48 doodles
Checked October 2026

Brain Doodle

Press for a brain doodle and its first strokes: an outline, a way to draw the folds or a character.

Brain Doodle

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Drawn: A brain inked in its grooves, the ridges left bareA brain inked in its grooves, the ridges left bareDraw the folds as wavy lines, then thicken every groove. The ridges between stay the white of the paper.

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All 48 doodles

Brain outlines 12

A brain and its cord, like a balloon on a string The brain is the balloon. The stem narrows into the spinal cord, which trails down the page in a slow wave.
A brain as a bumpy outline with one inner squiggle Draw a bumpy outline, wider than tall. One long squiggle inside it, from front to back, is enough.
A brain cut down the middle, the joining band showing Draw the side outline. Inside it, add a curved band like a C on its side: the bridge between the two halves.
A brain from above as two halves with a gap between Two long ovals side by side like a coffee bean, with a narrow gap down the middle between the two hemispheres.
A brain from behind: two halves over the cerebellum Two tall domes side by side. Under them, a wide lump ruled with fine level lines, and the stem between.
A brain from the front: two domes over a narrow stem Two rounded domes that lean together and touch. The stem shows between them at the bottom, like a short neck.

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Brain outlines, continued

A brain from the side as a bean with a stem A wide bean, flatter underneath. A short stalk drops from the middle of the flat side: the brain stem.
A brain in three-quarter view, both hemispheres showing Draw the near half as a full bean and the far half as a sliver behind it. The gap between them curves away.
A brain set inside the outline of a head in profile Draw a head in profile with no features. Fit the side-view brain in the upper back half, stem toward the neck.
A side-view brain hatched as four lobes Divide the side view into front, top, side and back areas and hatch each a different way: the four lobes.
A side-view brain with the cerebellum tucked under the back Draw the big bean. Under its back end add a small striped lump, the cerebellum, sitting behind the stem.
One brain turned through three views in a row Draw it from the side, from above and from the front, all the same height, with the stem marking which is which.

Folds and fills 12

A brain filled with loose loops, like tangled yarn Draw the outline, then one line that loops over itself again and again until the shape is full.
A brain inked in its grooves, the ridges left bare Draw the folds as wavy lines, then thicken every groove. The ridges between stay the white of the paper.
A brain of folded ribbon, every ridge with a top and a side Draw each fold as a band with a second edge below it. Shade the narrow side so the ridges stand up.
A brain of sausage rolls laid side by side Fill the outline with short plump rolls, each a rounded bar, packed so only a narrow line shows between them.
A brain outline packed with small C and S curves Scatter short C and S strokes inside the outline, turned every way, and keep them from touching.
A brain whose folds hide a word written in fat loops Write a short word in fat cursive loops, then wrap the outline round it so the letters pass as folds.
A brain whose folds tighten into a thumbprint whorl Begin the folds as wavy bands at the edge. Let them tighten into loops inside loops, like a fingerprint.
A coral-fold brain of short lines that fork and stop From the outline, grow short lines inward. Fork each one once or twice and stop before it meets another.
A maze-fold brain whose wrinkles never cross Draw the folds as paths with a wall each side. Every path may bend and stop but never cut through another.
A mirror brain: each fold on the left copied on the right Draw the top view. Fill the left half with folds, then repeat each one as its mirror image in the right half.
A noodle brain: one long line doubling back on itself Start at the stem and snake the line up and down in tight hairpins across the whole shape.
A walnut-style brain: two halves with deep wavy grooves Draw the top view. In each half, three or four wavy grooves run from the middle gap out to the edge.

Brain characters 12

A brain asleep on a pillow, its eyes two curved dashes A soft rectangle pillow with a dent. The brain rests in the dent, eyes shut, one small bubble by its mouth.
A brain at a desk behind a stack of books taller than itself Rule a desk edge. Stack six books at one side, and show the brain peering round them with a pencil in hand.
A brain juggling three small question marks Two stick arms out to the sides, palms up. Three question marks in an arc above, one at the top of its flight.
A brain lifting a barbell on two bent stick arms Two arms bent like a W hold a bar above the brain. A small disc on each end of the bar, and a drop of sweat.
A brain on two stick legs, the stem for a tail Two straight legs with flat feet under the bean. The stem pokes out behind like a short tail.
A brain reading a book propped on its own stem Rest an open book against the stem. Two dot eyes look down at it and one stick hand turns a page.
A brain running, two folds flying back like hair Lean the brain forward on legs set wide apart. Pull two folds off the back as streamers and add speed lines.
A brain with one hand up and an exclamation mark above One stick arm straight up, fingers spread. Eyes wide, and a bold exclamation mark over the raised hand.
A cheerful brain: a clear patch at the front for a face Draw the side view and leave a clear patch low at the front. Two dots and a short curve go there.
A front-view brain with an eye on each half, the gap a nose Draw the two domes from the front. Put one round eye low on each and let the gap between them run down as the nose.
A grumpy brain, one fold pulled down as a heavy brow Draw the face patch, then bring the fold above it down in a V over the eyes. A short flat line for the mouth.
A startled brain, its folds jumped into zigzags Draw the face with wide ring eyes. Make every fold a sharp zigzag in place of a wave and add two shock lines above.

Idea symbols 12

A brain as a raincloud, raining tiny light bulbs Flatten the underside of the brain like a cloud base. Below it, tiny bulbs fall in slanted rows.
A brain drawn as a map with roads between its districts Give each fold a border like a district. Run dotted roads between them and mark one crossing with a pin.
A brain for a treetop on a short trunk that forks to roots The brain sits on a short trunk where the stem would be. Under the ground line, the trunk splits into roots.
A brain opening on a hinge, small icons flying out Lift the top like a lid on one hinge. Out of the gap rise a bulb, a note, a star, a gear and a question mark.
A brain ringed by a gear, a bulb, a bolt and a question mark Draw the brain in the middle and an oval path round it. Space the four small icons along the path like planets.
A brain that is half folds and half circuit lines Split it down the middle. One side keeps its folds. The other has straight lines with right-angle bends and dot ends.
A brain thinking about a brain, in a bumpy bubble Draw a bubble with a bumpy edge and three shrinking circles trailing down. Fit a side-view brain inside it.
A brain under a lightning bolt, for a brainstorm A zigzag bolt comes down to touch the top of the brain. Short strokes burst out where it lands.
A brain whose lower half is three meshed cogs Draw the top half as folds. Below a level line, fit three toothed wheels of different sizes, teeth interlocking.
A brain with a lit bulb floating above it A bulb is a circle on a small square cap. Add short rays round the glass and a dashed line down to the brain.
A brain with a plug and cord for a tail, unplugged Turn the stem into a cord that curls along the ground and ends in a two-pin plug next to a wall socket.
An open book whose two pages are the two halves of a brain Draw an open book from above. Fill the left page with one hemisphere's folds and the right page with the other's.

How this list was compiled: Original list written for Draw This Next on 2026-10-02: 48 brain doodles in four kinds (brain outlines, folds and fills, brain characters, idea symbols), each marked easy, medium or hard, with the shapes it is built from and the first strokes to draw. One other list on the site holds a brain, a bulb with a brain for a filament on light-bulb-drawing-ideas, and it is not repeated here; no item repeats a title from any other list. The parts named in a hint were read on Wikipedia on 2026-10-02 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_brain): the two hemispheres and the band of nerve fibers that joins them, the four lobes of each hemisphere, the cerebellum behind the brainstem, the ridges and grooves of the surface, and the spinal cord below. The list makes no claim about health or about how anyone thinks. Licence: own work

How it works

A brain doodle is a bean with a stem and a few wavy folds. Each of the 48 here names its shapes and gives the first strokes, from a plain side view to a brain lifting a barbell.

Read the full guide

Outline first

From the side, the brain is a wide bean with the stem under the middle and the cerebellum, a small striped lump, tucked under the back. From above it is two halves with a narrow gap between them.

Then the folds

Folds and fills runs from A brain filled with loose loops, like tangled yarn to A maze-fold brain whose wrinkles never cross. The surface is ridges and grooves, so thicken the grooves and leave the ridges bare.

Keep the folds a pen-width inside the outline and the brain looks rounded.
For a character, leave a clear patch low at the front for the face.

Questions and answers

How do I draw an easy brain doodle?

Draw a wide bean, flatter underneath, with a short stalk under the middle. Add one long squiggle inside from front to back. Easy, under More filters, holds 16.

What are the two halves of a brain doodle?

The two hemispheres. From above they sit side by side like a coffee bean, and a band of nerve fibers joins them underneath.

How do I draw a brain with a light bulb?

Draw the brain small, then a bulb above it: a circle on a small square cap with short rays round the glass. A dashed line joins the two. Idea symbols holds 12.