• 70 ideas
  • Checked October 2026

Consumerism Art Ideas

Three pictures on consumerism per press, each with how to draw it and a way to push it further.

Consumerism Art Ideas

Show all 70
  1. A kitchen drawer where every gadget does one tiny jobDraw each gadget in outline with its one job lettered beside it. Push it: invent three more.
  2. A bedroom floor mapped as an island chain of piled clothesDraw it from above and name each pile like an island. Push it: add the date each pile was last worn.
  3. A billboard for an invented soda, bigger than the townDraw the town as a low strip under one huge rectangle. Push it: design the ad that goes on it.

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All 70 ideas

Too much stuff 14

  • A bedroom floor mapped as an island chain of piled clothes Draw it from above and name each pile like an island. Push it: add the date each pile was last worn.
  • A closet door bulging, one sleeve escaping through the gap Bow the door with two curved lines. Push it: paint what you guess is at the very back.
  • A drawer of tangled chargers that fit nothing in the house Use one unbroken line for all the cables. Push it: make the same tangle as a wire sculpture.
  • A fridge so full that its light cannot reach the front Pack the shelves dark and let one thin glow show at the back. Push it: draw the same fridge the day it gets emptied.
  • A garage packed to the door, the car parked outside it Fill the doorway edge to edge with shapes and keep the car small. Push it: label three things nobody can name.
  • A kitchen drawer where every gadget does one tiny job Draw each gadget in outline with its one job lettered beside it. Push it: invent three more.
  • A moving truck packed solid while a second truck pulls up Fill the first truck's doorway with tight shapes. Push it: add a small house the trucks cannot both fit in.
  • A shopping cart so full its wheels have sunk into the floor Flatten the wheels to ovals and crack the tiles around them. Push it: repeat the cart until it fills a wall.
  • A storage unit rolled open on a wall of sealed boxes Draw the door half raised and give each box only a date. Push it: letter one word on every box, 'someday'.
  • A tower of delivery boxes taller than the front door Stack plain boxes off center so the tower leans. Push it: build it in real cardboard and photograph it.
  • A toy box that will not shut, its lid resting on the heap Tilt the lid on top of the heap. Push it: draw only the toy at the very bottom, on a sheet of its own.
  • One shopper carrying so many bags that only shoes show Overlap the bags from the knees up and leave every bag blank. Push it: print the figure ten times in a row.
  • Pairs of shoes lined down a hallway to a vanishing point One-point perspective: shrink each pair toward a dot. Push it: make every pair the same shoe in a new color.
  • Twelve nearly identical mugs on a shelf built for six Draw one mug, then change only the handle each time. Push it: borrow real mugs and draw the row from life.

Packaging and waste 14

  • A bathtub filled with packing peanuts and one small parcel Fill the tub with small bean shapes. Push it: draw the parcel's contents at actual size beside it.
  • A beach tide line made of bottle caps, sorted by color Dot the caps along one wavy line. Push it: collect real caps and glue the line down.
  • A birthday morning told only by the wrapping paper left over Draw torn paper and ribbon, and no gifts at all. Push it: flatten real wrapping and print from it.
  • A cereal box with an invented name, unfolded into its net Flatten the box to its net and letter a made-up name. Push it: design the whole made-up range.
  • A hill of trash sliced open, one layer for each decade Draw bands like layers of rock, one kind of object in each. Push it: ask at home what belongs in each band.
  • A paper cup, lid, sleeve and stirrer posed as a family Stand them in a row by height like a portrait. Push it: add how long each one was used.
  • A plastic fork drawn as carefully as a museum piece One object, centered, lit from one side, a label below. Push it: letter 'used once' and a date on the label.
  • A takeout meal for one and everything else in the bag Lay it all out in a grid from above, like a kit. Push it: count the pieces and letter the number large.
  • A tiny object inside five nested boxes, drawn pulled apart Space the boxes out like a diagram, biggest first. Push it: use real packaging as your collage paper.
  • A trash can with its lid propped open by the pile inside Tilt the lid and let three shapes poke out. Push it: draw the can once a day for a week.
  • An instruction leaflet unfolded far larger than its product Draw the folds as a grid and the product small on top. Push it: fill the grid with made-up symbols only.
  • An unboxing in six frames: the box shrinks, the pile grows Keep the object the same size in every frame. Push it: add a seventh frame where it sits unused.
  • One bitten apple beside the tray, film and label it came in Draw the apple small and its wrapping large. Push it: do the same for everything in one lunch.
  • One T-shirt in three frames: store, worn twice, donated Three frames, the shirt in the same spot in each. Push it: add the frames you cannot see, before and after.

Ads and wanting 14

  • A billboard for an invented soda, bigger than the town Draw the town as a low strip under one huge rectangle. Push it: design the ad that goes on it.
  • A child's wish list unrolling all the way down the stairs One long paper ribbon over each step. Push it: letter the list, then circle the single thing that matters.
  • A face lit blue by a phone, tiny shopping carts in both eyes Light the face from below and leave the room dark. Push it: change the carts for a clock, then a heart.
  • A line of shoppers at dawn, seen from inside the shop door Frame the view with the door and draw the line as dark shapes. Push it: show what is on the shelf they came for.
  • A magazine page with the product cut out, leaving a hole Collage: cut the product away and mount the page on black. Push it: hang twenty holes together.
  • A mailbox jammed with flyers, one real letter on the ground Fan the flyers out of the slot. Push it: collage the box from real junk mail with every name cut away.
  • A mascot for an invented cereal, drawn tired after work Design the mascot, then draw it sitting with its big head off. Push it: make the box it works for.
  • A poster for an invented gadget that promises nothing at all Borrow an ad's layout: big picture, short line, small print. Push it: write small print that is honest.
  • A shopper's reflection wearing what the mannequin wears Draw the glass as a pale copy of the display. Push it: swap the two, so the mannequin wears the shopper's coat.
  • A street where every sign says NEW in different lettering Draw ten sign shapes and letter the same word in ten styles. Push it: make one small sign say 'old'.
  • A walker left white in a street covered in made-up ads Leave the figure blank and fill everything else with boxes of ads. Push it: swap which part stays blank.
  • Before and after: the same room, the same smile, a new sofa Two panels alike except for one object. Push it: add a third panel set a year later.
  • Last year's phone and this year's as a spot-the-difference Two near-identical rectangles with three tiny changes circled. Push it: add a third for next year.
  • SALE in letters so large they do not fit on the sheet Crop the letters at every edge. Push it: tile four sheets so the word only reads from across the room.

Price tags on things that have no price 14

  • A barcode sticker stuck on the full moon A plain circle and a small white label. Push it: sticker the sea, a hill and a cloud as a set.
  • A clothes rack hung with clock faces, each on a hanger Hang round faces where shirts would go. Push it: mark one hour down with a red sticker.
  • A dandelion in a florist's bucket with a price card One weed drawn tall among nothing. Push it: draw a whole stall of plants that grow for free.
  • A friendship bracelet in a jeweler's case under a spotlight A dark case, one cone of light, a braided band. Push it: write the card that sits beside it.
  • A grandmother's recipe card sealed in a display case Draw the stains and the folded corner with care. Push it: draw a card from your own kitchen.
  • A gumball machine filled with small white clouds A glass globe on a stand, a coin slot below. Push it: choose what the machine next to it sells.
  • A jar of air on a shop shelf, tagged 'fresh' An empty jar is drawn by its highlights alone. Push it: design labels for air from three places.
  • A mountain with a hang tag tied to its peak Keep the mountain simple and the tag huge. Push it: write the washing instructions on the back.
  • A park bench with a parking meter beside it Draw both in plain side view. Push it: add the same meter to a swing, a tree and a view.
  • A price tag tied around the trunk of an old tree String, a card tag and bark texture; leave the price blank. Push it: tag a real tree and photograph it.
  • A receipt that lists an afternoon: sunshine, a nap, a walk Letter it narrow and long like a store receipt, total left blank. Push it: write one for your own day.
  • A shelf of bottled rain sorted by month Twelve matching bottles with different water levels. Push it: tint each bottle for its season.
  • A shopping basket holding a bird's song, drawn as notes Let the notes spill over the rim. Push it: fill the basket with another thing nobody can sell.
  • A sunset behind glass with a coin slot under it Frame the sky like a machine window. Push it: draw the sign that says how long one coin lasts.

Still lifes of what we buy 14

  • A bathroom shelf of bottles, all one color, all invented Vary the bottle shapes and keep one hue. Push it: letter names that say what each one really does.
  • A classic fruit bowl, every fruit still wearing its sticker Shade the fruit as usual and letter each sticker flat. Push it: invent the names on the stickers.
  • A gift still in its wrapping a year later, dust on the bow Soften every edge with a gray layer. Push it: draw the tag, with the name it was meant for left blank.
  • A grocery bag unpacked: all in gray but the one fresh thing Draw everything in pencil and color only one item. Push it: repeat it with next week's bag.
  • A phone with a cracked screen beside a wilted flower Draw the cracks as fine lines from one corner. Push it: add the box the phone came in, still perfect.
  • A stack of shoe boxes as a still life of plain rectangles Turn each box a little so no two edges line up. Push it: open one, with only tissue paper inside.
  • A still life of five remote controls and the one that works Arrange them like bottles in an old painting. Push it: light the one that works a little brighter.
  • Every pen in the house that has run dry, laid in a row Line them up by length, evenly spaced. Push it: scribble under the few that still write after all.
  • Everything bought and never used, grouped on one table Set it up from life and overlap the shapes. Push it: tie on tags with what each was meant for.
  • The last box left on an empty store shelf, lit like a jewel Long empty shelf lines and one small box. Push it: design the box, with a made-up name.
  • One sneaker on a plinth, drawn as a marble statue Shade it white with soft gray and no color. Push it: add the museum label with a made-up date.
  • One week of your own packaging, arranged by size Save it, line it up and draw from life. Push it: redraw the row with only what was needed.
  • Receipts from one week arranged like a bouquet in a vase Curl the paper strips like stems. Push it: use real receipts with the shop names cut away.
  • Three sizes of the same drink cup, drawn like nesting dolls Same shape three times, small to huge. Push it: add a fourth cup too large for the table.

How it works

These consumerism art ideas are whole pictures for a project: too much stuff, packaging and waste, ads and wanting, price tags on things that have no price, and still lifes of what we buy. Every label and ad is invented.

Read the full guide

What the theme word means

Consumerism is the pattern of buying goods and services beyond what is needed. Two more terms turn up in project briefs. Planned obsolescence is designing a product to have a short useful life on purpose. Fast fashion is clothing made quickly and cheaply to follow the latest trends.

From one picture to a project

Each idea ends with a line that starts Push it: repeat the picture, change its scale, build it, or draw your own version from life. Where an idea needs a brand, a logo or an ad, make one up, as the list does.

  • Draw one real object from life, such as a receipt or a cup. The made-up parts sit better around it.
  • Leave price tags blank. A viewer fills in a number faster than you can letter one.

Questions and answers

What can I draw for a consumerism art project?

Draw a shopping cart so full its wheels have sunk into the floor, a tiny object inside five nested boxes, a street where every sign says NEW, or a price tag tied around the trunk of an old tree. Each idea has a drawing note.

What are easy consumerism art ideas?

The Easy group holds single objects and simple layouts: a tower of delivery boxes taller than the front door, a plastic fork drawn as carefully as a museum piece, a barcode sticker stuck on the full moon, SALE in letters too large for the sheet.

What symbols show consumerism in art?

Shopping carts and bags, barcodes, price tags, receipts, sale signs, delivery boxes and packaging all read as buying. On this list they are drawn plain or with made-up names, so no real brand appears.

How do I turn one idea into a series?

Use the line that starts Push it. It asks for the same picture repeated, redrawn a week later, built in cardboard, or made from your own things, such as one week of your own packaging arranged by size.

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