Easy Doodles for Beginners: 25 Simple Things to Draw

You have a pen, a blank corner of a page and no idea what to put in it. This list of easy doodles for beginners fixes that with 25 small things you can draw right now, each one finished in under a minute.

They are sorted by the shape they start from. Every entry tells you where to begin, what to add and which detail makes it recognizable.

How to Use the List

Draw each doodle about the size of a coin, in pen, and move on without fixing anything. If the idea of starting from a circle, a box or a triangle is new, the guide to basic doodle shapes explains the thinking in more depth.

Eight of the quickest ones make a good first row: heart, star, cloud, balloon, paper plane, envelope, light bulb and key.

Circle Starts

• Balloon: draw a circle that is slightly taller than wide. Add a tiny triangle at the bottom for the knot, then a wavy string hanging below.
• Light bulb: draw a circle but leave the bottom open. Bring both ends straight down a short way, close them with a small box, and draw two lines across the box.
• Sun: draw a circle, then eight short lines around it, pointing outward like the spokes of a wheel.
• Moon: draw a curve like a wide letter C. Add a second, flatter curve inside it that joins the same two tips, leaving a crescent.
• Candy: draw a small circle with a triangle on the left and right, each pointing inward to touch it. A swirl inside finishes the wrapper.

Box Starts

• Envelope: draw a rectangle wider than it is tall. From the two top corners, draw lines down to meet in the middle, making a V for the flap.
• Mug: draw a square with rounded bottom corners. Add a C-shaped handle on the right and two wavy lines of steam above.
• Book: draw an upright rectangle. Add a line just inside the left edge for the spine and two short lines on the cover for a title.
• Gift: draw a square. Cross it with one vertical and one horizontal line for ribbon, then put two small loops on top for the bow.
• House: draw a square, then a triangle roof sitting on top, a little wider than the walls. Add a small rectangle door and one square window.

Food fits this group as well: a slice of toast is a box with a bumpy top, and a popsicle is a rounded box on a stick. There are fifteen more treats in the set of cute food doodles.

Triangle Starts

• Paper plane: draw a long, narrow triangle pointing right. From the tip, draw a line back to the middle of the short side, then a small triangle fin hanging under it.
• Kite: draw two triangles base to base, the bottom one longer, making a diamond. Cross it with one vertical and one horizontal line and add a wavy tail.
• Crown: draw a wide, flat rectangle. Along its top edge, draw three triangles side by side, the middle one tallest, and put a dot on each point.
• Flag: draw a tall straight line for the pole. Attach a triangle to the top, pointing right, like a pennant.

Line Starts

• Arrow: draw a straight line. At one end, add two short lines angled back to form a point. At the other, add two or three short slanted lines for feathers.
• Key: draw a short horizontal line. Put a circle on the left end with a smaller circle inside it. Add two tiny teeth pointing down near the right end.
• Pencil: draw two long parallel lines and close the left end with a short line. Close the right end with a triangle tip, and draw a line across near the left for the eraser band.
• Star: draw five straight lines without lifting the pen. Start at the lower left, go up to the top point, down to the lower right, up to the far left, straight across to the far right and back down to the start.

These four are close cousins of planner symbols. If you like their clean look, the guide to simple line icons shows how to keep a whole set the same size and weight.

Free Shapes

These do not begin with a tidy shape, but each is only two or three curves.

• Heart: start at the center dip, curve up and around to the left, then down to a point. Repeat on the right, back to the same point.
• Cloud: draw a flat line for the base. Above it, draw three bumps from one end to the other, the middle one tallest.
• Leaf: draw a gently curved line for the center vein. Add a curve on each side from the bottom to the tip, like an almond. More shapes are waiting in the guide to leaf doodles.
• Raindrop: start at a point on top, curve down and out to one side, round the bottom, and curve back up to the point.
• Mushroom: draw a half circle with a flat bottom for the cap. Add a short, slightly bulging stem below and three small circles on the cap.
• Fish: draw an oval pointed at both ends. Add a triangle tail on one end, a dot eye on the other and a small curve for the gill.
• Cactus: draw a tall upside-down U. Add a smaller L-shaped arm on each side, one higher than the other, and short dashes for spines.

Small Changes That Double the List

Once a doodle feels easy, alter one thing and it becomes a new one:

• Add a simple face: two dots and a small curve turn a cloud, mug or mushroom into a little character.
• Group in threes: three balloons with crossing strings, three stars in different sizes, three raindrops under the cloud.
• Add motion: a dashed curve behind the paper plane, short lines around the light bulb, a wiggle of bubbles above the fish.

Fill a Page With Them

Draw all 25 across one page in loose rows, leaving gaps for fillers such as dots and tiny crosses. Then pick the three you enjoyed most and draw each one five more times. Those become the doodles your hand reaches for when a margin is empty.