12 Easy Fall Drawing Ideas for Kids (Autumn Art Projects)
Fall might be the easiest season to draw well. Think about it: the whole season is round pumpkins, simple leaves, and warm colours that forgive everything. An autumn drawing can be a little messy and still look gorgeous, because fall itself is messy — leaves everywhere, everything orange. It’s the one season where “I smudged it” becomes “I made it look natural.”
So here are twelve fall drawing ideas from our tutorials, grouped into the season’s greatest hits: the classics, the cosy indoors stuff, the woodland friends, and the sky. Each one takes about five minutes, one red line at a time, the DrawCub way.
The Autumn Classics
No fall drawing list survives without the pumpkin, and honestly it shouldn’t try. A pumpkin is one of the most satisfying things a beginner can draw: those curved ribs teach you a real shaping skill, and the finished result looks properly autumnal even in plain pencil. Ours has the curly little stem on top, which is the detail that sells it. Colour it orange, obviously — but leave one rib white for a highlight. That’s the difference between a flat pumpkin and a round one, and it takes two seconds.
A leaf is fall’s simplest subject and secretly one of its best lessons: the centre vein, the little side veins, the point at the tip. Our tutorial keeps it to a few steps, and the real fun starts after the drawing — colour it red, orange, yellow, or all three at once.
Sunflowers are fall’s last hurrah before winter, and they’re a fantastic confidence-builder. The trick is the centre: one big circle, and then the petals are just the same shape repeated all the way around. Repeatable shapes are a beginner’s best friend — by petal number six your hand knows what it’s doing.
An autumn tree is a whole scene in one drawing, and it’s easier than it looks. The trunk is two lines, the branches are smaller lines, and the leaves are just blobs of colour — red, orange, yellow blobs. Seriously, blobs. This is the drawing where “messy” becomes a technique. Our tutorial builds the tree step by step, and then the colouring is where you get to go wild. Pile the colours on. Fall trees don’t do subtle.
Cosy Indoors
Some drawings you can almost smell, and this is one of them. A steaming mug of hot chocolate is peak cosy-season energy — the mug, the swirl of steam, maybe a marshmallow bobbing on top if you’re feeling fancy. Our tutorial’s steam curls are the part worth practising; wavy lines like these show up everywhere in drawing. Draw this one on a rainy afternoon with an actual mug next to you.
A candle is a study in simplicity: a rectangle, a flame, a glow. But that simplicity is the point — it’s one of the first drawings that teaches you about light. The flame is a teardrop with a lighter centre, and the glow around it (just a soft yellow halo) transforms a plain drawing into a cosy one. This is a lovely one to draw in the evening, with the room a little dim — and it makes a genuinely sweet handmade card. Grandparents love this drawing. Trust us.
Bringing a bit of green indoors is very on-brand for fall — everything outside is turning, so the houseplants become the stars. Our potted plant tutorial is wonderfully forgiving: the pot is a simple shape, and the leaves can be as loose and leafy as you like. No two people’s plants come out the same, which is exactly how it should be. This one’s great for practising leaf shapes before you tackle the autumn leaf above. Same skill, different season.
Woodland Friends
If fall had a mascot, it would be the fox. That orange coat against the autumn leaves — nature knew what it was doing. Our fox tutorial captures the important bits: the pointed ears, the white-tipped tail, that clever little face. The tail is the star; it’s big and fluffy and incredibly fun to colour. We’d use two oranges — a light one and a dark one — and blend where they meet. It takes the drawing from nice to “wait, did YOU draw that?”
Deer drawings have a quiet, gentle quality that’s perfect for fall. Ours is the friendly cartoon kind — big ears, soft eyes, and antlers that are simpler than they look (branching lines, like a tiny tree on each side of the head). The antlers are a great follow-up if you’ve already drawn the tree above — same branching logic. This is the drawing we’d frame.
10. How to Draw a Kawaii Mushroom
Mushrooms pop up everywhere in fall, and the kawaii version is pure joy — a chubby little cap, a happy face, spots. It’s the cutest thing in this whole list and we will not be taking questions. This is also the fastest drawing here: three minutes, tops. Doodle a whole row of them across the bottom of a page, in different sizes, like a little mushroom family. Kids go absolutely feral for this one. In the best way.
Fall Skies
Fall weather is famously moody, so let’s draw the mood. A rain cloud is one of the most useful doodles a kid can learn — it shows up in weather charts, in stories, in the corner of every “it was a gloomy day” illustration. Our tutorial’s cloud is the friendly puffy kind, and the raindrops are simple slanted lines underneath. Add a tiny lightning bolt if you’re feeling dramatic — it pairs beautifully with the rainbow below. Storm, then sunshine. Very fall.
And here’s the payoff after the rain. Rainbows are fall’s happy ending, and they’re secretly a colouring lesson disguised as a drawing: the arcs have to be evenly spaced, and the colour order is the whole game (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple — say it with us). Our tutorial builds the arcs step by step so they come out smooth. Draw the rain cloud and the rainbow side by side. It’s a two-drawing weather story, and it looks fantastic on a fridge.
Tips for Drawing Fall Scenes
- Orange is your superpower. Burnt orange, pumpkin orange, sunset orange — stock up. Half of fall drawing is just having the right oranges.
- Layer your colours. Colour lightly first, then press harder for the dark areas. Leaves and pumpkins get their roundness from layered colour, not from outlines.
- Smudges are leaves. If a colour smudges outside the lines, turn it into a fallen leaf on the ground. Fall forgives everything. We said it at the top and we’ll say it again.
- Draw the season, not just the object. A pumpkin sitting on grass is a drawing; a pumpkin with leaves scattered around it and a tree behind it is a scene. Three objects make a picture.
- Keep a fall sketchbook page. One page, one week, one new fall drawing each day. By Sunday you’ve got a whole autumn gallery. Date them — future you will love that.
Your Turn
Start with the pumpkin — it’s fall, it’s the law — and give yourself five minutes. Then grab our free Starter Pack at drawcub.com for printable practice pages. And when the holidays roll around, our 8 easy Thanksgiving drawing tutorials are the perfect next step.
Twelve drawings, one gorgeous season. Go make some orange messes.
