60 ideas

I Belong Drawing Ideas

Three pictures of belonging per press, each with a line on how to make it show.

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A pile of team shirts back from the wash, yours the one with the grass stainNumber every collar. The stain shows you played and the stack shows you were counted.
A block party seen from a rooftop: grills, chalk and bikes weaving throughDraw the street as one long strip and fill it with dots of people. The road is closed for you.
A parade drawn from inside the march, the sidewalk crowd waving backPut the backs of the marchers in front and the crowd beyond. You are in the parade, not at the curb.

Next step Posters and logos for a club Art for a shared place

All 60 ideas

On a team or in a club 12

A cast list pinned to a door, one finger stopped on a name Letter the list small and the fingertip large. Finding your name is the whole picture.
A coach's clipboard with the lineup, your name written in Draw the clipboard square to the sheet and letter every name. Yours is in pen, not pencil.
A marching band turning a corner in step, you on the outside edge Draw the turn from above as a fan of dots. The outside player takes the longest steps and still fits.
A pile of team shirts back from the wash, yours the one with the grass stain Number every collar. The stain shows you played and the stack shows you were counted.
A relay baton halfway between two hands, yours the one reaching back Crop to two arms and the baton. Someone ran a whole lap to hand it to you.
A robotics team bent over one small robot, every hand holding a different tool Put the robot in the middle and aim every arm at it. Each tool is a job only one of them does.
A skate park rail with five boards leaned on it, yours the one with the stickers Draw five decks and five sets of scuffs. Leaving your board with theirs means you are staying.
A swim team at the pool edge in matching caps, all looking up at the clock Give every swimmer the same cap and a different face. You are one of them, not a copy of them.
An orchestra seen from above, your music stand one of forty Dot in the stands as a fan and color one. The piece has a hole in it without that part.
Eleven pairs of the same striped socks above eleven different pairs of shoes Crop at the knees. The stripes match and the shoes do not: one team, eleven people.
One long sheet of paper and six kids' drawings running into each other Draw six styles that touch at the edges. A club is where your part meets the others.
One small trophy held up by a whole team's hands Make the trophy tiny and the hands many. Nobody in the picture is holding it alone.

At school 12

A circle of kids on the story rug, your crossed legs closing the ring Draw it from above as a ring of knees and shoes. Take one pair out and the circle is open.
A class graph of favorite fruits, your sticker at the top of one bar Rule the bars and draw each sticker by hand. One square of that chart is your answer.
A cubby wall of thirty squares, yours holding your own backpack Pencil every cubby and color one. Somebody wrote your name on that square before you arrived.
A friendship bracelet being knotted onto a wrist at recess Crop to one wrist and two hands tying. Someone spent a lunch break making it your size.
A group project poster in four different handwritings Letter each quarter in its own style and color. Anyone can see four people made it.
A kid at the edge of a playground game, three arms waving them in Put the kid small at one side and aim every arm that way. It is the second before the yes.
A locker with the inside of its door papered in notes and photos from friends Draw the plain outside edge, then crowd the inside. What people gave you is what fills it.
A reading corner beanbag with two dents and two open books Draw the beanbag empty. The two hollows show who sits there every day.
A wall of paper cupcakes, one for each classmate, your birthday on yours Rule a grid of cupcakes and letter a date on each. The class year has a day set down for you.
A wall of paper mail pockets, a note sticking out of every one Draw rows of named pockets with a corner of paper showing in each. Nobody's pocket is empty.
A yearbook page filling up with signatures in a dozen pens Change the color and the handwriting for every line. Each is somebody who wanted to be on your page.
The hallway display: thirty self-portraits, yours third from the left Draw small frames in rows and finish only yours in detail. The wall would be short one face without it.

At home 12

A cat choosing your lap out of four laps on the sofa Draw four pairs of knees from the front and one curled cat. You were picked, and not by a person.
A dark hallway with goodnight floating out of every bedroom door Draw three doors ajar and letter the word three times. Each voice answers the others, yours too.
A family card signed by everyone, your name in your own wobbly letters Letter four signatures in four hands. The card is not finished until the smallest name is on it.
A nickname only your family uses, lettered across the whole sheet Fill the sheet with the letters and decorate them your way. Only people at home call you that.
A row of family bikes in the garage, biggest to smallest, yours leaning last Set the wheels along one ground line. The row is only finished when the small one is back.
A sandwich cut the exact way you like it, the crusts in a pile beside it Draw the plate from above. Somebody at home knows your order without asking.
A stack of pancakes with one poured in the shape of your initial Put the letter pancake on top with steam above it. Somebody at the stove was thinking of you.
A voice calling up the stairs, your name the biggest word in the bubble Draw the staircase from the top with the bubble rising. Someone is waiting for you before they start.
The dent in the couch cushion that is exactly your shape Draw the couch empty and shade one hollow. A place can be yours when you are not in it.
Five toothbrushes in one cup, yours the short one Gray for every brush but yours. One cup holds the household and you are in it.
Four pairs of feet up on one coffee table, yours in the odd socks Crop to the table and the feet. Nobody needs a face for you to know which pair is whose.
Your handwriting added to the family shopping list on the counter Letter the list in grown-up script and one line in yours. Your line counts like the rest.

In my neighborhood 12

A barber or hairdresser asking if you want the usual Draw the chair from behind, cape on, comb raised. A usual means you have been coming for years.
A block party seen from a rooftop: grills, chalk and bikes weaving through Draw the street as one long strip and fill it with dots of people. The road is closed for you.
A corner store counter and a shopkeeper already reaching for your usual Draw from your side of the counter, looking up. Being known by your order is being known.
A front stoop at dusk with a neighbor on every step, you on the third Stack the figures up the steps. Nobody planned it and everybody has their step.
A market seller slipping one extra plum into your bag Crop to two hands, the bag and the plum. The extra one is for a regular.
A neighborhood mural with one painted kid who looks like you Draw the wall flat and the real kid small in front. Someone put a face like yours up big on purpose.
A parade drawn from inside the march, the sidewalk crowd waving back Put the backs of the marchers in front and the crowd beyond. You are in the parade, not at the curb.
A pile of bikes dropped on one front lawn Tangle five bikes and draw no people. Everyone on the street knows whose house they are all in.
The bus stop at 7:40, the same faces every morning and a nod from each Draw the shelter and four people who never speak. They would notice the day you were not there.
The gap in the hedge that only kids from your street know Draw the hedge dark and the gap a kid-sized patch of light. Knowing the shortcut makes you local.
The smell of home cooking drawn as one curling line down the stairwell to you Run a single line from a doorway to a small figure. It reached you before you reached the door.
Three porches in a row and a wave from each one Repeat the porch three times with a different neighbor on each. The walk home is a row of hellos.

In the wider world 12

A dark movie theater, every face lit by the same screen and the same laugh Draw rows of heads from the front, lit from below. You are laughing with people you do not know.
A fun-run start line with a number pinned to every shirt, including yours Crop to chests and numbers. No number is the important one; each is one of the count.
A library wall of books, one spine lettered with your name Rule the shelves and color one spine. Your story has a place on the shelf with all the others.
A line of ancestors coming over a hill, the nearest and largest one you Draw the far figures as dots and the near ones in detail. All of them were walking toward you.
A map of the galaxy with one small arrow labeled you are here Stipple the spiral in white on dark and add one arrow. Small is not the same as off the map.
A stadium crowd mid-wave, you somewhere in the rising part Draw rows of dots with arms up in one band. The wave only works if nobody skips their turn.
A street of strangers all stopped and looking up at the first snowflakes Turn every face upward and leave the sky nearly blank. Everybody got the same snow at once.
A subway car of strangers all swaying the same way on a curve Tilt every figure by the same amount. For one bend a car full of strangers moves as one.
A video call grid of nine squares, a relative in each, you at the bottom right Rule three by three and give each square its own room behind the face. Far apart, one screen.
An envelope addressed to you in full: street, town, country, planet Letter each line a little larger than the last. However far out it goes, the address ends at you.
One moon over two skylines drawn back to back Draw one town upright and one upside down, the moon between. Someone far away is under it too.
The same game of tag in snow, in sand and in rain, in three frames Keep the poses and change only the weather. Kids you will never meet play your game.

How it works

These I belong drawing ideas are whole pictures, sorted by where a person belongs: on a team or in a club, at school, at home, in the neighborhood and in the wider world.

Read the full guide

How to show belonging in a drawing

Belonging is hard to see, so draw the thing that proves it: a name on a cast list, a brush in the family cup, a number pinned to a shirt. Pencil the whole set and put color on the one that is yours.

Pick the place before the picture

The place decides what there is to draw. A team gives you shirts, a lineup and a baton. Home gives you small objects. The wider world gives you crowds, sky and maps, with one small mark for you.

Draw the group before you draw yourself. The picture works when taking you out would leave a hole.
If the poster needs words, I belong is two short ones. Letter them large and let the picture do the rest.

Questions and answers

What can I draw for I belong?

Draw a place where you are one of a set: a swim team in matching caps, a cubby wall with your backpack in one square, a marching band turning a corner in step.

What is an easy I belong drawing?

Five toothbrushes in one cup, a stack of pancakes with one poured in the shape of your initial, or an envelope addressed to you in full: street, town, country, planet. Each is a few simple shapes.

Can an I belong drawing have no people in it?

Yes. A couch cushion with a dent your shape, a pile of bikes on one lawn or five skateboards leaned on a rail all show belonging through objects, with no figure to draw.