30 City Sketch Prompts: Windows, Benches, Balconies and More

By Milya · 2026-10-17

Here are 30 city sketch prompts you can do one at a time, with a pen and about 15 minutes each. They are the kind of themes a weekly sketch challenge is made of: simple, a little odd, and always something you can find within a few minutes of your door.

Save the list, pick a prompt and go. You don't need talent, you need a window to look at.

How to use these prompts

• One prompt, one page, about 15 minutes. Set a timer.
• Go in any order. Day, week or mood; there is no right sequence.
• Draw it on location if you can. If it's raining, draw it from a photo or from memory and say so in the corner of the page.
• Write the place and the date on each page.
• Don't fix mistakes. Draw the line again next to it.

Prompts 1–10

1. Windows & shutters. Find three windows with character and sketch them.
2. A street bench. Or a bin or a postbox: the most beautiful piece of street furniture.
3. A balcony. Yours or someone else's, with everything on it.
4. Three leaves. Collect three different leaves and draw them side by side.
5. A shop window. Draw it together with the reflection of the street.
6. A bridge. Catch it with its reflection in the water, or just the curve of one arch.
7. The staircase. In a building, a metro station or someone's house.
8. The bakery. The window, the bread, the pastries or the queue.
9. A street lamp. An unusual one, with its shadow.
10. Bike parking. A row of parked bikes or scooters.

Prompts 11–20

11. A tram. Or a bus or a ferry: the shape first, the passengers as dots.
12. A cup of tea. Draw the cup, the saucer and the steam if you can catch it.
13. A door. Find the most interesting one on your way to work or school.
14. Shoes. Sketch your boots or sneakers. Every pair has its own story of roads.
15. A flower. One flower: in a vase, a flowerbed or through the asphalt.
16. A clock. Any kind: wall, wrist or tower.
17. A cat on a sill. Or a dog, or a pigeon: one minute, because they won't sit still.
18. A postbox. Draw its colour and its slightly crooked stance.
19. A reflection. In a puddle, a shop window or glass: draw the world upside down.
20. Cables. A tangle of cables or earphones. It is harder than it looks.

Prompts 21–30

21. A tree. One tree, its trunk and the shape of its crown.
22. A fountain. Or a standpipe or the spray from a hose: draw the water.
23. A fence. Or a gate with an interesting pattern.
24. A shop sign. The most unusual one near your home.
25. A plant pot. On a step, a windowsill or a doorstep.
26. A book. Closed, open or lying on its side with its pages fanned out.
27. A chimney. Look up: a chimney or two against the sky.
28. A bird. Quick, small and imperfect: a pigeon, a sparrow, a gull.
29. A lantern. Draw it together with the light it gives.
30. A hat. Yours, on a hook or on a table.

Draw it, then pin it on the map

Each of these prompts is better when the sketch remembers where it was made. SketchMap Atlas is a free app for sketchers: draw a prompt on paper, photograph the page and pin it with the place and the date.

Free app

Tips for the odd ones

• Cables are easiest if you follow one cable from end to end and let the rest tangle around it.
• Reflections work best if you draw the shapes first and add the colour after.
• A cat on a sill, a bird: do three one-minute sketches instead of one careful one; one of them will work.
• A lantern or a lamp looks best against a dark page or a dark wash.
• A hat is a good warm-up: it is a simple shape with a lot of personality.

A new prompt every week

If you'd rather not choose, SketchMap Atlas has a weekly challenge made of themes like these. One theme a week, a gallery of everyone's answers (the most liked sketches on top), and a button to accept the challenge. Draw on paper, photograph the page and add it with the place and date. If you prefer to keep a page to yourself, hide it from the shared map and only you see it. The app has 100 weekly themes in total.

You can also browse the map without signing in, to see how artists drew the same corner of a city, including classic sketches by old masters placed where they were drawn. The Atlas is young, so expect more classics than your neighbours' pages for now. The free plan keeps up to 30 works and 3 folders.

Free app

More to explore

• 25 Easy Things to Sketch: for days when you stay indoors.
• 6 Easy City Sketching Ideas for Autumn: scenes for cold, bright days.
• Places: see how artists drew streets in cities around the world.

Questions

Illustrations in this article are AI-generated (Google Flow).