• 60 ideas

Heart Drawing Ideas

Deal one heart in a state or built from something, with the medium it suits and the detail to get right printed under it.

Heart Drawing Ideas

More filters
Show all 60
  1. A clockwork heart built from gears, one cover plate offFineliner. Draw each gear as two circles with evenly spaced teeth; mesh the teeth where neighbours touch.

Next step More shapes to construct in 3D

All 60 ideas

Cute 12

  • A chubby heart wearing oversized headphones Marker. The band arcs over both lobes and the ear cups overlap the sides; add two music notes and closed eyes.
  • A crocheted amigurumi heart with tiny stitched eyes Coloured pencil. Amigurumi is worked in spiral rounds, so curve the rows of small stitches round the form.
  • A heart sticker peeling up at one corner Pen and marker. White border all round; the lifted corner shows a paler back and casts a small soft shadow.
  • A heart-shaped cookie with one bite gone Marker. Scallop the bite with three small arcs, drop crumbs below, stop the icing short of the edge.
  • A heart-shaped planet wearing one tilted ring Marker. The ring is a flat ellipse; rub out the part that passes behind the heart.
  • A Hoya kerrii leaf standing upright in a small pot Coloured pencil. One thick heart-shaped leaf, about 6 cm wide and 5 mm thick; shade the edge so it reads as a slab.
  • A jelly heart wobbling on a plate Watercolour or marker. Leave a white highlight along the top, deepen the colour at the base, add wobble lines.
  • A shirt pocket with a small heart peeking over the top Pen. Stitch just inside the pocket edge; only the two lobes and a pair of eyes show above it.
  • A sleepy heart tucked under a patchwork blanket Marker or pen. Closed-eye arcs sit low on the shape; the blanket edge follows the curve of both lobes.
  • A strawberry sliced in half, showing its heart shape Coloured pencil. Pale core, red rim, seeds only along the outside edge, a green cap sitting in the notch.
  • A winged heart hovering over a cloud Pen. Wings join level with the notch; three rows of feathers, short at the top and long at the bottom.
  • Five heart balloons lifting a small wicker basket Coloured pencil. Overlap the balloons, fan the strings to one knot, put one window highlight on each.

Broken heart 12

  • A clay heart cracked like dried mud Pencil. Mudcracks form polygons that meet in T-shaped joins, and the edges of each plate curl upward.
  • A cracked ceramic heart mended with gold kintsugi lines Pen and gold gel pen. Kintsugi mends pottery with lacquer and powdered gold; let the seams branch like a river.
  • A glass heart shattering as it hits the floor Pencil. Shards are sharp triangles flying outward from one impact point; keep the highlights pure white.
  • A heart in two halves laced together like a shoe Pen. Eyelets in pairs down each side of the split, laces crossing between them, a loose bow at the top.
  • A heart jigsaw with one piece missing Pen or marker. Four or five knobbed pieces; leave one space empty and set the stray piece a little way off.
  • A heart patched with sticky tape and a safety pin Pen and marker. Tape strips are see-through with zigzag cut ends; the pin bridges the crack.
  • A heart split by a zigzag crack, the halves drifting apart Pen. Make the zigzag edges match like a key so the halves could close again; tilt each half outward.
  • A paper heart torn in two, fibres showing at the rip Pencil. Torn edges are ragged and paler than the paper; offset the halves and let one corner curl.
  • A pencil heart half rubbed out, eraser crumbs beside it Pencil. Draw it fully, erase one side to a ghost line, then draw the rubber and its crumbs at the edge.
  • A row of three pixel hearts, the last one empty Graph paper and marker. Games often show health as heart icons; fill two and leave the third as an outline.
  • A stone heart with moss growing in the crack Pencil and green coloured pencil. Stipple the stone, keep the crack darkest, let the moss spill out softly.
  • An ice heart melting into a puddle Watercolour or pencil. Round off the lobes, run drips from the point, reflect the heart faintly in the puddle.

Realistic 12

  • A barn owl's face filling the page, the disc a white heart Pencil or charcoal. A large heart-shaped facial disc, usually bright white, round blackish-brown eyes.
  • A cordate leaf with its stalk set in the notch Pen or pencil. Cordate means heart-shaped with the stalk attached at the notch; run the veins out from there.
  • A cross-section of the heart showing all four chambers Pen and coloured pencil. Two atria above, two ventricles below; the left ventricle wall is much the thicker.
  • A heart and lungs together, the heart between them Pencil. The heart sits between the lungs, slightly left of centre; the left lung has a notch to make room.
  • A heart split in the middle: half anatomical, half symbol Pencil and red pencil. Match the outlines at the split; shade the real half and keep the symbol half flat.
  • A heart-cut gemstone with its facets mapped Pencil and ruler. A modified brilliant: a big flat table on top, crown facets round it, the girdle as the outline.
  • A heart-shaped pebble, half wet and half dry Pencil or watercolour. The wet half is darker and shiny with one highlight; the dry half is pale and matt.
  • A silver heart locket lying open, both halves empty Pencil. A locket, a pendant, opens to hold a photograph; draw the hinge, two rims and a pooled chain.
  • An anatomical heart from the front, great vessels on top Pencil. A cone with its base up and its apex toward the body's left, about the size of a closed fist.
  • An anatomical heart whose vessels branch into a bare tree Fineliner. The aorta and pulmonary trunk leave the top; fork each again and again until the twigs are hairlines.
  • An ECG trace with the P wave, QRS spike and T wave labelled Fineliner on graph paper. A small P bump, a tall narrow QRS spike, a rounded T, a flat stretch, then repeat.
  • One bleeding heart flower up close, white drop beneath Coloured pencil. Outer petals bright fuchsia-pink, inner ones white; up to 20 hang from one arching stem.

Built from things 12

  • A cardioid heart drawn from straight chords in a circle Ruler and fineliner. Number points round a circle and join each point n to point 2n; the chords outline a cardioid.
  • A circuit-board heart with one glowing LED Fineliner. Run the tracks in straight lines with angled corners, end each in a round pad, keep them parallel.
  • A clockwork heart built from gears, one cover plate off Fineliner. Draw each gear as two circles with evenly spaced teeth; mesh the teeth where neighbours touch.
  • A heart built from cubes on isometric paper Isometric paper and markers. Stack cubes like a pixel heart with depth: tops lightest, one side mid, one dark.
  • A heart knitted in stocking stitch, needles still in Coloured pencil. Each column of stocking stitch looks like a stack of V shapes; change colour stitch by stitch.
  • A heart made of two question marks facing each other Pen. Mirror one question mark against the other so the hooks form the lobes and the two dots sit at the point.
  • A heart outline written from one repeated word Fineliner. Pencil the heart first, write the word along the line again and again, then rub out the guide.
  • A heart with a keyhole, the key just out of reach Pen. The keyhole is a circle over a flared slot, shaded dark; echo the heart in the bow of the key.
  • A low-poly heart built from flat triangles Marker or pencil. Cover the shape in a net of triangles, then give each one a single flat tone by its tilt.
  • A stained-glass heart held by dark lead lines Black marker and felt tips. Break the heart into a dozen panes, keep the lines one thickness, vary the reds.
  • A woven paper heart basket in two colours Marker. The Danish julehjerte: two colours woven into a chequerboard set on the diagonal, with a loop handle.
  • Two hands curled into a heart, seen from the maker's side Pencil. Curled fingers make the lobes and the thumbs meet at the point; the backs of the hands face you.

Painting 12

  • A galaxy inside a heart outline on a black canvas Acrylic on canvas. Sponge violet, blue and magenta through a heart cut from paper, then flick on white stars.
  • A gold leaf heart on a deep blue canvas Acrylic and imitation leaf on canvas. Paint the blue, glue only the heart, lay the leaf, brush off loose flakes.
  • A heart glazed red over yellow so the centre glows Acrylic or oil on canvas. A glaze is a thin transparent layer over dry paint: yellow first, then thin reds.
  • A heart of paint blobs dragged flat with an old card Acrylic on canvas. Dot three colours along the top of a masked heart and pull them down in one slow scrape.
  • A monochrome heart in five values of one blue Acrylic on canvas. Mix one blue with white in five steps; model the heart like a ball, lightest at top left.
  • A stencilled heart haloed by toothbrush-flicked paint Acrylic or watercolour on paper. Lay a card heart down, flick paint round it, lift the card for a clean shape.
  • A watercolour heart textured with sprinkled salt Watercolour. Salt dropped into a damp wash soaks up water and leaves pale blooms; brush it off once dry.
  • A wet-in-wet watercolour heart running from red to violet Watercolour. Wet the heart shape with clean water, touch red in at the top and violet at the point, let them meet.
  • A white-on-white heart in thick textured paint Acrylic on canvas. Impasto lays paint on thickly so the knife marks stay visible; the light does the rest.
  • An anatomical heart in loose watercolour, reds into blues Watercolour. Pencil the shape, wet it, drop red on one side and blue on the other; add the vessels when dry.
  • The Heart Nebula in glowing reds on a dark ground Acrylic on black canvas. An emission nebula in Cassiopeia: glowing ionised hydrogen crossed by darker dust lanes.
  • One heart repeated in four colourways on a square canvas Acrylic on canvas. Quarter the canvas; give each square a flat ground and a heart in its opposite colour.

How it works

These heart drawing ideas go past the plain symbol. Each of the 60 is a heart in a state or built from something: knitted, cracked and mended with gold, cut open to show four chambers, painted wet-in-wet. The hint names the medium it suits and the one thing to get right. The two filters combine, so Broken heart plus Easy holds five.

Read the full guide

Cute, broken, realistic or built

Cute holds twelve hearts with faces, wings and bites taken out. Broken heart is the group for broken heart drawing ideas, and every break is different: torn paper, shattered glass, dried mud, a jigsaw gap. Realistic covers the organ itself and heart shapes found in nature, such as A cordate leaf with its stalk set in the notch. Built from things makes the shape from chords, cubes, gears or hands. For a ladder, choose Easy and draw one heart, then Medium, then Hard.

Twelve hearts to paint

Painting holds the twelve heart painting ideas. Eight go on canvas: a galaxy sponged through a paper mask, a white impasto heart, a gold leaf heart on deep blue. The other four are on paper. Begin with A watercolour heart textured with sprinkled salt, which forgives a shaky hand.

  • Build the plain symbol from two circles sitting on a V, then check both lobes against a centre line.
  • A real heart is lopsided. Tilt the point toward the body's left, which is the right of your page.
  • For cracks, draw one main fork, then thinner branches. A crack stops where it meets another, making a T.

Questions and answers

Which hearts are easiest?

Eight of the 22 easy hearts are in Cute, where the shape stays a plain symbol and the idea is in the extras, such as A heart sticker peeling up at one corner. A heart made of two question marks facing each other is a one-minute trick. Realistic has only one easy idea, the cordate leaf.

How do I draw an anatomical heart without gore?

Treat it as a diagram: clean outlines, flat colour and labels, as a textbook plate has, and no blood at all. Start with a tilted cone about the size of a fist, with the aorta and pulmonary trunk leaving the top. The hints are drawing notes, not medical advice.

Are these the same as the Valentine's Day ideas?

No. This list is about the heart itself, in any month: how it is built, broken or painted. There are no cards, couples or gifts here. Those live on the Valentine's Day drawing and painting pages linked below, and no item is repeated here.

More tools

Show 4 more

Browse Drawing Ideas