Whether you are a professional artist or just drawing for fun, you need to continuously look for drawing ideas that will keep you busy and inspire your next project. Like any other form of art, drawing requires relentless practice. That’s why you need to always have your sketchbook handy. This article offers you the 43 cool and easy things to draw in your sketchbook.
Benefits of Learning How to Draw
In the past, many people believed that drawing was an artistic undertaking pursued by a few people with the dream of achieving artistic greatness. However, today people have realized that drawing is much more than that. That’s why you will find a lot of people, both young and old, carrying their sketchbooks around.
Drawing has become an interesting hobby for many people. Fortunately, you don’t have to be a professional artist to make it your pastime too. Once you start drawing, you will enjoy several amazing personal benefits. Here are some of the benefits of learning how to draw.
1. Improved Memory
Several wide-ranging studies have revealed that drawing improves both short and long-term memories. Some scholars also claim that drawing is even more effective than writing in terms of enhancing your memory capacity since it requires a smooth integration of semantic, visual, and motor facets of your memory trace.
Therefore, if you are always forgetting important things like dates, locations, names, etc., you should start drawing.
2. Improved Coordination
Drawing helps to improve your dexterity, mobility, and fine motor skills, whether you are making long, slow pencil strokes across a page or small, careful shading. It also enhances your eye-hand dexterity and other basic skills that you rely on to perform your everyday tasks, especially when you are doing the ancillary tasks associated with drawing such as molding your soft eraser and tearing spoilt papers.
These benefits are particularly beneficial to kids who are still in their development stage. By developing these essential skills, your children will be more adept in their later lives.
3. Better Communication Skills
Drawing is a form of communication that doesn’t use spoken words or texts. Therefore, learning how to draw will enable you to develop new ways of communicating. For instance, you will grow to deeply understand different facial expressions, gestures, and the overall emotional effect of different colors and shapes.
This will have a significant effect on how you communicate, especially since you will be familiar with the meaning of different facial expressions and gestures when you are drawing them. That way, you can easily notice them when you are communicating with other people.
4. Better Problem-Solving Skills
Doodling is an integral part of the drawing and it helps to enhance an artist’s problem-solving skills. It involves putting lines on paper and giving your brain time to freely associate with the colors and imagine how the final drawing will look like.
This will help you to look at different situations critically and visualize different solutions, as well as observe your life from diverse viewpoints. This will also trigger the “A-Ha!” moment that will allow you to figure out the best solutions to the challenges you encounter along the way.
5. Stress Relief
Drawing is known to stimulate blood flow to the front of your brain, allowing you to relax, forget your problems, and enjoy low blood pressure that is normally associated with peace and happiness. A recent study revealed that 75 percent of the people who draw regularly are more relaxed and happy than those who don’t. What’s more, a significant portion of this percentage consists of people who just draw for fun.
43 Easy Things to Draw in Your Sketchbook
1. An old pair of shoes: If there’s a weathered pair of shoes in your closet, use it as a reference.
2. A stack of books: It’s very easy to find some old books lying around in your house and stack them up. Try to stack them in a thought-provoking way.
3. An open book: Just take one of your books, open it and sketch it from a thought-provoking angle.
4. Wine bottles: This is a classic subject. You should even make it more interesting by looking for a rare label.
5. A wine bottle cork: When you are done with the wine bottle, you should try sketching the wine bottle cork.
6. A stapler: Staplers are everywhere and they’re made up of simple shapes that are easy to draw. Start by drawing the shapes and then add the details.
7. Eggs on the table: Arrange several white eggs on your table, allowing them to overlap. Sketch them while paying close attention to the minor changes in tone and shade accordingly.
8. A hammer: A hammer is one of the tools that make great subjects for drawings. It is quite easy to draw.
9. Game pieces: If you love board games, just pull one out and take a look at the pieces. Choose the pieces that will make an interesting subject for drawing.
10. Seashells: Seashells are a great inspiration for artists.
11. Items in your pocket: Do you have items in your pocket? Pull them out and choose the ones you can easily sketch.
12. A thumb drive: A thumb drive comprises simple shapes that you can sketch for fun.
13. Kids’ toys: Most toys come with simple but interesting shapes that you can draw. Furthermore, most of them are brightly colored.
14. Fruits: Fruits make a perfect subject for practice. Just pick any fruit – a pear, an apple, a banana, a pineapple, or a strawberry. You can even slice it open to make it more challenging.
15. Vegetables: Vegetables are another great subject for sketching practice.
16. Items in the refrigerator: Just close your eyes and pick one item from your fridge. Use it as a reference.
17. A pair of socks: Since you have several pairs of socks, choose the one that interests you.
18. An old chair: If you have an old chair in your house, try to sketch it. It may seem complex at first, but it’s just a few simple shapes pieced together.
19. A doorknob: A doorknob can be a bit challenging, so pay close attention to the changes in value.
20. A video game controller: Although a video game controller is an everyday item, it makes a great subject for sketchbooks.
21. A glass of water: This is another challenging subject, especially since you have to get the reflections and transparency right.
22. A pile of unfolded laundry: Just throw your clothes up in the air and sketch them how they land.
23. A scene in a restaurant: If you are sitting in a restaurant relaxing, you can sketch one of the areas you like.
24. Your hands: Before you start thinking about other subjects, start with what you already have. You always have your hands with you, so there’s no excuse.
25. Your art supplies: This is another readily available subject for your sketching. It includes brushes, coloring sets, paint tubes, etc.
26. A person laying down: Just ask your friend or relative to lay down and sketch them. You can also sneak up to someone sleeping.
27. Someone sitting in a chair: Ask a friend or relative to pose for you.
28. Different types of trees: If you live in a wooded area, just step outside with your sketchbook and find a nice shaded spot.
29. Your own caricature: This one is quite different from drawing yourself as a cartoon. Therefore, you will need a mirror.
30. Your favorite pet: If you have a pet, it’s a good subject for sketching.
31. A crumpled piece of paper: This one is a bit challenging because you have to pay attention to all of the tonal changes. Therefore, it’ll help you to improve your shading skills.
32. An old person’s face: You can either draw the face of your grandparent or find a picture of an older person that you know. Make sure you get the wrinkles right.
33. An old car: Look for a very old car and sketch it. You may have to go looking for out in the yard.
34. An old camera: Draw an old camera with buttons, ellipses, and text.
35. A pair of glasses: If you wear glasses, just use them as your subject for sketching. They have plenty of reflection and transparency to challenge you.
36. A bicycle: The circles, spokes, handlebars, etc. make a bicycle a great subject for your sketchbook.
37. Tree bark up close: A tree bark has some wonderful textures that will keep you busy.
38. Ocean waves: Since the waves are in constant motion, they are going to be a challenge. But they are worth the trouble.
39. A pile of rocks: Start with the basic shapes and then add the values and textures.
40. A cup of pencils: Put a few pencils in a cup and sketch them.
41. A pine cone: This is a simple object from nature with different kinds of complexities.
42. Your favorite sea creature: This could be an octopus, whale, shark, starfish, etc.
43. Flowers in a vase: This is another perfect subject for practice.
Tips for Beginners Learning to Draw
If you’ve just started learning how to draw, there are several important steps you need to take to make your drawing successful and interesting. Here is a beginner’s guide to learning how to draw.
1. Draw Regularly
They say practice, practice makes perfect. So, if you want to improve your drawing skills, you have to practice regularly. Drawing regularly will also help you to build a steady hand, making it easier for you to draw with better control.
2. Your Drawing Should Fit the Drawing Area
Always make sure your drawing fits well into the drawing area. For instance, if you are drawing on a piece of paper, size the subject to ensure that it fits in the sheet. But it should also leave enough space on the sides so that it doesn’t look cramped. At the same time, make sure the subject doesn’t appear too tiny on the sheet.
3. Always Start by Drawing a Light Line
when you are drawing, start with a light line without a lot of details. If you are satisfied with the sketch, go over it with darker lines.
4. Check the Quality of the Lines
When drawing, minimize the number of strokes and use long steady lines. Don’t scribble or make many small strokes to draw a line. If you make a mistake when drawing a light line sketch, you can draw several lines to correct it. But if the mistakes are too many, you should just erase them and start afresh.
5. Check the Proportions
If you are drawing multiple subjects or one subject with multiple parts, always make sure the size and position of each subject are proportional to the others. For instance, if you are drawing a person’s face, place their eyes directly in the middle of the head. Checking the proportions of each subject helps to ensure that no subject is too small or too big in relation to another.
6. Start with the Larger Shapes
As you start your drawing project, start with the larger shapes and work your way down to the smallest details. For instance, if you are drawing someone’s face, start with the shape of the head and the neck. Then, work your way down to the smallest details such as eyes, mouth, nose, eyelashes, nostrils, pupils, etc.
7. Keep Your Drawing in the Same Completion Stages
This means that you shouldn’t fully draw one part of a subject first before moving to the next one. For example, if you are drawing a person’s face, don’t fully stretch one eye and then proceed to draw the next. Instead, draw the outer shapes of both eyes and then move on to the pupils.
If you focus solely on one part of the sketch, you may realize that it was placed incorrectly when you start drawing the other parts. This means that you will keep backtracking.
8. Learn Perspective Drawing
Perspective drawing is the kind of drawing where distant objects look smaller. You should be able to show this perspective in an authentic way.
9. Practice Shading
Shading helps to give flat-looking objects an element of volume. So, make sure you understand the various shading techniques available.
