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Romeo and Juliet Drawing Ideas

One symbol, scene, character, line or layout from the play per press, most with act and scene.

Romeo and Juliet Drawing Ideas

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  1. A wordless comic of the orchard sceneSix panels: the wall, the window, "Juliet appears above", her speech, his answer, the Nurse calling (2.2).

Next step More posters, and where the title sitsMake a mask for the feast scene

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Symbols 12

  • A crescent moon with a line struck through it "O swear not by the moon, th'inconstant moon" (2.2). Juliet wants a promise that does not change.
  • A half mask for a feast Romeo and his friends go to the Capulet feast with "Maskers" and "Torch-bearers" (1.4).
  • A lark at dawn and a nightingale in a pomegranate tree "It was the nightingale, and not the lark" (3.5). She says it sings "on yond pomegranate tree".
  • A ring passed from one open hand to another Juliet sends it by the Nurse: "Give this ring to my true knight" (3.2).
  • A rising sun framed in a window "It is the east, and Juliet is the sun" (2.2). The window is a frame; the light is the subject.
  • A rope ladder coiled on a floor Romeo sends "cords made like a tackled stair" (2.4). The Nurse comes in "with cords" (3.2).
  • A rose with an empty label tied to its stem Juliet: "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet" (2.2). The label stays empty.
  • A sealed letter that never arrived Friar John is shut in a quarantined house and hands it back: "I could not send it" (5.2).
  • A torch held high among dancers "O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!" (1.5). Romeo had asked, "Give me a torch" (1.4).
  • Two candles gone out side by side The ending as a symbol. The phrase is Romeo's: "Night's candles are burnt out" (3.5).
  • Two house crests with a crack between them "Two households, both alike in dignity" (Prologue). Invent a crest for each and split the shield.
  • Two stars whose paths cross once The Prologue calls them "a pair of star-cross'd lovers". Two dotted trails, one meeting point.

Scenes by act 12

  • A city gate with one traveler walking away Banished to Mantua, Romeo says: "There is no world without Verona walls" (3.3).
  • A fairy coach made from an empty hazelnut Mercutio's Queen Mab: "Her chariot is an empty hazelnut", drawn by "a team of little atomies" (1.4).
  • A figure at an upper window and one in the orchard below The stage direction is "Juliet appears above at a window" (2.2). The word balcony is nowhere in the play.
  • A friar with a wicker basket at sunrise "Enter Friar Lawrence with a basket" (2.3). He is out early for herbs and flowers.
  • A girl watching a clock, waiting for news "The clock struck nine when I did send the Nurse" (2.5). It is now noon: "three long hours".
  • A hall of masked dancers under torches The Capulet feast (1.5). Old Capulet tells a cousin they are "past our dancing days".
  • A kitchen in an uproar before a wedding Capulet orders "twenty cunning cooks" (4.2). "They call for dates and quinces in the pastry" (4.4).
  • A nurse sweeping down a street, her servant behind with a fan "My fan, Peter" (2.4). She has come to find Romeo with a message.
  • A servant holding out a guest list he cannot read "I pray, sir, can you read?" (1.2). Romeo reads it for him and learns of the feast.
  • Two fathers shaking hands in gray morning light "O brother Montague, give me thy hand" (5.3). The Prince calls it "a glooming peace".
  • Two hands joined in front of a friar The wedding itself is not shown: 2.6 ends as the Friar leads them out to be married.
  • Two rows of servants pointing and biting their thumbs Act 1 opens on an insult: "Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?" (1.1). Hands and faces only.

Characters 12

  • Benvolio stepping between two angry groups, palms out His first words in the street quarrel: "Part, fools!" (1.1). He is the one who tries to stop it.
  • Count Paris bowing to Lord Capulet "But now my lord, what say you to my suit?" (1.2). He has come to ask for Juliet's hand.
  • Friar Lawrence holding up one herb to look at it His advice to Romeo: "Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast" (2.3).
  • Juliet at a window with a birthday ringed on a calendar She is thirteen: "Come Lammas Eve at night shall she be fourteen" (1.3).
  • Lady Capulet and the Nurse on either side of Juliet In 1.3 her mother brings news of a suitor while the Nurse keeps breaking in.
  • Lord Capulet welcoming guests with open arms "Welcome, gentlemen" (1.5). He is in high spirits at his own feast.
  • Mercutio telling a tale with his whole body He invents Queen Mab on the way to the feast (1.4). Arms wide, one foot off the ground.
  • The Nurse in the middle of a story, hands in the air In 1.3 she tells a long tale of Juliet as a small child and cannot be stopped.
  • The Prince halting a street with one raised hand "Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace" (1.1). He comes in "with Attendants".
  • Romeo walking alone under sycamore trees at dawn Benvolio saw him before sunrise "underneath the grove of sycamore" (1.1).
  • Rosaline as a name on a guest list She never comes on stage. Romeo reads "My fair niece Rosaline" on Capulet's list (1.2).
  • Tybalt as a cat on a house crest Mercutio's name for him: "More than Prince of cats" (2.4). Later he calls him "Good King of Cats" (3.1).

Lines to letter 12

  • A dawn line lettered along a mountain ridge "jocund day stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops" (3.5). Romeo, as morning comes.
  • A line about the sea lettered along a wave "My bounty is as boundless as the sea" (2.2). Juliet says it; let the letters rise and fall.
  • A line about torches lettered in flame-shaped capitals "O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!" Romeo, on first seeing Juliet (1.5).
  • A question about light lettered inside a window frame "But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?" Romeo, in the orchard (2.2).
  • The closing couplet as a framed inscription "For never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo" (5.3). The Prince speaks them.
  • "My only love sprung from my only hate!" in two colors Juliet, on learning his name (1.5). One color for "love", the other for "hate".
  • "Parting is such sweet sorrow" on a ribbon that trails off the page Juliet's goodnight (2.2). The line goes on: "That I shall say good night till it be morrow".
  • The play's first line lettered across two facing shields "Two households, both alike in dignity" (Prologue). Half the line on each shield.
  • "Star-cross'd" lettered along two crossing arcs From the Prologue: "A pair of star-cross'd lovers". One word on each arc, a star where they meet.
  • "What's in a name?" lettered inside the outline of a rose Juliet, at her window, thinking aloud (2.2). Let the question mark be the stem.
  • "Wherefore art thou Romeo?" lettered up the side of a tower "O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?" (2.2). Juliet does not know he can hear.
  • "Wisely and slow" in large letters, the rest in small Friar Lawrence (2.3). The line ends: "they stumble that run fast".

Project layouts 12

  • A book cover built from one window and one wall Romeo "leap'd this orchard wall" (2.1). The wall takes the lower half, the window the upper.
  • A bookmark with one quotation and where it comes from A line, the speaker, act and scene. 2.2 means Act 2, scene 2.
  • A character web with a family on each side Put the Prince, Mercutio, Paris and the Friar in the middle. None of the four belongs to either house.
  • A clock face for "the two hours' traffic of our stage" The Prologue promises a play of two hours. Mark five acts around the dial.
  • A map of Verona and Mantua joined by one road "In fair Verona, where we lay our scene" (Prologue). Romeo is sent to Mantua in Act 3.
  • A paper mask designed for one character Choose a guest from the feast of 1.5. The mask shows who they are; the text describes none of them.
  • A playbill for a school performance The title, the author's name, the cast in the order you choose, a date of your own. Name no real theater.
  • A poster split down the middle between two houses A color for Montague, a color for Capulet, and the Prologue's "ancient grudge" as the dividing line.
  • A sonnet page: fourteen ruled lines for the Prologue The Chorus speaks the Prologue as a sonnet. Rule fourteen lines and letter it, or write your own.
  • A storyboard of five frames, one for each act One picture an act: the street, the orchard, the city gate, the kitchen, the handshake.
  • A strip of days with each scene placed on it In 3.4 it is Monday, and Capulet sets the wedding: "A Thursday let it be". Work outward from there.
  • A wordless comic of the orchard scene Six panels: the wall, the window, "Juliet appears above", her speech, his answer, the Nurse calling (2.2).

How it works

These Romeo and Juliet drawing ideas come from the play's own words: a rose with an empty label, a feast of masks, a figure at an upper window. In a hint, 2.2 means Act 2, scene 2.

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Five groups, one play

Symbols are single objects, such as a ring, a torch or a letter that never arrived. Scenes by act follows the story from the street quarrel to the two fathers' handshake. Characters draws each person by what they do. Lines to letter gives quotations to hand-letter. Project layouts are whole assignments: a playbill, a map, a strip of days.

The window, not the balcony

The stage direction says only that Juliet appears above at a window, and the word balcony is nowhere in the play, so draw a window over an orchard wall. The ending is drawn as it closes: two candles gone out and two fathers shaking hands.

  • Give each house one color and keep to it on every page of the project.
  • Quotations follow the Project Gutenberg text of the play. Another edition may spell a word or break a line differently.

Questions and answers

What can I draw for Romeo and Juliet?

For one picture, choose a symbol: two stars whose paths cross, a ring passed between two open hands, a torch held high among dancers. For a whole project, draw a poster split between the two houses, a playbill or a comic of the orchard scene.

What are the symbols in Romeo and Juliet?

Light against dark runs through the play: torches, the sun, the moon, stars, candles burning out. So do the rose of Juliet's speech about names, the masks of the feast, the lark and the nightingale, and the letter that never reaches Romeo.

How old is Juliet in Romeo and Juliet?

Thirteen. Her father says she has not seen the change of fourteen years, and the Nurse says she will be fourteen on Lammas Eve, a little over two weeks away.

Is there a balcony in Romeo and Juliet?

Not in the text. The stage direction in Act 2, scene 2 is Juliet appears above at a window, and the word balcony never appears. The scene is set in the Capulets' orchard.

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