Humped bison drawn in charcoal black, its side filled redBlack, red ocher, cream ground. Draw the humped back in one line first, then fill only the flank in red.
Row of horses' heads, each a little higher than the lastBlack, yellow ocher, brown ground. Paint the nearest head darkest and let the others fade behind it.
Aurochs bull with long forward horns, bigger than the restBlack, red ocher, cream ground. Start with the horns and the line of the back; legs come last and small.
Stag with tall branching antlers and its head raisedRed ocher, black, cream ground. Antlers as one main branch each side with short tines off it.
Ibex with horns curving back over its shouldersYellow ocher, black, brown ground. Two long arcs for the horns before the body is drawn at all.
Woolly rhinoceros with one long curved front hornBlack, red ocher, cream ground. A low head, a high hump at the shoulder and the long horn reaching forward.
Mammoth as a single domed outline with a trailing trunkRed ocher, black, brown ground. One line from the tail, over the head and down the trunk without stopping.
Three cave lions in profile, heads overlappingBlack, yellow ocher, cream ground. Round ears, a long muzzle and a dot for each eye.
Cave bear walking, drawn in red line onlyRed ocher, cream ground. Outline alone, with a high shoulder and a small rounded ear.
Red doe with her neck turned to glance behindRed ocher, black, cream ground. Body in flat red, then the turned neck and ears in black line.
Two bison tail to tail, their hindquarters crossingBlack, red ocher, yellow ocher, brown ground. Paint one bison fully, then let the second overlap its rump.
Small horse with a dark mane and a pale bellyYellow ocher, black, cream ground. Sponge the body yellow and leave the belly as bare paper.
Aurochs bull with long forward horns, bigger than the restBlack, red ocher, cream ground. Start with the horns and the line of the back; legs come last and small.
Cave bear walking, drawn in red line onlyRed ocher, cream ground. Outline alone, with a high shoulder and a small rounded ear.
Humped bison drawn in charcoal black, its side filled redBlack, red ocher, cream ground. Draw the humped back in one line first, then fill only the flank in red.
Ibex with horns curving back over its shouldersYellow ocher, black, brown ground. Two long arcs for the horns before the body is drawn at all.
Mammoth as a single domed outline with a trailing trunkRed ocher, black, brown ground. One line from the tail, over the head and down the trunk without stopping.
Red doe with her neck turned to glance behindRed ocher, black, cream ground. Body in flat red, then the turned neck and ears in black line.
Row of horses' heads, each a little higher than the lastBlack, yellow ocher, brown ground. Paint the nearest head darkest and let the others fade behind it.
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Animals of the cave walls, continued
Small horse with a dark mane and a pale bellyYellow ocher, black, cream ground. Sponge the body yellow and leave the belly as bare paper.
Stag with tall branching antlers and its head raisedRed ocher, black, cream ground. Antlers as one main branch each side with short tines off it.
Three cave lions in profile, heads overlappingBlack, yellow ocher, cream ground. Round ears, a long muzzle and a dot for each eye.
Two bison tail to tail, their hindquarters crossingBlack, red ocher, yellow ocher, brown ground. Paint one bison fully, then let the second overlap its rump.
Woolly rhinoceros with one long curved front hornBlack, red ocher, cream ground. A low head, a high hump at the shoulder and the long horn reaching forward.
Hands and signs 12
Block of ocher dots lined up like a counting boardRed ocher, cream ground. Press each dot with a round sponge and keep the rows a little uneven.
Branch sign: one line with short strokes off both sidesRed ocher, cream ground. Pull the long line first, then pair the short strokes down its length.
Curve of big sponge dots like a string of beadsRed ocher, brown ground. Space the dots by eye along a pencil arc and erase the pencil later.
Dotted trail walking across the wall toward a small horseRed ocher, black, brown ground. Paint a small horse at one side and walk the dots toward it.
Grid sign of crossed lines with some squares filledBlack, red ocher, yellow ocher, cream ground. Rule nothing; draw the grid freehand and fill a few squares.
Hand stencil in red on a pale groundRed ocher, cream ground. Lay a paper cut-out of your hand down and sponge color all around its edge.
Left and right hand stencils as a facing pairBlack, cream ground. Flip the same paper hand over for the second stencil.
Small hand stencil nested inside a larger oneRed ocher, yellow ocher, cream ground. Cut two paper hands, big and small, and stencil the big one first.
Solid hand shape printed from a cardboard cut-outYellow ocher, brown ground. Brush paint onto a cardboard hand, press it down and peel it off.
Stenciled paper hand inside a halo of swab marksRed ocher, black, cream ground. Stencil the paper hand first, then circle it with dots and dashes.
Wall of overlapping hand stencils in three earth colorsRed ocher, yellow ocher, black, brown ground. Move the same paper hand and sponge each time in a new color.
Wavy lines traced through wet paint with a brush handleYellow ocher, cream ground. Cover a patch thickly and draw three wavy lines side by side through it.
Herds and hunts 12
Animals running along a crack drawn across the pageBlack, yellow ocher, brown ground. Draw a wandering crack first and stand every hoof on it.
Bison in different poses crowding a ceiling-shaped sheetRed ocher, black, brown ground. Cut the paper to an oval and turn it as you add each animal.
Frieze of a horse, a bison and a stag in a single fileBlack, red ocher, yellow ocher, cream ground. Give each animal its own color and one shared ground line.
Herd of horses all running the same wayBlack, yellow ocher, brown ground. Repeat one horse shape five times, shifting it up and back each time.
Horse given eight legs to show it gallopingBlack, brown ground. Draw the body once and the legs twice, the second set a little ahead.
Line of stag heads and antlers above one wavy lineRed ocher, black, cream ground. Draw the wavy line, then set five heads along it, antlers touching.
Lions watching a herd from the edge of the sheetBlack, yellow ocher, cream ground. Herd in the middle; only the lions' heads and shoulders at the side.
Mammoths in a line, each trunk reaching the next tailRed ocher, brown ground. Same dome shape each time, shrinking from left to right.
One huge aurochs with small horses running under itBlack, red ocher, yellow ocher, cream ground. Bull first, edge to edge; fit the horses beneath its belly.
Stick-figure hunters trailing a herd of deerBlack, red ocher, cream ground. Deer large and filled in; the people small, thin and all leaning forward.
Three bison overlapping in three sizesBlack, red ocher, cream ground. Smallest and highest first, so the big one in front can cover it.
Two rhinoceroses with heads lowered, horns meetingBlack, cream ground. Draw one, flip the idea, and let the two front horns cross in the middle.
Your own cave wall 12
Animals of your neighborhood: squirrel, pigeon, catBlack, red ocher, yellow ocher, brown ground. Draw them the way the cave animals are: in profile, legs short.
Everyone at home as a row of sponged paper handsRed ocher, cream ground. Everyone cuts a paper hand; stencil them in a row, biggest first.
Map from home to school in dots and linesRed ocher, black, cream ground. Dots for the steps, a sign for each turn, a hand shape for home.
This week's weather as seven signs in a rowYellow ocher, black, brown ground. Sun, cloud, rain or wind: one sign for each day, left to right.
What you ate today, drawn as a row of signsYellow ocher, black, cream ground. One simple sign per food, each inside its own loose circle.
Your bike in cave style, the wheels as rings of dotsBlack, red ocher, brown ground. Frame in black line; press the wheel dots with a cotton swab.
Your name in signs you invent, with a key beside itRed ocher, black, cream ground. One sign per letter; paint the key small in a corner.
Your paper-hand stencil signed with three dotsRed ocher, black, brown ground. Stencil the cut-out hand, then add three black dots as your mark.
Your pet in black outline with one ocher patchBlack, yellow ocher, cream ground. Side view, legs stiff, outline first and a single patch of color.
Your school day told left to right in four colorsBlack, red ocher, yellow ocher, cream ground. Four small scenes in a row with no words at all.
Your sport shown with stick figures in motionBlack, red ocher, cream ground. Bend every arm and knee so the figures look as if they run.
Your street as a frieze: houses, a bus, a dogBlack, red ocher, yellow ocher, brown ground. Everything in profile along one ground line.
Make it look old 12
Big sheet taped to the wall so you paint standing upBrown paper ground, black, red ocher, yellow ocher. Use your whole arm and make the animal as long as your reach.
Bison on a grocery bag scrunched up and pressed flat againBrown paper ground, black, red ocher. Crumple the sheet hard, open it out and paint over the creases.
Cave wall stain: thin brown paint wiped off with a ragBrown, cream ground, black. Brush thin brown all over, wipe most of it away, then draw the animal.
Crack lines drawn across the finished pictureDark brown pencil, any finished cave painting. Let two or three thin cracks run right through the animal.
Faded patches dabbed out with a damp spongeRed ocher, black, cream ground. Paint the animal, wait a moment, and lift a few patches while it is wet.
Gritty wall made by stirring sand into the paintYellow ocher, clean sand, black. Mix a spoonful of sand into the ocher and spread it before drawing.
Horse in charcoal over a ground rubbed with chalkTan chalk, charcoal, cream ground. Rub chalk in with a tissue first and draw on top of it.
Red flank dragged on with an almost dry brushRed ocher, black, brown ground. Wipe the brush nearly clean so the paper shows through the stroke.
Shading smudged with a tissue until the outline blursCharcoal, red chalk, cream ground. Draw the animal, then drag a tissue along its back in one direction.
Stag on a sheet with every edge torn, none cutRed ocher, black, brown ground. Tear slowly against a ruler held loosely so the edge wanders.
Stag painted over glued paper lumps, one lump its shoulderScrap paper, glue, yellow ocher, black. Build the bumps first and let a bump become a shoulder.
Torchlight palette: black, red and yellow on tan, no moreBlack, red ocher, yellow ocher, tan ground. No white, no blue, no green anywhere on the sheet.
How this list was compiled: Original list written for Draw This Next on 2026-10-02: pictures to paint in the manner of Stone Age cave art, in five groups (animals of the cave walls, hands and signs, herds and hunts, your own cave wall, make it look old). Compositions and steps are our own; each detail line gives the palette first (red ocher, yellow ocher, black and brown, most on a cream or brown ground) and one step after it. Only Stone Age cave art is drawn on; the rock art of living peoples is left out. A hand stencil here is sponged around a paper cut-out of the hand: nothing is blown through a tube and no paint goes on skin. Read on 2026-10-02 at the Lascaux site of the French Ministry of Culture: the painters' palette was black and a narrow set of warm tones (dark brown, red, yellow), from oxides of iron and manganese and charcoal, https://archeologie.culture.gouv.fr/lascaux/en/raw-materials; cave iconography keeps to animals, human figures and signs, Lascaux has some 600 animals, horses by far the most numerous, then stags and aurochs in equal numbers, then ibexes and bison, with a few bears and felines, and its signs run from dots and lines to more elaborate shapes, https://archeologie.culture.gouv.fr/lascaux/en/themes-0. Read the same day at English Wikipedia (text under CC BY-SA 4.0): the most common subjects are big wild animals (bison, horses, aurochs, deer), with tracings of human hands and abstract patterns; pigments include red and yellow ocher, hematite, manganese oxide and charcoal; a hand stencil was made by holding a hand to the wall and coating the area around it in pigment, sometimes decorated with dots and dashes, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_painting; two bison painted tail to tail at Lascaux, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lascaux; mammoths are among the familiar plant-eaters of Stone Age cave art, and the walls at Chauvet show cave lions, leopards, bears and rhinoceroses, red hand prints and stencils, and lines and dots, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chauvet_Cave; a ceiling with a herd of bison in different poses, two horses and a large doe at Altamira, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_of_Altamira; hundreds of stenciled hands at Cueva de las Manos, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cueva_de_las_Manos; the woolly rhinoceros had a shoulder hump and one long front horn, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woolly_rhinoceros. Licence: own work
How it works
Stone Age cave paintings mostly show big wild animals (bison, horses, aurochs, deer), along with human hands and abstract signs. These ideas start from that list and keep to the same earth colors.
Read the full guide
Red, yellow and black, as on the cave walls
The painters of the Lascaux cave in France worked with black and a narrow set of warm tones (dark brown, red, yellow). Their pigments were oxides of iron and manganese, and charcoal. So every idea here keeps to earth colors: red ocher, yellow ocher, black and brown.
Hand stencils with a paper hand
A cave hand stencil was made by placing a hand on the wall and covering the area around it with pigment. Here a paper cut-out of the hand takes its place and the color is sponged around it, as in Hand stencil in red on a pale ground.
Print this list puts the sheet on paper, and the menu under it changes the sheet.
Make it look old holds 12 ways to make a picture look like a cave wall.
Questions and answers
What animals are in cave paintings?
At Lascaux horses far outnumber the rest; next come stags and aurochs, then ibexes and bison, with a few bears and felines. The walls of the Chauvet cave, also in France, show cave lions, bears and rhinoceroses.
What colors did cave painters use?
Black, red, yellow and brown. Pigments found in cave paintings include red and yellow ocher, hematite, manganese oxide and charcoal. Blue and green are not on that list, and no idea here uses them.
How do you make a cave painting look old?
Start with the paper. Bison on a grocery bag scrunched up and pressed flat again leaves creases like a rock face, and Stag on a sheet with every edge torn, none cut loses the neat rectangle.
What signs did cave painters make besides animals?
Dots, lines and more elaborate shapes, as well as hands. Hands and signs holds 12 ideas, such as Block of ocher dots lined up like a counting board and Grid sign of crossed lines with some squares filled.