Faced with a blank page, the urge to draw often fades for lack of a subject. A specific brief gets you started far faster than “draw whatever you like”: it gives you a starting point and a constraint, and lets imagination fill in the rest.
Every idea on the wheel says what to draw and how to approach it. The Kids variant is all imagination and simple shapes; the Teens and adults variant offers observation, perspective and shading exercises; the Five-minute challenge variant sets a short constraint, ideal for warming up or taking a breather between tasks.
How to use it
- Get a sheet of paper, a pencil, an eraser and, if you like, felt-tip pens or coloured pencils.
- Choose a variant, spin the wheel and read the brief to the end.
- Set a timer: 5 minutes for the challenges, 20 to 30 minutes for the other ideas.
- Date your drawings and keep them in one sketchbook: repeating an idea a few months later shows how far you have come.
All the options
- Close-up object
- Pick something within reach (a key, a mug, a shoe) and draw it so it fills the whole page. Spend more time looking at the object than at your drawing.
- Blind contour
- Draw your hand for two minutes without looking at the paper or lifting the pencil. It trains your eye to observe rather than draw what you think you see.
- One-point perspective
- Draw a horizon line with a vanishing point in the middle, then a street lined with buildings whose depth lines all meet at that point. Place windows and doors along those same lines.
- Three-value portrait
- Draw a face, your own in a mirror or from a photo, using only three values: the white of the paper, a mid grey and black. Squint to pick out the big shadow shapes.
- Houseplant
- Draw a plant from your home, paying attention to overlaps: leaves in front partly hide those behind. Shade beneath each leaf to make it stand out.
- Character turnaround
- Invent a character and draw them from the front, side and back, side by side, keeping the proportions identical. Light horizontal guidelines help line up eyes, shoulders and knees.
- Three-layer landscape
- Draw a detailed, dark foreground, a middle ground, then a pale background with little detail. The gradual drop in contrast is what creates depth.
- Breakfast still life
- Set three breakfast items on the table, lit from one side, and draw them with their cast shadows. Start with simple forms: cylinder, sphere, box.
- Map of an invented world
- Draw an imaginary island or continent: jagged coastlines, mountains, rivers running down to the sea, towns and a compass rose. Give every place a name.
- Cross-hatched sphere
- Draw a sphere lit from the left and build the shadow only with hatching, cross-hatched in the darkest areas. Keep your lines parallel and evenly spaced.
- A building on your street
- Draw a building near home, on the spot or from a photo, counting floors and windows before you start. Proportions come before details.
Frequently asked questions
What should I draw when I have no ideas?
Start from an object in front of you, or from a constraint: one line, three shapes, five minutes. A constraint narrows the choice and makes starting far easier.
How can a beginner get better at drawing?
Draw a little every day rather than for hours once a week, and alternate observation (objects, hands, plants) with imagination. Gesture sketches and blind contours train your eye, which everything else builds on.
What materials do I need to start drawing?
An HB pencil for outlines, a softer pencil (2B or 4B) for shading, an eraser and a sketchbook with fairly thick paper. Nothing else is needed for the ideas on this wheel.
What can a 5-year-old draw?
Imaginary subjects and simple shapes: a friendly monster, a mixed-up animal, a shape city, a hand turned into an animal. Then ask them to tell you about the drawing; that is often where the story comes alive.