Spring and Summer Doodles: Sunny Ideas for Warm Months

Warm months bring their own shapes: things that sprout, float, melt and sail. Spring and summer doodles are bright and simple, and nearly all of them start from a circle, a triangle or a rounded rectangle.

Below are eight spring ideas and ten summer ones, each with a short how-to, plus a two-color palette for each season and a tiny seaside scene to finish. They suit planner pages, letters and travel notes.

Spring doodles from the garden

• Tulip. Draw a U shape. Close the top with a zigzag of three points, then add a long stem and one tall pointed leaf rising from its base.
• Sprout. Draw a short, slightly curved stem. Put two small teardrop leaves at the top, tilting apart like open hands, and a little mound of soil at the bottom.
• Watering can. Draw a rectangle a little taller than wide. Add a curved handle on one side and a spout slanting up from the other, ending in a small oval dotted with holes. A few dashes falling from the oval show water.

The tulip here is the one-line version. For petals that overlap and two more blooms, see the guide on doodling a daisy, tulip and sunflower step by step.

Spring doodles for breezy, rainy days

• Umbrella. Draw a half circle and swap its flat edge for three scallops. Drop a straight line from the center and end it in a hook like a letter J.
• Rain boot. Draw a tall rectangle that turns forward at the bottom into a rounded toe, like a capital L. Add a thin sole and a band around the top.
• Kite. Draw a diamond, taller than it is wide, with a cross inside joining the opposite corners. From the bottom point, trail a wavy line and tie three tiny bows along it, each made of two small triangles meeting at a point.
• Bird. Draw a plump teardrop lying on its side, the point becoming the tail. Add a dot eye, a tiny triangle beak, a curved wing line and two short stick legs.
• Butterfly. Draw a thin oval body. On each side, add a large rounded wing above and a smaller one below, then two curled antennae and a spot in each wing.

Raindrops, puffy clouds and a rainbow fit naturally beside the umbrella and boot. They are covered in the set of weather doodles. And for bees and more small fliers to keep the bird and butterfly company, there is a full page of garden creature doodles.

Summer doodles for sunny days out

• Sun. Draw a circle. Ring it with short straight rays, alternating one long and one short, without letting them touch the circle.
• Sunglasses. Draw two rounded squares side by side. Join them with a small arch for the bridge, add a short line angling back from each outer corner, and put one slanted stroke on each lens for shine.
• Sandals. Draw a long oval sole, slightly narrower at the heel. Add a V-shaped strap whose point sits near the toe end and whose arms reach the sides. Draw a second one beside it, mirrored.
• Beach ball. Draw a circle with a small dot placed off center. From the dot, sweep four or five curved lines out to the edge so the ball splits into panels, and color every other panel.
• Sailboat. Draw a shallow bowl shape for the hull, with a flat top. Stand a vertical line on it for the mast, then add a tall triangle on one side and a smaller one on the other.
• Seashell. Draw a fan: a wide scalloped arc on top that narrows to a small flat base. Run straight lines from the base to each dip between scallops.
• Palm leaf. Draw one long curved line for the spine. Add narrow pointed leaflets down both sides, long in the middle and shorter toward the tip, all slanting toward the tip.

Summer doodles to cool down with

• Popsicle. Draw a tall rectangle with a fully rounded top. Add a short, narrow stick with a rounded end below, and take a curved bite out of one top corner.
• Watermelon. Draw a half circle with the flat side up. Add a second curve just inside the round edge for the rind, and scatter small teardrop seeds across the middle.
• Lemonade glass. Draw a tall glass that is slightly wider at the top than the bottom. Add a wavy line near the rim for the drink, two or three small squares for ice, a straw leaning out and a half-circle lemon slice perched on the edge.

The watermelon wedge is one of many quick shapes in the guide to simple fruit doodles, which also has lemons and cherries for a summer page.

Two accent colors per season

Keep the outlines black and give each season its own pair of accents.

A small scene: horizon, sun and boat

Three of the summer doodles combine into a scene small enough for the top of a postcard or a travel note.

1. Draw a straight horizon line about a hand-width long.
2. Draw a half circle sitting on the line, a little left of center, and add rays above it only.
3. Place a small sailboat on the line to the right, with its hull dipping just below.
4. Under the horizon, add three or four short wavy dashes at different lengths for water, and one longer wavy line beneath the boat.
5. Finish with two tiny birds in the sky, each a flattened letter M.

Where warm-weather doodles fit

• Planner pages. Put a sun beside a day off, a watering can beside garden chores, a popsicle next to a heat-wave reminder.
• Letters and envelopes. A kite with its tail drifting across the top corner, or a row of shells along the bottom edge.
• Travel notes. One small doodle per day works as a visual diary: a sailboat for the harbor, sandals for the long walk, a lemonade glass for the cafe stop.