Cool sketchbook ideas to keep things interesting.
Cool sketchbook ideas fill pages with noteworthy ideas, and they serve as a launchpad for outstanding art classes. From interactive sketchbook ideas to prompts that stoke imagination, this list features prompts that leave everyone thinking, “how cool.”
A moment in world history.
Choose a scene from history you know well. Draw it the way you imagine it.
A book laying open with something coming out.
Draw something coming out of an open book, like the scenes it depicts, or wild monsters, or something abstract.
Everything in your pockets.
Interactive sketchbook ideas get your brain whirring. Pull everything out of your pockets — even the lint — for a sketch of random objects.
Random items from your refrigerator.
Pull four or five random items from your fridge. Sketch the items, then sketch something you could imagine making with those ingredients.
A famous person from way back when.
Think of someone from history and draw that person without any photo reference. Let your imagination piece the person’s features and attire together.
Someone you know fighting a wild animal.
Whether it’s your art teacher or your best friend, a sketch of someone fighting a wild beast can get cool fast.
An antique chair.
Pay close attention to the details of how the chair was built. See how detailed you can get with the different textures.
A window frame filled with imagination.
Start with a simple sketch of a window frame nearby. Then, draw an imaginary destination through the glass.
Side-by-side sports figures.
Draw the first figure in a standing position, then the second one in motion. This helps you practice multiple drawing skills.
Your hands.
Your hands are always there for you — not just for sketching, but for inspiration, too.
Your feet.
Hands aren’t the only inspiration attached to you. Pose your feet, then draw away.
Anything sticky.
What substance can you draw that looks goopy or viscous? What shapes and textures can you achieve?
Anything in motion.
Think about cars, ocean waves, or something falling.
Something melting.
You could try your hand at something designed to melt (like candle wax) or get more cool sketchbook ideas drawing something that doesn’t melt in real life (like the clothes you’re wearing).
Same object, different lighting.
Set the same object up in three different kinds of lighting and sketch it in each.
Your hand holding an object.
Interactive sketchbook ideas come with some hands-on inspiration, too. How does the feeling of the object in your hand change how you draw it?
The mirror image of something.
To pull this idea off, you’ll be drawing two opposite sides of the object — the side in front of you, and the side reflected back in the mirror.
The same object with different techniques.
Sketchbook ideas aren’t just to quash boredom. They’re also to develop skills. Draw the same object with a pencil, then stippling, then cross hatching, and see what you learn.
A fruit as it ripens (and rots).
Draw the same fruit or vegetable over several days to see how it transforms.
An older person’s face.
Ask to sketch someone you know — but maybe don’t mention that you’re practicing drawing wrinkly skin.
An old car.
The older the car, the better, especially if it’s been broken down or abandoned.
An optical illusion.
Sometimes called a “trompe l’oeil,” these cool sketchbook ideas fool the eye into seeing things that aren’t possible. Picture twisted stairs, apparent holes in your sketchbook, etc.
Some kind of exotic fish.
You could use a real fish as inspiration or make one up and see how wild you can make it look.
A machine.
Machines are sleeker today than they were 50 years ago, so an antique machine might be more fun to sketch. Look for an old typewriter or similar.
Song lyrics.
Promise yourself that you won’t use any words in your sketch, only representations of how the lyrics sound to you.
A bird in flight.
What kind of bird will you draw? Will it be a bird soaring, diving, or flapping?
Someone you’re sitting near.
Whether it’s in an art class or at home, get a sneaky sketch of someone nearby.
Draw everything on the table at a restaurant.
Treat yourself to a meal somewhere and draw everything you see on the table.
Cute sketchbook ideas to brighten a page.
Your sketchbook might be filled with prompts from class, portraits, or scenes you’ve come across. Add in a few of these cute sketchbook ideas and they’ll brighten the pages you have left. Cute sketchbook ideas are especially fun for classrooms of kids, so be sure to share these with young artists you know.
Board game pieces.
Pull out your favorite board game and set the pieces up to draw.
Yourself as a cartoon.
If you were a cartoon, what would you look like? Carry the idea forward and draw your own comic strip of your day.
Your favorite candy.
Candy is literally designed to be alluring, so grab a handful and draw the wrappers, then the candies themselves.
Any baby animal.
You can’t get cuter than this. Draw a baby elephant spraying water from its trunk, or a baby panda with its enormous eyes looking out.
Freshly served ice cream cones.
The real question is, what flavor?
A whale at the ocean’s surface blowing hearts.
Whales’ blowholes aren’t that cute in real life, but if you draw a cartoon whale with hearts spouting out, that will fill a page with something sweet.
Cute pajamas.
Design your own pajamas with a pattern and style that you find cutest.
A new typeface.
Design your own bubbly typeface for an ultra-cute custom font.
An animal taking a bath.
Once again, any animal looks cute when you put it in a bathtub. Try drawing a puppy climbing out of the sudsy water or a giraffe in a hair net.
Two baby chicks.
Two chicks huddled together, a cracked egg behind them, are the height of cute.
Kids’ toys.
Toys are designed to be cute, too, and with their simple forms, they’re easy to draw. These sketches could inspire future banners and posters for kids’ events.
Woodland characters.
Imagine an adorable woodland character. Draw a doe with big eyes, for example, or a radiant fairy.
A drawing with your non-dominant hand.
Anything you draw with your non-dominant hand will look abstract, but it will also take you back to childhood when drawings often took unusual shapes.
A pet.
Whether it’s your pet or someone else’s, draw a pet portrait for a dose of cuteness. You could surprise the owner with a letter and the pet portrait as a gift, too.
A slice of pizza.
Don’t just draw a slice of pizza — draw the most delicious looking slice you can possibly imagine.
Anything — or anyone — you love.
It could be someone you love or something you love, whatever comes to mind.
A log cabin.
You’ll see how cute a log cabin can be.
An animal somewhere it shouldn’t be.
Is there an animal living in your washing machine? Another animal swinging from the chandelier?
Future portraits.
Draw yourself in 20 years. Or draw someone you just met as you picture his or her childhood self.
A cat taking a nap.
Cats are famous for contorting into funny positions. Draw one curled up tight.
Hairdos.
Hairdos are fun to draw, and your sketches can inspire some styles for the next time you get gussied up.
Portraits alongside something important.
What items do you associate with your family or friends? Draw your mom next to something she loves, or your friend holding his favorite snack.
Animals playing instruments.
Yes, animals are a go-to source of cuteness. Draw a band of animals playing instruments.
Your favorite recipe.
Start by sketching the ingredients, then try drawing the steps. Maybe the finished sketch could inspire a poster-sized recipe to share.
Draw a made-up sport.
Invent your own sport from scratch or combine your favorites.
Frosted cupcake characters.
Draw a row of cupcake characters, each with its own expression, and little arms waving around.
A hanging sloth.
Sloths are always hanging around asking to be sketched. Draw one hanging off your arm or outside your window.
Merpeople.
Come up with your own cute school of Merpeople.
Sketchbook page ideas to fill volumes.
Sketchbook page ideas commit one idea to a full page. Some sketchbook ideas — aesthetic in nature — fill a page with patterns. Others set pages up with bullet journal ideas. Others still give you ideas for page one of a new sketchbook.
Take your pick of the sketchbook page ideas below, and you’ll fill that first page in no time.
Seashells.
Fill a page with different seashells. Play with different colors, shapes, and shadows.
A cubic scene.
Take a scene and break it into basic shapes like cones, cubes, and spheres to draw it out.
A stack of special books.
When you open a new sketchbook, first page ideas fill your mind. Try this meta concept: draw a stack of books whose titles reflect what you plan to fill your sketchbook with.
A long, long line of people.
If you draw a line of people, how far into the horizon will it stretch? Will it be clear where they’re going or what they’re waiting for?
A pile of dirty laundry.
There are so many folds, shadows, and shapes here that you can easily fill a page with this idea.
A miraculous pair of glasses.
Don’t stop after you sketch the glasses. Next, decide what made-up scene you can show reflecting in the lenses.
A paper bag with something illusive inside.
This is much harder than you’d think. Get ready for some complex shading.
A local restaurant scene.
Sit in the corner of a restaurant and sketch the time away. Treat yourself to some appetizers while you work.
A Cubist portrait.
Pick a person to draw a portrait of then channel your inner Picasso to draw that person in a Cubist sketch.
A page filled with wheels.
Can you fill a whole page with things that have wheels? How many kinds of wheels can you picture?
A close-up of tree bark.
This texture gets even more interesting the closer you look.
Infinite doodles.
Fill an entire page with doodles that either float independently or interact.
Rolling ocean waves.
Waves are in constant motion, which makes them tricky to draw. With the right techniques, though, this can become a breathtaking backdrop for sketchbook page ideas.
Peanuts.
Why not see how many peanuts you can draw in a close-up of a bowl?
A single feather.
How realistically can you sketch a feather?
Deepwater sea creatures.
In the deepest parts of the ocean, creatures dwell that are seemingly only possible in fiction.
A creek flowing through the woods.
Drawing the creek will be the easy part, but then you’ll be up for a challenge sketching the woodland around it.
A botanical page.
Fill a page with a collection of plants.
A tablecloth or textile pattern.
Start in one corner and draw a repetitive pattern until you reach the other side.
Your eyes.
Get the mirror out and practice drawing your eyes for this captivating aesthetic sketchbook idea.
A close-up of a lawn.
This one might require colored pencils or you might get lost between the blades.
Someone falling.
What position will the person be falling in? What will the expression be on that person’s face?
Sit in a crowd and draw the people around you.
A crowd will come and go, so choose your subjects wisely.
A chef in action.
The chef will take up a smaller portion of the page, whereas the ingredients and tools around the chef will fill the remainder.
Four objects with four different textures.
Draw four objects side-by-side to compare their textures when you’re done.
A mysterious staircase.
Where will the stairway start? Will you see where it leads? Will someone be climbing up or coming down?
Cosmic collage.
Fill a page with a scene of galaxies, moons, and stars in constellations.
Vintage postcards.
Invent your own vintage postcards of your favorite city. Consider turning some of these into custom cards later.
Tips to use this list of sketchbook ideas.
Just about any one of these sketchbook ideas could spark something great.
Sometimes, though, we have to stretch out in ways that don’t instantly jump out of us.
For example, you can pick your favorite ideas from this list and have fun drawing them. Or, you can draw something you otherwise might not have by using one of these strategies:
1. Choose a number 1 - 28. Then, draw that sketchbook prompt idea from each category. (Each has 28 sketchbook drawing ideas).
2. Or, let someone else choose for you. Maybe you could even give them the sketch as a gift when you’re done.
3. Make a calendar with a different sketchbook idea you’ll draw each day.
Think about the end result of every sketch you do. Some will be for your own pleasure. Others will be to practice or learn. Still others will be inspiration for future banners, flyers, or other creative projects. Why not turn your favorite sketches into a collage? The options are endless. Remember, it’s all easy in Adobe Express — no experience required.
Exercise: Five senses sketchbook spark.
To take any one of these sketchbook ideas to the next level, choose your subject, then:
Ask yourself what colors and shapes pop out first.
1. Consider if the scene has any sounds you can capture.
2. Ask yourself what scents could be depicted.
3. Take note of textures you could feel in the scene.
4. Imagine what flavors could be part of the scene, too.
By immersing yourself into the subject with all five senses, you’re bound to draw something more interesting.
Adobe Express can help.
Adobe Express has templates and customization tools to put your favorite sketchbook ideas to work. If you want to use sketchbook ideas in cards, letters, posters, banners, photo collages, flyers, or other creative projects, Adobe Express makes it as simple as picking a template and personalizing it, or making your own idea with easy-to-use tools. Whatever message you want to transmit, Adobe Express brings it to life, no experience required.
Design with your idea
