Greek mythology art turns every goddess, hero and strange little myth into a page you can fall into for an afternoon. There is something about drawing Athena’s owl or Psyche’s garden in soft color that feels closer to illustrating a story than just sketching a figure, and that is exactly the pleasure of this list.
Below are thirty one scenes, each one its own myth and its own finished piece, built from easiest marks to the more layered ones. Work through them in order or jump straight to the goddess who has been on your mind, grab your colored pencils and a fineliner, and let the parchment page do some of the romance for you.
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Start the whole list with Aphrodite, since her shell gives you the simplest shape to build a figure around. Pencil a large scallop shell as a fan of curved ribs first, then sketch her standing figure rising from its center, keeping the pose simple and frontal so the proportions stay easy to check.
Go over the final lines in fineliner once the pencil feels right, then color the shell in marble white and gold with terracotta in the shadowed ribs, and keep her hair and skin in warm, light tones so she reads as the brightest thing on the page.
If this is your first time drawing a standing figure, measure her height against seven to eight head lengths before you ink anything, which keeps her from coming out too short or stretched.
Swap colored pencil for soft pastel in the shell if you want a chalkier, more weathered texture today.
Palette: Marble White,Pale Gold,Terracotta,Sea Blue
Follow Aphrodite with a calmer, more upright figure in Athena, standing in profile or three quarter view with her owl perched on one raised arm. Block in her helmet and the owl as two simple ovals before you add any feathers or armor detail, so the whole composition balances before you commit to line.
Ink the helmet plume and owl’s feathers last, since those fine strokes are the easiest to rush and the easiest to fix if you save them for the end.
Where this one usually goes wrong is the owl looking flat or pasted on, so tuck its talons slightly around her forearm and give it a small cast shadow to root it in the scene.
Color her armor in olive green and gold, her robe in marble white, and leave the owl mostly warm brown and cream so it does not compete with her.
Palette: Olive Green,Pale Gold,Marble White,Warm Brown
Look at real owl references for the facial disc shape before you ink it. A rounder, flatter face reads as owl immediately, where a pointed one looks like a generic bird.
Bring the mood down a little with Persephone, seated and holding a split pomegranate with a few loose seeds in her open palm. Draw the fruit first as a simple circle sliced open, since getting its proportion right anchors the whole piece before her figure goes in around it.
Build her seated pose with the pomegranate near her chest or lap, then ink her figure and the fruit’s rind in one pass, leaving the seeds as small ungapped circles you will color last.
The eye in this scene always goes to the seeds, so color each one a slightly different red and add one tiny white highlight dot per seed with a gel pen once the pencil is dry.
If you want the quick version, skip the full seated figure and just draw her hands cupping the open fruit close up, which still tells the whole story in ten minutes.
You Will Need
- white gel pen for seed highlights
Palette: Deep Crimson,Terracotta,Olive Green,Marble White
Medusa is a favorite to draw precisely because you can make her serene rather than monstrous, so give her a calm, lowered gaze and let the snakes do the drama instead of her expression. Sketch her face and shoulders first, then treat each snake as a simple curved line radiating from her scalp before you thicken any of them into bodies.
Ink her face with a steady, unbroken line so it stays gentle, and vary the snake outlines instead, some thin and some thicker, so the hair has rhythm rather than looking like a wig of identical ropes.
This piece can tip into chaotic fast, so keep no more than seven or eight snakes and let a few trail off the edge of the page rather than cramming every one into frame.
Color her skin in warm marble tones and the snakes in olive green with terracotta undersides, keeping her face the calmest, palest area so it still reads as the center of the piece.
Palette: Olive Green,Terracotta,Marble White,Deep Crimson
Move into motion with Artemis, drawn mid stride with her bow drawn and a deer standing close beside her rather than fleeing, since this is her companion, not her prey. Sketch the deer’s body as one long oval with thin straight legs before antlers or spots, and keep Artemis’s bow arm at a true right angle to her body so the draw looks mechanically correct.
Where this eye level sits matters here: put the horizon low, around her knees, so both she and the deer feel tall and a little heroic against the sky.
Ink the bowstring as one taut, perfectly straight line, since any wobble there reads instantly as a mistake no matter how good the rest of the figure is.
Color her tunic in olive green, the deer in warm terracotta and cream, and add a pale gold moon low in the background to place her as a huntress of twilight.
Palette: Olive Green,Terracotta,Pale Gold,Marble White
Slow the pace with Demeter standing waist deep in wheat, her arms loose and her face turned slightly up, since this scene leans on texture more than action. Draw her figure first with simple drapery folds, then build the wheat around her in layered rows working from the back of the field forward so the stalks nearest her overlap convincingly.
For the wheat texture itself, work each stalk in two or three quick pencil strokes rather than single lines, then use a kneaded eraser to lift tiny highlights along a few stalks catching the light.
Beginners often draw every stalk the same height, which flattens the field, so vary them slightly and let a few bend.
Color the wheat in warm gold and ochre, her robe in marble white, and keep the sky a soft, pale olive blue so the gold field stays the warmest part of the page.
Palette: Pale Gold,Marble White,Olive Green,Terracotta
Give yourself a regal pause with Hera standing beside a peacock with its tail fully fanned, since the bird’s feather pattern is the real centerpiece here. Draw her figure and crown first, keeping her pose still and upright, then build the peacock’s fan as a simple半circle of lines radiating from one point before any eye spots go in.
Add the feather eye spots last, spacing them unevenly rather than in a perfect grid, which keeps the fan looking organic instead of stamped.
Ink Hera’s crown and jewelry with slightly heavier line weight than the rest of her, since that small contrast is what reads as royal without needing extra detail.
Color the peacock in sea blue and olive green with gold eye spots, and keep Hera in marble white and gold so she and the bird share a palette rather than competing.
Palette: Sea Blue,Olive Green,Pale Gold,Marble White
After solo figures, try a small group with the Muses dancing in a loose circle, linked by scarves rather than hands so you avoid drawing overlapping fingers. Sketch three or four figures as simple stick poses first to lock in the circle’s rhythm, then build each one up into a full figure once the spacing feels even.
Vary each Muse’s arm position and head tilt so the group does not look like one figure copied three times, which is the easiest way this composition goes stiff.
Ink the nearest figure with the strongest line weight and let the furthest one go slightly lighter, which pushes her back in space without any real perspective drawing.
Color their robes in a soft rotation of terracotta, sea blue and olive green so the eye moves around the circle, and keep the background bare parchment to let the dance stay the focus.
Palette: Terracotta,Sea Blue,Olive Green,Pale Gold
Carry the momentum into a more dramatic moment with Pandora kneeling over an open box as light spills upward across her face. Draw the box first as a simple rectangular shape with the lid tilted open, then place her face and hands catching that light before you add any background detail.
Light the whole scene from below, which is unusual and exactly what sells the moment: her chin, the underside of her nose and her raised eyebrows all catch the glow, while the top of her head stays in shadow.
Color the light itself in pale gold fading to marble white at its brightest point, and keep everything else in deeper terracotta and olive so the glow reads as the only bright thing in the piece.
If you want the quick version, draw just her face and hands lit from below over the box’s edge, which still tells the story in ten minutes.
Palette: Pale Gold,Marble White,Terracotta,Olive Green
Soften the mood with Psyche and Eros seated close together among garden flowers, his wings spread gently behind them both. Sketch the two figures as one connected shape first, overlapping shoulders and knees, so the pair reads as a couple rather than two separate drawings pasted side by side.
Draw his wings last, building feathers in small overlapping rows from the top down, and keep them large but not overpowering the two faces, which should stay the brightest, most detailed part of the page.
The garden around them can stay loose: a few flower shapes and leaf clusters in the foreground are enough, so resist filling the whole background with detail that pulls focus from the couple.
Color their skin warm and even, his wings in marble white and pale gold, and scatter small terracotta and sea blue flowers at their feet.
Palette: Marble White,Pale Gold,Terracotta,Sea Blue
Try a two figure scene with more psychological distance in Echo and Narcissus, him leaning over a still pool and her half hidden behind foliage nearby. Draw the pool first as a simple flattened ellipse, then place Narcissus’s reflection inside it as a mirrored, slightly wavier version of his face before you finish his actual features above the water.
Keep the eye line low, right at the pool’s edge, so both his real face and his reflection sit close together and clearly belong to the same water’s surface.
Echo is the one beginners forget to give enough presence to, so give her a clear, sad expression even though she is tucked into the leaves, rather than letting her disappear into background texture.
Color the pool in cool sea blue, his skin warm against it, and keep Echo in muted olive green so she reads as blending into the landscape, which is exactly her myth.
Palette: Sea Blue,Terracotta,Olive Green,Marble White
Bring in night with Selene, drawn in profile with a crescent moon resting just above or behind her head rather than floating separately in the sky. Sketch her profile first since a clean side view is more forgiving than a front facing one, then build the moon shape so it overlaps her hair slightly and feels attached to the scene.
Her veil or hair can trail off into soft curved lines across the dark background, almost like a comet’s tail, which gives the whole piece a feeling of drifting movement with very little extra drawing.
Where this one goes wrong is a moon that looks pasted flat on top of her, so add one soft shadow where her hair crosses in front of it to tie the two shapes together.
Color her skin pale and cool, the moon in marble white and pale gold, and darken the background sky toward deep olive and navy at the edges of the page.
Palette: Marble White,Pale Gold,Olive Green,Sea Blue
For night backgrounds like this, try layering watercolor pencil first and go over it dry with colored pencil once it has dried, which gives a deeper, smoother dark without heavy wax buildup.
Ease into something quieter with Hestia seated by a hearth, her figure lit warmly from the fire beside her rather than from above. Draw the hearth and its flames first as a few simple curved shapes, then place her seated figure so the firelight falls across one side of her face and arm.
Shade the side of her away from the fire slightly cooler and darker, even if you only have warm pencils, by pressing lighter and leaving more parchment showing through, which reads as shadow without needing a gray pencil.
Keep the room around her almost empty: a hearth, maybe one jar or bowl nearby, since Hestia’s myth is about stillness and a crowded background works against that calm.
Color the flames in terracotta and pale gold, her robe in warm marble white, and let the rest of the scene fade into soft, dark olive shadow.
Palette: Terracotta,Pale Gold,Marble White,Olive Green
Return to a group pose with the Three Graces, standing close together in a chain of linked hands, which is a classic composition worth practicing on its own terms. Block all three figures as simple overlapping ovals first so you can check the spacing feels balanced before you commit to any individual pose.
Measure the middle figure against the two outer ones: her head should sit roughly level with theirs even if she faces a different direction, which is the detail that keeps this trio from looking lopsided.
Ink the connected hands carefully as one continuous shape rather than three separate hands drawn in isolation, since that chain is what makes the group read as united rather than crowded.
Color their robes in a soft gradient from terracotta through gold to marble white across the three figures, which ties them together visually the way their linked hands do physically.
Palette: Terracotta,Pale Gold,Marble White,Olive Green
Add a sense of place with Ariadne standing at a labyrinth entrance, a spool of red thread unspooling from her hand into the maze behind her. Sketch the labyrinth walls first as a simple geometric pattern receding into the background, then place her figure in the foreground so she stays large and clear against that busier pattern.
Keep the maze lines thinner and lighter than her outline, since the contrast in line weight is what keeps the labyrinth from visually fighting with her figure for attention.
Let the thread be the one bright, saturated color on the page: draw it as a single continuous looping line from her fingers into the maze, which does more storytelling than any facial expression could.
Color her robe in marble white and olive, the labyrinth walls in muted terracotta, and the thread in deep, unmixed crimson red.
Palette: Deep Crimson,Marble White,Olive Green,Terracotta
Shift into pure color drama with Eos, shown mid gesture as if she is literally trailing color across the sky with one outstretched hand. Draw her figure small against a large sky area, since this piece is really a sunrise with a figure in it rather than a portrait with a sky behind her.
Work the sky in horizontal pencil layers from the top down, starting with the coolest olive blue at the top of the page and working through gold into warm terracotta near the horizon, blending where the bands meet.
Her trailing sleeve or scarf can follow the same gradient, which is an easy way to tie the figure into the sky rather than having her sit flatly on top of it.
For the quick version, skip her figure almost entirely and draw just a trailing hand and sleeve across the gradient sky, which still reads clearly in ten minutes.
Palette: Olive Green,Pale Gold,Terracotta,Marble White
Keep the sky theme going with Iris, standing with one arm raised as a rainbow arcs from her fingertips across the page. Draw the rainbow’s arc first as a single clean curved line using a plate or round lid to trace it, then build her figure standing at one end of that arc.
Space the rainbow’s color bands by eye rather than measuring exactly, and keep them soft and translucent rather than fully saturated, layering colored pencil lightly so the parchment still shows through each band.
Her pose should lean slightly into the direction of the arc, which keeps her from looking like she is standing beside the rainbow rather than conjuring it.
Color her robe in marble white to let the rainbow bands of terracotta, gold, olive and sea blue stay the most saturated part of the page.
You Will Need
- a plate or round lid to trace the rainbow’s arc
Palette: Terracotta,Pale Gold,Olive Green,Sea Blue
Carry on into darkness with Nyx, her hair flowing out into a star filled night sky rather than stopping at her shoulders. Draw her face and upper body first against a mostly bare page, then let her hair extend outward as loose curved lines that gradually fill with small star dots as they spread.
Place the stars more densely near the edges of the page and sparser near her face, which keeps her features readable instead of getting lost in a scattered sky.
Use a white gel pen for the brightest few stars once the dark pencil background is finished, since gel pen over colored pencil gives a crisper point of light than pencil alone can manage.
Color her skin in cool pale tones, her hair and the sky in deep olive and navy blue, and keep the stars themselves in gold and marble white.
You Will Need
- white gel pen for stars
Palette: Olive Green,Sea Blue,Pale Gold,Marble White
Lighten the mood with a sea nymph reclining on a rock, one hand resting on a dolphin arching beside her out of the water. Draw the dolphin first as a single smooth curved line for its back, since that one arc sets the whole pose, then build the nymph reclining against it so her body echoes the same curve.
Keep the water around them simple: a few overlapping wave lines are enough, and resist adding too much foam or detail that competes with the two main curved shapes.
The dolphin’s skin should stay smooth with almost no texture, just a gradient from darker sea blue on top to pale marble white underneath, which reads as wet and glossy without any real shading work.
Color her in warm terracotta skin tones against the cool sea blue dolphin and water, which is the contrast that makes this piece feel balanced rather than all one temperature.
Palette: Sea Blue,Marble White,Terracotta,Olive Green
Take on a more involved transformation piece with Daphne, her arms and hair already becoming laurel branches and leaves as she turns mid motion. Draw her human half first from the waist down, then let the transformation begin partway up her body, her fingers lengthening into thin branches and her hair breaking into leaf clusters.
Build the leaves in small overlapping clusters rather than one at a time, working from the branch tips inward, which reads as foliage faster than drawing each leaf in isolation.
This piece can look muddled if the human and tree halves fight for equal space, so let the tree portion take up slightly more of the page, which matches the myth’s ending and gives the eye a clear direction to follow upward.
Color her remaining skin warm and pale, the bark in deep terracotta brown, and the leaves in two shades of olive green for depth.
Palette: Terracotta,Olive Green,Marble White,Pale Gold
Pick the energy back up with Hermes shown mid flight, his winged sandals the real focus of the piece even though his whole figure is in motion. Draw the sandals first as small wing shapes attached at the ankle, then build his running or leaping pose around them, leaning his whole body in the direction of travel.
Angle his body diagonally across the page rather than upright, since a tilted figure is what reads as flight, where a straight vertical pose just looks like standing with wings attached.
Keep a few short motion lines trailing behind his sandals and cloak, which is a small trick that adds a lot of speed for very little extra drawing.
Color his sandals and cloak in pale gold and marble white, his skin warm, and leave the background mostly bare parchment so nothing slows down the sense of movement.
Palette: Pale Gold,Marble White,Terracotta,Olive Green
Settle into something more poised with Apollo seated, a lyre resting against his knee as if paused between songs. Draw the lyre first as a simple curved frame with straight strings before his figure, since getting the instrument’s proportions right matters more here than perfect anatomy.
Place a soft light source coming from one side, as if from the sun itself, so one side of his face and the lyre’s strings catch a slightly brighter highlight than the rest.
Ink the lyre’s strings as very thin, evenly spaced lines, which is the one detail that makes the instrument read as a lyre rather than an abstract curved shape.
Color his robe in marble white and gold, the lyre in warm terracotta wood tones, and add a soft laurel crown in olive green resting in his hair.
Palette: Pale Gold,Marble White,Terracotta,Olive Green
Move into something more atmospheric with the Oracle seated on her tripod, soft smoke or vapor curling up around her from below. Draw the tripod first as three simple crossed legs supporting a shallow bowl shape, then place her seated figure on top, her head tilted slightly back as if receiving a vision.
Build the rising smoke in loose, overlapping curved lines rather than one solid shape, working from the bowl upward and letting the lines thin out as they rise and fade near the top of the page.
Keep her expression distant and calm rather than dramatic, which fits the mystery of the scene better than wide eyes or an open mouth would.
Color the smoke in pale sea blue and marble white fading to nothing, her robe in deep olive, and the tripod in dark terracotta bronze tones.
Palette: Sea Blue,Marble White,Olive Green,Terracotta
Switch to an animal subject with Pegasus shown mid flight above a bank of clouds, his wings fully spread to fill most of the page. Draw his body as a simple horse shape first in a galloping pose, then build the wings large and spread wide from his shoulders, since the wings are what make this piece feel grand rather than just a horse drawing.
Keep the clouds below him soft and loosely shaded with the side of a pencil rather than outlined, which lets him look like he is genuinely floating above them rather than standing on a solid shape.
One measuring trick helps here: his wingspan from tip to tip should roughly equal his body’s full length from nose to tail, which keeps the proportions reading as powerful rather than small and bird like.
Color him in marble white with pale gold highlights along his mane and wing edges, and keep the clouds in soft sea blue and white below him.
Palette: Marble White,Pale Gold,Sea Blue,Olive Green
Build a fuller scene with Orpheus seated among several animals drawn close around him, all turned toward his lyre as if listening. Draw him and his lyre first in the center of the page, then add two or three animals around him, a deer, a bird and perhaps a fox, keeping each one a simple seated or resting pose rather than mid action.
Angle every animal’s head toward him rather than toward the viewer, which is the one detail that makes the whole group read as listening instead of just scattered nearby.
Beginners often give every animal equal size and detail, which flattens the scene, so let one animal sit closer and larger in the foreground while the others stay smaller and simpler further back.
Color Orpheus warm and central, and keep the animals in muted terracotta and olive so his figure and lyre remain the brightest, most detailed point in the composition.
Palette: Terracotta,Olive Green,Pale Gold,Marble White
If you enjoy drawing the animals here, the easy watercolor animals list has more creatures worth practicing on their own.
Take a break from figures with a Greek temple scene, its columns standing among a few olive trees under a pale sky. Draw the temple first as a simple row of evenly spaced vertical columns topped with one straight horizontal line, using light guide marks to keep every column the same height before you ink any of them.
Place the olive trees at a lower eye level than the temple so their branches overlap slightly in front of the columns, which gives the scene real depth without needing complex perspective drawing.
Keep the columns’ fluting as just a few thin vertical lines rather than detailing every groove, since suggestion reads as stone just as well as full detail and keeps the piece from feeling overworked.
Color the temple in marble white and warm gray, the olive trees in soft olive green and terracotta trunks, and the sky in pale sea blue fading to gold near the horizon.
Palette: Marble White,Olive Green,Terracotta,Sea Blue
For more practice with sunny Mediterranean settings like this one, the watercolor scenery ideas of Greek islands make a good companion piece.
Return to a quieter figure with Penelope seated at her loom, the half finished weaving in front of her the real focus of the piece. Draw the loom’s frame first as a simple rectangle with straight vertical threads, then build her seated figure beside it with one hand raised mid stitch.
Render the weaving itself in a simple geometric pattern, horizontal bands of color crossing the vertical threads, rather than trying to draw a detailed picture within the cloth, which keeps this section from overwhelming the rest of the piece.
Leave a visibly unfinished section of the weaving near the top, bare threads with no pattern yet, which is a small detail that tells her whole myth without needing any extra symbols.
Color the finished weaving in terracotta, olive and gold bands, her robe in marble white, and the loom frame in warm wood brown.
Palette: Terracotta,Olive Green,Pale Gold,Marble White
Bring in a little mystery with Circe standing over a small table of bottles and a bowl with colored smoke or liquid rising from it. Draw the bottles and bowl first as simple geometric shapes of varying height, then build her figure standing over them, one hand reaching toward the bowl.
Keep the rising vapor from the bowl the one saturated, glowing color on the page, built up in soft overlapping curved pencil strokes rather than a flat wash, so it has some movement to it.
A small cat or two near her feet is an easy way to add a second living shape to the scene without much extra drawing, since a simple curled cat shape takes only a few lines.
Color her robe in deep olive and gold, the bottles in muted sea blue and terracotta glass tones, and let the vapor glow in a brighter unmixed color against all of it.
Palette: Olive Green,Pale Gold,Sea Blue,Terracotta
Keep the sea theme going with a siren seated on a rock, her lower half trailing into wings or a tail depending on which version of her myth you prefer to draw. Draw the rock first as a simple jagged shape jutting from the water, then seat her figure on top with her hair blowing sideways as if caught in wind off the sea.
Angle her face slightly out toward the viewer rather than fully in profile, which gives her an alluring, direct quality that suits the myth better than a distant side view.
Suggest the sound of her song with a few loose curved lines trailing from her open mouth or lyre, a small symbolic touch that adds atmosphere without needing any extra figures in the scene.
Color her skin warm, her wings or tail feathers in olive green and terracotta, and the sea around the rock in deep sea blue with white foam at the rock’s base.
Palette: Sea Blue,Olive Green,Terracotta,Marble White
Build toward the final pair of scenes with Icarus falling, his wings shedding feathers as he drops against a bright gold sky. Draw his falling pose first, arms and legs angled as if mid tumble rather than standing, since a convincing fall depends entirely on getting that diagonal, off balance line right before anything else.
Place the sun as a large soft gold glow in one upper corner rather than centered, which lets his falling body read clearly against open sky instead of competing with the sun for the center of attention.
Let a few loose feathers trail upward away from his wings rather than all falling the same direction he is, which captures that scattering moment better than feathers that move in one uniform line.
Color the sky in warm gold fading to sea blue near the bottom, his wings in marble white losing feathers, and his skin warm and lit from the glow above him.
Palette: Pale Gold,Sea Blue,Marble White,Terracotta
Close the whole series with Hades and Persephone standing together in a flower garden, a scene that softens their myth into something tender rather than dark. Draw the two figures close together first, her hand resting in his, then build the flowers around their feet and along the garden edges once the pair feels balanced.
Give him darker, richer colors than every other figure in this list, deep olive and terracotta rather than any bright gold, which sets his presence apart while she stays in the light marble and warm tones used throughout the series.
Let a few dark flowers grow among the bright ones near his side of the garden, a small detail that blends his world into hers without needing any other symbolism.
Finish the whole set here by keeping your palette consistent with the rest of your pieces, so framed together they read as one complete series rather than unrelated drawings.
Palette: Terracotta,Olive Green,Marble White,Pale Gold
What to Do Next
Pick whichever goddess or myth has been sitting in your head the longest and start there, on a sheet of toned paper with your fineliner and colored pencils close at hand. One figure, drawn properly from first pencil marks to last color layer, is worth more than a sketchbook page of half finished gods.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the easiest Greek mythology scene to draw first?
Start with a single standing figure and one simple prop, like Aphrodite’s shell or Athena’s owl, since one figure and one object is easier to balance than a full scene with several elements.
Do I need to know anatomy well to draw these figures?
No, basic proportion guides are enough. Measuring a standing figure at roughly seven to eight head heights before you ink any lines prevents most of the common stretching or shrinking mistakes.
What paper works best for this parchment style look?
Toned tan or cream drawing paper gives you the parchment background instantly, since the paper color itself becomes the warm ground rather than something you have to paint in separately.
How do I keep the colored pencil look soft instead of waxy?
Build color in thin layers and let the paper’s texture show through rather than pressing hard in one pass. Light layers also blend more easily if you want to soften an edge later.
Can I do these in ink only without color?
Yes, the fineliner line work alone reads clearly as a finished piece. Add color only where you want it, since even a black and white version keeps the elegant classical feel of the series.