40+ Beginner Painting Ideas That Are Easy & Fun

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Plus, technique tips for beginner painters
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If you’re new to painting, it might feel like the hardest part of getting started is knowing what to paint. That’s where we come in. We’ve rounded up the best painting ideas for beginners, plus we have expert tips from artists to make your painting the best it can be.

What are some easy painting ideas for beginners?

  • Try a landscape or sky scene, like snow-covered mountains, trees, a cloudy sky, or a sunset.
  • For something more colorful, try a butterfly, peacock, or flower.
  • Get inspired by the season, like painting an ice cream cone in summer or a snowman in winter.
Section 1 of 5:

Landscapes & Sky Painting Ideas

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  1. When you’re painting clouds , Artist Jeanine Hattas Wilson says to use thinner paints because “clouds are transparent. Build up the cloud in transparent layers so the whole thing can feel soft and a little translucent, and feather the edges to keep them soft. And don’t just use white—also use gray, blue, even pink or yellow depending on the clouds.”
    • Perspective tip: Add smaller clouds lower on the painting to look like they’re in the distance.
    • Make it your own: Add birds, an airplane, or even an inspirational saying lettered across the clouds.
  2. 2
    Beach Scene To create a beach , paint a light blue sky in the top third of your painting, a darker blue ocean in the middle third, and a sandy beach in the bottom third. Add a large palm tree in the foreground of the painting, then decorate the sand with sand castles, colorful buckets, crabs, a hammock, or anything else you want to include.
    • Make the ocean more realistic: Wilson recommends, “Where the water is closer to shore, use a lighter color, because the water is more transparent where it’s shallower. As it goes farther away, toward the horizon, make the color darker in an ombre so it looks like the water is getting deeper.”
    • Add detail to the water: Wilson adds, “Once you’ve created the ombre of the water, you can go back in with white paint and add the crests of waves or even fish or droplets of water near the shore. But as the water gets farther away, it will get hazy, so you wouldn’t add those details in the distance.”
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  3. Wilson says “If you want to show that the ground is wet, paint a mirror image exactly below the objects in your painting. But paint it slightly darker—the image reflected in water is typically a little darker than it is above the water. You can also take your brush and go horizontally across that reflection in the puddle. Water moves, so that horizontal brush stroke will break up the object and make it look a little hazy or distorted.” Here are some ideas you could paint reflected in a puddle or pond:
    • Flowers and trees
    • Mountains
    • A bridge
    • A person standing under an umbrella
  4. 4
    Rainy Day According to Wilson, “If you want to show the downpouring of rain, mix white or gray paint with water or glaze it it’s really transparent. Brush on just a hint of the color and wipe it off again with a rag. Then, take a dry brush and drag it vertically down on the canvas. That will create a hint of rain falling down, but it will be very subtle.”
    • Set the scene: Try painting a cityscape or nature scene with puddles and a gray sky, then add the rain when you’re finished.
  5. 5
    Forest Landscape To create a realistic forest, make some trees larger and more detailed so they look like they’re closer to the viewer. Wilson recommends, “If you’re painting a tree that’s closer, include bright highlights, dark shadows, and a lot of detail. But to paint a tree that’s farther in the distance, make it duller, with the colors lighter and not as saturated. Mix in a little of the color you use for the sky, because the atmosphere acts like a filter as things go farther into the distance.”
    • Know where to include detai l: “We don’t see individual leaves from afar, so think of leaves as masses, painting the overall direction, movement, and shape that they make,” says artist Kelly Medford. “But we do see individual leaves where the edge of the foliage meets the sky, so add more detail there.”
  6. Paint a jagged mountain range in the distance, adding snow-covered caps, shadows, or even trees—channel your inner Bob Ross and make it your own. Fill in the sky, adding clouds if you’d like. On the bottom of the painting, in the foreground, you can add trees, shrubs, flowers, or a little stream, if you’d like.
    • Perspective tip: “If you see a mountain up close, the rocks are brown. But if you see a mountain in the distance, it tends to look very gray and purple or blue. It gets that color of the sky in between,” says Wilson.
  7. 7
    Night Sky with Fireworks Start by painting a dark gray, blue, or black night sky. Then, to make brightly-colored fireworks, Wilson recommends, “Put down little white dots where you want the brightest point of the firework to be. Let that dry, then come back with a bright, watered-down color, like red. Use a thin liner brush and start over the white dots, trailing the color in a thin tail down to the center, where the explosion happened.”
    • Create an aura around the fireworks: Wilson says, “After your fireworks dry, mix the paint so it’s very transparent, maybe 98% glaze or water. Then very lightly brush on a little glow around the fireworks.”
  8. 8
    Field of Flowers Place your horizon line high up on the painting to give yourself plenty of ground to work from. Use a combination of greens, yellows, and blues to create a grassy field, then add flowers in any color you’d like.
    • Perspective tip: Use more detail for the flowers closest to the bottom of the painting—you can even include individual petals and leaves, if you’d like. Flowers in the distance should be less defined.
  9. Use oranges, purples, pinks, and blues to create a sunset sky . If you’d like, you can add a horizon near the bottom of the picture, including a sinking sun close to (or partially behind) the horizon line. Focus the oranges and pinks closer to the sun, blending out into cooler blues and purples near the edges of the painting.
    • Set the scene: A sunset is a beautiful addition to any painting, from a beach, field, or mountain scene to a cityscape.
  10. 10
    Snowy Landscape To get the effect of snow, use blue and purple shadows over a white background. You can also use yellows and browns to reflect light on the snow. Add snow caps to mountains, trees , buildings, and other high points to continue the effect. [1]
    • Create textured snow: Dab the snow with a cloth or spritz a little water on the canvas to create a blotted, snowy texture.
    • Combine techniques: If you’re painting a snowy sunset, reflect the colors you use in the sky, like pink, purple, and orange, onto the snow on the ground.
  11. 11
    Galaxy Channel your inner space explorer with an out-of-this-world galaxy scene . Paint the background of the canvas black, then add in white dots for stars, colorful planets, and meteors with glowing tails.
    • Make it glow: Borrowing from Wilson’s tip on making fireworks glow, you can add a soft aura around stars by brushing on a translucent wash of color after the painting has dried.
    • Get creative: Add an astronaut or even a space alien to make this piece one-of-a-kind.
  12. To paint a city scene , trace the silhouette of buildings against the sky. If you’d like, you can look at photographs of real skylines for inspiration, copying iconic buildings like the Space Needle in Seattle, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, or the Empire State Building in New York City.
    • Perspective tip: Since skylines are viewed from a distance, don’t add too much detail to the buildings. Instead, focus on how the buildings reflect light and shadow.
    • Make it colorful: If you want to make your cityscape painting brighter, get creative with your building colors, or use vivid colors in the sky to suggest a sunset or sunrise.
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Section 2 of 5:

Animal & Creature Painting Ideas

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  1. Fill the background with blue or purple to suggest a night sky, then sketch the outline of a mason jar in white or silvery gray. Paint yellow fireflies in the center of the outline so it looks like they’re flying in the jar.
    • Lighting tip: After the painting has dried, dilute the color you used for the fireflies with water or a clear glaze, then brush the transparent color around the fireflies so it looks like they’re glowing.
  2. 2
    Lovebirds Paint a tree branch extending out into the center of the painting. On top of the branch, paint the silhouette of two birds with their heads close together, like lovebirds.
    • Use leaves and grass to frame the painting: Make it look like you’re peeking at the birds through a tree by adding leaves to the top and one side of the painting. You can also add grass to the bottom of the painting—add flowers for a pretty touch.
  3. Sketch a butterfly into the center of your canvas, then paint it with vivid colors. Butterflies can be almost any color, so choose a palette made of your favorite shades. Or, if you want, you can look at pictures of real butterflies for inspiration.
    • Choose your style: For a more realistic look, make the wings a mirror image of each other and stick to just a few colors. But if you want a more abstract look, feel free to play around with different shapes and patterns inside the wings, and use as many colors as you want.
  4. 4
    Peacock Paint the head, chest, and beak of a peacock in the center of your painting near the bottom. Then, paint a huge, colorful peacock tail using blue, teal, green, purple, and gold.
    • Create a fan tail: When you look at a peacock tail, the feathers are distinct. Create a large fan shape, but separate it into individual feathers that are thinner at the bottom and wider at the top.
  5. 5
    Family Pet Immortalize a beloved cat or dog by creating a painting of them. To keep things simple, paint them in a field with a blue sky. Create the shape of your pet in a solid color that matches their fur, then use smaller brushes to add in detail like their fur texture, shadows, and highlights.
    • Make it personal: Think of a unique characteristic of your pet and try to capture that in the painting, like a particular way they tilt their head.
  6. Sketch the outline of a horse’s head onto your canvas. Paint it in shades of white and gray, using a fun color like purple for the shadows. Add a golden horn on top of the rainbow’s head, then add a large flowing mane. Separate the mane into sections, painting each one a bold rainbow color.
    • Don’t go hyper-realistic: Feel free to outline the shape of the horse and even the sections of the mane—this painting looks great in a cartoon style.
  7. 7
    Koi Fish Paint a top-down view of a gold, orange, and white koi fish with long, flowing fins and a fan-like tail. You can either paint the background completely blue, or suggest the water with soft blue lines where ripples and waves might be.
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Section 3 of 5:

Objects & Abstract Design Ideas

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  1. Create a beautiful nature-themed painting of your favorite flower. Wilson says, “If you’re painting a flower, paint in the whole shape of that flower so it’s all one color. Use big shapes and big brushes for that main layer. Then, use smaller brushes to paint in the details like the petals, highlights, and shadows.” Try your hand plants and flowers like:
  2. 2
    Hot Air Balloons Sketch the outline of several hot air balloons against the sky. Paint the balloons bright, bold colors—you can even give them stripes or patchwork, if you’d like. Use black or dark brown for the baskets, but don’t worry about adding much detail to them since you want to create the illusion that you’re looking at the huge balloons from a distance.
    • Landscape tip: If you want to create the illusion that the balloons are in the air, draw a horizon line under the balloons or don’t draw the ground at all. To make the balloons look like they’re on the ground, draw the horizon line just a little above the bottom of the baskets.
  3. Streetlights are a great exercise in painting light. Create a soft yellow glow around the light itself. Paint the ground under the light with more detail since it’s illuminated, but use more muted and dark colors outside the cone of light where the streetlight is showing.
    • Make it yours: Add a detail like a mailbox, street sign, or part of a car under the streetlight.
  4. 4
    Tent and Campfire Create a woodsy scene by showing a campsite. Use bold oranges and yellows to paint a campfire, with a tent nearby. Use dark, muted colors for trees across the top and background of the painting.
    • Focus on the lighting: For this painting, the light source will be the fire, so all of the shadow should be angled away from the campfire, and the lighting should have a soft orangish glow.
  5. 5
    Geometric Shapes or Scribbles If you just want to get your brush in some paint without worrying too much about the composition, sketch out a few basic shapes like circles, squares, and triangles on the canvas, and paint them with whatever color you want. Or, just scribble some paint onto the canvas—you might be surprised to find that it turns out to be a beautiful creation!
    • Make it yours: Professional artist Rebecca Schweiger says, “If you want to create an abstract art painting , think about what you really want to say or express, then ask yourself what tools, colors, lines, and shapes you can use to express that message. There’s not really a right or wrong way to do it.”
  6. “Pour paintings are really messy in the most fun way,” says Schweiger. “Put a heavy tablecloth on a table or put an old sheet on the ground. Lay your canvas flat on the ground and pour on the colors one at a time. Then, gently lift the canvas and tilt it side to side and forward and backward to let the paint run. When you’re happy with the painting, lay the canvas flat again and let it dry.”
    • Use the right type and consistency of paint: Schweiger says, “Acrylic paint is the best for pour paintings. Mix it with about 3 parts liquid acrylic medium and 1 part paint so it’s a consistency that’s similar to honey.”
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Section 4 of 5:

Seasonal Painting Ideas

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  1. Get inspired by the closest holiday. If you’re having trouble thinking of something to paint, try channeling the time of year or the holiday season. This can be an especially fun activity if you’re helping kids paint. Ideas for seasonal-themed paintings include:
    • Leprechaun: Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with a leprechaun wearing green and gold. Don’t forget the top hat!
    • Ice cream cone: For summer vibes, paint a light brown cone near the bottom of the painting, then top it with a colorful scoop of ice cream. Add fun details like a cherry on top, sprinkles, or even a melting ice cream drop—or paint a spilled ice cream cone upside-down in a melting puddle for a fun variation.
    • Jack-o’-Lantern: Paint a large orange pumpkin with a silly or scary face for Halloween.
    • Haunted house: If you want to get a little spooky, paint the silhouette of a house in front of a purple sky. Add details like a gabled roof, sagging shutters, and overgrown bushes to suggest a dilapidated haunted house.
    • Thanksgiving turkey: For a fun Thanksgiving-themed painting, paint a turkey with a brown, red, and yellow fan tail.
    • Snowman: Paint stacked white circles on a snowy background to make a snowman . Make it your own with details like button eyes, stick arms, a carrot nose, a scarf, and a tophat.
    • Holiday ornaments: Round holiday ornaments are a great way to practice painting spheres, and you can embellish them with fun details like sparkles and snowflakes.
    • Santa: Feeling jolly? Paint St. Nick and his sack of toys for a fun Christmas art project.
    • Toasting wine glasses: For New Year’s, paint two wine glasses tipped toward each other in colors like silver, gold, black, and soft pink.
Section 5 of 5:

Painting Techniques for Beginners

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  1. 1
    Choose between acrylic, oil, and watercolor paints. There are pros and cons to using each type of paint. The type of paint you prefer will ultimately come down to your preference and painting style—start with the one that seems most interesting or exciting to you! Here’s a little more about each one: [2]
    • Acrylic paint: Acrylics are a favorite of beginners—they’re inexpensive, easy to learn, and vibrant. But they dry quickly, which can be a little difficult to work with, and the colors can sometimes darken as they dry.
    • Oil paint: Oil paints create beautiful vivid colors and are very versatile. But they take a little more work to master—you have to thin the paint with solvents, some of which have a strong smell. Oil paints also take longer to dry, so you have to protect the painting from dust or smudges while it’s wet.
    • Watercolor paint: Because watercolors require a lot of water, they’re best when you want a dreamy or hazy effect rather than fine detail. But they can be difficult to get used to when you’re starting out, and you have to let the paper dry between washes.
  2. 2
    Don’t worry about getting the highest-quality supplies. When you’re first starting out, it can be tempting to get the best of everything from an easel to canvases , papers , and paints; it all adds up pretty quickly. Inexpensive canvases are great for practicing, and as long as it’s sturdy, a basic easel is perfectly fine. [3]
    • If you do want to invest, spend a little more to get good brushes and paints. Student-grade paints aren’t as vibrant—they’re fine when you’re learning about mixing colors and applying basic techniques, but you’ll want to upgrade to pro-grade paints as you get more comfortable, and some people prefer to start with pro-grade from the beginning.
  3. 3
    Start with a basic 5-color palette. As you experiment, you’ll be amazed at the vibrant shades you can create by mixing paint colors. As such, you don’t need to spend a ton of money buying a rainbow of paints—you really just need the primary colors, white, and an earth tone, especially at first. Try colors like:
  4. 4
    Think about the composition of your painting. The composition is how your painting is arranged on the page. You can say a lot about your subject by how you compose a painting—the viewer is more likely to focus on whatever you place in the center or foreground of the painting. [4]
    • For instance, if you’re painting a cottage scene and you compose the painting so the door of the cottage is in the center of the painting, it might evoke a feeling of home.
    • If you paint the horizon line low on the page so only the roof of the cottage is showing, the emphasis might be on the mountains or a forest in the background, or a beautiful sunset.
  5. 5
    Pay attention to the shapes of what you’re painting. When you’re painting, you add details by building up in layers. Think about the basic shapes that make up your subject—paint those in a base color with a larger brush. Then, go back in with a smaller brush to add highlights and shadows, and finish by filling in fine details. [5]
    • Let the paint dry between layers to avoid getting a muddy finish.
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      References

      1. ↑ https://americanwatercolor.net/six-secrets-to-better-snow-scenes/
      2. ↑ https://drawpaintacademy.com/painting-for-beginners/
      3. ↑ https://irenedumateachesart.com/learning-how-to-paint/
      4. ↑ https://drawpaintacademy.com/painting-for-beginners/
      5. ↑ https://drawpaintacademy.com/painting-for-beginners/

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