A ballroom under one huge chandelierThe chandelier fills the circle. The polished floor below mirrors it in the slot.
A bathroom with bubbles coming over the sideThe curved rim of the bath, a heap of circles above it, and a few drifting toward the door.
A bedroom with a night light and one slipperDark all round, one warm glow low down, and a slipper where the light lands on the floor.
A birthday party that is all balloons and legsThe view is too low to see faces: table legs, shoes, ribbon ends and balloons bumping the ceiling.
A cat asleep just inside the doorMost of the hole is fur. One ear and a curl of tail are all that say it is a cat.
A cellar stair going down out of sightSteps narrow as they drop. Light the top three and let the rest fade into the dark.
A classroom after everyone has gone homeChairs up on the desks, one coat left on a hook, and low sun through the far windows.
A corridor of more doors, each with a keyholeOne-point perspective: the doors shrink toward a far window. Every door gets its own tiny keyhole.
A dog's nose pushed up to the holeA large wet nose in the round part and a strip of pink tongue in the slot.
A greenhouse crowded with tall plantsLeaves press right up to the hole. One watering can sits on the path in the slot.
A kitchen through the keyhole, with a cake coolingPut the cake in the round part of the hole. The table edge crosses the narrow slot below it.
A library with a ladder on a railShelves fill the hole from side to side. Only three rungs of the ladder fit in the view.
A music room with the piano lid upThe lid makes one big slanted shape. Fit a stool and a sheet of music on the floor.
A pantry of jars with their labels facing outThree shelves, five jars on each, all different heights. Leave one gap where a jar is missing.
A playroom with a toy train going roundThe oval track runs out of view at both sides. The engine is just coming back in.
A sewing room with thread on every surfaceA machine on the table, a jar of buttons, and one long thread trailing toward the door.
A stage seen from the wingsCurtain folds down one side, a bright floor, and one figure lit from the front with a long shadow.
A study with the desk lamp left onA cone of light on papers and a pushed-back chair. Everything outside the cone stays dim.
A workshop with tools hung on a boardDraw each tool as a silhouette on the wall. A stool and a curl of wood shavings go below.
An attic of trunks under a sloping roofA slanted beam cuts across the top of the view and a small round window lights the dust.
Outdoors and other worlds 20
A burrow with a lamp and a small armchairRounded earth walls, roots overhead, and one tidy chair beside a tiny table.
A city street in the rainLit windows, umbrellas from behind, and long wobbly reflections running down into the slot.
A desert with one cactus and a low sunThree bands: sky, dunes, sand. The cactus stands where the circle meets the slot.
A far-off castle, small in the round of the holeKeep it tiny and pale so it looks distant. A winding road joins it to the bottom of the slot.
A full moon over rooftopsA pale circle inside the dark circle of the keyhole, with chimney shapes across the slot.
A garden in full sun, seen from a dark hallMake the door nearly black so the garden looks brighter. One path leads straight away from you.
A lighthouse beam sweeping past the keyholeThe tower stands in the circle and its beam reaches past the edge. Waves break in the slot.
A market square seen from a doorwayStriped awnings, stacked crates and a fountain. People are only hats and shoulders.
A meadow with a single tree on a hillOne curved line for the hill, one round tree on top and its shadow pointing at the door.
A mountain lake and its reflectionThe peak in the round part, the same peak upside down and rippled in the slot.
A reef with fish passing the holeCrop a big fish so only its middle shows, and fit smaller whole ones behind it.
A sky full of hot air balloonsDifferent sizes for distance, the nearest one cropped by the edge of the hole.
A snowy forest at nightBlue-grey snow, dark trunks, and footprints leading away from the door.
A treehouse village joined by rope bridgesPlatforms at three heights, bridges sagging between them, and lanterns along each rail.
A waterfall in a jungleWhite water drops through the middle of the circle. Dark leaves frame it on both sides.
Clouds seen from aboveThe door opens onto sky. Flat cloud tops below you, and one small aeroplane a long way down.
The end of a rainbow in the slot of the keyholeThe arc starts in the circle and comes down into the slot, where puddles repeat its colours.
Outer space with one ringed planetBlack, a scatter of dots and one planet tilted so its rings cross the circle.
The sea with a sailing boat exactly in the slotHorizon line across the round part, the boat below it, and two birds above.
Sunflowers crowding right up to the doorLarge heads at the bottom and rows of smaller ones behind, up to a thin line of sky.
Keyholes, keys and doors 20
A brass plate round a keyhole, with four screwsA tall rounded plate, a screw near each corner with its slot at a different angle, the hole in the middle.
A classic keyhole: a circle on a flared slotA circle, then two lines running down from it and spreading a little apart. Fill it solid black.
A clock face with a keyhole for windingA round dial with a small hole below the centre and a little key hanging from the case.
A diary with a keyhole in its claspA strap across the cover ends in a small metal plate with the hole in it.
A front door with a knocker, a letter slot and a keyholeSet the three down the middle of the door. Add panels, a step and a doormat.
A glass door knob above a keyholeThe knob is a ball full of curved highlights. It casts a pale patch of light on the door.
A key left in the lock, with a tag on a stringOnly the bow shows. The tag hangs below it and casts a small shadow on the door.
A key whose teeth are a city skylineDraw the stem sideways and turn the teeth into towers of different heights.
A keyhole cover swung to one sideA small teardrop plate on a pivot above the hole, tipped over so the hole shows.
A keyhole drawn huge, with wood grain round itLet it fill the page. The grain lines flow past the hole like water round a rock.
A keyhole in a cloudA soft scalloped cloud with a crisp black keyhole in it and a key floating nearby.
A keyhole in the bark of a treeRough bark lines bend round it. Add a small step of fungus underneath.
A keyhole-shaped doorway you could walk throughRound at the top, straight-sided below, set in a garden wall with a path running through.
A music box with a winding keyA small box with its lid open and a butterfly-shaped key sticking out of one side.
A ring of seven keys, no two alikeChange the bow, the length and the teeth on each. Let them hang at different angles.
A round padlock hanging open, key beside itA circle with a keyhole in the middle and a U-shaped bar lifted out of one side.
A row of keyholes in different shapesA star, a moon, a leaf, a cat's head, each sitting on the same flared slot.
A rusted keyhole with flaking paint round itRough up the edges of the hole. Draw the paint as curling chips with a shadow under each.
A treasure chest keyhole between metal strapsA curved lid, two bands with studs, and a lock plate in the middle of the front.
An old key with a looped bow and two teethA ring to hold, a long straight stem, and two small square teeth at the far end.
Light, eyes and tricks 20
A keyhole as the frame round a portraitFit the head in the circle and the shoulders in the slot. Crop the ears if you must.
A keyhole cut in one page to show the nextCut the shape from a sheet and draw the scene on the page behind, where it lines up.
A keyhole full of starsBlack door, black hole, and inside it nothing but dots of white and one that is slightly larger.
A keyhole glowing gold in a dark doorColour the hole brightest in the middle and let a soft halo spread onto the wood.
A keyhole of light on the far wallA bright shape high on the wall, with the edge of a picture frame just inside it.
A keyhole reflected in an eyeDraw a large eye and put a small bright keyhole shape in the pupil where the highlight would be.
A keyhole scene drawn only in silhouetteA pale sky inside the hole and everything in front of it solid black.
A keyhole seen from a mouse's heightLook up at the door: the hole sits high overhead and the skirting board runs huge across the bottom.
A tiny figure standing in the keyholeDraw the hole as tall as the page and a small person in its base, looking through.
A view too big for the holePick a giraffe or a tower. Draw only the slice that fits and let the viewer guess the rest.
An eye at the keyhole, seen from inside the roomThe iris fills the round part. Show a little eyelid at the top and lashes at the edge.
Butterflies escaping through a keyholeSmall at the hole, larger as they come toward you, with one still halfway out.
Day inside the keyhole, night outside itA starry door and wall, with a sunny field showing through the hole.
Dust floating in the beam from a keyholeShade the room dark, lift a narrow beam with a rubber, and dot bright specks along it.
Light pouring through a keyhole onto a dark floorA keyhole-shaped patch on the floorboards, stretched long. Everything else stays near black.
The scene in colour and the door in pencilShade the door in grey and save every coloured pencil for what is inside the hole.
The shadow of a key, longer than the keyA small key standing on its end and a stretched shadow running off the page.
Two keyholes side by side, two different scenesThe same door twice. Day behind one, night behind the other.
Vines growing out through a keyholeStems squeeze out of the hole and spread across the door, with leaves getting bigger as they go.
Water pouring out of a keyholeA stream arcs out and splashes on the step. Draw a few drips running down the door below the hole.
How it works
A keyhole drawing shows one scene through a small dark shape, so most of the page stays black or plain. Each of these 80 keyhole drawing ideas comes with a hint on how to draw it.
Read the full guide
Draw the shape, then the scene
A keyhole is a circle sitting on a slot that spreads a little toward the bottom. Draw it large and lightly first. Put the main subject in the circle and the ground, floor or water in the slot, then darken everything outside the shape.
Four kinds of keyhole drawing
Rooms behind the door and Outdoors and other worlds hold 20 scenes each. Keyholes, keys and doors has the hardware itself, from a brass plate to a ring of seven keys. Light, eyes and tricks plays with beams, shadows and an eye looking back.
Keep the door dark and the scene light. The contrast is what makes it read as a hole.
Let the edge of the hole cut things off. A cropped chair says more than a whole one.
Questions and answers
How do you draw a keyhole?
Draw a circle, then two lines down from its lower half that spread slightly apart, and close them with a short line. For a plate, add a tall rounded rectangle and four screws.
What can I draw inside a keyhole?
Anything that still reads when cropped: a garden in full sun, the sea with one boat, a library ladder, an eye looking back. Choose Rooms behind the door or Outdoors and other worlds for 40 scenes.
What is an easy keyhole drawing to start with?
A keyhole full of stars: a black door, a black hole and white dots. A keyhole scene drawn only in silhouette is the next step, with a pale sky and everything in front of it solid black.