Need a little art inspiration kick starter or wondering just what to draw when you’re bored? Random doodles are a perfect activity when you find yourself looking to pass time, make it faster, more fun, or just want to fill up a blank page with some flair and creativity! Sometimes I draw little random doodles in my sketchbook while I’m waiting in the car or for a friend to pick up a take out out order. Whenever you’re feeling a bit bored, these 15 random doodle drawings will be sure to make time go faster and get you in a creative mood!
15 Relaxing Random Doodles to Draw When Bored Silly
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1. Doodling Circles
Use you entire arm (not just your wrist!) to draw doodles of circles on a sheet of paper. Try drawing circles that take up the entire piece of paper, as it exercises your entire arm.
You can try drawing different sizes like shown below, to make your doodles more interesting and randomized.
2. Cross Hatching a Random Pattern
Cross hatching is great to doodle because it will really pass the time when you’re bored. It’s simple, and you can get some really dense detail quickly! All you need to doodle is a few lines (I like sticking with 4-5).
Follow the quick tutorial below to get started:
Simple Cross Hatching Tutorial
- Draw the first group of lines.
- For the second groups of lines, draw them in a direction opposite the first group.
- Each set of lines after that should be in a different direction and gradually become wider apart and bigger.
- You’ll eventually get a nice gradient from light to dark and you can stop whenever you’d like.
To make your crosshatching doodles less random, you can draw a border or large shape and then crosshatch inside it like the drawing below.
If you’re looking for the perfect beginner-friendly black pen to use when drawing random doodles or quick pen drawings when you’re bored, check out this 0.5mm Staedtler pigment liner from Amazon here. It’s the one pen I use specifically for drawing doodles. The lines are so clean and the ink flow is incredibly smooth & consistent, allowing for clean lines that don’t appear splotchy nor broken – perfect for beginners to create bold doodle drawings that pop off the page!
Check out the 0.5mm Staedtler pigment liner that I use from Amazon here. Or, if you’d like to try a variety of different sizes ranging from 0.3mm to 1.0mm, this 4-pack of Staedtler pigment liners from Amazon is great way to try out different sizes and vary your line thickness and details. Plus you get 2 pens for free!
3. Continuous Drawing
Draw using only 1 continuous line without lifting your writing tool from your paper or drawing surface.
Let your hand guide you as it glides across the paper. This really helps randomize what you’re doodling while not putting any pressure on yourself to make a perfect drawing.
It’s a fantastic way to draw casually and keep yourself occupied while keeping your mind active. Plus, it’s really fun to see you’re final doodle once you’re all done!
4. Drawing Flowers
Quick little doodles of flowers are great for planners or journals when you’re bored of writing only notes. You can draw these little doodles in a corner of a page or use it as a reminder for an important note.
You can even draw just the stems and leaves as fun borders for your notes, titles, and anything else you can think of!
Here are some more random flower doodles below to beat your boredom, including a daisy, tulip, and rose drawing.
Just drawing flowers is enough to refresh your mind out of a static slump because they’re visually stimulating and pretty to draw. Plus, drawing nature is relaxing as it’s calming and tranquil.
If you want to try your hand at making some gorgeous succulent doodles, check out How to Draw Pretty Succulent Doodles Easy for Beginners !
For more easy and in-depth flower doodle drawing tutorials, check out How to Draw 7 Gorgeous Easy Pen Flower Doodles for Beginners or How to Draw 5 Cute Flower Doodle Fast & Easy! Or if you’d like to try drawing more seasonal nature, check out How to Draw an Enchanting Pumpkin Doodle with Pen!
5. Doodling the Sun in Different Shapes and Styles
Sun doodles are super easy and you can get a wide variety drawn in short amounts of time with a few simple shapes and scribbles.
The picture below shows just a small sample of ideas for how you can draw sun doodles with not just circles but diamonds, triangles and squares.
To learn my step by step process on how to draw your own unique sun, check out my easy 3-step sun drawing tutorial.
6. Draw Simple Emojis with Different Expressions
Emojis and expressions are funny simple doodles to draw when you’re bored. These cute and quick doodles will add a bit of charm to both your day and wherever you’re drawing it on.
1. Draw a Circle
2. Doodle In Whatever Expression You Want!
It could be happy, sad, or tired. Or even how you’re feeling in the moment.
Doodling your emotions is a perfect way to pass boredom while connecting with your feelings.
These are perfect little doodles to add to your journal, planner, or sketchbook.
7. Draw Random Hearts or Heart-Shaped Objects
These are fun and so easy to sketch!
Trying doodling one heart. Or if you want, you can get creative and start drawing more hearts in unique shapes and combinations.
Here are some quick heart drawing tutorials below.
1. Simple Heart Doodle
2. 3D Heart
The fun doesn’t stop here! For more simple, funny, and cute heart doodles, check out these 15+ Satisfying Heart Drawing Ideas to add to your journal, sketchbook, or planner, and blast boredom away!
8. Make Quick Gestural Figure Drawings of People
This is a great way to fill up a page and add a quick character doodle if you’re getting bored of just sketching objects. These add personality and emotion.
Best of all, they’re not detailed and only take a few minutes to draw. Just sketch a pose with very simple shapes. You don’t even need to add a face, fingers, or toes.
Quick Poses has a large library of gesture drawings and poses if you don’t know where to start.
If you’re interested in doodling figures and people, click here for 5 Relaxing Drawing Ideas of People for all skill levels.
9. Draw What’s in Front of You with Only Simple Shapes and No Details
Draw random objects that you see in front of you. This helps randomize your subjects and find you something to doodle fast when you can’t think of anything.
I just drew a cluttered part of the kitchen with some of my vitamins, notes, and mug. Instead of drawing things in a 3/4 view, I just drew a flat profile view. And that’s all you need to do to stay occupied.
They can be objects on your desk, in your room, or things you see when you’re outside, like grass, clouds, or the door to a shop.
- Some objects may have lots of detail, like trees, plants, or clothes so only try to doodle the main, bigger shape.
- Don’t add any details as it’ll be much easier for you, keep your doodles very basic, like drawing only the outline
This keeps your doodles quick but also trains your hand-eye coordination into drawing different objects and shapes, ultimately expanding your visual library while leveling up your drawing skills.
10. Doodle Cute Animal Expressions
Animal expressions are funny simple doodles that will add a smile to any sketchbook or (art) journal that are quick and super cute.
You can start drawing something simple like a dog, below, or doodle any random animal you can think of, like a platypus, unicorn, or frog. The possibilities alone will blast boredom away.
1. Like the Emojis in #6, Start with a Circle
2. Doodle in the Eyes, Nose, and Mouth
3. Add a Set of Cute Ears
Your animal doodles can be whatever you like, such as a rabbit, cat, dog, or bear.
If you want to get more creative, try drawing different shapes for the heads. This can help randomize what expressions and animals you’ll draw and keep your mind engaged instead of bored.
If you’d like to draw more than just an animal emoji and want to try doodling a cute animal instead, check out my easy drawing tutorial on How to Draw a Cute Bat Doodle Easy with Pen, perfect for beginners!
11. Moon and Sky Doodles
Drawing the moon and sky are simple and fun random doodles to draw when bored because it’s a basically a circle with some poofy clouds and diamond shaped stars.
You can draw the moon in a variety of styles like a half moon, full moon (with or without craters), man-in-the-moon, or even behind a few clouds.
Check out just some of the many cute random moon doodles to draw when bored, below!
These are also perfect doodles to draw an hour or two before bed time because they get your mind to start thinking about sleep. Think of it as sleep-prep!
If you’d like to learn how to doodle clouds with pen, check out How to Draw Pretty Clouds with Pen & Ink Easy !
12. Desserts and Yummy Doodles
I personally love drawing sweets because they’re so colorful and fun to look at. Just thinking of food beats boredom for me.
When you’re randomly bored, drawing doodles of desserts can really help bring you into the present because just thinking of food is very stimulating to our senses. These funny simple doodles can be nostalgic, as they can bring back some fun childhood memories.
You can start simple by drawing doodles of an ice cream cone or donut, shown below.
If you’re a cookie fan, you’ll love the next quick drawing tutorial below of a chocolate chip cookie.
How to Doodle a Funny, Simple Cookie
1. Start with a Cute Animal Smile
You can also think of this as a backwards ‘3’.
2. Draw a Circle from One Edge of the ‘3’ to the Other Edge
This can take a few tries to get right, so you can draw a sketch in pencil first, then use a pen to draw over it. Add a few dots and circles to your cookie for the chocolate chips and you’re done!
You can fill up a whole page with all sorts of food and sweets doodles with random treats like donuts, sprinkles, ice cream, cakes, or even snacks like bread, chips, milk cartons, or juice bottles.
Here’re a few more random doodle of sweets and foods to inspire you.
If you don’t have the time to doodle desserts or just want some yummy & beautiful art, grab this delectable & vibrant Printable Ice Cream Dessert Art Illustration.
13. Details from a Random Object, or the First Thing You See When You Look Up
A quick, simple tip is to just draw and doodle what’s around you. It can be anything from random objects on your desk, to the room you’re in, or what you see when you’re outside.
Just pick something you see and draw a simple doodle of it with little to no detail. It can even be an outline like the bowl, below.
14. Draw Shapes Within Each Other for a Random Pattern
Some basic, easy shapes to doodle are squares and rectangles, triangles, circles, and diamonds. You can try sketching more detailed shapes once you’re comfortable enough with the basics.
How to Doodle Random Shapes to Get a Pattern
1. Start Drawing 1 Shape
It can be big or small.
2. Then, Draw Another Shape Either Around or Inside Your First Shape
It can be the same shape or a different one. Keep doodling random shapes until you’ve filled a page or want to sketch something else.
Check out some more examples of random doodles of shapes below. Forget the boredom. You can get some really interesting and exciting designs and patterns!
For more easy random shape doodles, check out these 7 Relaxing Simple Zen Doodle Design Ideas to Help You Unwind from your day!
15. Random Texture Doodle
Textures and patterns are great random doodles to draw when you’re bored that add an extra flair and detail to your page while filling it up.
The repetition in doodling patterns really helps in improving your line control because it forces you to concentrate on what you’re doing while teaching you how to duplicate parts of your drawing. Two of the most invaluable skills if you want to become an artist.
Try drawing some of these patterns to get started:
- Leopard Print
- Stripes
- Spots
- Furry Hair
- Wood
Here’s a quick doodle of zebra stripes.
Here’s a quick tutorial on how to draw leopard or cheetah print doodles.
How to Draw a Cheetah / Leopard Print
1. Draw Splotches and Spots
I used a marker to get large areas with even tones. The splotches don’t need to be perfect circles but randomly shaped. Making the spots small, medium, and large, adds more variety and randomness to your pattern and keeps your animal print doodle from looking boring.
2. Doodle in an Incomplete Dark Outline Around the Spots
Real leopard/cheetah spots are called rosettes and have some black on their borders to help camouflage them.
You can use a darker color or use a black marker or pen. Make thick outlines on certain sections of each spot but don’t outline the whole spot as it won’t look like a rosette. Keep going until you have added some outline to each spot. You can even add little dark specks in between the random rosettes for a more detailed and believable look.
If you’d like to doodle beautifully intricate yet simple patterns, check out my post on 7 Relaxing Yet Simple Doodle Design Ideas for beginners!
More Simple and Random Doodles to Draw When You’re Bored
Check out some of these insanely easy drawing tutorials for more doodle ideas to fill you’re sketch book, planner, or journal:
- How to Draw 5 Cute Flower Doodles Easy & Fast | Post
- How to Draw Pretty Succulent Doodles Easy for Beginners | Post
- 10 Beautiful Yet Simple Types of Flower Doodles to Draw | Post
- How to Draw 7 Gorgeous Easy Pen Flower Doodles for Beginners | Post
- How to Make Lovely Fantasy Mushroom Drawings Step by Step | Post
- 10+ Dreamy Fantasy Mushroom Drawing Ideas for Beginners to Try | Post
- 3 Quick and Easy Palm Tree Drawing Tutorials with No Art Experience | Post
- How to Draw a Tree Branch Drawing for All Skill Levels | Post
- 15+ Satisfying Heart Drawing Ideas | Freebie
- How to Draw Hair Buns for Males and Females | Post
- Free Drawing Activity Sheet | Freebie
- 5 Relaxing Drawing Ideas of People for Beginners and Non Artists | Post
- 5 Super Mario Drawing Ideas for Beginners | Post
- Meaningful Art Therapy Activities for Couples to Strengthen Your Relationship | Post
- Calming Art Therapy Activities for Stress Management | Post
- 15 Relaxing Simple Art Therapy Activities for All Skill Levels | Post
- 15 Anxiety Art Therapy Activities to Help You Feel Calm Now | Post
- How to Draw the Sun In Any Shape + 40 Art Inspiration Styles | Post
I hope you found this article helpful and maybe it has inspired you to come up with your own random doodles to draw when bored.
Feel free to post any other doodle ideas or thoughts in the comments below. See you in the next post!
Your doodles are wonderful! Very inspiring and so easy to doodle!
Hi Emily, thank you for your comment & glad you find the doodles to be inspiring & easy!