Last Updated on January 23, 2026 by Dee
Sitting down with your sketchbook open, pencil in hand… and absolutely nothing comes to mind. Sound familiar? That frustrating “what should I draw?” feeling hits every artist at some point, whether you’ve been sketching for decades or just started last Tuesday.
The good news is you don’t need to wait for inspiration to magically strike. Sometimes you just need a nudge in the right direction—a list of ideas to spark something.
I’ve put together over 150 easy drawing ideas to fill your sketchbook, organised by theme so you can jump straight to whatever mood you’re in. Plus, I’ve created 8 free printable sketch templates with clean outlines perfect for tracing or using as drawing references. No more staring at blank pages!
Table of Contents
Quick Drawing Ideas When You’re Stuck
Sometimes you just need something simple to get your hand moving. These quick sketches take five minutes or less and are perfect for warming up or filling small gaps in your sketchbook.
Draw your coffee cup exactly as it sits on your desk right now. Sketch the view from your window without overthinking it. Doodle the objects in your pocket or bag. Draw your own hand in whatever position it naturally falls.
These everyday subjects are brilliant because they’re right in front of you—no reference hunting required. And there’s something satisfying about documenting the ordinary moments of your life.
Try drawing your phone, your keys, a pair of headphones, your water bottle, or whatever’s closest to you right now. Simple objects teach you so much about shape, proportion, and shading without the pressure of creating something “impressive.”
Cute Sketches: Animals to Draw
Animals are endlessly fun to draw. You can go realistic or lean into cute, stylised versions—both are valid and both teach you different skills.
Easy animals for beginners:
Cats are perfect starting points because they’re basically made of circles and curves. A sleeping cat is just a fluffy oval with a tucked head and tail. Even if it doesn’t look exactly like a cat, it’ll still be adorable.
Bunnies have that same forgiving roundness. Big ears, round body, cotton tail—simple shapes that look cute even when wonky.
Birds sitting on branches are lovely practice for combining organic shapes. Start with an egg shape for the body, add a smaller circle for the head, and you’re halfway there.
Other animals to try: dogs (start with golden retrievers—they’re fluffy and forgiving), foxes, hedgehogs, owls, pandas, penguins, koalas, and sloths. My post on 50+ cute animal pencil drawings has loads more inspiration if you want to dive deeper.
Drawing Inspo: Flowers and Botanicals
Flowers are the ultimate sketching subject. They’re beautiful, they’re everywhere, and they’re wonderfully forgiving—no one’s going to tell you your daisy has the wrong number of petals.
Simple flowers to sketch:
Daisies are foolproof. Circle in the middle, petals radiating out. Done. You can fill an entire page with different daisy variations and it’ll look gorgeous.
Roses look complicated but break down into simple spirals. Start from the centre and work outward, adding loose petal shapes as you go. They don’t need to be perfect to look beautiful.
Tulips are just elegant cup shapes with pointed petals. Three or four lines and you’ve got a recognisable tulip.
Sunflowers, lavender, poppies, wildflowers, cherry blossoms, and succulents all make wonderful subjects too. You can also try leaves—monstera leaves with their distinctive holes are surprisingly satisfying to draw.
For more floral inspiration, check out my 150+ doodle art flowers post.
Aesthetic Sketch Ideas: Cosy Objects
There’s a whole world of cosy, aesthetic drawing subjects that feel instantly satisfying to sketch. These are the kind of drawings that make you want to curl up with a cup of tea.
Cosy things to draw:
Coffee cups and tea mugs are endlessly drawable. Add steam wisps, latte art hearts, or cute patterns on the mug itself. A simple cup can become a whole mood.
Candles in pretty jars, with or without flames, create instant atmosphere on the page. Try drawing the melted wax drips for extra detail.
Stacks of books—you can make these as simple or detailed as you like. Add titles on the spines, bookmarks poking out, or a pair of reading glasses perched on top.
Potted plants bring life to any sketchbook page. A trailing pothos, a spiky cactus, a fiddle leaf fig—each has its own character.
Other cosy subjects: blankets and throws, fairy lights, cosy jumpers, slippers, vintage cameras, vinyl records, typewriters, and globes.
Cool Drawing Ideas: Food and Drinks
Food illustration is having a moment, and for good reason—these subjects are colourful, fun, and surprisingly easy to make look appetising on paper.
Sweet treats to sketch:
Cupcakes with swirled frosting and sprinkles. Layer cakes with dripping icing. Doughnuts with all sorts of toppings. Ice cream cones in waffle or regular cones. Macarons stacked in pretty towers.
These subjects let you play with texture and decoration. Go maximalist with sprinkles and toppings, or keep it minimal and elegant.
Savoury subjects:
Pizza slices with stretchy cheese. Ramen bowls with all the toppings visible from above. Sandwiches with layers poking out. Avocado toast (obviously). Sushi rolls in neat rows.
Fruits are brilliant practice:
Lemons and oranges teach you about smooth gradients. Strawberries have that satisfying seed texture. Watermelon slices are bold and graphic. Apples help you understand how light wraps around curved forms.
Things to Sketch: Nature and Landscapes
You don’t need to be outdoors to draw nature. Work from photos, from memory, or from imagination—it all counts.
Simple nature subjects:
Clouds are wonderfully meditative to draw. Fluffy cumulus clouds, wispy cirrus, dramatic storm clouds—each type has its own character. Leave them as outlines or add shading for dimension.
Mountains in the distance can be as simple as overlapping triangular shapes. Layer them with lighter lines for far-away peaks and darker lines for closer ones.
Trees come in endless varieties. Try a simple pine tree silhouette, a round leafy tree, a bare winter tree with twisting branches, or a weeping willow with flowing lines.
The moon in different phases makes a lovely series. Draw a crescent, half moon, gibbous, and full moon across a page.
Other nature ideas: waves and water, raindrops, snowflakes (each one unique!), feathers, shells, pine cones, and autumn leaves.
For seasonal inspiration, my 150 winter things to draw and 70 fall things to draw posts have loads more ideas.
Sketch Book Art: People and Portraits
Drawing people might seem intimidating, but you can start simpler than you think.
Easy ways to draw people:
Eyes on their own are great practice. Draw a single eye with lashes and brow, playing with different shapes and expressions. Fill a page with eyes looking different directions.
Lips and mouths come in endless variations. Sketch them from different angles, with different expressions, wearing different lipstick colours.
Hands are notoriously tricky but incredibly rewarding to practice. Start with your own hand in simple positions—resting flat, holding a cup, making a peace sign.
Hair is satisfying to draw once you stop trying to render every strand. Think about the overall flow and shape, adding individual strands only for detail and interest.
Silhouettes are a lovely way to suggest figures without worrying about features. Draw people walking, dancing, sitting, reading—just their outlines.
For more guidance, my female pose reference guide has free templates to help you practice.
Art Inspo: Everyday Objects
Some of the best drawing subjects are the ordinary things around you. There’s beauty in the mundane when you really look.
Things in your home:
Your art supplies themselves make great subjects. Draw your pencil pot with all its contents, your palette with paint residue, your sketchbook stack, or your brush collection in a jar.
Kitchen items have beautiful shapes. Teapots, wine bottles, fruit bowls, wooden spoons, copper pans, ceramic mugs with chips and character.
Bathroom oddities can be unexpectedly interesting. Vintage perfume bottles, a bar of soap with its wear patterns, your toothbrush in its cup.
Clothing and accessories offer fun textures. Trainers with all their details, a favourite scarf, sunglasses, your bag with its straps and buckles.
Nostalgic objects:
Old-fashioned telephones, cassette tapes, film cameras, vintage keys, pocket watches, postcards, stamps, and letters. These have a romantic quality that translates beautifully to sketches.
Things to Draw When Bored: Fun Challenges
Sometimes you need a specific challenge to make drawing feel like a game rather than a task.
Drawing challenges to try:
Draw the same object five different ways—realistic, cartoon, minimalist, detailed, and abstract. Seeing how differently you can interpret one subject is eye-opening.
Fill a page with tiny drawings of the same category. Thirty different types of leaves. Twenty coffee cups. Fifteen cats in different poses. The repetition builds skill without you even noticing.
Draw something without looking at your paper (continuous line drawing). The results are always wonky and always charming.
Set a timer for one minute and draw as much as you can. Speed removes perfectionism and forces you to capture the essence of things.
Draw your day in small panels like a comic strip. Breakfast, commute, work moments, evening activities. It becomes a visual diary.
For more prompts and ideas, my 50+ fun drawing ideas post has loads of creative challenges.
Best Supplies for Sketching
You really don’t need fancy supplies to draw—a basic pencil and any paper will do. But if you want to treat yourself, these make the experience more enjoyable.
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For pencils, a set with different grades gives you more range. The Staedtler graphite pencils (2H-6B) are reliable workhorses. If you want a complete kit, the KALOUR 76 Drawing Sketching Kit has everything a beginner needs.
For fine details and outlining, the Mogyann Drawing Pens give you lovely crisp lines in multiple sizes.
A good sketchbook makes all the difference. Look for one with paper thick enough that pencil doesn’t show through and smooth enough for comfortable drawing.
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Tips for Finding Drawing Inspiration
Beyond lists like this one, here are some ways to never run out of ideas again:
Keep a running list. When you see something interesting—a cool building, an unusual plant, a friend’s quirky earrings—jot it down. You’ll build a personal inspiration bank for those blank-page moments.
Use Pinterest deliberately. Create a board specifically for “things to draw” and add images that catch your eye. When you’re stuck, scroll through your own curated collection.
Draw from life more than photos when possible. Real objects have a presence that photos flatten. Plus, you can move around them, seeing shadows and angles shift.
Give yourself permission to draw badly. Not every sketch needs to be portfolio-worthy. Fill pages with wonky, weird, experimental stuff. That’s where growth happens.
Try my templates below. Sometimes having an outline to work from removes the pressure of “getting it right” and lets you focus on technique and enjoyment.
What’s Inside the 8 Free Drawing Templates
Here’s a sneak peek at what you’ll get in this free 8-page printable template set. Each page has clean black outlines on white paper—perfect for tracing practice, sketching reference, or even colouring in.
The templates include:
- Cute animals (sleeping cat, bunny, bird)
- Flower bouquet with roses and daisies
- Cosy coffee cup with steam
- Beautiful detailed butterfly
- Simple portrait/face outline
- Cosy objects (books, candle, plant)
- Cute food (cupcake, cake, fruit)
- Nature scene (mountains, tree, clouds)
Grab the Free Printable Drawing Templates HERE (below)!
Every freebie and tutorial on Artsydee is made with love (and plenty of coffee!) ☕ If you’d like to say thanks, you can buy me a coffee here → ko-fi.com/artsydee
Now Go Fill That Sketchbook!
You’ve got 150+ ideas and 8 free templates—no more excuses for staring at blank pages! The best way to improve at drawing is simply to draw more, and the best subject is whatever makes you want to pick up your pencil.
Start with something from this list that catches your eye. Don’t overthink it. The worst that happens is you don’t love the result, but even “bad” drawings teach you something and get you one step closer to the good ones.
I’d love to see what you create! Tag me on Instagram or Pinterest if you use these templates or try any of the ideas from this post.
Happy sketching! ✏️
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