In this guide, we’ll cover holiday drawing prompts for every season, from Valentine’s Day to Halloween to Christmas and beyond. Grab your sketchbook, and let’s dive into a year of festive art ideas together! And if you ever run out, you always have our infinite holiday prompt generator.
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Winter holiday drawing prompts
Christmas
Christmas is packed with inspiration for holiday drawings. Try these ideas to capture the spirit of the season:
- Santa Claus portraits: experiment with different expressions for Santa, drawing styles, or even add a quirky twist!
- Decorated Christmas trees: draw a tree adorned with ornaments, lights, or even presents underneath.
- Gingerbread houses: add colorful candies, frosting, and unique designs.
- Ugly sweater design: invent the loudest Christmas sweater you can, then draw someone proudly wearing it.
- Santa’s day off: what does Santa do on December 26?
- Tangled lights: a cat, a ladder and one string of lights that refuses to work.
- Ornament close-up: one glass bauble with the whole room reflected in it.
Our tips: Play with reds, greens, and snowy whites–it’s the core of Christmas spirit!
That’s not all! The Christmas period is especially lively in the arts community, so much so that many creative drawing challenges take place in December. Here are a couple worth checking out:
- Drawcember is one of the oldest community challenges out there with a very simple goal–a drawing a day!
- December Doodles has a slightly more narrow topic and is the perfect challenge for beginner artists.
Feeling particularly inspired? Check out our full guide for Christmas drawing prompts and challenges.
New Year’s
Capture the energy and celebration of the New Year with these drawing ideas:
- Fireworks in the sky: practice creating vibrant bursts of color in the night.
- Champagne and cheers: sketch champagne flutes clinking or people celebrating.
- Clocks and countdown: try different clock designs striking midnight.
- Resolution, day 3: someone already breaking theirs.
- The last minute: a room full of people staring at the same clock.
- The morning after: confetti everywhere and someone still in a party hat.
- Passing the torch: the old year as a character, handing over to the new one.
Our tips: Use bold colors and consider experimenting with light and reflections for the fireworks!
Valentine’s Day
February’s holiday of love offers plenty of prompts to explore romance and affection:
- Candy hearts: design conversation hearts with messages that are a little too honest.
- Cupid and arrows: draw Cupid with a bow, or illustrate arrows for a playful vibe.
- Love letters: sketch open letters with heartfelt messages spilling out.
- Couples: experiment with drawing people together, capturing gestures of love.
- Galentine’s: friends swapping handmade cards.
- Objects in love: a teapot and a teacup on a first date.
- Cupid’s bad day: arrows stuck everywhere except where they should be.
Our tips: Shades of pink and red set a romantic tone. Try different heart styles or floral arrangements.
With that, the winter has come to an end! For a full collection of prompts, challenges, and printable PDFs, check out our full winter drawing prompts guide.
Spring holiday drawing prompts
Easter
Welcome spring with Easter-themed drawing prompts to play with pastels and cheerful characters:
- Easter eggs: design intricate or simple patterns on eggs.
- Bunny characters: draw bunnies with unique outfits or expressions.
- Baskets and flowers: illustrate Easter baskets filled with treats and spring flowers.
- Halfway out: a chick hatching, still wearing half its shell.
- Egg’s-eye view: an egg hiding in a flowerpot during the hunt.
- Bunny bakery: a rabbit icing hot cross buns.
- Folk-art eggs: cover an egg in a pattern inspired by pysanky.
Our tips: Light colors like pastel pinks, yellows, and greens suit the Easter vibe. Consider experimenting with shading to give eggs depth.
Mother’s Day
Celebrate mothers or caregivers with prompts inspired by love and appreciation:
- Floral bouquets: create detailed flower arrangements.
- Mother-child portraits: capture moments of connection and warmth.
- Handwritten notes: draw cards or notes expressing love.
- Breakfast in bed: a lovingly made and slightly burnt tray.
- Hand study: hands that knit, cook or garden.
- Animal moms: a duck leading ducklings across a road.
- Her favorite place: the spot she’d pick for a quiet hour.
Our tips: If you wish to turn your sketch into a proper Mother’s day present, find a nice photo with your mom and turn it into a drawing. Add a creative background using a random landscape generator and you’ll have yourself a unique and memorable gift!
Summer holiday drawing prompts
Independence Day (U.S.)
July 4th offers festive prompts to capture patriotic themes:
- Picnic from above: a top-down view of a July 4th spread.
- BBQs and food: draw popular BBQ foods like hot dogs, corn, or burgers.
- Bald eagles: try drawing the national bird for a creative challenge.
- Parades and festivals: illustrate scenes with music, floats, and people enjoying the holiday.
- Sparkler writing: someone tracing letters in light.
- The final bite: the last seconds of a hot dog eating contest.
- Lawn-chair parade: neighbors watching the parade from folding chairs.
Our tips: Embrace red, white, and blue! You could also try creating dynamic scenes that convey movement.
Father’s Day
Show appreciation with prompts for Father’s Day that reflect their hobbies and activities, a few examples being:
- Grill master: a dad, a spatula and a very serious apron.
- Fishing scenes: illustrate fishing poles, boats, or fish for a peaceful vibe.
- Sports themes: sketch equipment or scenes for popular sports.
- Dad and child moments: capture memorable interactions or shared hobbies.
- Dad joke, drawn literally: pick a pun and illustrate it word for word.
- The helper: a kid handing over the wrong tool from under the car.
- Hand-me-down: a kid swimming in dad’s old jacket.
Our tips: Earthy and strong colors fit this theme well. Think about using shading to give objects a more realistic feel.
Autumn holiday drawing prompts
Halloween
Halloween is a great time to experiment with spooky, whimsical, or eerie themes:
- Pumpkins and Jack-o’-lanterns: draw various pumpkin expressions from scary to silly.
- Ghost characters: create ghostly figures with personality.
- Costume mix-up: a ghost dressed as a pumpkin.
- Haunted houses: illustrate a spooky house on a hill with bats and eerie trees.
- Candy sorting: the post-trick-or-treat haul spread across the floor.
- Skeleton chores: a skeleton doing the laundry.
- Vampire at the dentist
Our tips: Play with shadows and dramatic lighting. Halloween drawing prompts let you explore a fun and spooky color palette.
Thanksgiving
Capture the coziness and gratitude of Thanksgiving with these ideas:
- Turkeys: create playful or realistic turkey characters.
- Family Feast: draw a table filled with classic Thanksgiving dishes.
- Cornucopia: illustrate an overflowing cornucopia with fruits and vegetables.
- The kids’ table: all the chaos at the small table.
- The turkey’s escape plan
- Leftover sandwich: stacked as tall as you dare.
- Parade balloon: a giant balloon drifting past apartment windows.
Our tips: Warm oranges, browns, and reds will bring a cozy feel. Experiment with textures to make food look realistic!
Tips for creating your own holiday drawing prompts
Personalized prompts add a unique touch to your holiday drawings. Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Mix themes: combine different holidays or seasons for fun, unique drawings.
- Explore cultural holidays: look into holidays like Diwali, Lunar New Year, or Día de los Muertos for diverse inspiration.
- Use random prompt generators: add unexpected elements to your holiday drawings with the help of themed and general prompt generators.
- Make it personal: draw from family traditions, favorite foods, or seasonal activities.
- Mix up art media: try masking pen plus watercolors or white pen plus ink for more alternative holiday drawings. Thinking outside the box can bring unexpected fun to your holiday drawing prompts.
Are you ready to start drawing?
Holiday drawing prompts make it easy to stay inspired. As we always say–don’t overthink it! Embrace each season’s themes, join art challenges or even start your own and let your creativity shine through every holiday.
