If you’re an artist or an aspiring artist looking for easy sketch ideas, look no further. I’ve rounded up 20+ easy drawing ideas beginners can sketch.
There are also sketches perfect for the adventurous beginner. For more sketch ideas, check out this post with 20 Cute Animal Sketch Ideas.
You may be wondering why you should even sketch in the first place.
Have you ever heard someone say that when you’re writing a first draft, you shouldn’t worry about spelling and grammar errors? That the first draft is just for getting your thoughts out? The same concept applies to sketching.
Sketching your ideas is the first step in the design process, and is something that every artist should do.
When you sketch, it doesn’t have to be perfect. The purpose of your sketches is to get your ideas out quickly.
Don’t worry about erasing, or trying to make sure that everything is just right. Your main focus should be getting your ideas out uninterrupted.
Easy Sketch Ideas Beginners Can Draw
Check out this collection of sketch ideas that are beginner-friendly. There are even some step-by-step tutorials.
1. Baby Turtle
If you’re looking for a cute drawing of an animal, check out this adorable baby turtle drawing. This drawing has a bit more detail, but it’s still very beginner-friendly.
2. Little Shark
If you’re looking for a beginner-friendly drawing, it can’t get any easier than this drawing of a shark. If you have kids, this is a very kid-friendly drawing too. I love drawing simple images like this. I find it to be so relaxing and fun.
3. Baby Alligator
How adorable is this drawing of a baby alligator? I love how you see the drawing from two different angles. I find that to be so helpful for beginners.
Choosing Your Pencils
Before you begin your drawing, it’s important that you choose the right pencil. If you’re new to sketching and aren’t sure what pencil grade to start with, I recommend starting your sketch with a pencil on the H scale.
You can finish off your drawing with a darker pencil grade, such as a pencil on the B scale.
4. How to Draw a Pumpkin
When fall rolls around, you’ll probably find yourself wanting to draw a pumpkin. Especially if you have a bullet journal. This tutorial shows you how to draw a pumpkin step-by-step.
5. Girly Dresses
If you need dress ideas for your characters, here’s a variety of dresses that are cute and beginner-friendly. This is also a great reference for drawing clothes if you need practice.
6. How to Draw Mickey Mouse
I really enjoy drawing Disney characters. If you want to draw a Disney character, Mickey Mouse is a great character to start with. This step-by-step tutorial makes it easy to draw Mickey Mouse.
Try Not to Smudge
If you can, avoid smudging your drawing. You can place a piece of paper underneath your hand to minimize how much your hand smudges your drawing.
This will help ensure you have a clean-looking drawing once it’s complete. Remember, you can use smudging to your advantage to smooth out your shading.
7. How to Draw Realistic Eyes
If you’re new to drawing eyes or have trouble drawing eyes, you should find this eye study helpful. It shows you the basic eye shape, the way the light hits the eye, and more.
8. Camping Area
This is a really simple drawing that’s perfect for beginners. This drawing features a camping area, mountains, and trees. Once complete, this would look great pinned to your wall or hanging on your refrigerator.
9. Character Eyes
This step-by-step tutorial shows you how to quickly and easily draw anime-style character eyes. Once you break things down into steps, it makes it a lot easier to do. To go the extra step, consider coloring in your drawn eyes.
Use a Blending Stump
It can be difficult to get a good blend with pencils. However, you can create a smooth bleeding effect by using a blending stump. Blending stumps are great for smudging graphite and charcoal.
10. Small Camping Area
Here’s another drawing of a camping area. This one has slightly fewer details and is perfect for drawing newbies. I think simple drawings like this make great gifts to friends or family. For example, you could draw something like this on a handmade greeting card.
11. How to Draw a Nose
Drawing a nose can be a challenge for some; however, this tutorial shows you how to draw the easiest nose ever. This is such a great tutorial for new artists looking to draw a simple nose on a character.
12. Nose Studies
This isn’t a tutorial exactly, but it shows you how different shaped noses look from the front view, side view, and at an angle. This is great for learning how to draw different types of noses. Of course, there are so many more nose shapes, but this is a good start.
Don’t Blend with Your Fingers
Once it’s time to blend, try not to blend with your fingers. When you blend with your fingers, the oils from your skin will transfer to the paper and may affect the look of your drawing. Again, I recommend blending stumps for blending your work.
13. How to Draw a Diamond
I love how simple this picture breaks down the steps it takes to draw a diamond. It’s actually a lot easier than the final step looks. Simple draw one line at a time, and you’ll have a stunning diamond.
14. How to Draw a Bunny
I love drawing animals, so I find this bunny tutorial to be very helpful. When following this tutorial, you’ll have your very own bunny drawing in no time. I love how simple this step-by-step tutorial is.
15. Line Drawings
If you’re a fan of line art, try drawing some of the animals pictured below. You can also draw faces, shapes, and more using the line art style. You can create a beautiful piece of art when using this drawing method.
Practice Sketching Daily
If you want to get better at sketching, the best thing you can do is practice daily. I recommend setting aside an hour every day to sketch. Don’t worry about your work being perfect. It will get better naturally the more you practice.
16. Fingers Touching
If you’d like to practice drawing hands, you can use this picture of two hands touching as your reference. For more, check out my post for hand drawing references and ideas.
17. How to Draw a Cat
If you want to know how to draw a cat, this simple tutorial makes it easy. Once you get down the basics, you’ll be able to draw a cat with more detail.
18. Winnie the Pooh
While this isn’t a step-by-step tutorial, these sketches of Winnie the Pooh are still very beginner-friendly. I love the sketches of Winnie the Pooh with his honey jar. You can color in your Winnie the Pooh to add more detail to your drawing.
19. How to Draw a Rose
If you’re interested in drawing flowers, this simple tutorial will show you how to draw a rose in three steps. This step-by-step tutorial makes drawing a flower easy. Make sure you color in your rose to make it even more beautiful.
Practice Blind Contour Drawing
Blind contour drawing is the practice of drawing the contour of a subject without looking down at the paper.
Blind contour drawing is helpful because it trains the eyes and hands to work as a team. It always helps the artist see all the details of the subject.
20. How to Draw a Braid
Here’s a simple step-by-step tutorial showing you how to draw a braid. It even gives tips for coloring in the hair. When drawing your braid, I recommend using the Precision Micro-Line pens.
21. Eiffel Tower with Hearts
If you love the Eiffel Tower, try drawing this simple sketch of the Eiffel Tower surrounded by hearts. I love how perfect this drawing is for beginners. This drawing would look great on a handmade greeting card for someone you love.
22. Tiny Penguin
Here’s a simple drawing of a little penguin. This is an easy drawing that’s perfect for beginners. You could even add a pop of color to your penguin, such as coloring the beak yellow or orange.
23. Palm Tree Inside Planet
I love drawings of planets, which is why I’ve included a few in this collection. This drawing is of a planet and stars, with a palm tree and sand located within the planet. This would look even better if you colored everything in.
24. The Little Mermaid
Even if you’re new to drawing, you will be able to reference this sketch of Ariel from The Little Mermaid. I think this character sketch is so beautifully drawn.
Add Color
Adding color to your drawing can be a great way to make your drawing stand out. You can use colored pencils, pastels, or even watercolor paint to add some color to your drawing.
25. Camping Site
Minimalist camping sites are always fun to draw because even though they’re minimalist, the finished results look like a beautiful piece of art. This drawing is beyond simple, and can easily be drawn using pencil and paper, or digitally with your computer or tablet.
26. How to Draw Hands
While this may not be beginner-friendly, I thought it would be helpful for anyone learning to draw hands. Hands are one of the most challenging body parts for artists to draw. This tutorial breaks down how to draw different hand shapes and movements.
27. Flower in Heart
Here’s a simple drawing that anyone can do. This drawing is of a heart that’s being used to hold water and a simple flower. You can add your own personal touch by changing the flower or adding color.
28. Step-by-Step Eyes
Here’s another helpful tutorial for drawing eyes. This tutorial breaks down each step, which helps make drawing eyes easy. This may seem complicated at first glance, but if you look at each individual step, you’ll see how easy it can be to draw eyes.
Use the Grid Method
The grid method involves drawing a grid over your reference photo and then lightly drawing the grid on your drawing paper to scale.
The grid method will help you with the placement of your drawing. It will give you a reference point between the photo and your canvas.
29. Flowers in Light Bulb
I love this drawing of flowers in a light bulb. After finishing this sketch, it would look great hanging up on your wall. You could even add some color to make it stand out a bit more.
30. Mouth Expressions
If you want to draw different mouth expressions for your character, this sketch shows you how to draw a smile, smirk, grin, and more. I love the book How to Draw Anime, for drawing the mouth of anime characters.
31. Face in Flower Pot
This line drawing is so simple yet creative. I love how the face is growing from the flower pot and the top of the head is a simplistic flower. To change this drawing up a bit, ask yourself what other shape you could draw from this pot?
32. Camping Ground and Mountains
This is similar to the previous camping drawings but includes a little bit more detail for the mountain, trees, and tent. If you want to practice stippling, this is a great beginners drawing to try.
33. Planets in Head
At first glance, this drawing may seem complicated. However, if you take a close look at it, you’ll notice that it’s actually pretty simple to draw. I actually recreated this drawing and can tell you that it was so fun to draw.
34. Girl Characters
Here’s a sketch breakdown of four different girls. Each girl has her own look and style. If this is your drawing style, you should find this reference very helpful. I think that it would be fun to color in these characters once they’re complete.
35. Head in The Clouds
I love how simple and creative this head in the clouds drawing is. If you’re looking for something you can sketch quickly, give this reference a try.
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