• 132 ideas

What Should I Draw Wheel

Six small wheels in one: easy things, categories, challenges, constraints, colours and tools, and time limits.

What Should I Draw Wheel

Click the button or the wheel, or press Space or Enter. Press again to skip.Tap the button or the wheel. Tap again to skip.

Cat in a boxFrog with…Ghost with…Cactus in a…Fish in a…Duck in…Owl reading…Snail with a…Bear in a…Mouse on a…Penguin on…Whale in a…Bee with a…Hedgehog…Pig in a…Sloth on a…Bird on a…Turtle with…Octopus in…Robot with…Dog in a…Moon in a…Rabbit with…Crab with a…

Sample result

Dog in a jumper

A sausage body on four short legs, with a knitted pattern across the middle.

My list: 24 ideas on the wheel

Your own go on the wheel with the ideas.

    More options

    Every spin uses the whole wheel.

    24 ideas on the wheel.

    Results

      No spins yet.

      On the wheel

        Next step See more easy things to draw

        All 132 ideas

        Time limits 12

        • 1 hour A thumbnail first, then the real thing. At the half hour, step back and look from a distance.
        • 1 minute Big shapes and how they join. Skip faces, fingers and texture.
        • 2 minutes About the longest a sketch still counts as a quick gesture. Keep the arm moving.
        • 5 minutes Shapes, proportions and one pass of shadow.
        • 10 minutes A small finished sketch: shapes, light and dark, and a few chosen details.
        • 10 seconds Gesture speed. One sweeping line for the whole thing and you are finished.
        • 15 minutes Time to check the proportions once and correct them before you shade.
        • 20 minutes A proper study. Spend the first five minutes on placement alone.
        • 30 minutes Long enough to finish a small drawing. Stop when the timer does.
        • 30 seconds Enough for the main shape and the way it leans. Nothing more.
        • One song long Put a song on and stop drawing when it ends.
        • Till the kettle boils Switch the kettle on and draw until it clicks off. Then have the tea.
        Show all 132 ideas (120 more)

        Easy things 24

        • Bear in a scarf A round head with two round ears, and a striped band wrapped under the chin.
        • Bee with a bucket A striped oval, two loop wings, and a small bucket hanging from its feet.
        • Bird on a letterbox A box on a post with a slot in it, and a small round bird perched on top.
        • Cactus in a party hat A tall rounded column with two arms, short dashes for spines, and a cone hat on top.
        • Cat in a box A square with two triangle ears and two eyes peeking over the top edge.
        • Crab with a flag A wide oval with two claws raised, eyes on stalks, and a small flag in one claw.
        • Dog in a jumper A sausage body on four short legs, with a knitted pattern across the middle.
        • Duck in wellies A teardrop body, a round head, a flat bill, and two tall boots where the feet go.
        • Fish in a teacup A cup in side view with a tail fin sticking out of it and a few bubbles above.
        • Frog with an umbrella A wide oval body, two round eyes on top, and a half circle on a stick above.
        • Ghost with a balloon An upside-down U with a wavy hem, holding a string that runs up to an oval.
        • Hedgehog with an apple A half circle of zigzag spikes, a pointed nose, and an apple stuck on its back.
        • Moon in a nightcap A crescent with one closed eye, and a floppy cone hat with a bobble on the end.
        • Mouse on a cheese A wedge with holes in it, and a teardrop mouse with round ears sitting on top.
        • Octopus in socks A round head and eight wavy arms, each one ending in a striped sock.
        • Owl reading a book Two big circles for eyes inside an egg shape, with an open book held at the bottom.
        • Penguin on skates An egg shape with a white belly, two flippers out for balance, and blades below.
        • Pig in a puddle A circle body, a circle snout with two dots, and a wobbly ring of mud around it.
        • Rabbit with a kite Two long ears on a round head, one paw up, and a diamond on a looping string.
        • Robot with a flower Stacked boxes for the body and head, one bent arm, and a single daisy held out.
        • Sloth on a branch A level line, a long oval hanging under it, and a sleepy mask around the eyes.
        • Snail with a house A spiral shell with a door and a chimney, on a long soft body with two eye stalks.
        • Turtle with a backpack A dome shell on four stubby legs, with a square bag strapped to the top.
        • Whale in a top hat A big teardrop on its side, a spout of water, and a tiny hat near the front.

        Categories 24

        • Animals Pick a creature and give it something to do. Start with the line of the spine.
        • The beach Shells, waves, a windbreak, a gull eyeing a chip. Keep the horizon dead level.
        • Butterflies Draw one wing, then mirror it. The pattern matters more than the outline.
        • Cats Loaf, stretch or mid-leap. A sitting cat is mostly a bean shape with two triangles on top.
        • Characters One person with a job, a mood and a prop. The prop does most of the talking.
        • Cute things Big head, small body, eyes set low and wide apart. Round off every corner.
        • Eyes An almond shape with the upper lid covering the top of the iris. Save the highlight for last.
        • Fantasy A creature, a castle or a map. Borrow real anatomy and real buildings so it convinces.
        • Fashion One outfit on a simple standing figure. Let the folds show where the body bends.
        • Flowers One bloom, seen from the side. Count the petals before you start.
        • Food Draw your last meal or your next one. Cut fruit shows more than whole fruit.
        • Funny things Take something ordinary and change its size, its job or its mood.
        • Hair Draw the whole mass as one shape first, then break it into a few big locks.
        • Landscapes Horizon first, then three layers: far, middle and near. Keep the far layer palest.
        • Monsters Start with a silhouette you like, then decide how it moves and what it eats.
        • Mushrooms Cap, gills and stem, with a skirt if you like. Cluster three at different heights.
        • Music An instrument, a player or the sound itself. Drums and horns are good practice for ellipses.
        • Nature A leaf, a stone, a feather or a twig. Draw it life size, flaws included.
        • People Someone you can see, or someone you remember. Head, ribcage, hips, then the limbs.
        • Scary things Hide half of it in shadow. What you leave out does the frightening.
        • Skulls A ball for the cranium and a block for the jaw. The eye sockets sit about halfway down.
        • Space A planet, a rocket or a lonely satellite. On dark paper, the stars are the last thing you add.
        • Sport A body at the peak of a movement: the top of a jump, the end of a swing.
        • Still life Three objects from the nearest shelf, overlapping, lit from one side.

        Challenges 24

        • Both hands at once A pencil in each hand, drawing the two halves together. Best on symmetrical things.
        • Draw it huge Fill the biggest sheet you have, moving from the shoulder and not the wrist.
        • Draw it three times Same subject, three goes, each in half the time of the one before.
        • Draw it tiny Keep the whole drawing inside a box the size of a postage stamp.
        • Draw the far side Imagine walking round the subject, and draw the side you cannot see.
        • Eyes closed Look at the subject, shut your eyes, and draw it in one go. Open them at the end.
        • From memory Look for one minute, turn away, then draw what you remember.
        • Gloves on Wear winter gloves or oven gloves. It is a fair way to stop fussing over detail.
        • Hold the very end Grip the last centimetre of the pencil. You lose control and gain loose lines.
        • Look, hide, draw Look at the subject for ten seconds, cover it, and draw. Repeat until it is done.
        • Mirror image Draw it flipped left to right, as it would look in a mirror.
        • Never look down Blind contour: eyes stay on the subject, the pen follows its edges, no peeking at the paper.
        • No eraser Every mark stays. Draw lightly at first and press harder once you are sure.
        • One unbroken line The pen touches down once and lifts once. Double back along a line to get across.
        • Other hand Draw with the hand you do not write with. Go slowly and let the line wobble.
        • Paper on your head Hold a pad on top of your head and draw up there. A party game for any age.
        • Pen in your fist Hold the pen like a dagger. Big shapes only, because details are impossible.
        • Pen on a stick Tape your pen to a ruler or a cane and draw from the far end.
        • Squint throughout Half close your eyes so the detail blurs, and draw only the light and dark shapes.
        • Standing up Tape the paper to a wall or prop it upright, and stand an arm's length back.
        • Start at the bottom Begin with whatever touches the ground and work upwards, against habit.
        • Swap hands halfway Set a timer. When it sounds, move the pencil to your other hand and carry on.
        • Swap with a friend Draw for two minutes, swap papers, and finish each other's drawing.
        • Upside down Turn your reference upside down and copy it that way. You end up drawing shapes, not names.

        Constraints 24

        • Bird's-eye view Seen from straight above. Most things turn into surprising flat shapes.
        • Boxes only Turn every form into a box or a stack of boxes, as if it were carved from blocks.
        • Circles only Construct everything from circles and ovals, overlapping them where you need to.
        • Cut in half Slice it open and draw the inside, real or invented.
        • Dots only Stippling: shade with small dots, packed closer together where it is darker.
        • Exactly symmetrical Rule a centre line, or fold the paper, and keep both halves matching.
        • Exploded view Pull the parts apart along one axis, the way a repair manual shows them.
        • Fill the whole page Nothing floats in the middle. Take the drawing out to every edge.
        • Give it a face Whatever it is, it now has eyes and a mood. Decide the mood first.
        • Hatching only Shade with close parallel lines. Cross them at an angle where you need it darker.
        • Light from below Put the only light under the subject, so every shadow climbs upwards.
        • Made of something else Keep the shape and change the material: a glass dog, a knitted teapot, a stone cloud.
        • Melting The top holds its shape while the bottom pools and drips. Gravity decides the rest.
        • Negative space only Draw the gaps around and between things, and leave the subject as blank paper.
        • No outlines Build it from patches of tone. An edge appears where a light patch meets a dark one.
        • One shape repeated Pick a triangle, a square or a leaf shape and build the whole subject from copies of it.
        • Pattern for shading Where you would shade, fill with a pattern: stripes, scales, checks or bricks.
        • Silhouette only Fill the whole shape in solid black. It has to read from its outline alone.
        • Small thing, big page Make the subject the size of a thumbnail and let the empty space do the rest.
        • Straight lines only No curves. Build every round form from short straight facets.
        • Ten lines at most Count them. Decide what each line is for before you spend it.
        • Three tones only White, one mid grey and black. Decide which of the three each area gets.
        • Touch all four edges Some part of the subject must reach the top, bottom, left and right of the paper.
        • Worm's-eye view Seen from the ground looking up. Near parts grow large and the top shrinks away.

        Colours and tools 24

        • Any three colours Pick three and stop. Mixing them is allowed, reaching for a fourth is not.
        • Ballpoint pen Press lightly for grey and build up layers for black. It cannot be rubbed out.
        • Black plus one colour Black for the drawing, and one colour for the thing you want looked at first.
        • Blue and orange Opposites on the painter's colour wheel, so each makes the other look brighter.
        • Brush pen Press for a thick line and lift for a thin one. A single stroke can do both.
        • Coffee and a brush Cold coffee or tea used as ink. Layer it for darker browns, letting each layer dry.
        • Cool colours only Blues, greens and violets. Even sunlight has to be made from a pale cool colour.
        • Cut paper, no pen Scissors and coloured paper only. Cut the shapes out and arrange them.
        • Eraser on graphite Cover the page in soft pencil, then draw by rubbing the light areas back out.
        • Fattest marker The thickest pen in the house. Details are out, so the shapes have to carry it.
        • Finger on a screen Any drawing app, no stylus. One brush at one size.
        • Greys only Pencil, or black and white paint. No hue at all, only light and dark.
        • Highlighters Two or three highlighters, layered. Where they overlap you get the darker tones.
        • One colour, all shades Monochrome: a single hue taken lighter and darker. Light and dark do all the work.
        • Pencil stub The shortest, bluntest pencil you can find, used on its side for wide soft marks.
        • Red and green A complementary pair. Mixed together they head towards grey, which makes useful shadows.
        • Three picked blind Close your eyes, pull three pens or pencils from the pot, and use only those.
        • Twig and ink Dip a sharpened twig in ink or paint. The line is scratchy and runs dry fast.
        • Warm colours only Reds, oranges and yellows. Shadows have to be dark red or brown, never blue.
        • Wax crayon On rough paper. Press hard for solid colour and drag lightly for texture.
        • Whatever is nearest The closest thing that makes a mark, on the closest thing that takes one.
        • Wheel neighbours Three colours that sit side by side on the colour wheel, such as yellow, green and blue-green.
        • Wrong colours Get the light and dark right and the hue wrong: a green face, a pink sea.
        • Yellow and purple Opposites again. Let one take most of the page and keep the other as the accent.

        How this list was compiled: Original list written for Draw This Next, September 2026. Drawing terms (blind contour, hatching, stippling, negative space, complementary and analogous colours, gesture timings) checked 2026-09-18 against https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_contour_drawing, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatching, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stippling, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_space, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complementary_colors, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_scheme and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gesture_drawing. Licence: own work

        How it works

        This what should I draw wheel holds 132 ideas in six sets: easy things, categories, challenges, constraints, colours and tools, and time limits. Tap a set, press Spin the wheel, and draw what it lands on. Every idea comes with a one-line hint, the sets are printed in full below, and My list lets you load a wheel of your own.

        Read the full guide

        Pick a set, then spin

        The list under Show only puts one set on the wheel at a time. Easy things is the place to start: 24 small subjects such as Cat in a box or Duck in wellies, each with a hint built from basic shapes. Categories names a kind of subject, such as Food, Skulls or Landscapes. All loads every set at once, 132 slim segments, which suits a lucky dip more than reading. Press Spin the wheel, tap the wheel itself or use the space bar. A second press skips straight to the result. As a what to draw wheel, it answers one question and gets out of the way.

        Play it as a spin the wheel drawing challenge

        One spin gives you a subject. Four spins give you a full drawing prompt. Spin Easy things for what to draw, Challenges for how you hold the pen, Colours and tools for what you draw it with, and Time limits for how long you get. Owl reading a book, other hand, highlighters, five minutes: nobody expects a masterpiece from that, which is the point. Constraints changes the look of the drawing, not the act of making it: Dots only, Silhouette only, Light from below. Results keeps every spin in order, and Copy puts the list on your clipboard.

        Build your own wheel of drawing ideas

        Open My list and type one entry per line, up to 100 of 60 characters; Spin only mine takes the ideas off. Write an entry twice to give it a double chance. The list is kept in this browser, so it is there tomorrow. Good lists to load: unfinished sketchbook pages, the characters in your story, a class's topics this term, or supplies you own and never use. Elimination takes each winner off the wheel so nothing comes up twice, and Put them back restores the set. Run that way it is an art spinner wheel for a whole room: everyone spins once and gets a different subject.

        • Decide before you spin that you will draw the first result. A second spin is only a slower way of choosing for yourself.
        • For spin the wheel drawing ideas in a classroom, put Easy things on the board and let each table spin once.
        • On a busy day, spin Time limits first. Owing the page only two minutes makes it easier to begin.
        • For spin the wheel art ideas beyond drawing, type your own materials into My list: collage, clay, lino print, embroidery.
        • This is a small random things to draw wheel by design. For a far longer list of subjects, use the random things to draw generator, then spin a challenge for it here.

        Questions and answers

        What is on this things to draw wheel?

        There are 132 ideas in six sets: 24 easy things, 24 categories, 24 challenges, 24 constraints, 24 colours and tools, and 12 time limits. All were written for this page, and none repeats an entry from another list on the site. The full sets are printed under the tool, each idea with its hint.

        Is the spin fair?

        Yes. The winner is picked at random before the wheel starts to move, and the animation is then worked out to stop on it. How hard you tap, or when, changes nothing. Every segment has the same chance, unless you wrote an entry twice in My list to double its odds.

        How do we run a spin the wheel art challenge with friends?

        Agree a time limit, then let one person spin Easy things and another spin Challenges. Everyone draws the same subject under the same handicap, then compares. For a longer game, switch to Elimination so no challenge repeats. Swap with a friend and Paper on your head were written with groups in mind.

        Why did it land on a category and not a thing?

        Categories is the set for days when you want a direction, not an order. Draw anything that fits, or open that category's page for a longer list. Animals leads to animal drawing ideas, Food to foods to draw, and Monsters to the monster generator. The rest are under drawing ideas by subject.

        Can children use this drawing ideas wheel?

        Yes. Every idea is clean, and Easy things was written with young drawers in mind: a familiar animal, one prop, and a hint made of circles, ovals and boxes. A few entries in Colours and tools, such as ink, scissors or a sharpened twig, want an adult nearby.

        More tools

        Show 8 more

        Browse Drawing Prompt Generators