Grab a pen. Seriously. Just grab whatever is closest to you, even if it’s a leaky ballpoint or a Sharpie. Most people think that to "be an artist," you need to start with a sprawling oil painting or a hyper-realistic portrait of a celebrity that takes forty hours to finish. That is a lie. It’s a gatekeeping myth that stops people from ever starting. The reality is that drawings of easy things—the mundane stuff sitting on your kitchen table—are the literal building blocks of visual literacy.
Art is a language. You don't learn French by reading Victor Hugo on day one; you learn how to say "apple" and "cat." Drawings of easy things are your vocabulary.
When you sit down to sketch a coffee mug, you aren't just making a picture of a mug. You're training your brain to stop drawing what it thinks a mug looks like and start drawing what it actually sees. Most of us have a mental symbol for a cup—two parallel lines and an oval. But when you really look at it, the perspective shifts. The handle might be foreshortened. The shadow might be a weird, jagged shape. By focusing on these low-stakes subjects, you remove the "performance anxiety" of art. If you mess up a drawing of a banana, who cares? It’s just a banana. This psychological freedom is where actual growth happens.
The Cognitive Science of Keeping it Simple
Why does this work? It’s basically about cognitive load. When you tackle a complex subject like the human face, your brain is working overtime. You’re worrying about anatomy, symmetry, skin tones, and the "uncanny valley" effect. According to educational psychologists like John Sweller, if the cognitive load is too high, learning stops. You get frustrated. You quit.
Drawings of easy things reduce that load. By focusing on a single, simple object—think a lightbulb, a leaf, or a cardboard box—you can dedicate 100% of your mental energy to one specific skill, like line quality or shading. You’re building "chunking" skills. Once your brain masters how light hits a sphere (like an orange), it can later apply that exact same logic to the tip of a human nose.
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Expert illustrators like Scott Robertson often talk about the importance of "primitive shapes." Everything in the known universe can be broken down into cubes, spheres, cones, and cylinders. If you spend your time on drawings of easy things that mimic these shapes, you are secretly mastering the architecture of the entire world.
Forget "Talent," Let's Talk About Observation
I’ve met so many people who say they "can't even draw a stick figure." Usually, that’s because they’re trying to draw from memory. Memory is a terrible reference. It’s filtered and fuzzy.
The trick is to find objects in your house that have clear, distinct edges. A pair of scissors. A remote control. A single shoe. These aren't just "easy" because they're simple shapes; they're easy because they stay still. They don't have feelings. They don't complain if you make them look too fat or too lopsided. This allows you to practice the "look-draw-look" cycle. You should spend about 60% of your time looking at the object and only 40% looking at your paper.
Breaking Down the Best Subjects for Beginners
If you’re staring at a blank page and feeling stuck, don't overthink it. Some objects are objectively better for practice than others.
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- Fruit with Texture: An orange or a lemon is great because the shape is "easy" (a circle-ish blob), but the texture gives you something to bite into with your pen.
- Office Supplies: Think binder clips or a stapler. These have hard edges and clear mechanical parts. They teach you about how things fit together.
- Plants (The Forgiving Choice): If you draw a leaf slightly wrong, it still looks like a leaf. Nature is organic. This makes drawings of easy things like succulents or monstera leaves perfect for building confidence.
- The Humble Coffee Mug: It’s the classic for a reason. It forces you to deal with ellipses (those flattened circles at the top), which are notoriously tricky but essential for basically all drawing.
The Myth of the "Perfect" Line
One thing that kills progress is the "hairy line." You know the one—where you're so scared of making a mistake that you make tiny, scratching marks instead of one confident stroke.
When you practice drawings of easy things, you should try to do the opposite. Ghost the movement in the air first, then drop the pen and commit. Because the subject matter is simple, the way you draw becomes more important than what you draw. Professional animators at studios like Disney or Pixar often spend hours just drawing "flour sacks." Why? Because a flour sack has no face or limbs, so the artist has to convey all the emotion and movement through the weight and fold of the bag itself. It’s the ultimate easy thing that teaches the most difficult lessons.
Moving Beyond the Outline
Once you’ve got the hang of the basic shapes, the next step in drawings of easy things is understanding value. Value is just a fancy art word for light and dark.
Take an egg. It’s white. The paper is white. How do you make the egg look like it’s taking up space? You look for the "core shadow," the "reflected light," and the "cast shadow." An egg is perhaps the most famous "easy" drawing in art history. Leonardo da Vinci supposedly had his students draw eggs for months. If it’s good enough for the guy who painted the Mona Lisa, it’s probably good enough for your sketchbook on a Sunday afternoon.
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Honestly, the biggest mistake people make is thinking they need to "graduate" from easy things quickly. They do one drawing of a spoon and then try to tackle a full-color landscape. Stay in the "easy" zone longer than you think you should. Mastery isn't about complexity; it's about the depth of your understanding of the simple things.
Actionable Next Steps to Start Today
Don't buy a $50 sketchbook. Use a cheap notebook or the back of a grocery receipt. The higher the quality of the paper, the more pressure you’ll feel not to "ruin" it.
Pick one object right now. Something with a clear silhouette. Set a timer for five minutes. This prevents you from over-polishing and forces you to focus on the big shapes. Do three versions of that same object from different angles.
- Blind Contour: Draw the object without looking at your paper even once. It will look like a mess. That’s the point. It’s an exercise for your eyes, not your hands.
- Straight Lines Only: Try to draw a round object using only straight, angular lines. This helps you see the "planes" of the object.
- The 30-Second Sprint: Capture the essence of the object as fast as possible. This builds muscle memory and helps you stop hesitating.
After you've done these, look at them. Don't judge them as "art." Judge them as data. Did you notice a shadow you didn't see before? Did you realize the handle of the mug starts lower than you thought? That realization is the win. Repeat this daily with different drawings of easy things, and within a month, your ability to translate the 3D world onto a 2D surface will have fundamentally shifted.