- Half-Peeled Orange And Water Glass
- Single Apple On A Saucer
- Keys On A Folded Scarf
- White Mug With Tea Bag String
- Egg Carton With Two Eggs Left
- Wooden Spoon In A Bowl
- Lemon Half On A Cutting Board
- Reading Glasses On A Book
- Crumpled Paper Bag
- Glass Jar Of Dry Pasta
- Single Candle In A Holder
- Pear Beside A Folded Napkin
- Ball Of Yarn With Knitting Needle
- Teapot With One Cup
- Bunch Of Grapes On A Plate
- Old Leather Wallet
- Stack Of Three Books
- Pair Of Scissors On Fabric
- Onion With Papery Skin Peeling
- Salt And Pepper Shakers
- Crumpled Soda Can
- Potted Succulent On Windowsill
- Banana With One Brown Spot
- Pocket Watch On A Chain
- Glass Bottle With Dried Flower
- Rolled Up Hand Towel
- Three Clothespins In A Row
- Ceramic Bowl Of Walnuts
- Pair Of Worn Gloves
- Vintage Alarm Clock
- Half Loaf Of Bread
- Houseplant Leaf Close Up
- Frequently Asked Questions
Still life drawing ideas do not require a special trip to buy props: everything you need is already within reach on your kitchen table or in a kitchen drawer. This list works through thirty two simple setups built entirely from household objects, each one a single arrangement you can draw in one sitting with colored pencils and full tonal shading.
Every idea notes where to put your light source before you start, since that one decision shapes every shadow and highlight that follows. Start near the top of the list if you are new to shading from life, and work down toward the more involved setups once the simple ones feel steady.
Using these images: free for personal projects such as printing, coloring, cards, journals and gifts. Handmade items that include them may be sold up to 30 pieces per design. More than that is commercial use and is not permitted, and neither is selling or sharing the images themselves or passing them off as your own. Please ask before any other use.
Half-Peeled Orange And Water Glass
Pick a wax-based orange pencil with some tooth left in the paper underneath it, since this setup needs several layers before the peel looks waxy and the flesh looks wet. A smooth drawing paper holds up better than a textured one when color needs to sit side by side without gaps.
Place the glass of water so its reflection catches a bit of the orange’s color, and let window light fall from one side to cast a long shadow under both objects. Build the peel in short strokes that follow its curl, then switch to a cool gray for the water and leave a slice of white paper untouched for the glass’s highlight. Work the darkest shadow last, once every lighter layer is in place.
Single Apple On A Saucer
Sketch the saucer’s oval first, since everything else sits inside that shape. Next comes the apple’s rounded outline with a small dent at the top, placed slightly off center so it does not sit dead in the middle of the plate. Save the stem and any stray reflection on the skin for the very last marks.
Light from a window at one side will carve a clear core shadow down the apple’s near edge. Build red and green layers in light circular strokes before that shadow goes in, then darken the saucer only where the apple blocks the light. For more single fruit setups like this one, this pencil fruit sketch guide has more. Keep the saucer’s rim line thin so the apple stays the star of the page.
Keys On A Folded Scarf
Measure the longest key against the scarf’s folded width first, since that single comparison sets the scale for every other key and fold in the pile. Most house keys run about the same length as two finger widths, a handy stand in ruler when nothing else is on the table.
Lay the scarf in loose folds under one lamp so its ridges catch short shadows, and let the metal keys overlap at odd angles rather than lining up in a neat row. Shade the fabric’s folds with a mid gray before touching the keys, then switch to a cool silver pencil for the metal and press hardest where one key overlaps another. Keep the scarf’s pattern simple or the keys will get lost in it.
White Mug With Tea Bag String
Set the mug below your own eye level, on a low table or stool, so the opening reads as a wide oval rather than a flat line. That same eye level decides how much of the tag and string you can see draped over the rim.
Put the light source to one side rather than straight on, so the mug’s cylinder gets a clear light side, a core shadow, and a reflected light sliver near its dark edge. Shade the white ceramic almost entirely in grays, since pure white paper should only show through at the single brightest highlight. Let the string cast a thin curved shadow down the mug’s side to prove the light’s direction.
Egg Carton With Two Eggs Left
Press lightly for the carton’s cardboard texture, using the side of the pencil lead in short choppy strokes rather than a smooth fill, since that rough mark mimics pulp fiber far better than a blended layer. Save a heavier, smoother stroke for the two eggs so their shells read as a different material entirely.
Light from above and slightly to the side will drop the empty egg cups into soft shadow pockets while the two remaining eggs catch a rounded highlight near their tops. Lift a little color back out with a kneaded eraser on each eggshell’s highlight once the shading is in, instead of leaving bare paper, so the white still feels like it sits in the same light as the cardboard.
Wooden Spoon In A Bowl
The common mistake with a wooden spoon is drawing its handle as a flat, even strip of brown, which flattens the whole object. Wood has its own light and shadow sides even on a thin handle, so treat it like a small cylinder rather than a stripe of color.
Rest the spoon across a shallow bowl with one end lifted off the table, and let a side light catch the raised end while the bowl’s curve shades the lower half. Halfway through, check the spoon against the bowl’s rim: if the handle looks perfectly flat, add a narrow dark line along its lower edge to bring the roundness back before moving on to the bowl itself.
Lemon Half On A Cutting Board
Ten minutes is enough to block in the lemon half’s basic shape: the yellow rind as a thick ring, the pale flesh inside it, and a rough gray plank underneath for the cutting board. That quick version works fine for a loose practice page.
Give it forty minutes instead and the lemon earns its real texture, with tiny dotted pores across the rind built up in small dark flecks and the inner segments separated by thin white membrane lines left as bare paper. Put the light to one side so the cut face shows a clear highlight near the center and a darker rim where the flesh meets the pith. The extra time goes entirely into that segmented center.
Reading Glasses On A Book
Next time around, flip the glasses so one lens lies open and the other folds shut across it, which changes the whole shape without changing a single prop on the table. The lenses themselves are the hardest part, since each one needs a faint reflection of the window without looking like a solid white patch.
For this first attempt, rest the glasses across a closed book at an angle, with light from one side skimming along the metal frame to pick out its thin highlight. Shade the lenses a pale gray rather than leaving them white, and drop a soft shadow where the frame touches the book’s cover. Try the same setup later with the glasses folded flat for an easier version.
Crumpled Paper Bag
Grab a cool gray colored pencil with a fairly sharp point for this one, since crumpled paper needs crisp creases more than it needs smooth blending. A rougher sketch paper actually helps here, catching extra texture along each fold.
Crumple a plain paper bag loosely and set it under a single side light so every crease casts its own small shadow. Draw the main folds first with firm, angular lines, then shade each flat plane a slightly different gray depending on how much light it catches. Keep the darkest gray for the inside of the bag’s opening, where almost no light reaches at all.
Glass Jar Of Dry Pasta
Draw the jar’s outline first as a simple cylinder, then rough in the pasta shapes through the glass before any shading starts, since getting the pattern right while it is still loose lines saves trouble later. Save the glass’s reflections and highlights for the final pass.
Light coming from one side will streak a bright vertical highlight down the jar’s near edge and throw a soft colored shadow from the pasta onto the table behind it. Shade the pasta pieces in warm yellow first, then layer a thin gray glaze over the whole jar for the glass itself, leaving the highlight strip as bare paper until the very end.
Single Candle In A Holder
Compare the candle’s height to its own width before drawing a single line: most household candles stand about four to five times taller than they are wide, and that ratio keeps the shape from coming out short and stubby or too thin to stand up straight.
Set the holder on the table with a single lamp to one side, letting the wax catch a bright vertical highlight down its lit edge. Shade the body of the candle in smooth vertical strokes that follow its curve, then add the holder’s own shadow stretching away from the light. Keep the wick small and dark, since it reads as a tiny mark against a much larger shape.
Pear Beside A Folded Napkin
Sit low enough that your eye level lands near the table’s surface, and the pear’s curved body will show more of its rounded side than its top, which reads as a far more natural angle than looking straight down on it.
Put a single light source to one side of the setup, letting it wrap around the pear’s narrow neck while leaving its wider base in deeper shadow. Shade the folded napkin in cool grays with sharp crease lines wherever the fabric catches a fold, and let its folds break up the pear’s cast shadow instead of showing one flat gray patch on the table.
Ball Of Yarn With Knitting Needle
Vary your pencil pressure across the yarn’s surface rather than pressing evenly, since a ball of yarn is really hundreds of tiny ridges catching light at slightly different angles. Short curved strokes that follow the wrap of the yarn do far more work than one smooth fill.
Rest a single knitting needle across the top of the ball, lit from one side so its metal surface picks up a hard, narrow highlight compared to the yarn’s soft, broken one. Shade the yarn in layers, letting some ridges stay lighter than others, and use a kneaded eraser to pull thin light lines back out where the strands catch the most light.
Teapot With One Cup
The common mistake with a teapot is drawing the spout and handle as flat shapes stuck onto the body, instead of as their own small cylinders wrapping around the pot’s curve. Check each one halfway through by asking whether it still looks round from every angle, not just from the front.
Set a single cup beside the teapot and let one light source fall across both, so the pot’s rounded belly shows a clear highlight, a core shadow, and reflected light bouncing up from the table. Once the mistake is fixed, this kind of warm kitchen grouping also works well as a painted still life, and this still life painting ideas list has more arrangements worth trying.
Bunch Of Grapes On A Plate
Fifteen minutes covers the basics here: the plate as a simple oval, the grape cluster as one rounded mass, and a single flat color laid over the whole bunch before any individual grape gets attention.
Forty minutes lets each grape become its own small sphere, with its own highlight, its own core shadow, and its own sliver of reflected light bouncing off its neighbor. Keep the light coming from one steady direction so every grape’s highlight lands in roughly the same spot. For more fruit grouping setups at this same pace, the fruit basket drawing list breaks down several. Darken the gaps between grapes last to pull the cluster together.
Old Leather Wallet
Next time, draw the wallet open flat instead of closed, which trades the simple folded shape here for two connected panels and a few visible card slots. Both versions use the same leather texture approach, just across a different silhouette.
For this closed version, set the wallet under a single side light so its worn creases catch long thin highlights along the raised leather and deep shadow lines along the folds. Shade the leather in warm browns, then go back over the crease lines with a sharper, darker pencil to lift them out of the base color. Leave one corner lighter than the rest to show where the leather has worn thin.
Stack Of Three Books
Reach for a harder pencil core for the book edges and spines, since those straight lines need to stay crisp through several shading passes, while a softer pencil handles the broad cover colors underneath. A smooth paper keeps those straight edges from breaking up into little gaps.
Stack three books at slightly different angles rather than squared off, and light them from one side so each cover shows a distinct light face and shadow face. Shade the covers first in flat color, then use the harder pencil to sharpen every spine edge and the thin shadow line each book casts onto the one below it.
Pair Of Scissors On Fabric
Lay down the scissors’ long blades first as two simple crossed lines, then the handles as rounded loops, before any shading begins, since the crossing point is the one spot that has to be right for the whole tool to read correctly. The fabric underneath comes last.
Drape a folded piece of fabric under the scissors and light it from one side so the metal blades pick up hard, narrow highlights against the fabric’s softer folds. Shade the fabric in broad gray strokes first, then switch to a much sharper pencil point for the scissors themselves, since metal needs crisper edges than cloth ever does.
Onion With Papery Skin Peeling
Check the onion’s width against its height before shading anything, since most kitchen onions sit a little wider than they are tall, and getting that squat proportion right matters more here than any amount of careful shading later.
Peel back one edge of the papery outer skin so it curls away from the body, and light the onion from one side to throw a long shadow from that curled edge across the table. Shade the onion’s body in smooth layers of warm tan, then switch to quick, scratchy strokes for the papery skin itself, since its texture is nothing like the smooth flesh underneath it.
Salt And Pepper Shakers
Set the shakers side by side at table height and draw them from roughly eye level, so their tops read as narrow ellipses rather than full circles. A lower viewpoint flattens those ellipses even more, which is worth testing before committing to the final drawing.
Light both shakers from the same side so the pepper’s dark body and the salt’s pale one share one consistent shadow direction, with the darker shaker casting a longer shadow across the table than the lighter one. Shade the pepper shaker almost entirely in dark tones, saving true white paper only for its single sharp highlight.
Crumpled Soda Can
Press hard along each dent’s edge and soft everywhere else, since a crumpled can is really a collection of small flat planes meeting at sharp angles, not one smooth cylinder anymore. Switch pencil pressure constantly as you move across its surface.
Light the can from one side so its remaining curved sections keep a soft gradient while the crushed areas show hard, bright edges where metal catches light at a sharp angle. Shade the label’s printed color first, loosely following the dents, then go back over every crease with a darker line to snap the crumpled shape back into focus.
Potted Succulent On Windowsill
The usual mistake with a succulent is drawing every leaf the same flat green, which turns a plant full of small round shapes into a single green blob. Each thick leaf is its own tiny form with its own highlight and shadow side.
Set the pot on a windowsill so natural light comes from one direction only, and check halfway through whether the leaves closest to the glass look noticeably lighter than the ones in the plant’s shaded center. If they do not yet, darken the center leaves further before adding any more detail to the pot itself.
Banana With One Brown Spot
Ten minutes gets the banana’s curved shape down along with a flat yellow base color and the rough position of its one brown spot, which is plenty for a quick warm up page.
Forty minutes brings in the banana’s subtle color shifts, from greenish near the stem to a deeper yellow toward the tip, plus the soft dark blotch built up in several thin layers rather than one solid patch. Keep a single light source constant throughout so the fruit’s long shadow on the table stays in the same place the whole time, instead of guessing at it again each time you return to the drawing.
Pocket Watch On A Chain
Next time, drape the chain in loose loops instead of letting it hang straight down, which adds a second curved shape to balance the watch’s perfect circle without changing a single object on the table.
For this round, keep the chain simple and let one light source rake across the watch’s metal case, picking out a bright highlight along its rounded edge and a darker reflection where the case curves away from the light. Shade the watch face’s numbers only after the metal casing is finished, since a dark face reads as a hole in the metal if it goes in too early.
Glass Bottle With Dried Flower
Keep a very sharp pencil point on hand for the dried flower’s stem and petals, since thin dry material needs fine lines that a blunt pencil simply cannot make. The glass bottle, by contrast, wants a soft, well worn point for smooth blended grays.
Stand the dried flower in a clear glass bottle and light the whole setup from one side, letting the glass pick up a bright vertical streak while the water line, if any, shows as a faint horizontal shift in tone. Shade the dried petals in warm browns and muted oranges, keeping every stroke thin and slightly irregular to match their papery texture.
Rolled Up Hand Towel
Draw the towel’s rolled cylinder shape first with two simple curved end lines, then the long spiral seam where the fabric wraps around itself, before touching any shading at all. That spiral line does most of the work of making the roll look three dimensional.
Light the towel from one side so the cylinder shows a clear light side, a shadow side, and a thin highlight running along the top edge where the roll catches the most light. Shade the fabric’s folds in soft gray last, following the spiral seam outward from the center so the texture wraps around the form instead of sitting flat on top of it.
Three Clothespins In A Row
Line up all three clothespins against a single horizontal edge before drawing, and measure the gap between each one so the spacing stays even rather than drifting wider or narrower across the row. Uneven spacing is the fastest way to make a simple row of objects look accidental.
Light the row from one side so each clothespin casts a nearly identical shadow at the same angle, which helps confirm the spacing is right once the drawing is underway. Shade the wood grain in short vertical strokes, then darken the metal spring on each pin last, since that small dark detail anchors the whole row.
Ceramic Bowl Of Walnuts
Look slightly down into the bowl rather than straight at it from the side, which opens up the bowl’s interior as a wide oval and lets several walnuts show inside it instead of hiding behind the rim.
Light the whole bowl from one side so the walnuts closest to that side catch bright, broken highlights across their ridged shells, while the ones toward the back sink into the bowl’s own shadow. Shade the bowl’s ceramic surface smooth and even, saving all the rough, broken texture work for the walnuts themselves, so the two materials read as clearly different.
Pair Of Worn Gloves
Work in short broken strokes for the gloves’ worn leather rather than one smooth fill, since age shows up as tiny cracks and lighter patches scattered across the surface, especially at the knuckles and fingertips where a hand has bent the material most often.
Drape both gloves loosely across the table, slightly overlapping, and light them from one side so their folds catch small sharp highlights against the deeper creases between fingers. Lift a few light patches back out with a kneaded eraser once the main color sits down, right at the knuckle bends where real leather tends to lighten first.
Vintage Alarm Clock
The common mistake with a round clock face is drawing it as a flat circle with numbers floating on top, instead of treating the glass cover and the metal case as two separate curved surfaces at slightly different depths.
Set the clock under a single side light and check halfway through whether the glass shows its own small highlight separate from the metal rim’s highlight: if both blend into one bright patch, darken the gap between them. Shade the twin brass bells on top last, letting their rounded shapes pick up the same light direction as everything else on the clock.
Half Loaf Of Bread
Twenty minutes covers the bread’s torn crust shape, a flat brown base color, and the cutting board underneath it, which is enough for a loose kitchen sketch.
Forty minutes adds the crust’s uneven bumps and small tears built up in layered browns, plus the airy crumb texture inside the torn end, dotted in with tiny irregular marks rather than one smooth fill. Keep the light source to one side throughout so the crust’s rough highlights and the board’s long shadow stay consistent from the fast version to the slower one, instead of re deciding where the light falls each time.
Houseplant Leaf Close Up
Next time, zoom out to show the whole plant instead of a single leaf, which trades this close study of one leaf’s veins for a looser arrangement of many smaller leaf shapes overlapping each other.
For this close up version, light the leaf from one side so its veins catch a thin highlight running along each ridge while the spaces between them sink into slightly darker green. Shade the leaf in several thin layers of green rather than one flat color, and leave the vein lines themselves as thin streaks of the paper’s base layer showing faintly through.
What to Do Next
Pick one of these still life drawing ideas, set it up near a single window or lamp, and start with a plain sheet of smooth drawing paper. Block in the main shapes first, then build the shading in layers from light to dark, saving the darkest shadow for the very last pass.
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes good still life drawing ideas for someone practicing at home?
The best still life drawing ideas use whatever sits on your table already: fruit, kitchen tools, small personal items. Look for objects with a clear light side and shadow side, and group two or three together rather than drawing one isolated item, since the shadows between them give you more to shade.
How do I set up lighting for a still life at home?
Use one light source only, either a window or a single lamp, placed to one side of the objects rather than straight on. Side light creates a clear highlight, a mid tone, and a shadow on every object, which is exactly what full tonal shading needs to look convincing.
Which colored pencils work best for this kind of shading?
Wax based colored pencils blend more easily into smooth gradients than harder pencils, which matters for rounded objects like fruit or ceramics. Keep a sharp point for edges and details, and a slightly worn point for broad, even shading across larger areas like a tabletop or fabric.
How long should one of these still life drawing ideas take to finish?
Most of these setups take between twenty and forty five minutes, depending on how much texture or detail the object has. Simple rounded objects like a single piece of fruit finish faster than anything with fabric folds or a patterned surface to shade.
Do I need to buy special objects to practice still life drawing?
No. Every setup on this list uses ordinary items already in a kitchen, bathroom, or junk drawer. Reusing the same few objects in new arrangements, with the light moved to a different side each time, gives plenty of practice without buying any props at all.