Art deco drawing is a love letter to the glamour of fans, feathers and gold geometry, and every page here gives you a fresh reason to pick up a black pen and a gold gel pen. There is something deeply satisfying about ruling a straight line next to a curved feather, about watching a plain cream page turn into something that looks lifted from a 1920s theater poster.
Below you will find 29 subjects, from a quick sunburst pattern you can finish on a coffee break to a full hotel lobby scene for when you want to settle in. Work through them in order if you like building confidence first, or jump straight to the one that is calling to you.
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Start the whole set with a flapper, since her face and headband teach you the proportions every later figure will lean on. Sketch a light pencil oval for the head, mark the eye line at the halfway point, and keep the jaw narrow and pointed, which is the flapper look. Build the bob first in pencil, then go over it in black fineliner, letting the hairline sweep in one clean curve toward the cheek.
The headband is where the gold gel pen comes in: draw a thin band low across the forehead and let two or three long feather shapes sweep up and back from one side. If the feathers come out stiff, soften them by tapering each one to a thin point and curving it slightly, rather than drawing it straight.
Compare the width of the headband to the width of the eyes before you commit to it in gold, since that single comparison keeps the proportions from drifting. Add a string of beads at the neckline in gold dots for a quick finishing touch.
Keep the face simple, just a brow line, closed or half lidded eyes and a small painted mouth, since too much detail fights the flat geometric style.
Palette: Ivory Black,Gold,Blush,Cream
Once you have drawn a face, it helps to rest your hand on something purely geometric, and a sunburst fan pattern is the perfect reset. Find the center point of your page and lightly mark it in pencil, then use a ruler to draw straight lines radiating outward like spokes, spacing them evenly by eye or with a protractor if you want precision.
Go over every other spoke in gold gel pen and leave the rest in black ink, which instantly gives the fan its rhythm. If the lines start looking uneven, a kneaded eraser lifts a stray pencil mark cleanly before you ink over it, so always pencil first on this one.
For the eye level of the fan, decide whether it rises from the bottom edge of the page or sits centered, since a fan rising from the bottom reads like a sunset and one centered reads like a brooch or badge.
No ruler at hand is not a problem, since the edge of a book or a postcard makes a fine straightedge for these spokes.
You Will Need
- ruler or straightedge
Palette: Gold,Ivory Black,Cream
Move from pure pattern to a small object with a cocktail coupe, which is forgiving because its shape is just a triangle on a stem. Draw the wide shallow triangle of the glass bowl first in pencil, then the thin stem and a small round base beneath it, keeping all three centered on one vertical line.
Ink the glass outline in black, then fill the inside edge with a scattering of small circles in gold gel pen for the bubbles, graduating them larger near the rim and tinier toward the base. A touch of blush pencil along one side of the glass suggests the drink inside without needing to render liquid realistically.
This one works well as a ten minute sketch if you keep the bubbles simple dots, or you can spend forty minutes adding a faceted pattern to the glass itself, breaking the bowl into triangular panels like cut crystal.
If your circles wobble, draw them larger than you think you need, since tiny circles show every tremor while bigger ones read as confident.
Palette: Ivory Black,Gold,Blush
A skyscraper brings in strong verticals, and the trick is deciding your eye level before you draw a single line. Looking up at a tall building from the street makes the sides taper inward as they rise, so lightly pencil two converging verticals first, then stack simple rectangular setbacks as the building narrows toward the top, true to the stepped silhouette of a 1920s tower.
Ink the main outline in black, then add thin gold lines running the full height of the building between the windows, which is the single detail that makes a plain building read as art deco. Windows can be simple black rectangles in neat rows, smaller and closer together near the top to reinforce the height.
If the perspective feels off, check that every vertical line still points toward one spot above the page, even an imaginary one, rather than drifting in different directions.
Try the village scene drawing ideas next if you enjoy buildings and want a softer, cozier version of architecture to balance this one.
Palette: Ivory Black,Gold,Cream
The peacock is the showpiece bird of this style, and its tail gives you a built in excuse for geometric shapes. Block in the body and neck as simple curved shapes in pencil first, keeping the head small and the neck long and S curved, then fan the tail out behind in a wide arc.
Instead of drawing feathers one by one, fill the tail arc with a repeating pattern of teardrop shapes, each one outlined in black and filled with a small circle or oval in gold, emerald or blush. This repetition is what reads as deco rather than naturalistic, so resist the urge to make every feather different.
Where the texture usually goes wrong is in overcrowding the tail with too many feather shapes; leave visible cream background between them so the pattern stays crisp rather than muddy.
No emerald pencil on hand works fine with just gold and black, since a two tone peacock still reads clearly in this style.
Palette: Emerald,Gold,Ivory Black,Blush
Look at real peacock feather photos for the eye shaped marking inside each tail feather, then simplify it to just an oval inside a teardrop for this style.
A perfume bottle lets you practice the stepped pyramid shape that shows up everywhere in this style. Draw a simple rectangular bottle body in pencil, then build a stopper on top using two or three stacked trapezoid shapes, each one slightly narrower than the one below, like a tiny ziggurat.
Ink the bottle outline in black and run the stepped lines of the stopper in gold, then add a thin gold line or two down the body of the bottle itself to echo the stepped shape above. A small label can be left blank or filled with a tiny sunburst motif.
Compare the height of the stopper to the height of the bottle body before inking, aiming for the stopper to take up no more than a third of the total height, which keeps the proportions looking like an actual bottle rather than a hat on a box.
A blush wash or light pencil shading along one edge of the glass suggests its curve without needing to render reflections.
Palette: Ivory Black,Gold,Blush
The theater entrance is a nice step up in complexity, built almost entirely from straight lines and circles. Pencil in a simple rectangular doorway with a curved marquee canopy jutting out above it, then rule the geometric trim along the canopy edge before adding any lights.
Fill the underside of the marquee with a row of small evenly spaced circles in gold gel pen to suggest bulbs, and run a band of chevron or zigzag pattern along the top edge in black and gold alternating. The doors below can stay simple, just a pair of narrow rectangles with a thin gold line down the center seam.
If the ten minute version feels like enough, stop once the canopy and lights are in; the forty minute version adds a stepped sign above reading a simple shape or pattern instead of letters, plus a scattering of tiny star shapes in the sky above.
Keep every light circle the same size by eye, since uneven bulb sizes are the detail that makes this scene look careless rather than crisp.
You Will Need
- ruler or straightedge
Palette: Ivory Black,Gold,Cream
This scene combines a figure with architecture, so build it in two passes. Pencil the staircase first as a simple series of stacked triangles receding to one side, keeping the steps getting smaller as they go up to suggest distance, then place the standing figure at the base or partway up, her body a simple elongated S curve.
Ink the staircase edges in black with gold lining the stair risers, then dress the figure in a straight beaded gown, marking the beading as rows of tiny gold dashes rather than individual beads. Her arm can rest on the banister, which also gives you a strong diagonal line to echo the stairs.
Where this one goes wrong is making the staircase too detailed and the figure too small; keep her at least a third of the total page height so she reads as the subject, not a detail.
If staircases feel tricky, a single curved banister sweeping from corner to corner with the figure beside it reads just as elegant and is far simpler to draw.
Palette: Ivory Black,Gold,Blush
A mirror is a satisfying subject because the frame does all the work and you never have to draw a believable reflection. Start with a simple oval or stepped rectangular shape in pencil for the glass, then build an outer frame of overlapping fan or sunburst shapes radiating from the top, a classic deco mirror silhouette.
Ink the glass shape first in a single clean black line, leaving it empty or with a faint hint of a wall pattern behind it, then build the frame’s geometric shapes outward in gold, adding a thin emerald line as a second frame layer for contrast.
Measure the frame’s width against the glass oval before inking; a frame roughly half as wide as the glass itself reads as a deco mirror rather than a plain hand mirror.
Swap the sunburst frame for a simple stepped rectangular frame if radiating lines feel fiddly, since the stepped version is just straight lines and still reads clearly as the style.
You Will Need
- compass or round object to trace
Palette: Gold,Emerald,Ivory Black
Take a familiar flower and flatten it into deco shapes with a geometric rose. Instead of soft rounded petals, pencil in overlapping triangles and trapezoids that spiral inward toward a small center point, working from the outer petals in and finishing with the tightest inner shapes last.
Ink each petal shape with a clean black outline, then run a single gold line along the center crease of every petal to suggest its fold. A blush wash across alternating petals, left plain on the others, gives the flower rhythm without needing shading.
If the petals start looking chaotic, step back and check that they all point roughly toward the same center, since that alignment is what reads as a rose rather than a scatter of triangles.
Try pairing this with the guide to drawing leaves for a simple geometric leaf or two tucked beside the stem.
Palette: Blush,Gold,Ivory Black,Emerald
A train poster gives you a strong diagonal to play with, since the whole composition leans into the sense of speed. Pencil a simplified train engine in the lower third of the page, its front angled toward one corner, then rule speed lines streaming back from it in a fan of straight gold lines.
Ink the train body in bold black shapes first, keeping it simple, a rounded nose, one or two circular wheels and a thin stripe along the side, before adding the gold speed lines last so they sit on top of the finished shape. A simple sunburst or geometric cloud pattern in the sky above balances the lower diagonal.
The perspective trick here is keeping the train lower and the vanishing point of the speed lines off to one side, which makes the whole scene feel like it is rushing past rather than sitting still.
Once this works, try it again next time as a poster for a different kind of travel, like an airplane or a highway, using the same speed line trick.
Palette: Ivory Black,Gold,Cream
A jazz band silhouette is quick because you are drawing shapes, not faces. Pencil three or four musician silhouettes in a row, each one a simple black shape holding an instrument, a saxophone’s curve, a trumpet’s bell, a double bass’s rounded body, keeping every figure roughly the same height so the line reads as a group.
Fill each silhouette solid black, then add gold outline details only on the instruments themselves, a curved line along the saxophone bell or a few short lines on the trumpet, so the gold draws the eye straight to the music.
This is a true ten minute idea if you keep the silhouettes simple and flat; the forty minute version adds a stepped stage or curtain backdrop behind them with a sunburst spotlight overhead.
If instruments feel hard to get right, searching reference photos for just the outline shape of a saxophone or trumpet makes simplifying it into a silhouette far easier.
Palette: Ivory Black,Gold,Cream
Following the train poster, an ocean liner poster uses the same bold travel composition but with horizontal calm instead of diagonal rush. Pencil the long low hull of the ship first, then the stacked funnels rising from the deck, keeping them evenly spaced and slightly tapered toward the top.
Ink the hull and funnels in solid black, then add thin gold horizontal lines along the hull to suggest deck levels, plus a gold band around each funnel. Simple wave shapes beneath the hull, drawn as a repeating curved pattern rather than individual waves, finish the scene.
Where this goes wrong is making the funnels too thin or too tall, which looks spindly; keep each funnel at least as wide as one of the ship’s windows and no taller than the hull itself.
A plain emerald sea below with gold wave lines on top is a simple swap if a full wave pattern feels like too much.
Palette: Ivory Black,Gold,Emerald
A sunrise with rays is one of the simplest and most recognizable deco motifs, so it makes a good palate cleanser between busier scenes. Pencil a half circle sun shape low on the page, then rule straight rays extending upward from it in a fan, alternating long and short rays for rhythm.
Ink the sun’s half circle solid in gold, then outline the rays in black with every other one filled solid gold and the rest left as thin outlines only. A simple horizon line across the bottom, maybe broken by a stepped hill shape, grounds the whole composition.
Decide where the light source sits before you start: a sunrise low on the page with rays shooting straight up feels dramatic, while a sun placed higher with rays fanning wider feels calmer, more like midday.
No gold pen handy still works, since a sunrise outlined entirely in black ink with cream paper showing through still reads clearly as this motif.
You Will Need
- ruler or straightedge
Palette: Gold,Ivory Black,Cream
A fan shaped window borrows the sunburst motif but frames it as architecture instead of sky. Pencil a wide half circle arch shape first, then divide the inside into radiating wedge panes using a ruler, keeping the wedges narrower at the center point and wider toward the outer curve.
Ink the outer arch in a thicker black line to read as the window frame, then rule each pane division in gold. Alternate a few panes with a light blush or emerald tint while leaving most panes plain cream, which keeps the window looking like glass rather than a solid pattern.
If the radiating lines do not quite meet at the center point, nudge the center mark slightly until they do before inking; a fan window with lines that miss the center looks noticeably off in a way a plain fan pattern does not.
This pairs nicely with a simple building silhouette sketched around it later, turning the window into part of a larger scene.
You Will Need
- ruler or straightedge
Palette: Ivory Black,Gold,Blush,Emerald
A pair of dancers pushes your figure drawing further by asking two bodies to balance each other. Pencil both figures as simple elongated shapes first, one leaning back slightly and one forward, their arms extended toward each other to form a strong diagonal line across the page.
Ink the outlines in black, then dress one dancer in a beaded fringe skirt, suggested with short gold dashes, and the other in a simple fitted suit with a thin gold line down the trouser seam. Keep faces minimal, just enough features to suggest expression.
Compare the height of both figures before inking; keeping them the same head to toe measurement, even mid pose, is what keeps a dance pose looking balanced rather than mismatched.
If two full figures feels ambitious today, drawing just their joined hands and the hem of a swirling skirt below still tells the whole story of a dance.
Palette: Ivory Black,Gold,Blush
An art deco lamp is a satisfying small object built almost entirely from stacked geometric shapes. Pencil a simple stepped base first, then a slim vertical stem, then a shade shaped like a trapezoid or a fan of panels flaring outward at the top.
Ink the base and stem in solid black with gold edging along each step, then treat the shade as the star: divide it into panels with gold lines and fill alternating panels solid emerald or leave them cream. A small glow suggested with a few short gold lines radiating from beneath the shade finishes it.
The quick ten minute version is just the stepped base and a plain fan shade; the forty minute version adds the panel pattern and the glow lines, plus a small side table sketched beneath it.
Swap emerald for blush in the shade panels if you want a softer, more feminine version of the same lamp.
Palette: Ivory Black,Gold,Emerald
A fountain gives you a chance to turn water itself into a geometric pattern instead of a realistic splash. Pencil a tiered base, two or three stacked circular or stepped basins, then build the water above the top basin as a repeating pattern of upward pointing triangles or chevrons rather than drips.
Ink the basins in black with gold rims along each tier, then fill the water shapes with alternating black and gold triangles, keeping them small and even so the pattern reads as movement rather than clutter. A scatter of tiny gold dots around the base suggests splashing droplets.
Where this usually goes wrong is drawing the water too realistically soft, which clashes with the hard edges everywhere else; keep every water shape a clean straight edged triangle or diamond, no curves.
If a full tiered fountain feels like a lot today, a single basin with the triangle water pattern above it is just as striking and much faster.
Palette: Ivory Black,Gold,Emerald
A sitting cat is an easy shape to build and the pearl collar gives it instant glamour. Pencil the cat in profile, a simple rounded triangle for the body, a smaller circle for the head, and a tall curved tail wrapping around the front paws, which is the classic sitting cat silhouette.
Ink the whole body solid black, leaving the eyes as small cream shapes with a single gold dot for the pupil highlight. Add the pearl collar as a row of small circles in white gel pen or left as plain cream outlined in black, finished with one slightly larger pearl as a pendant.
If the body shape looks lumpy, compare the head size to the body: the head should be roughly a third of the body’s height for a cat sitting upright and alert.
A dog version of this same pose works just as well if you would rather draw the dog pencil drawing ideas with the same pearl collar treatment.
You Will Need
- white gel pen
Palette: Ivory Black,Cream,Gold
The hotel lobby is one of the more involved scenes in this set, so build it in clear layers. Pencil the room first as simple geometric shapes, a wide arched doorway at the back, a patterned floor suggested with a few diamond shapes in the foreground, then the chandelier hanging from the center top of the page.
Ink the architecture in black first, keeping walls and doorways as flat simple shapes with no shading, then build the chandelier from stacked tiers of small triangles and circles in gold, like an upside down wedding cake of light. The floor pattern gets a light wash of emerald or blush between the black diamond outlines.
Keep the eye level at a normal standing height, looking slightly up toward the chandelier, which makes the ceiling feel grand without needing full architectural perspective.
This is a good scene to return to after the simpler ideas in this list, since it borrows a little from the skyscraper, the lamp and the fan window all at once.
Palette: Ivory Black,Gold,Emerald,Blush
A deco clock is a neat object study built on one strong circle. Trace a circle with a compass or any round object, then divide it into equal sections using a ruler from the center, marking the twelve hour points as simple short gold lines rather than numbers.
Ink the circle’s outer edge in black with a second thinner gold circle just inside it, then build a stepped frame around the outside, a few rectangular tiers jutting out at the top and bottom like a tiny building. Simple straight clock hands in solid black finish the face.
Measure the clock hands against the circle’s radius before inking; hands that reach about three quarters of the way to the edge look balanced, while hands reaching all the way to the rim look oddly long.
A plain circle with no stepped frame is a fine swap if the frame feels fiddly, since the hour markers and hands alone already read clearly as a clock.
You Will Need
- compass or round object to trace
- ruler or straightedge
Palette: Ivory Black,Gold,Cream
A pearl necklace is a quiet, elegant subject that rewards a light touch. Pencil a loose draped curve across the page first, like a shallow smile, then place evenly spaced circles along it for the pearls, slightly larger in the center and tapering smaller toward the ends.
Ink each pearl as a simple circle outline, leaving the center mostly cream with a tiny gold dot for a highlight on the upper left of each one, which is what makes a flat circle read as a glossy pearl. A soft background shape behind the necklace, drawn as a few overlapping emerald folds, suggests the velvet it rests on without needing texture.
If pearls start looking flat and identical, vary the highlight dot’s position slightly on a few of them, since real pearls catch light a little differently from each other.
This same highlight trick works for the pearl collar idea too, so practicing it here makes that one easier later.
Palette: Cream,Gold,Emerald
A champagne tower is a fun exercise in stacking identical shapes into a strong triangular silhouette. Pencil a grid of small coupe glasses, a wide bottom row and fewer in each row above, each glass the same simple triangle on a stem shape used earlier in the cocktail coupe idea.
Ink each glass outline in black, then add a thin gold rim to every glass and a scatter of small gold bubble dots inside. A stream of tiny connecting lines between the glasses suggests the champagne cascading from the top glass down through the tower.
Where this usually goes wrong is spacing the glasses unevenly, which makes the triangle lean; lightly pencil a grid of dots first to place each glass base before drawing any glass shapes.
For a quicker version, three glasses stacked in a tiny pyramid still reads as a champagne tower and takes a fraction of the time.
Palette: Ivory Black,Gold,Cream
A pair of bookends is a nice small object study that teaches symmetry. Pencil one bookend shape first, a simple stepped geometric form like a tiny ziggurat or a fan shape, then mirror it on the opposite side of the page, flipping the same shape rather than redrawing it freehand.
Ink both shapes in black, then add matching gold line details to each, checking as you go that the two sides really do mirror each other and are not subtly different. A row of simple rectangular book shapes between them, their spines just flat colored bars, completes the small scene.
Hold the page up or glance between both sides often while inking, since symmetry errors are far easier to catch early than to fix once both sides are finished in ink.
Tracing one bookend onto the back of the paper and flipping it to transfer the mirrored shape is a reliable swap if freehand symmetry feels hard.
Palette: Ivory Black,Gold,Emerald
This one borrows the sunrise’s rays but turns the mood to nighttime. Pencil a simple crescent shape first, two overlapping circles with the smaller one offset to create the moon’s curve, then scatter a handful of small star shapes around it, each star just two crossed diamonds.
Ink the crescent solid gold, the stars as small gold outlines or solid shapes, then build a rectangular or arched frame around the whole scene using straight ruled lines in black, like a window onto the night sky. A thin inner gold line just inside the frame edge adds a second border.
Keep the moon off center within the frame, roughly a third of the way from one edge, since a perfectly centered moon tends to look static compared to one placed slightly to one side.
If you want more of this kind of celestial subject, the Christmas drawing ideas in pencil include a few wintry night sky sketches that use a similar framing trick.
You Will Need
- ruler or straightedge
Palette: Gold,Ivory Black,Cream
Return to the figure one more time with a lady in a simple bob, a quieter companion to the flapper from earlier in this list. Pencil the head and shoulders only this time, a close up portrait rather than a full figure, keeping the bob cut sharp and blunt along the jawline.
Ink the hair in solid black with a single curved gold line along the part for shine, then keep the face minimal, a soft brow, closed or downcast eyes and a small mouth. A simple string of pearls at the neckline, using the highlight dot trick from the necklace idea, finishes the portrait.
If faces feel like the hardest part of this whole list, this close up portrait is actually more forgiving than a full figure, since you only need to get one face right rather than balancing a whole body too.
For more practice with faces at this scale, the girl pencil drawing ideas cover several simple portrait approaches worth trying.
Palette: Ivory Black,Gold,Cream
A tile pattern is pure repetition, a good one to turn to when you want to draw without thinking too hard about a subject. Pencil a grid of equal squares across the page using a ruler, then fill each square with one of two or three simple motifs, a quarter circle fan, a diamond, a stepped triangle, alternating them in a regular sequence.
Ink the grid lines in thin black, then fill the motifs inside each square using gold for some, emerald or blush for others, keeping the color sequence as regular as the shape sequence so the whole pattern feels planned rather than random.
This is the easiest idea on the list to shrink or grow: a quick ten minute version uses a small grid of nine squares, while the forty minute version fills the whole page edge to edge.
Once this works, try the same grid again next time with entirely different motifs, like tiny scallops or zigzags, to make a second pattern that feels completely different from the first.
You Will Need
- ruler or straightedge
Palette: Gold,Emerald,Blush,Ivory Black
An elevator door lets you combine the stepped frame and tile pattern tricks into one architectural subject. Pencil two tall rectangular door panels meeting at a center seam, then divide each panel into a few horizontal bands, narrower near the top and bottom and wider in the middle, the classic layered elevator door look.
Ink the panel outlines in black, then fill alternating bands with a simple repeating pattern, chevrons, sunburst segments or plain gold lines, keeping the pattern identical on both doors so they still read as a matching pair. A thin gold line down the center seam ties the two panels together.
Check that both door panels are the same width and the bands line up across the seam before inking, since a mismatch between the two sides is more noticeable here than almost anywhere else in this list.
A plain pair of doors with just horizontal gold lines, skipping the patterned bands entirely, is a simpler swap that still reads clearly as deco.
You Will Need
- ruler or straightedge
Palette: Ivory Black,Gold,Emerald
Close the list with a gold feathered fan, a fitting bookend to the headband you drew first. Pencil a wide arc of long feather shapes fanning out from a single point near the bottom of the page, each feather a tall narrow oval tapering to a point, overlapping slightly as they spread.
Ink the outer edge of each feather in black, then fill most of them solid gold, leaving one or two feathers plain cream with just a black outline for contrast. A small decorative handle at the base, a simple rectangle wrapped with a gold band, finishes the fan.
If the feathers come out looking too stiff, go back over the tips with a slightly curved stroke rather than a straight one, which is the detail that makes a feather look soft rather than like a blade.
Try it today with just five or six feathers rather than a full wide fan, since a smaller fan is quicker to finish and still captures the same glamour.
Palette: Gold,Ivory Black,Cream
What to Do Next
Pick whichever idea matches the time you actually have today: the sunburst fan or the cocktail coupe for a quick warm up, the hotel lobby or the staircase scene for a longer sitting. Set out your black fineliner, gold gel pen and a sheet of cream paper, sketch lightly in pencil first, and let the gold lines do the glamour.
Frequently Asked Questions
What pens work best for art deco drawing?
A black fineliner for crisp outlines paired with a gold gel pen for the metallic lines works best. Add emerald and blush colored pencils for small accents, and keep everything on cream or ivory paper so the gold shows up clearly.
Do I need to know how to draw figures to try these ideas?
No, plenty of these ideas are objects and patterns rather than figures. Start with the fan pattern, cocktail coupe or clock, then work toward the flapper or dancers once you feel ready for a face and body.
How do I keep my gold gel pen from skipping on the page?
Shake the pen well and scribble a few lines on scrap paper before starting, since gold gel ink needs warming up to flow evenly. Smooth, slightly toothy paper also helps the ink lay down consistently.
What paper is best for this style of drawing?
Cream or ivory toned paper with a smooth to slightly textured surface works best for art deco drawing. It makes the black ink and gold gel pen stand out the way they would on a genuine 1920s poster.
How do I make my art deco drawings look more authentic to the period?
Lean on repetition, symmetry and straight or radiating lines rather than loose freehand curves. Stick to the stepped, sunburst and fan shapes used throughout this list, since those motifs are what define the look instantly.