25 Easy Things to Sketch Today (Each Takes 20 Minutes or Less)
A blank page is hard to start. A page with a small, clear job is easy. Here are 25 easy things to sketch, grouped by where you are, and each one fits into 20 minutes or less on any paper with any pen.
Pick one. Don't pick the best one. The best sketchbook is the one with pages in it.
How to use this list
- Set a timer for 20 minutes. Less is fine. When it rings, stop. A finished small page beats an abandoned big one.
- Draw what is in front of you, not a photo of it. Looking at a real thing is the whole point.
- Start with the biggest shape. A cup: a rounded box. A bench: a long box on two lines. Details come last.
- Add one detail and one shadow. That is enough for a page that looks finished.
- Write the place and date in the corner. In a year you will want it.
A pen, a small notebook and, if you like, one colour are plenty.
At your desk or table
- A cup of coffee or tea. Look at the ellipse of the rim; it is rounder than you think.
- A key on a ring. A small pile of overlapping shapes, good practice for patience.
- A pair of glasses. Two circles and a bridge; try it from the side.
- The pen you just used. A long thin shape is a good test for a steady line.
- A stack of books seen from the side. Rectangles, slightly crooked. Crooked is charming.
Around the house
- A lemon. Or any fruit. Draw it whole first, then cut it and draw the inside.
- One shoe. Tilted, from above, from the front: harder than it looks, which is the fun.
- The view from your window. Three big shapes: sky, roofs, trees. Skip the windows of the buildings.
- A plant on the sill. Draw one leaf well and hint at the rest.
- A lamp. Then draw the pool of light it makes.
A note on privacy: sketches of your home are lovely for you and your sketchbook. If you share pages online, think twice before posting the exact place you draw at home.
On the street
- A door. A rectangle, a frame, a handle. Old doors have more character than new ones.
- A bicycle locked to a fence. Two circles and a triangle. Don't draw every spoke.
- A street lamp. A tall line with a small shape on top. Leave the sky room above it.
- A bus or tram stop. The shelter's roof line and the bench under it.
- A bench. Plain and quick. Nobody sits still long enough to feel watched.
Outdoors
- A leaf. Look at the veins; draw only three.
- A tree trunk. Draw the shadow side and leave the lit side blank.
- A bridge. Pick one arch and ignore the rest.
- A skyline as flat shapes. Fill roofs and towers with a simple outline, no windows.
- A puddle with a reflection. Draw the upside-down shapes under the real ones.
From memory
Rainy day, no time to go anywhere: draw something you remember.
- A place from your last trip. One building, one tree, one street.
- Your favourite spot to sit and draw, real or imagined.
- Your street at night. Dark shapes with a few lit windows.
- A map of your neighbourhood, hand-drawn, with five places you love.
- A tiny house on a hill. No rules, for when you just want to draw.
Draw it, then pin it on the map
If you want to keep these sketches as more than a pile of pages, SketchMap Atlas is a free app for sketchers where each drawing gets a place and a date and lands on a world map.
If you get stuck
- Choose a smaller thing. A button instead of a coat.
- Draw only the outline.
- Draw the same object again, faster.
- Turn the page and draw the empty space around the thing.
- Come back tomorrow. Nothing is lost.
Turn the pages into a sketchbook with places and dates
A pile of sketches is nice. A sketchbook where every page has a place and a date is something you will read for years: "this was the café on the corner, in November."
SketchMap Atlas is a free app for sketchers built around that idea. Photograph a page, add where you drew it and when, and the sketch lands on a world map. Over time your pages become a personal atlas.
- Free to start. The free plan keeps up to 30 works and 3 folders.
- Private if you want. Hide any sketch from the shared map and only you see it, a good place for shy, early pages.
- A weekly challenge. One simple theme a week and a gallery of everyone's answers: useful when you need a prompt and don't want to choose.
- Other people's places. You can browse the map without signing in and see how artists drew the same 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.
More to explore
- 30 City Sketch Prompts: one small prompt per page, from a window to a hat, for a walk around town.
- 30 Day Drawing Challenge: one easy prompt a day for a month.
- the gallery: see how classic and modern artists drew the same everyday things.
Questions
What are the easiest things to sketch for a beginner?
Small objects with simple shapes: a cup, a lemon, a shoe, a key, a door. Pick something in front of you and give it 20 minutes.
How do I stop overthinking my sketches?
Use a timer, use a pen so you can't erase, and write the date on the page. A sketchbook is a record, not a gallery.
Do I need to be good at drawing to keep a sketchbook?
No. The skill grows from pages you actually finish.
Illustrations in this article are AI-generated (Google Flow).
