Easy Things to Draw in a Journal

Drawing super simple and easy doodles is the perfect way to get you started with bullet journaling, or just expand your drawing skills so you can add more illustrations to your lettering and calligraphy work! So I am sharing more than 100+ easy things to draw to get you started in the doodle world!

There is no mystery that I am obsessed with drawing and doodling, I was one of those kids that managed to doodle little things around my notes more than writing notes since my first years of school all the way to Design School, but I never considered myself an artist, until I started doing lettering and Calligraphy.

At first, I loved adding little doodles to my SVG files and as compliments to my lettering work. But now that I started doing Bullet Journaling, I am obsessed with adding little doodles to my pages.

The thing is that many people think that its a waste of time to add many details to bullet journals, but I think that if making doodles makes you happy, that is more than enough of a reason to keep practicing and draw new doodles on each page.

Many people think that if doodles are very simple, there's no way that what they are doing is art, but I'm here to tell you that it totally is! Even if you think you are not "artistic" – anyone can learn to be an Artist. And these super simple and extremely adorable doodles can be the perfect way to get you started!

All the things we will learn to draw

I figured that I would try to cover as many categories of drawing as possible in this post, but I do have extensive guides on how to draw other things like leaves, and an upcoming post for flowers and roses.

So in this post, I will cover many of the other cute things that you can draw in your journal, notebook, or lettering piece. Want to see them all together? Here they are:

Drawing supplies

First, we do need to cover what you will need to start sketching, because even though you can draw these doodles with whatever you have around, if you are ready to test something else, here is the list of all the things I use for drawing, sketching and inking.

If you are looking for sketching paper, this HP paper rem that I recommend to start using with Brush Calligraphy is also wonderful for doodles, you can also use tracing paper to create "layers" and correct your drawings. I also recommend this journal in case you don't have one, and this notebook in case you want to add watercolor details, or you want to make sure there's no bleeding on your pages since you can color and sketch on both sides of the pages, it's awesome, get it here!.

If you want to work on your iPad instead, here you can see a list of my current digital drawing setup and recommendations. Also, here you can read all about the Procreate brushes I use and recommend.

Sketching tools

Pilot Dr. Grip Mechanical Pencil

I love how thick this mechanical pencil is (0.5mm), I always have it in my travel pencil case (if my boys don't steal it). The grip is super comfortable and changing the lead to a softer one will give you so much control and shades.

Paper Mate Mechanical Pencil Pack

I love having a bunch of these around for when I want to sketch something really quick, and the 0.7 mm size is my favorite ever! And while they come with HB leads, just like any other mechanical pencil, you can add a different softness of leads. I like to add strikers and I have them in different colors to differentiate the leads.

Pentel Triangle Eraser

This is my absolute favorite eraser, I first purchased this one while still in college back in Chile, it was the older version but the same concept. I love that the shape of the eraser gives you three sharp points that you can use to be more precise, it's way better than the round ones in my opinion. Also, it's a great alternative if you don't have an eraser shield.

Staedtler Eraser

There are some things that once you find the brand that you love, you just stick to it and never look back. For me the Staedtler erasers are it. I've been using them since my early college years and absolutely love them!

Amazon drawing pack

If you want to experiment with the different softness of pencils, this pack offers 6 different softness of graphite pencils, 3 charcoal pencils, 1 sketch stick, 4 charcoal sticks, 1 pencil sharpener, 1 charcoal sharpener, 1 kneaded eraser, and 1 white plastic eraser.

Sketching pack (48 pieces)

If you are looking for an even more complete option, that is also very budget-friendly, this pack offers pretty much everything you would need (paper included). It even comes with a pouch so you can carry all your pencils and tools.

Inking tools

Faber-Castell Pitt Pen set

This pack is awesome for lettering because you get a wide variety of thickness and also one brush pen, so if you want to start lettering but you are not sure if brush calligraphy is for you, you can just get this and start practicing with the one included here. They are a great deal too! (Instead of buying them in singles)

Staedtler Lumocolor Fine Point

I love that this pen can be refilled (the refill station is sold separately) but if you are doing a lot of work, something like this comes super handy, I was using SO MANY pens, until I found this kind of refillable ink pen. They are not as cheap at the beginning but worth every penny in the long run.

COPIC Multiliner Pack

I was also introduced to this multi-liners during technical drawing in college, but it took me a while to find them here. I love that these particular ones have a great range of thickness, they are refillable and you can also replace the nib. These features are awesome because I can go through one pen in just a couple of days, so this feature really helps my wallet (and can save you a ton too!)

Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pen

This brush pen set is by far my favorite when it comes to learning, it comes in a soft and hard version. Even though the difference is not huge, you can make a little bit thicker downstrokes with the soft tip. They handle pressure amazingly good and if you use them with the correct paper (read my paper recommendations ) they can last you a long time. They come in different colors that are bright and so pretty.

Pentel Fudenosuke Brush Pen

This one is my second favorite fude brush pen, you can also get it in a bunch of awesome colors, and that is always a plus! (you can see them linked below) I love how durable they are and they have lasted me way longer than I thought they would.

Easy cute things to draw

Easy school things to draw

Cute nature drawings

Fruit doodles

Food and snack doodles

Coffee and tea simple things to draw

Space things to draw

Simple ocean things to draw

Easy tech doodles

Random things to draw

Adding doodles to your lettering

One of the things I enjoy the most when I create pieces for my Shop and for the Studio, is mixing lettering and calligraphy with super simple doodles.

Some of these pages are future prints still in ink form, so in order to finish them, I still have to paint and digitalize them before I can call them done, so there is still a lot of work that needs to be done in most of them.