Staring at a white page is actually painful. You’ve got the pens, the expensive sketchbook you bought three months ago, and a sudden, crushing lack of imagination. It’s a specific kind of paralysis. Most people think they need to conjure a masterpiece, but honestly, the secret to getting better is just finding what to draw easy enough that you don't quit before the ink dries.
Art isn't always about the "soul" or "vision." Sometimes it’s just about moving your hand.
Most beginners overcomplicate this. They try to draw a photorealistic eye or a sprawling mountain range and then wonder why they feel like a failure ten minutes later. If you want to keep the momentum going, you have to lower the stakes. We're talking low-pressure, high-repetition shapes that look decent without requiring a degree from RISD.
The Psychology of the Blank Page
Why is it so hard to just... start?
Psychologists often point to "choice paralysis." When you can draw literally anything in the known universe, you usually end up drawing nothing. James Clear, the author of Atomic Habits, often talks about reducing friction. In the context of art, "friction" is trying to draw a dragon when you haven't mastered a circle. You need to pick things that have a low barrier to entry.
What to Draw Easy: Start With the Stuff on Your Desk
Look down. Right now.
Unless you’re sitting in an empty sensory deprivation tank, there is something within arm's reach that is basically a collection of simple geometric shapes. A coffee mug? That’s just a cylinder with a curved C-shape attached. A smartphone? A rectangle with rounded corners.
Don't worry about shading yet.
Just capture the silhouette. If you can draw a shaky rectangle, you’ve started. The beauty of drawing everyday objects is that your brain already knows what they look like, so you aren't fighting your memory while you're trying to control your hand.
Why Houseplants Are a Cheat Code
If you’re looking for what to draw easy, plants are the undisputed champions. Why? Because they are "organically imperfect."
If you draw a car and the wheel is slightly off, everyone knows. It looks like a wreck. But if you draw a Monstera leaf or a succulent and the line is a bit wonky? It just looks like a different kind of leaf. Nature doesn't use a ruler. This gives you a massive "forgiveness factor" that buildings or faces simply don't offer.
Try a snake plant. It’s literally just long, wavy triangles pointing upward. You can do that in thirty seconds.
Moving Beyond the Basics
Once you've scribbled a few mugs and leaves, you might feel the itch to do something "cooler." This is where people usually trip up. They jump from a leaf to a portrait.
Don't do that.
Instead, think about "iconography." Think about the way a weather app represents a cloud or a sun. These are simplified versions of reality.
- Clouds: Just a series of connected semicircles with a flat bottom.
- Mountains: Three overlapping triangles. Add a zig-zag line near the top for "snow," and suddenly it looks professional.
- Lightbulbs: A circle on top of a small square.
These are great because they rely on symbolic drawing. You aren't trying to capture photons hitting a glass surface; you're just drawing the idea of a lightbulb. It’s a massive confidence booster.
The Secret of the "Continuous Line"
If you're still struggling with what to draw easy, try a technique called continuous line drawing. It sounds fancy. It’s not.
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Put your pen on the paper. Draw something—anything—without lifting the pen until you're done.
It will look messy. It might look like a pile of spaghetti. But it removes the fear of making a "mistake" because the whole point is that the line is messy. It’s a favorite exercise in foundational art classes at places like the Art Students League of New York. It forces you to look at the object more than the paper.
Common Misconceptions About "Easy" Art
People think "easy" means "bad."
That's a lie. Some of the most famous artists in history made careers out of simplifying forms. Look at Henri Matisse’s later work—his cutouts and simple line drawings are legendary, and they are objectively "easy" in terms of technical complexity. The value isn't in the difficulty; it's in the composition and the fact that it exists at all.
Another myth? That you need "talent."
Drawing is a motor skill, like typing or driving. Your hand needs to learn how to follow your eye. If you spend twenty minutes a day drawing "easy" things like spoons or envelopes, your hand-eye coordination will improve faster than if you spend five hours once a month failing at a complex oil painting.
Building a "Doodle Library"
Think of your sketchbook as a pantry. You want to stock it with basic ingredients so you can whip something up whenever you're hungry to create.
I like to keep a list of "comfort draws." These are things I can draw while I'm on a Zoom call or waiting for the kettle to boil.
- Cacti in pots: Circles and ovals with tiny 'v' shapes for prickles.
- Paper airplanes: A few sharp triangles.
- Keyboards: Rows of tiny squares (surprisingly meditative).
- Fruits: Oranges (circles with dots), Bananas (curved rectangles), Grapes (lots of circles).
The Power of Variation
Take one simple object—let’s say an umbrella. Draw it five times.
- Draw it open.
- Draw it closed.
- Draw it from the top (a circle with lines).
- Draw it leaning against a wall.
By the fifth time, you aren't even thinking about "how" to draw it anymore. You’re just doing it. This is how you build "muscle memory." It’s the same way a guitarist learns scales. You do the boring, easy stuff so that the hard stuff eventually becomes possible.
What to Do When You Still Feel Stuck
Sometimes even "easy" feels hard. If you're in that headspace, stop trying to draw "things."
Draw patterns.
Fill a page with concentric circles. Draw a grid and fill each square with a different texture—dots, cross-hatching, wavy lines. This is still drawing. It still counts. It’s actually a great way to learn pen control and pressure sensitivity without the stress of making a "picture."
Many professional illustrators use "warm-up" sheets where they just draw rows of straight lines or perfect circles before they start their actual work. It’s like stretching before a run.
Realistic Expectations and Social Media
Instagram is a liar.
You see these "quick sketches" that look like they belong in the Louvre, usually accompanied by a caption like "Just a 5-minute doodle!"
Usually, those are the result of years of practice, or they took way longer than five minutes. Do not compare your "easy" drawings to someone else's curated highlights. Your goal isn't to get 10,000 likes. Your goal is to finish the page.
The most "human" way to approach art is to accept that most of what you draw will be mediocre, and that is perfectly okay. Even professional concept artists for companies like Disney or Riot Games produce hundreds of "bad" sketches for every one that makes it into a movie or game.
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Actionable Steps for Your Next Session
Instead of scrolling for inspiration until your thumb hurts, try this specific sequence next time you sit down:
- The 2-Minute Rule: Set a timer for two minutes. Pick the nearest object—a stapler, a shoe, a remote—and draw it as fast as you can. Don't erase.
- The "Icon" Shift: Take that same object and try to draw it using only five lines. Simplify it until it’s a symbol.
- The Texture Add: Take your simplified drawing and add one type of texture. Maybe some dots for shadow or some jagged lines for "shine."
- The Color Pop: If you have a highlighter or a single colored marker, add a splash of color to just one part of the drawing. It instantly makes a "simple" sketch look intentional and "designed."
The most important thing to remember about finding what to draw easy is that the "what" matters much less than the "doing." A page full of shaky, imperfect circles is infinitely more valuable to your growth as an artist than a blank page that stayed blank because you were waiting for a "good" idea.
Pick up the pen. Draw a square. Turn that square into a gift box with a little ribbon on top. You’re already an artist the moment the ink hits the paper. Now, go fill that first page with something wonderfully simple. Once you finish a page of simple shapes, try combining them—put a triangle on top of a square to make a house, or put a circle on a rectangle to make a lollipop. The complexity will come naturally once you stop being afraid of the simplicity.
Focus on the rhythm of the lines. Notice how the pen feels against the grain of the paper. This tactile feedback is part of the joy. If you find yourself getting frustrated, change your tool. Switch from a fine-liner to a thick marker or a piece of charcoal. Sometimes a change in medium makes an "easy" subject feel entirely new and exciting again. Keep your sketches small; there is no rule saying you have to use the whole page. Tiny drawings are less intimidating and much faster to complete, giving you that hit of dopamine that comes with finishing a task. Drawing shouldn't be a chore—it’s just a way of looking at the world a little more closely.