A beach in a bulb with a palm and a tiny hammockBase up. Sand fills the round end, with water behind it as a flat line. The palm leans toward the middle.
A bedroom in a bulb with someone reading by its lightBase up. A bed, a shelf and a rug in the round end, with the filament hanging above as the only lamp.
A beehive and honeycomb filling a bulbSix-sided cells packed from the base up. Leave a few open and put three bees on the comb.
A campfire and a tent under a bulb's glassTent on one side, fire on the other, stars above. The sparks rise toward the top of the bulb.
A canyon in a bulb with a river along the bottomTwo stepped cliff walls following the glass on each side, with the sky as a gap between them.
A carnival in a bulb with a Ferris wheelThe wheel fills the wide part of the glass. Tents and a string of flags run along the bottom.
A city at night inside a bulb, its own windows litTowers tallest in the centre, shorter toward the sides. Shade the sky dark and leave the windows as paper.
A coral reef inside a light bulbHang the bulb base up. Coral along the round end, fish in the middle, bubbles rising toward the neck.
A cottage in a bulb with a lane winding down into the baseCottage in the wide part. The lane narrows as it curls down through the neck.
A farm in a bulb with a barn and a windmillBase up. A hill fills the round end, with the barn to one side, the windmill to the other and a fence between.
A forest in four seasons, one in each quarter of a bulbDivide the glass with a faint cross. The same tree four times: bud, leaf, colour, bare.
A garden of glowing mushrooms inside a bulbCaps of different sizes on thin stems. Shade round them and leave a pale ring about each cap.
A library in a bulb with a ladder up the curve of the glassShelves follow the bulb's sides. The ladder leans against them and a reader sits at the bottom.
A lighthouse in a bulb, its beam passing through the glassThe tower stands on a rock at the bottom. Let the beam carry on outside the outline.
A meadow in a bulb with every flower leaning toward the filamentStems of different heights, all bending the same way, as if the filament were the sun.
A mountain range with a sunrise behind the filamentPeaks across the middle. The filament sits where the sun would be, with rays drawn out from it.
A night sky in a bulb where the filament joins the starsDots scattered over a dark fill. Run the filament from dot to dot like a line between stars.
A planet system in a bulb with the filament as its sunOval orbits round the filament. One planet on each, with a ring on the largest.
A rainforest in a bulb with a waterfall down the glassLayer the leaves, large in front and small behind. The waterfall is a white strip left bare.
A rocket launch in a bulb with smoke filling the baseThe rocket climbs the centre. Billowing smoke spreads along the bottom and down into the neck.
A rowboat on a still lake inside a bulbA flat water line across the middle. The boat and its upside-down reflection sit on it.
A ship in a bottle, but the bottle is a bulbSea along the widest part of the glass. The masts shorten toward the neck and the waves curve with the sides.
A sky of striped balloons drifting up inside a bulbFive balloons, largest low and smallest near the top. Each has a different stripe.
A staircase spiraling up inside a bulbSteps wind round a centre post from the base to the top. Make them narrower as they rise.
A terrarium bulb with ferns and a snailA layer of pebbles, a layer of soil, then ferns that bend where they touch the glass.
A thunderstorm in a bulb with the filament as lightningDark cloud in the top third. The zigzag filament drops from it to a small hill at the bottom.
A tiny workshop in a bulb with an inventor at a benchA bench, tools on the wall, a stool. The inventor is building a smaller light bulb.
A tree in a bulb whose roots fill the screw baseThe crown spreads where the bulb is widest. Roots narrow down into the metal base and wrap the threads.
A waterfall pouring out of a bulb's broken sideCrack one side open. A river inside runs to the gap and falls past the outline to the page's edge.
A whale swimming a slow circle inside a bulbCurve the whale to follow the glass. Its tail nearly meets its nose. Two small fish for scale.
A winter village in a bulb with snow settling in the neckBase down. Roofs across the widest part of the glass. Dot flakes all through and pile them up in the neck.
An aquarium bulb with two seahorsesWater to near the top, weed rising from the bottom, and the two seahorses facing each other.
Ideas and symbols 16
A bulb above a head, with raysA simple face below, eyes wide. The bulb floats a little above and to one side, with short lines round it.
A bulb as the last bubble of a thought cloudThree circles rising from a head, each bigger than the last. The fourth is the bulb.
A bulb filled with puzzle pieces, one missingInterlocking pieces packed to the glass. The missing one leaves a gap that shows the filament.
A bulb hatching like an eggA zigzag crack round the middle of the glass, with light shining out through the gap.
A bulb plugged into an open bookA cord runs from the bulb's base to a plug pushed into the book's pages. The bulb is lit.
A bulb sprouting leaves from the topA stem breaks through the glass at the crown. Two leaves, and thin roots where the filament was.
A bulb switched on by a pull cord that is a pencilA chain hangs beside the bulb with a pencil tied to its end. A hand reaches for it.
A bulb unscrewing itself from the pageDraw the base half turned, with curved motion lines round the threads and a shadow beneath.
A bulb whose filament spells a wordWrite one short word in a single looping line between the two support wires.
A bulb with a brain for a filamentDraw the brain small, in the middle of the glass, with two wires down to the base.
A bulb with a heart for a filamentOne line from wire to wire that loops into a heart in the middle.
A bulb with a maze inside and one path to the filamentDraw the true path from the base to the filament first, then wall it in with dead ends.
A bulb with a paper plane flying out of itA hole in the glass with a few shards. The plane leaves a dashed trail back to the filament.
A bulb with gears turning insideThree toothed wheels of different sizes, meshed. Small curved arrows show which way each turns.
A dim bulb looking up at a brighter oneTwo bulbs with faces. Rays round the large one only. The small one leans toward it.
Two bulbs joined by one wire, sharing a glowSide by side, leaning in. One set of rays is drawn round both.
The bulb itself 16
A broken bulb with its glass in three piecesThe base and filament still stand. The shards lie beside it, each with a curved highlight.
A bulb and its cord drawn as a single unbroken lineStart at the plug. Follow the cord up, round the glass, through the filament and back out.
A bulb drawn only by its highlights on dark paperWhite pencil. No outline at all: two curved shines, the glint on the base and the glowing coil.
A bulb half out of its cardboard sleeveA square tube of card with the round glass pushing out of one end.
A bulb lying on its side with a shadow and a highlightAn oval shadow under the widest part. One bright window-shaped patch on the upper curve.
A bulb on a long cord, mid-swingDraw the cord at a slant from the ceiling. Two fainter bulbs behind it show where it has been.
A bulb with the whole room bent across its glassA curved window shape, a curved door, and you as a small figure in the middle.
A clear bulb with every coil of the filament drawnTwo upright wires, a glass stem between them, and the coil strung across the top like a tiny spring.
A flame-shaped bulb in a wall lampA narrow bulb with a bent tip, standing in a holder on a curved arm.
A frosted bulb shaded from pale to palerNo filament shows. Shade softly round the edge and leave the side facing the light almost white.
A hand screwing a bulb into a socketFingertips and thumb grip the widest part of the glass. Show the first thread entering the socket.
A row of bulb shapes: round, pear, tube, globe and flameFive outlines on one line, each on the same base. Write a name under each.
A string of patio lights sagging between two postsOne drooping line with a bulb hanging every finger-width. The ones at the middle hang lowest.
A table lamp with its shade taken offBase, stem, socket, bulb. The wire frame that held the shade still sits round it.
A work light: a bulb in a wire cageDraw the bulb first, then the cage over it as crossing curved wires, with a hook at the top.
An old-style bulb with a long looped filamentA tall glass with a point at the tip. The filament runs up and down in several long loops.
Bulbs as other things 16
A bulb as a balloon on a stringUpside down, base at the bottom with a string tied round the threads. A child's hand holds the end.
A bulb as a bird's body on wire legsThe base is the tail end. Add a beak to the round end, a wing on the side and two thin legs.
A bulb as a chess pawnStand it base down on a checkered board beside a real pawn of the same height.
A bulb as a chrysalis with a butterfly leavingThe bulb hangs from a twig by its base. The glass is split and the butterfly climbs out.
A bulb as a diving helmetA round window bolted onto the glass, a hose from the top, a collar where the base was.
A bulb as a fishing float on a lakeHalf in the water, base up, with a line running from it. Rings spread on the surface.
A bulb as a jellyfish with wire tentaclesThe glass is the bell. Wavy wires trail from the base and the filament is its glowing middle.
A bulb as a teardrop-shaped camper trailerLay it on its side on two wheels. A door and a window in the glass, a hitch at the base end.
A bulb as a tiny greenhouseAdd thin glazing bars to the glass and a door in the side. Rows of seedlings inside.
A bulb as an hourglass with sand in the neckTwo bulbs joined base to base. Sand fills the lower one and a thin stream falls through.
A bulb as the body of a beeStripes round the glass, the base as the head end, two wings and six thin legs.
A bulb as the moon hung in a bedroom windowA window frame, curtains, a dark sky. The bulb hangs from the top of the frame on its cord.
A bulb as the scoop on a cone, starting to meltUpside down on a waffle cone. One drip runs down the side of the cone.
A bulb carrying a basket of passengers into the cloudsTurn the bulb upside down so the base points at the basket. Ropes join the two.
A bulb filled with water, holding one cut stemBase removed, glass upright on a ring. A water line halfway up and a single flower.
A bulb hanging from a faucet like a drop that will not fallThe base is screwed onto the spout and the glass hangs below, heavy and round.
How it works
Draw a light bulb, then put something inside it that has no business being there: a coral reef, a city at night, a staircase. These 80 light bulb drawing ideas start with that art class exercise and go on to the bulb itself.
Read the full guide
Fit the scene to the glass
Decide which way up the bulb goes. Base down, the glass is a dome: set the ground across the widest part and let roots, snow or a lane run down into the neck. Base up, the round end is a bowl for sand or sea. Worlds inside holds 32.
Draw the bulb first
Draw round a jar lid for the glass and pull the sides down into a neck. The base is a short cylinder with three or four slanted thread lines and a rounded tip. Two wires rise inside and the filament joins them. The bulb itself holds 16 studies of it.
Leave one curved strip of bare paper on the glass. Without it the bulb reads as an outline, not as glass.
Keep the outline of the bulb darker than anything inside it.
Questions and answers
What is a light bulb idea drawing?
A bulb drawn as the sign for a new thought, usually lit and floating above a head. Ideas and symbols holds 16 takes on it, such as a bulb with a brain for a filament and a bulb plugged into an open book.
What can I draw inside a light bulb?
Anything that would not fit: a whale swimming a slow circle, a rocket launch with smoke filling the base, a forest in four seasons. Pick a scene with one tall thing and one wide thing, so it fills both the wide part and the neck.
Which ones are easy?
Easy, under More filters, holds 29. A bulb with a heart for a filament is one line, a rowboat on a still lake is a boat and a flat line, and a bulb as a balloon on a string is the bulb turned upside down.