners who are interested in portrait drawing to start. To achieve accurate proportions with the eye, start by measuring. Draw a circle for the iris, then mark the top, bottom, inner corner and outer corner of the eye. Draw a guide to show the angle of the eye, from the inner corner to the outer corner. This makes drawing the outline easier, as it’s a case of joining up the markers.
If you’re not as confident with shading, start with the darkest areas first. The darkest areas are the pupil, the outer edge of the iris and the eyelashes. It’s helpful to get some different drawing tools to help with shading like softer graphite pencils (6B or 8B). Soft pencils will enable you to achieve a greater tonal range in your drawings. So you can draw those dark shadows.
Make sure to sharpen your graphite pencil when drawing the eyelashes! Another tip is to use a kneaded eraser or a Tombow Mono Zero eraser to lift highlight details for the finishing touches.
Cupcake
Draw a super easy cupcake with a large swirl of icing. Start by drawing curved line for the base of the cupcake. Then, add two lines for the sides of the cake. Next, draw a big spiral for the icing. Finally, add some sprinkles on top! Get your colouring pencils out and shade the icing whatever colour you like!
Dog
You can draw a dog starting from just three circles! Use the circles as guides to measure the proportions of the head, torso and feet. Then, add in some details, like fur, the eyes, a collar and a nose. You could keep it as a contour drawing like this, or you could do some shading. Check out our guide on drawing techniques for some tips.
Pumpkin
Pumpkins are fun to draw, especially around autumn time when spooky season is just around the corner. Draw this with markers, pencil or ink pen. Start by drawing a oval shape for the pumpkin. Then, add the segments and stem. If you’re drawing this for Halloween, draw triangles for eyes and a wide mouth to create the decoration. To finish it off, colour in your pumpkin orange.
Cat
Another great and easy thing to draw is a cat. Just like with the dog drawing, start with three circles to guide you. Then draw over the guides, making the head more defined, drawing the ears, back, tail and paws. Don’t forget to draw some texture on the outline for fur.
When it comes to drawing details, these can feel tricky at first, but spend some time mapping out where they will go. You can always create markers for where the eyes and nose go, then rub these out once you’re sure of the placement. The most important thing when you’re getting started with drawing is practice! So if you don’t like how your first drawing turned out, grab a sketchbook and try again.
Lips
Lips are definitely one of the easiest things to draw. Start by sketching a curved line for the top lip. Then, add another curved line below it for the bottom lip. To finish it off, use a red pencil to colour in your lips. Now you’ve had a go at drawing eyes and lips, you can try to draw a face or a head!
Panda
Pandas are cute, round and easy to draw! Their shape is mainly made up circles that you can edit and refine to create a more detailed drawing. Start by drawing the circle guides lightly with a pencil. It also helps to divide the face into half then half again for the eyes and the nose. Then sketch the details, paying attention to where the contours of the outline is located in relation to the circular guides. Pandas are black and white, so get your graphite pencil, or charcoal pencil and colour in the eyes, ears, nose, arms and legs. If you’re drawing with charcoal instead of graphite, we have a blog on charcoal drawing ideas so you can find some more inspiration.
Cherry
This easy cherry drawing is perfect for beginners! Start by sketching a small circle for the cherry. Then, add two curved lines on either side to form the stem. Colour the fruit in red and use a green pencil to colour in the stem.
An umbrella
Umbrellas are a fun thing to draw or doodle in your sketchbook, colour it in with bright colours, or draw it as part of a larger scene. Although the shape looks complex at first glance, it’s pretty simple when broken into its basic shapes. Draw a triangle as a guide and a line coming down the middle for the handle. Then, turn the triangle into a dome shape and create several smaller domes and tips of the canopy.
Colour the umbrella with whatever medium you like! Whether that’s coloured pencils or marker pens!
Cactus
Draw your favourite type of cactus. Botanical drawings are perfect for beginners as they’re easy to do and you can add as much or as little detail as you like. Start by drawing a long, cylindrical shape for the cactus. Then, add small lines coming off it to create the spines. To finish it off, colour everything in green. If you want, draw flowers on the top of the cactus.
Daisy
A daisy is one of the easiest flowers to draw. This is because the petals are all similar in shape and size. You can start with two circles and an organic shaped line for the stem. You don’t have to be too precise when drawing your guides, as daisies are not perfectly symmetrical. When drawing the petals, make them similar in size and make them overlap slightly. As always, a splash of colour can bring a drawing to life, colour your artworks with coloured pencils, markers, watercolours or whatever art medium you like using. Or you can leave it as a sketch if you don’t have the extra materials to hand.
Butterfly
Butterflies are the perfect subject for drawing, with symmetrical and colourful wings. They’re actually really easy! The trickiest bit is getting the wings to look symmetrical. In this butterfly drawing tutorial, I show you how to create guides to achieve the symmetrical wings and patterns. If you’re interested in coloured pencil drawing, Polychromos pencils are fantastic for building colour layers and blending. I used Polychromos pencils on Pastelmat paper to create the drawing.
Mountain and lake
Mountains are easy things to draw, the rock shapes are organic and don’t have to be perfect. Simply outline your mountain, then fill in some details, like ripples on the lake, or trees in the foreground. You can even use ink pen and use some interesting shading techniques like hatching or stippling to fill in the shadow tones. When drawing landscapes, the success of the drawing relies on the composition of the piece and the way that elements are spaced and arranged. If you’re planning on spending some time on your final piece, plan the composition first with a few composition sketches to test the arrangement of different elements.
A face
Faces are fairly complex to draw, but once you break the process down into steps, it can feel less intimidating. First, measure the proportions. This is the most important step, as it will determine how the rest of your drawing looks. Then, start with the eyes and work your way down to the nose and mouth. Finally, add the ears, hair and any other details. Remember to take your time with this one!
If you want to learn how to construct a head from scratch, use the Loomis Method. Read our guide about how to draw a side profile too, so you can master drawing a portrait at any angle!
Succulent
This is a great drawing idea for a spread of succulents and cacti. Draw as many as you can fit into your sketchbook page. Start by drawing a rectangle to measure the size of the pot, then create markers for the height and width of the plant. Use these markers when drawing the pot and leaves. The trickiest parts are getting the pot symmetrical and getting the height and angle of the leaves right, it might take a few tries to draw it perfectly. Succulents and plants in general are fun things to draw, because you can shade the pots with interesting designs and colours. If you’re using coloured pencil to colour your drawings, make sure to use the blending technique to achieve smooth and realistic transitions between colours.
Owl
Follow along with the video and draw this owl step by step.Start with the eyes and beak, then draw the feathers on the face of this great horned owl. Finish the drawing off by drawing a branch for your owl to perch on and by detailing the feathers on the body and wings.
Palm Tree
Draw a simple but impressive palm tree. You don’t have to be too precise with the drawing, but make sure that the leaf area is roughly the same height as the tree trunk. Create this drawing as an illustration on its own, or draw it as part of a beachy landscape scene.
If you’re interested in learning how to create more detailed landscape drawings, check out these landscape drawing classes on Skillshare! Use charcoal, ink or graphite to draw any kind of landscape you can dream up!
Water droplet
This drawing will test your shading skills. It’s easy to create a realistic looking water droplet, that looks as if it’s dripping off the page! Just make sure that you get the values right in the highlights and the shadows. For the highlights at the end, you could even use a white gel pen, to make the water droplet look more contrasted and realistic.
Tent and campfire
This one is for those who love camping. Draw an easy tent with a campfire. This drawing idea is great for beginners, as the shapes are fairly simple. If you want, give it a pop of colour once you’ve finished the outline. You could even take the drawing further by drawing some trees or mountains surrounding the tent, a moon and stars in the night sky.
Lion
Draw a majestic lion with pencil. Use a softer pencil, like a B or 2B so you can shade the drawing once you’ve finished the outline. When drawing the guides to measure the proportions, make sure to sketch lightly so you can easily erase the lines afterwards. A kneaded eraser is a great drawing tool for lifting pencil lines without damaging the paper. The great thing about this drawing tutorial, is that you can watch and follow along with it in real time, so you can see each step individually.
Doughnut
Draw a doughnut and grab some coloured pencils to detail the sprinkles. Make your doughnut any colour you like, make sure to use bright colours for the highlights on the icing and the sprinkles to create definition in your drawing.
Camera
Cameras look tricky to draw, but you can break it down into simple shapes. Draw four circles for the lens and a rectangle for the body, then work on refining the features and adding details. Draw it with an ink pen, like in this tutorial, or start with a pencil drawing so that you can erase lines if you make a mistake.
Cup of coffee
This is another great easy illustration to add to your sketchbook. When colouring the drawing, make sure to blend the shadows into the midtones to create a smooth appearance on the cup.
Boat
This is a fantastic drawing to complete with charcoal, this is because it blends easily, so you can create reflections in the water. The most difficult part of this drawing is getting the angles and perspective right, so pay attention when drawing the outline. Draw the outline lightly with a hard graphite pencil, so that the lines are easier to erase. To blend pencil on the water reflections, get a tortillion and smooth the lines.
Continuous line drawing
Try completing a continuous line drawing—this is more of a drawing exercise but it’s a fun idea to practice in the sketchbook. To complete a continuous line drawing, look at your reference, you could use this reference of two hands as a starting point. Then try to complete your drawing using one line, without taking your pen or pencil off of the paper. This will exercise your skills in precision, as well as observation. Plus, the results look unique and striking.
House
This drawing is a little more complex than some of the others on the list, but it’s a rewarding one! But once you’ve practiced some of the other easier drawings in this guide, you might feel ready to tackle something more challenging.
The first step in this drawing is establishing the perspective of the viewer. This means drawing a horizon line and a vanishing point, for this one point perspective drawing. The roof and base of the structure should all point towards the vanishing point.
This perspective will give your drawing a realistic look. When it comes to shading the drawing, make sure that you’ve established a lightsource, in the case of this tutorial, the lightsource is coming from the right hand side. If you’re not confident with trying a more complex drawing, you could start small. Smaller drawings tend to feel easier, so get a sketchbook and practice, then scale it up when you feel ready.
Hot air balloon
Hot air balloons are easy to draw and look bright and colourful on the page. This will exercise your skills at drawing spherical shapes and curved lines. Make sure to determine a light source when colouring the drawing in and rendering the highlights and shadows on the balloon to give it that realistic look. If you want to simplify the drawing even more, you could leave out the segments on the balloon section.
Pear
Create a realistic pear drawing. Whether you’re practising for a larger still life, or just want to draw some simple fruit shapes, this is an excellent lesson in shading. Look at the way the light bounces off the form and reflects from the surface. You don’t have to be too precise with the outline in this drawing, it’s the shading and contrast that makes this drawing stand out.
Figure drawing
This is one approach to creating an easy figure drawing, by starting with a gesture drawing. This involves measuring the height of the figure, then drawing the line of action to determine the body’s positioning. Then draw horizontal lines to show the angles of the joints of the figure. Once you’ve established the proportions and angles of the body, you can join it all up with an outline. This provides a fantastic base for a more complex figure drawing. If you’re interested in portraiture, give our gesture drawing guide a read, so you can try it for yourself. It’s an excellent introduction to academic drawing styles.
Rose
Draw a rose complete with thorns and leaves. Start with the inner leaves and work your way outwards, drawing where they fold over. When it comes to shading, either colour the rose in with a bright red pencil, using a deeper red for the shadows beneath where the petals fold over, or use a graphite pencil.
Draw a cartoon portrait
Create your own character and draw a cartoon portrait. Alternatively you could draw your favourite popular cartoon or game character. Cartoons are easier to draw than realistic portraits, as the features are often simplified. If you’re interested in comic art, or character design, filling a sketchbook with your own character drawings can be a fun way to practice.
Create flower doodles
Now you know step by step how to create a daisy and a rose, but what about creating some more flower drawings. These simple doodles can dress up any sketchbook page. Draw with a liner pen, or a fountain pen to create clean line drawings.