• 72 ideas
  • Checked October 2026

Stippling Art Ideas

Three subjects to stipple per press, each with where the dots crowd and where the paper stays bare.

Stippling Art Ideas

Show all 72
  1. Whisker pads of a cat, one dark dot per whisker3 tones. One dark dot where each whisker starts. Dots crowd in the nostrils and under the chin.
  2. An acorn with a bumpy dotted cup and a bare stripe3 tones. The cup is dense and bumpy with dots. The nut has dots down one side and a bare stripe.
  3. A bagel with dots pooled in the hole3 tones. Dots crowd inside the hole and under the outer edge. The top of the ring stays bare paper.

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All 72 ideas

First dots 12

  • A bagel with dots pooled in the hole 3 tones. Dots crowd inside the hole and under the outer edge. The top of the ring stays bare paper.
  • A balloon whose shine is a square of untouched paper 2 tones. Leave a square highlight untouched near the top. Dots thicken toward the knot.
  • A folded card: one leaf dotted, one leaf blank 2 tones. One leaf of the card bare, the other evenly dotted. The fold is the only edge you need.
  • A kidney bean on a plain ground 2 tones. Dots gather in the dip and along the underside. A bare stripe runs along the top.
  • A length of ribbon folded back, dense in the fold 3 tones. Dots crowd where the ribbon turns under. The tops of both curls stay bare.
  • A paper cone lying on its side 3 tones. Dots pack along the underside and fan out thinner toward the top. The tip stays bare.
  • A plain mug shaded by dots thinning toward the handle 3 tones. Dots thicken around the far side and inside the rim. A bare stripe runs down the near side.
  • A single droplet with a packed crescent shadow 3 tones. One bare glint near the light. Dots crowd beside it, thin across the drop, and pack the shadow.
  • A soup can standing in side light 3 tones. Dots crowd down the shadow side and thin to nothing a third of the way across the can.
  • A sugar cube with one face bare and one packed 3 tones. Top face bare, left face thinly dotted, right face packed. The dots alone make the edges.
  • Five circles, each twice as crowded as the last 5 tones. The first circle holds a few dots, the fifth is nearly solid. Keep the dots one size throughout.
  • Three stacked coins with dark wedges between them 3 tones. Rims packed with dots, top faces nearly bare, and a dark wedge of shadow between each coin.

Leaves, shells and fungi 12

  • A dry oak leaf, dotted under each curled lobe 3 tones. Dots pack under each curled lobe. The flat middle of the leaf stays almost bare.
  • A fiddlehead, dense on the inside of its coil 2 tones. Dots crowd on the inside of the coil. The outer curve is left as bare paper.
  • A ginkgo leaf dotted along every vein to the stalk 3 tones. Dots run outward in lines and crowd at the stalk. The scalloped rim of the fan stays pale.
  • A maple key with dots packed in both seed cases 2 tones. Dots pack the two seed cases and trail thinly along the veins of the wings.
  • A morel, every pit a pool of dots 3 tones. Every pit is a pool of dots and every ridge between is bare. The stem gets a light scatter.
  • A scallop shell, dots settling in its grooves 3 tones. A line of dots in every groove, densest at the hinge. The ridge tops stay bare.
  • An acorn with a bumpy dotted cup and a bare stripe 3 tones. The cup is dense and bumpy with dots. The nut has dots down one side and a bare stripe.
  • An empty whelk shell, opening toward you 3 tones. The opening is the darkest patch. Dots thin as the whorls climb to a bare tip.
  • An urchin shell, a crescent of dots under every bump 3 tones. A crescent of dots under each bump. The top of every bump is a bare dot of paper.
  • Frilled lichen lobes, each outlined in dots from below 2 tones. Dots outline each frilled lobe from below. The twig is dotted only on its underside.
  • Shelf fungus stepping up a trunk, dense beneath each shelf 3 tones. Dots crowd beneath each shelf and in the bark cracks. The top of each shelf stays light.
  • The underside of a mushroom cap, a dotted line per gill 3 tones. Dots line every gill and pack around the stalk. The rim of the cap stays pale.

Fur and feathers 12

  • A barn owl's pale disc with dots only around the rim 3 tones. The disc is almost bare. Dots crowd in the eye sockets and in a thin line around the rim.
  • A dog's nose, nearly solid with pebbled bare specks 3 tones. Nearly solid, with a pebbled field of bare specks and one bare streak of shine across the top.
  • A downy feather with a bare shaft 2 tones. Dots scatter loosely where the down is and never touch the shaft. No outline at all.
  • A duckling with three dotted rows for the water 2 tones. Dots under the wing and tail. Three short rows of dots below it stand for the water.
  • A guinea pig's back swirl in lines of dots 3 tones. Lines of dots run outward from the swirl on its back, crowding where the hair parts.
  • A hare's ear held against the light 3 tones. A dense rim of dots, a pale middle, and the tip nearly black. Stray dots stand in for loose hairs.
  • A harvest mouse, dots following the lie of its fur 3 tones. Dots follow the lie of the fur and crowd under the belly. The eye is solid but for one glint.
  • A koala's ear fading to nothing at its edge 2 tones. Dots thin from the base to nothing at the edge, so the ear has no outline, only a fade.
  • A penguin chick as one loose scatter of gray dots 2 tones. An even, loose scatter all over the body. Pack the dots only on the head and the feet.
  • A puffed-up sparrow, its breast left almost blank 3 tones. Dots cluster on the cap, wing and bib. The puffed breast is bare with a few strays.
  • A sheep's fleece as rings of dots, one per curl 3 tones. Small rings of dots for each curl, dense between the curls. The crown of every curl stays bare.
  • Whisker pads of a cat, one dark dot per whisker 3 tones. One dark dot where each whisker starts. Dots crowd in the nostrils and under the chin.

Eyes, lips and faces 12

  • A grin with blank teeth and dotted corners 3 tones. Teeth stay bare paper. Dots darken the corners of the mouth and under the lower lip.
  • A nose built from nostril and underside dots alone 3 tones. Dots in the nostrils, under the tip and down one side. The bridge stays bare.
  • A pair of lips with the top lip darker 3 tones. Top lip dense, bottom lip pale with a bare shine. The line between them is the darkest.
  • A profile left bare against a dotted ground 2 tones. Not a dot inside the head. Pack the background densest where it meets the profile.
  • A selfie reduced to dotted shadow shapes 2 tones. Squint at the photo. Dot every shadow shape evenly and leave every light shape bare.
  • A shut eyelid: dots in the crease, a dotted row of lashes 2 tones. Dots in the lid crease and one short dotted line for each lash. Bare everywhere else.
  • A spectacle lens crossed by a blank slash of glare 3 tones. A bare slash of reflection crosses the lens. Dots crowd under the frame and in the lashes.
  • An ear with dots pooled in its hollow 3 tones. Dots pool in the hollow and behind the rim. The outer fold catches the light and stays bare.
  • An iris of thinning dots around a solid pupil 3 tones. The pupil is solid but for the catchlight. Dots thin across the iris and crowd in the lid crease.
  • Freckles as single dots, thick over the bridge 2 tones. Freckles are single dots, crowded across the bridge and thin toward the ears. Add no shading.
  • Half a face in even dots, the other half blank 2 tones. Half the face is left as paper. The other half is one even field of dots with a darker eye socket.
  • Worry lines kept blank between soft bands of dots 2 tones. Dots gather in a soft band under each line and fade upward. The lines themselves stay bare.

Night skies and water 12

  • A breaker, densest in the hollow beneath its lip 3 tones. Dots pack the hollow under the curl. The crest and its spray are bare, with loose specks.
  • A comet with a tail of bare paper 2 tones. An evenly dotted sky. Leave the head and a long tapering tail without a single dot.
  • A harbor at night with lights doubled in the water 3 tones. Sky and sea both dense. Each light is a bare spot above a broken bare streak.
  • A lighthouse beam crossing a dotted sky 3 tones. The beam is a bare wedge. Dots crowd along both of its edges and thin toward the corners.
  • A waterfall left bare between dotted rocks 3 tones. Rocks dense, falling water bare, mist a thin scatter at the foot of the fall.
  • Aurora curtains left bare in a dotted sky 3 tones. Dots thin upward into each curtain and crowd between them. The hills below are solid.
  • The Milky Way left blank between two dense skies 3 tones. Dots pack the sky on both sides and thin toward the band. Stars are the gaps you leave.
  • Moonlight on a lake as one broken blank stripe 3 tones. Water dense with dots except for a broken bare stripe, widest near the far shore.
  • One star in a pool of blank paper, dots thinning to it 2 tones. Dots thin steadily toward the star, so it sits in a pool of bare paper with no outline.
  • River posts fading into fog 3 tones. The nearest post is dense, the next thinner, the last a few dots. The water is bare paper.
  • Three ripple rings spreading from one drop 2 tones. A row of dots on the far side of every ring. The near side of each ring is bare.
  • Twigs left white in a sky of packed dots 2 tones. Dot the sky and leave the branches as paper. Crowd the dots where twigs cross.

Pointillism in color 12

  • A carp pond in orange, blue and green dots 3 colors. Blue and green mixed for the water. Each fish is a cluster of orange with no outline.
  • A face in warm dots with cool dots for shadow 2 colors. Orange dots thinly over the lit side. Blue dots among them under the brow, nose and chin.
  • A fall tree: yellow specks sunward, red in shade 3 colors. Yellow on the lit side, red on the shadow side, orange dotted between the two.
  • A frog that is green only from a step back 2 colors. Yellow and blue, no green pen. Pack both on the back and let yellow win on the belly.
  • A lemon in yellow specks, blue creeping into its shade 2 colors. Yellow alone on the lit side. Blue dots slip between the yellow toward the shadow.
  • A macaw with a mingled seam wherever two hues meet 3 colors. Red, yellow and blue. Where two meet on the wing, overlap them by a finger's width of mixed dots.
  • A plum mixed by eye from red and blue specks 2 colors. Even amounts of both over the fruit, more blue low down, and one bare patch for shine.
  • A sunshade whose stripes swap specks on the shaded half 2 colors. Each stripe is one color. Add the other color's dots only on the shaded half.
  • A wheel of six dot patches that overlap 3 colors. Red, yellow and blue patches spaced around a circle, with mixed dots where neighbors meet.
  • A white sail on water of mingled blue and green specks 2 colors. Blue crowds near the horizon, green near you. The sail is bare paper.
  • Dusk sky: yellow specks low, red high, mingled between 2 colors. All yellow at the horizon, all red at the top, mixed dot beside dot in between.
  • Poppies as red dots in a field of green ones 2 colors. Green everywhere but a few bare gaps. Fill each gap with a tight cluster of red.

How it works

Stippling builds tone from dots: packed for shadow, thin for light, none at all for the highlight. Each of these 72 stippling art ideas says where to crowd the dots and what to leave as bare paper.

Read the full guide

Stipple art ideas, from a cube to a face

First dots holds plain forms: a sugar cube with one face bare and one packed, a soup can standing in side light. The list then moves on to leaves and shells, fur and feathers, faces, and night skies, where bare paper does the shining.

Pointillism art ideas in two or three colors

Stippling uses dots of one color. Pointillism sets dots of different colors side by side and leaves the eye to blend them. The group Pointillism in color is for markers or cotton swabs: a frog that is green only from a step back is made of yellow dots and blue dots.

  • Each hint starts with a tone count. Three tones means bare paper, a thin scatter and a packed patch.
  • Keep every dot the same size. Darkness comes from how close the dots sit, not from pressing harder.

Questions and answers

What are easy stippling art ideas?

The 26 marked Easy. Start with a kidney bean on a plain ground, a balloon whose shine is a square of untouched paper, or a comet with a tail of bare paper. Each needs two or three tones.

What is the difference between stippling and pointillism?

Stippling shades with dots of a single color, darker where the dots are denser. Pointillism uses small dots of different colors and relies on the eye to blend them. This list has 60 stippling subjects and 12 pointillism ones.

How do you shade with dots?

Set the dots closer together where a form turns away from the light, further apart toward the light, and leave the highlight as bare paper. Every hint here names those places for its subject.

What pen is used for stippling?

Any pen that makes a round, even dot. The color group uses markers, or cotton swabs dipped in paint.

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