34 Winter Scenery Drawing Ideas in a Modern Scandinavian Print Style

A winter scenery drawing does not need to be a cold empty field to feel wintery. The pages below borrow the flat, graphic calm of the Scandi prints on your favorite cushions and cards: a girl and her dog, a fox under a lamppost, a cabin glowing with candles, all built from simple shapes and a tight little palette.

Every idea here is small enough to finish in one sitting, with just a fineliner and a handful of colored pencils. Scroll through, pick whichever vignette makes you smile first, and work through it step by step below.

Before You Start

• Sketch every shape very lightly in pencil first, since the fineliner lines go over this and any stray pencil marks should erase away cleanly.
• Keep your fineliner thin and consistent, going over the pencil only once confident shapes are right, rather than sketching directly in ink.
• Build color in smooth layers with light pressure, since Scandi prints read as flat and even rather than heavily shaded or blended.
• Test your red, forest green and soft blue pencils on scrap paper first, to check they sit well together before committing to the page.
• Leave the white of the paper alone for snow rather than coloring it cream or grey, since that bright white gives these prints their clean look.
• Work background shapes first (sky, snow, distant trees) and save your darkest outlines and smallest folk details, hearts, stars, for last.

Start with the easiest story in the set: a girl in a red bobble hat walking a dachshund in a striped sweater past snowy pines. Pencil her as simple rounded shapes, a puffer coat triangle, a round hat, then the dog as a low oval body on short legs, before going over everything in fineliner.

Keep the pines behind them as simple triangles stacked in three sections, painted forest green with a little cream snow sitting on each ledge. Color the hat and the dog’s sweater stripes in the same red so the eye connects the two figures straight away.

The easiest place to lose the likeness is the dog’s proportions, so compare the length of its body to the height of the girl’s boots before you commit to ink, a dachshund reads instantly once the body is long and the legs are short.

If you do not have forest green on hand, a deep bottle green or even a dark teal pencil will sit just as well against the white snow.

You Will Need

• fineliner pen
• red colored pencil
• forest green colored pencil
• cream colored pencil
• kneaded eraser

Palette: Poppy Red,Forest Green,Cream,Soft Blue

Give the dachshund’s sweater a thin cream stripe between the red ones, it is the small detail that makes the knitwear read as handmade rather than painted on.

Following on from the girl and her dog, try a busier little scene: two friends carrying a small tree home on a wooden sled. Pencil the sled first as a simple rectangle on two curved runners, then the tree lying across it, and finally the two figures bent slightly forward as they pull the rope.

Work the tree in forest green with small cream dots for snow caught in its branches, and keep both coats in different shades, one red and one soft blue, so the figures stay easy to tell apart at a glance.

Matching the two figures’ strides is where this one can wobble, so measure their front feet against the sled’s length before inking, keeping both pairs of boots roughly the same distance from the ground reads as a believable walking pace.

In ten minutes you can leave it as a clean silhouette scene; given forty, add a trail of small footprints behind the sled and a scatter of loose pine needles for extra charm.

You Will Need

• fineliner pen
• wooden pencil for sketching
• red colored pencil
• soft blue colored pencil
• forest green colored pencil

Palette: Poppy Red,Soft Blue,Forest Green,Cream

Tie a tiny red bow where the rope meets the sled, a small folk detail like this pulls the whole scene together without adding any real extra work.

Move from figures to architecture with a red Swedish cabin with a candle in every window and a cat on the step. Block the cabin as a simple rectangle with a steep triangular roof, then divide the front wall into three or four even windows before adding the door.

Color the walls a deep barn red and the roof cream with a dusting of white snow left bare along its ridge, then drop a small yellow candle shape into each window so the whole front glows against the dark.

Getting the windows evenly spaced is the trick that makes this cabin feel storybook-neat rather than wonky, so mark four equal pencil ticks along the wall before drawing a single window.

Add the cat as a simple dark silhouette sitting upright on the step, and if you do not have a true barn red, a warm brick or terracotta pencil works just as well under the snow.

You Will Need

• fineliner pen
• barn red colored pencil
• cream colored pencil
• yellow colored pencil
• ruler

Palette: Barn Red,Cream,Candle Yellow,Charcoal

Add one small white heart cut into the shutters beside a window, a classic Scandinavian folk detail that instantly reads as handmade and cozy.

Give the village a quiet little character next: a fox in a knitted scarf sitting under a lamppost in the snow. Sketch the fox as two overlapping ovals, a round head and a long curled tail, sitting upright beneath a tall thin lamppost drawn with a ruler for a crisp, even post.

Color the fox in warm orange-red with a cream chest and tail tip, then wrap a striped scarf around its neck in forest green and cream to match the rest of the palette.

Place the lamp’s light source clearly above the fox, a soft yellow glow circle behind the lamp’s glass, and let the snow directly beneath it stay the brightest white on the page, with the shadows nearby colored the palest soft blue.

No orange pencil on hand, a warm red-brown works just as well, foxes read by their shape and that white chest far more than by an exact hue.

You Will Need

• fineliner pen
• ruler
• orange colored pencil
• cream colored pencil
• soft blue colored pencil

Palette: Fox Orange,Cream,Forest Green,Soft Blue

Leave a thin ring of untouched white paper directly under the lamp before the blue shadow begins, it reads instantly as a pool of lamplight on snow.

Keep the momentum going with a woman on a vintage bicycle with a basket full of pine branches. Start with the bicycle’s two wheels as careful circles, then build the frame and basket between them before adding the woman seated upright with her coat flaring slightly behind her.

Fill the basket with overlapping forest green branch shapes topped with a few cream snow dots, and keep her coat a single warm red so she stands as the clear focal point of the page.

Wheel size is the easiest thing to get wrong here, so draw both circles with the same coin or lid traced twice rather than freehand, uneven wheels are the fastest way to make a bicycle look broken.

For a quick ten-minute version, keep the bike as a simple side silhouette; with forty minutes, add spokes, a small woven texture to the basket, and a scatter of snowflakes falling around her.

You Will Need

• fineliner pen
• round object to trace wheels
• red colored pencil
• forest green colored pencil
• white gel pen

Palette: Poppy Red,Forest Green,Cream,Charcoal

Use a white gel pen over the finished branches for little snow flecks, it sits brighter on top of the green than pencil ever can.

Widen the scene a little with kids skating on a round pond ringed with fairy lights. Draw the pond first as a simple flattened oval in the palest soft blue, then dot three or four small figures around its edge in different poses, arms out, knees bent, one mid-glide.

Ring the whole pond with a loose string of tiny lightbulb shapes, alternating warm yellow and soft red, and let a line of dark pine trees sit quietly behind it to frame the whole scene.

Overlapping too many figures is the usual stumble here, so keep each child a good distance from the next and vary their coat colors, red, cream, forest green, so every one reads as a separate little moment rather than a blur.

If fairy lights feel fiddly, a simpler swap is a row of small lanterns strung on the same loose line, same cozy effect with half the dots to draw.

You Will Need

• fineliner pen
• soft blue colored pencil
• yellow colored pencil
• red colored pencil
• cream colored pencil

Palette: Soft Blue,Candle Yellow,Poppy Red,Forest Green

Draw the fairy light wire first as one continuous loose curve, then add the bulbs along it afterward, the line keeps the string looking properly strung rather than scattered.

Bring in a quieter mood with a sauna hut by a frozen lake with towels drying on the rail. Block the hut as a simple square cabin with a low sloped roof, a thin chimney with a soft curl of smoke, and a wooden rail along its front porch.

Drape two or three simple rectangle towels over the rail in cream and soft blue, then lay the frozen lake in front of the hut as a flat pale blue shape stretching to the paper’s edge, broken only by a few thin cracks drawn in fineliner.

Getting the roof’s slope convincing is the detail to watch, so sketch it as a single straight diagonal line first rather than curving it, Scandi roofs in this style stay crisp and geometric, never soft.

Next time you draw this one, try it at dusk instead, a soft blue sky instead of cream and one warm yellow window glowing against it.

You Will Need

• fineliner pen
• forest green colored pencil
• soft blue colored pencil
• cream colored pencil
• ruler

Palette: Cabin Brown,Soft Blue,Cream,Charcoal

Leave the chimney’s smoke as pure white paper with just a thin fineliner outline, coloring it any grey will flatten the soft, drifting look.

Shift back to a single animal portrait: a reindeer with a gingham bow tied around its neck in a birch forest. Sketch the reindeer’s body as one long oval with slim legs and a gentle curve of antlers, then stand it among three or four simple birch trunks drawn as tall thin rectangles with short dark marks for bark.

Color the reindeer a soft warm brown and keep the birch trunks nearly white, just a few charcoal flecks breaking up each trunk, so the animal stands out clearly against them.

Antler proportion is the easy slip here, so measure the antler span against the width of the reindeer’s head before inking, antlers drawn too large read as cartoonish rather than calm and graphic.

For the gingham bow, keep it simple with a small red and cream checked rectangle rather than trying to render full fabric folds, the checked pattern alone does the storytelling.

You Will Need

• fineliner pen
• brown colored pencil
• charcoal colored pencil
• red colored pencil
• cream colored pencil

Palette: Warm Brown,Cream,Poppy Red,Charcoal

Draw the birch bark marks as short horizontal dashes rather than full lines, that one small change is what separates birch trunks from plain white posts.

Bring in a little city charm with a tiny red tram crossing a snowy hill town. Draw the tram first as a simple long rectangle with rounded corners and two small circle wheels, then let a row of narrow townhouses climb the hill behind it in slightly different heights.

Paint the tram a bright poppy red with cream window squares, and keep the townhouses in a mix of cream, soft blue and pale red so the hill reads as a cheerful little skyline rather than one flat block.

Keeping the hill’s perspective simple is the trick, place the tram lower on the page and let each house behind it sit slightly smaller and higher, that alone suggests the slope without any complicated vanishing points.

No red pencil free for the tram, a cheerful orange-red marker outlined in fineliner reads just as well against the white snow.

You Will Need

• fineliner pen
• red colored pencil
• soft blue colored pencil
• cream colored pencil
• ruler

Palette: Poppy Red,Soft Blue,Cream,Charcoal

Add one small string of fairy lights along the tram’s roofline, a tiny detail that makes the whole hill town feel festive rather than just snowy.

Add a cozy market moment with a hot chocolate stand under a striped awning in the snow. Build the stand as a simple rectangular counter topped with a triangular awning striped in red and cream, then add a small chalkboard sign and a row of mugs lined along the counter.

Keep the mugs simple, half-circle handles and a swirl of steam drawn in fineliner only, and dot a few customers nearby as small simple silhouettes so the stand feels busy without crowding the page.

Striping the awning evenly is the one part worth slowing down for, so mark the stripe widths lightly in pencil first rather than freehanding them, uneven stripes are the fastest way to make a tidy stand look sloppy.

In ten minutes, keep it as just the stand and awning; with forty, add the chalkboard menu lettering and a little queue of mittened hands reaching for mugs.

You Will Need

• fineliner pen
• red colored pencil
• cream colored pencil
• ruler
• white gel pen

Palette: Poppy Red,Cream,Charcoal,Forest Green

Draw the steam above each mug as one loose wavy fineliner line rather than several, a single confident squiggle reads far more naturally than a tight scribble.

Zoom in on a quieter rooftop moment: a snowy rooftop with a cat watching birds on the chimney. Draw the rooftop as one simple sloped plane covered in cream snow, with a chimney stack rising from one corner and a cat sitting low and alert near its base.

Place two or three small round birds on the chimney’s rim, colored in soft red and charcoal, and keep the cat a simple dark silhouette so the whole composition reads as shapes and shadows rather than fine fur detail.

Getting the cat’s crouch right is the detail that sells the story, so round its back into a gentle curve and tuck its front paws close rather than drawing straight legs, a stiff cat reads as standing rather than watching.

If you have used this rooftop composition before, try swapping the birds for a single curling trail of chimney smoke instead, same quiet mood, a different small detail carrying it.

You Will Need

• fineliner pen
• cream colored pencil
• charcoal colored pencil
• red colored pencil
• kneaded eraser

Palette: Cream,Charcoal,Poppy Red,Soft Blue

Leave the cat’s eyes as two tiny uncolored dots ringed in fineliner, skipping any pupil color keeps the silhouette graphic rather than photographic.

Keep the story moving with a little red post van delivering parcels through the woods. Sketch the van as a simple rounded box shape with two circle wheels and a small windshield, then line a narrow snowy road behind it with simple pine trees on either side.

Paint the van a cheerful poppy red with a cream stripe along its side, and stack a few wrapped parcels, drawn as plain rectangles tied with string, on the little flatbed or roof rack.

Wheel placement under the van body is the easy slip, so check both wheels sit on the same baseline before inking, a van with mismatched wheel heights looks like it is tipping over rather than driving.

No red pencil to hand, a warm vermillion marker works just as well, the cream stripe and dark windows do most of the recognizable work anyway.

You Will Need

• fineliner pen
• red colored pencil
• cream colored pencil
• forest green colored pencil
• ruler

Palette: Poppy Red,Cream,Forest Green,Charcoal

Draw a tiny heart stamped on one parcel’s string, a small folk detail that fits the gentle, handmade feel of the whole print.

Bring some humor into the set with a girl in a puffer coat building a snowman wearing sunglasses. Stack the snowman first as three simple circles of decreasing size, then add the girl beside it in a round puffer coat, mittens raised as she places the top circle.

Color her coat a warm red and keep the snowman pure white paper outlined in fineliner, adding small charcoal dot buttons, a carrot triangle nose, and tiny round sunglasses perched above it for the playful twist.

Stacking circles so they actually look balanced is the trick, draw a light vertical guideline down the center first and align each circle’s middle point to it, an off-center snowman reads as about to topple.

Once this version works, try it again later with the snowman wearing a knitted scarf instead of sunglasses, or swap the girl for a small boy in a striped bobble hat.

You Will Need

• fineliner pen
• red colored pencil
• orange colored pencil
• charcoal colored pencil
• compass or round lid

Palette: Poppy Red,Fox Orange,Charcoal,Cream

Keep the sunglasses lenses solid charcoal rather than reflective, a flat dark shape reads clearer and funnier in this graphic style than any detailed shine.

Slow the pace with a small nature study: three bullfinches sharing a seed ball on a branch. Draw one plain curved branch across the page first, then build each bullfinch as a round body shape with a small pointed beak, keeping all three in slightly different poses so they do not repeat.

Color their chests a warm rose red and their backs soft grey-blue, then hang a simple round seed ball from the branch with a loop of string, colored cream with small charcoal seed flecks across it.

Comparing the three birds’ sizes against each other is worth doing before inking, since birds of the same species should read as roughly the same size, uneven scale is the fastest way to make a flock look awkward.

If a true bullfinch rose is not in your set, a warm dusty pink stands in well, the grey-blue back and black cap are what make the species recognizable anyway.

You Will Need

• fineliner pen
• rose pink colored pencil
• soft blue-grey colored pencil
• cream colored pencil
• charcoal colored pencil

Palette: Rose Pink,Soft Blue Grey,Cream,Charcoal

Give each bullfinch a small black cap at the top of its head, that one dark patch is the detail that instantly reads as this particular bird rather than a generic robin.

Turn to a folk art icon with a Dala horse standing in a field of snow-covered stars. Draw the horse as a simple chunky silhouette, thick rounded body, short legs, a high proud neck, the shape that makes this carved toy so recognizable even in outline.

Paint the horse a traditional barn red covered in small cream floral swirls along its body and harness, then scatter simple four-point star shapes across the snowy ground around its feet.

The floral swirl pattern is the part to keep loose rather than fussy, a handful of simple teardrop petals and curling lines is plenty, overworking this pattern is what makes a Dala horse start to look busy instead of charming.

Quick version, leave the horse as a plain red silhouette with no pattern at all; given more time, add the full swirling harness detail and a scatter of tiny cream stars across its body too.

You Will Need

• fineliner pen
• barn red colored pencil
• cream colored pencil
• white gel pen
• kneaded eraser

Palette: Barn Red,Cream,Soft Blue,Charcoal

Use a white gel pen for the harness swirls instead of cream pencil, the crisp white line sits brighter against the red and is far easier to control.

Step into a cozy interior scene with a glasshouse café glowing among snowy trees. Build the glasshouse as a simple geometric structure, straight glass panels and a peaked roof, with warm yellow light filling each panel and a few tiny silhouettes of people seated inside.

Surround the glasshouse with a ring of simple pine trees dusted in cream snow, keeping them darker than the glowing structure so the eye goes straight to the warm windows first.

Keeping every glass panel the same size is the detail worth a ruler for, inconsistent panels make the structure look like it is sagging rather than architectural, mark the grid lightly in pencil before inking over it.

No warm yellow pencil handy, a soft golden ochre works just as well for the glow, the contrast against the dark trees is what matters most here.

You Will Need

• fineliner pen
• ruler
• yellow colored pencil
• forest green colored pencil
• charcoal colored pencil

Palette: Candle Yellow,Forest Green,Cream,Charcoal

Add one string of tiny lights along the glasshouse roofline, it turns a daytime café into an evening one without changing anything else on the page.

Return to the animals with a dog in a knitted hat pulling a toboggan of presents. Sketch the dog mid-stride with its chest forward and tail up, then attach a simple toboggan behind it loaded with two or three wrapped gift boxes tied with ribbon.

Color the dog in warm cream or brown and fit a small knitted hat with a pom-pom on its head, then color the presents in alternating red, forest green and soft blue so the sled reads as full and festive.

Getting the pulling motion convincing is the trick, angle the dog’s front legs forward and its back legs pushing off behind, a dog drawn standing square looks parked rather than pulling anything.

If this one feels like it is working well, try it again with a different animal next time, a fat little corgi or a husky pulling the same toboggan gives an entirely new mood from the same composition.

You Will Need

• fineliner pen
• brown colored pencil
• red colored pencil
• forest green colored pencil
• soft blue colored pencil

Palette: Warm Brown,Poppy Red,Forest Green,Soft Blue

Add a small pom-pom tassel bouncing off the dog’s hat with one curved line, it is a tiny touch that instantly adds motion to the whole scene.

Carry on with a confident figure study, a woman cross-country skiing past a yellow wooden church. Pose her mid-glide with one ski forward and her poles angled back, then set a simple yellow church with a tall steeple behind her in the middle distance.

Color her in a soft blue jacket against the warm yellow church so the two shapes contrast clearly, and keep the snowy ground beneath her skis mostly white with just a few thin fineliner lines tracing her path.

The gliding pose depends on her weight sitting over the forward ski, so sketch a light vertical line through that ski up to her shoulder before adding her other leg, it keeps her balanced rather than falling.

Church too fussy to draw in detail, simplify it down to one plain rectangle body and a triangle steeple, the color and the skier are doing most of the storytelling anyway.

You Will Need

• fineliner pen
• soft blue colored pencil
• yellow colored pencil
• charcoal colored pencil
• ruler

Palette: Soft Blue,Candle Yellow,Cream,Charcoal

Draw her ski tracks as two long parallel fineliner lines trailing behind her rather than one, the doubled line reads instantly as proper ski tracks.

Bring in some gentle humor again with a polar bear sitting in a striped deck chair on the ice. Draw the bear first as a soft rounded silhouette, big belly, short legs, relaxed pose, sitting back into a simple folding deck chair striped in red and cream.

Keep the bear mostly white paper with just a pale soft blue used sparingly for shadow along its underside, so the fineliner outline and the deck chair stripes carry most of the visual interest.

Comparing the chair’s width to the bear’s body before inking saves this one from going wrong, a chair drawn too narrow makes the bear look like it is overflowing rather than lounging comfortably.

For a quick version, leave the bear as a plain outline with no shadow at all; given more time, add a tiny drink with a striped straw balanced on the chair’s armrest.

You Will Need

• fineliner pen
• soft blue colored pencil
• red colored pencil
• cream colored pencil
• kneaded eraser

Palette: Soft Blue,Poppy Red,Cream,Charcoal

Keep the bear’s shadow as one soft curved line rather than full shading, a light touch of soft blue under its belly is enough to seat it firmly on the ice.

Move to a cozy still life moment with a snowy balcony with a tiny tree and a string of paper stars. Frame the scene with a simple railing drawn in straight fineliner lines, then set a small potted pine tree in one corner and string a loose line of paper star shapes across the top.

Color the tree forest green dusted with cream snow caps, and alternate the paper stars between cream and soft red so the string reads as a light decorative accent rather than a solid block of color.

Keeping the railing lines perfectly straight is worth a ruler, since any wobble in a geometric railing stands out far more than a wobble in a tree or a star ever would.

No pot handy to draw the tree in, a simple wrapped burlap-look base works too, just a rounded triangle shape tied with a bit of twine at the top.

You Will Need

• fineliner pen
• ruler
• forest green colored pencil
• red colored pencil
• cream colored pencil

Palette: Forest Green,Poppy Red,Cream,Soft Blue

Let a little snow sit on top of the railing itself as a thin cream line, it ties the balcony into the winter scene rather than floating separately above it.

Settle into a quieter mood with a couple sharing a thermos on a bench overlooking the fjord. Draw a simple wooden bench first, then seat two figures close together, one holding a thermos cup between them, facing out toward a wide flat stretch of soft blue water.

Keep the fjord as calm horizontal bands of soft blue and cream, with a few simple mountain shapes layered behind it in a slightly deeper blue so the distance reads clearly without any fine detail.

Spacing the two figures close but not overlapping is the balance to get right, overlap them too much and the pose reads as one lumpy shape rather than two people sharing a quiet moment.

If you enjoy quiet water scenes like this, the layered horizon trick here works just as well applied to any calm shoreline, worth trying again in a different village scene setting too.

You Will Need

• fineliner pen
• soft blue colored pencil
• cream colored pencil
• charcoal colored pencil
• brown colored pencil

Palette: Soft Blue,Cream,Charcoal,Warm Brown

Draw the steam rising from the thermos cup as one soft wavy line, the same small touch used on the hot chocolate stand, it is what makes a drink look warm on paper.

Bring the focus back to a single animal with a hare peeking out from a snowy hedge with red berries. Draw the hedge first as a loose rounded mass of forest green with cream snow sitting along its top edge, then tuck the hare’s head and alert ears peeking out from one side.

Scatter small clusters of red berries through the hedge, and keep the hare itself warm grey-brown with a soft cream chest, its ears the tallest, most careful shapes in the whole drawing.

Ear length against head size is the detail to check before inking, hare ears are proportionally longer than most animals’ and drawing them too short makes the creature read as a rabbit instead.

Berries too fiddly to scatter individually, group them in simple clusters of three dots instead of drawing each one separately, it reads just as well from a normal viewing distance.

You Will Need

• fineliner pen
• forest green colored pencil
• grey-brown colored pencil
• red colored pencil
• cream colored pencil

Palette: Forest Green,Grey Brown,Poppy Red,Cream

Keep the hare’s eye as one small dark dot with a tiny uncolored highlight left bare, that single bright speck is what gives the whole animal its alert, lively look.

Return to architecture with a ski chalet with skis and sledges leaning by the door. Build the chalet as a simple wide cabin with a deep overhanging roof and a row of small square windows, then lean two or three pairs of skis and a small sledge against its front wall near the door.

Color the chalet in warm wood brown with cream trim along the roofline, and pick out the skis in alternating red and soft blue so they read as a cheerful little cluster rather than a plain stack.

The roof’s deep overhang is what makes a chalet read as alpine rather than a generic cabin, so draw it extending well past the walls on both sides before adding the supporting beams underneath.

Once this chalet feels comfortable to draw, try it again covered in more snow with icicles along the roofline, the same structure carries a colder, quieter mood with just that one change.

You Will Need

• fineliner pen
• brown colored pencil
• cream colored pencil
• red colored pencil
• soft blue colored pencil

Palette: Warm Brown,Cream,Poppy Red,Soft Blue

Add a tiny pair of boot tracks leading from the door to the leaning skis, it is a small narrative touch that makes the whole chalet feel lived in.

Add a tender little moment with a little girl catching snowflakes on her tongue at a bus stop. Draw her first with her head tipped back and arms slightly out, then set a simple bus stop shelter behind her, a plain rectangle roof on two thin posts, with falling snowflakes dotted around her head.

Color her coat a cheerful red and her scarf cream, then keep the shelter itself in soft blue-grey so it recedes gently behind her bright figure and does not compete for attention.

Tilting her head back convincingly depends on the angle of her chin and hat, so sketch a light guideline from her chin up through her nose before adding her face, too straight a neck makes the pose look stiff rather than joyful.

No proper bus shelter wanted in the scene, simplify it right down to just a single lamppost beside her instead, the snowflakes and her pose are doing the emotional work regardless.

You Will Need

• fineliner pen
• red colored pencil
• cream colored pencil
• soft blue colored pencil
• white gel pen

Palette: Poppy Red,Cream,Soft Blue,Charcoal

Dot the snowflakes with a white gel pen rather than leaving plain paper gaps, it lets you place them exactly where you want after the rest of the scene is finished.

Keep the charm going with an owl in a knitted scarf perched on a mailbox. Draw the owl as one rounded body shape with a flat face and two large round eyes, then perch it on top of a simple cylindrical mailbox topped with a small sloped lid and a flag.

Wrap a striped scarf around its neck in forest green and cream, then color the owl itself in soft warm brown with a cream chest marked by a few simple feather dashes.

Getting the eyes large but not cartoonish is the balance to find, keep them round and centered on the flat face but leave the pupils small, oversized pupils push the owl toward cute cartoon rather than calm print style.

If you like this little perched-bird idea, the same pose and proportions work well again for a different bird pencil drawing another day, just swap the scarf color and setting.

You Will Need

• fineliner pen
• brown colored pencil
• cream colored pencil
• forest green colored pencil
• charcoal colored pencil

Palette: Warm Brown,Cream,Forest Green,Charcoal

Add one small snow cap resting on the mailbox lid before drawing the owl, it grounds the whole scene in winter before any color goes down.

Try a slightly busier composition with a market boat selling Christmas trees on a frozen canal. Sketch a simple flat-bottomed boat first, loaded with four or five small pine trees of varying heights, then set it directly on a pale blue canal bordered by narrow canal-side houses.

Color the boat a warm wood brown and the trees forest green with small cream snow caps, keeping the canal itself a flat, calm soft blue broken only by a thin ice-crack line or two.

Loading the trees so the boat looks balanced rather than toppling is the detail to watch, stagger their heights from tallest in the center to shortest at each end, an even row of same-height trees looks stiff and unnatural stacked together.

Quick version, keep the canal houses as flat colored blocks with no window detail; with more time, add a tiny awning and a shopkeeper figure standing in the boat calling out prices.

You Will Need

• fineliner pen
• brown colored pencil
• forest green colored pencil
• soft blue colored pencil
• cream colored pencil

Palette: Warm Brown,Forest Green,Soft Blue,Cream

Tie a small red ribbon around one tree near the front of the boat, a single colored accent among all that green draws the eye exactly where you want it first.

Slow down with a simpler still life, a wooden ladder leaning on a snowy tree with lanterns hanging on it. Draw the ladder first as two parallel diagonal lines crossed by even rungs, then rest it against a single bare tree trunk dusted in cream snow along its branches.

Hang two or three small lantern shapes from different rungs, each with a warm yellow glow inside, and keep the background otherwise completely empty so the ladder and its lights stay the full focus.

Spacing the rungs evenly along the ladder is worth measuring with light pencil ticks first, rungs bunched unevenly make the whole ladder look like it is leaning at a dangerous angle rather than resting gently.

If yellow lantern glow feels like too much color against the simple scene, swap it for small unlit lantern shapes in cream instead, the composition holds up just as well without any added warmth.

You Will Need

• fineliner pen
• brown colored pencil
• yellow colored pencil
• cream colored pencil
• ruler

Palette: Warm Brown,Candle Yellow,Cream,Charcoal

Let the lantern light cast a soft round glow onto the snow beneath it with just a pale yellow smudge, a touch of mood without any heavy shading needed.

Bring everything together with a wider scene, a Scandinavian village with smoke curling from every chimney. Line up a small row of simple house shapes in varying heights and colors, red, cream, soft blue, each topped with a snowy roof and a thin chimney releasing a soft curl of smoke.

Keep every house front simple, two or three windows and a door, and let the smoke curls be the one moving, organic element against all those straight architectural lines.

Repeating the same house shape with only color changed is the trap to avoid here, vary each roofline slightly and stagger the house heights so the row reads as a real village rather than a copied template.

Village too big a subject to fit comfortably on your page, this one works just as well cropped down to three houses instead of a full row, the smoke and color variation carry the charm regardless of how many you include. For more compact street scenes like this, the village scene drawing approach works well too.

You Will Need

• fineliner pen
• red colored pencil
• soft blue colored pencil
• cream colored pencil
• charcoal colored pencil

Palette: Poppy Red,Soft Blue,Cream,Charcoal

Draw each chimney’s smoke curl in one single confident stroke rather than retracing it, a hesitant line looks stiff where a loose one looks like it is genuinely drifting.

Step back to a single figure with a woman in a long coat carrying a bouquet of eucalyptus and berries. Draw her coat first as one long simple silhouette reaching nearly to the ground, then add the bouquet cradled in her arms, a loose cluster of rounded eucalyptus leaves and small red berry clusters.

Keep her coat a deep forest green or soft blue so it reads as a solid, calm shape, and let the bouquet’s cream and red tones stand out clearly against it as the brightest part of the page.

Balancing the bouquet’s size against her arms is the detail to watch, too large a bouquet overwhelms the figure, so keep it roughly the width of her shoulders before adding the final berry clusters.

No eucalyptus-grey pencil in your set, a soft sage green or even a pale olive stands in well, the rounded leaf shapes read as eucalyptus regardless of the exact shade.

You Will Need

• fineliner pen
• forest green colored pencil
• sage green colored pencil
• red colored pencil
• cream colored pencil

Palette: Forest Green,Sage Green,Poppy Red,Cream

Tie the bouquet’s stems with a thin red ribbon bow, a small added detail that gives the whole arrangement a sense of being freshly wrapped.

Return to the animals with two sheep in a snowy meadow with a red barn behind. Draw each sheep as a simple cloud-like cluster of rounded shapes for the wool, with a small dark face and thin legs peeking out beneath, then set a classic red barn with a triangular roof in the distance behind them.

Keep the sheep’s wool as plain cream paper outlined in loose scalloped fineliner curves, and let the barn be the one strong red shape on the page so it anchors the whole composition from behind.

The two sheep’s poses are easiest to vary by angling one head down grazing and the other looking up, identical sheep drawn side by side tend to look copy-pasted rather than like two separate animals.

If barn red feels too strong against all that white snow, a softer faded red or dusty rose works just as well and keeps the whole palette a touch gentler.

You Will Need

• fineliner pen
• cream colored pencil
• charcoal colored pencil
• red colored pencil
• soft blue colored pencil

Palette: Cream,Charcoal,Barn Red,Soft Blue

Draw the sheep’s wool outline as a series of small overlapping bumps rather than one smooth curve, that bumpy edge is what reads instantly as fleece.

Settle into a cozy interior moment with a cat sleeping on a sheepskin by a window full of snow. Curl the cat into a simple rounded loaf shape on top of a loosely scalloped cream sheepskin rug, then frame a window behind it showing soft blue sky and falling snow.

Color the cat in warm tabby brown and charcoal stripes, keeping its pose entirely relaxed, no visible legs, tail tucked close, so the whole shape reads as pure contented sleep.

Getting that sleeping curl right depends on starting with one simple oval for the whole cat before adding any stripe or ear detail, trying to build the curve from the head outward usually ends up lopsided.

For a quick ten-minute version, keep the cat as a plain tabby silhouette; given forty, add individual fur stripe marks and a few scattered snowflakes drifting past the window glass.

You Will Need

• fineliner pen
• brown colored pencil
• charcoal colored pencil
• cream colored pencil
• soft blue colored pencil

Palette: Warm Brown,Charcoal,Cream,Soft Blue

Leave two tiny closed-eye curves as the only facial detail on the cat, resisting the urge to add a nose or whiskers keeps the pose reading purely as sleep.

Bring in a calm wildlife moment with a moose crossing a quiet road at sunset. Draw the moose as a tall, long-legged silhouette with its distinctive broad antlers, standing mid-stride across a simple straight road that cuts through soft snowy banks on either side.

Color the sky behind it in a soft gradient from cream near the horizon into a gentle rose or dusty red higher up, and keep the moose itself a near-solid dark charcoal silhouette so it reads clearly against that warm sky.

Placing the horizon line low on the page, with the moose and road beneath it and most of the page given to that glowing sky, is what makes this feel like a true sunset moment rather than a daytime crossing, raise that line and the warmth of the light is lost.

If charcoal feels too flat for the moose, add one or two slightly lighter brown highlights along its back where the low sunset light would catch it.

You Will Need

• fineliner pen
• charcoal colored pencil
• rose or dusty red colored pencil
• cream colored pencil
• soft blue colored pencil

Palette: Charcoal,Dusty Rose,Cream,Soft Blue

Blend the sky’s cream into rose with overlapping light pencil strokes rather than a hard line between the two, a soft transition reads far more like real sunset light.

Bring the set toward its close with a tender family scene, a child pulling a younger sibling on a sled past a candlelit window. Draw the older child mid-stride pulling a rope, the younger one bundled and seated on a simple sled behind, then set a warm glowing window just behind them in the scene.

Color both children’s coats in two different shades, red and soft blue, so they stay easy to tell apart, and let the window’s candle glow be the single warmest color on the page, a soft yellow square cutting through the cool blue evening tones around it.

Keeping the rope taut between the two figures is what sells the pulling motion, draw it as one straight diagonal line rather than a loose droop, a slack rope makes the sled look stationary rather than in motion.

Once this pairing feels comfortable, try swapping the sibling pair for two friends instead, or add a small dog trotting alongside for a slightly busier version of the same gentle story.

You Will Need

• fineliner pen
• red colored pencil
• soft blue colored pencil
• yellow colored pencil
• charcoal colored pencil

Palette: Poppy Red,Soft Blue,Candle Yellow,Charcoal

Keep the evening sky a deeper soft blue than the rest of the palette elsewhere in the set, that one shift in tone is enough to read as dusk rather than daytime.

Close the set with a wider view, a ski lift with colorful gondolas above snowy pines. Draw the lift cable first as one steady diagonal line across the page, then hang three or four simple rounded gondola shapes from it at even intervals, each colored differently in red, soft blue and cream.

Fill the slope beneath the cable with a row of simple pine trees in varying heights, dusted lightly with cream snow, so the gondolas read as floating clearly above a real, textured landscape rather than empty space.

Spacing the gondolas evenly along the cable is worth marking in light pencil first, bunched or uneven spacing makes the lift line look broken rather than a smooth, continuous ride up the slope.

This closing scene pairs naturally with several ideas earlier in this set, so once it works well, try linking two together on a larger page, perhaps the ski chalet below and this lift rising above it, for a fuller winter story in one piece.

You Will Need

• fineliner pen
• red colored pencil
• soft blue colored pencil
• cream colored pencil
• forest green colored pencil

Palette: Poppy Red,Soft Blue,Cream,Forest Green

Add tiny support towers beneath the cable at two points along its length, a small structural detail that makes the whole lift feel properly engineered rather than floating.

What to Do Next

Pick whichever scene caught your eye first, set out your fineliner and a small handful of pencils in red, forest green, cream and soft blue, and work through one idea on a single sheet of smooth paper today. Keep the shapes simple and the colors flat, and you will have a calm little winter print finished before the afternoon is out.

Frequently Asked Questions

What paper works best for winter scenery drawing in this flat Scandi style?

Smooth bristol or marker paper works best, since it keeps fineliner lines crisp and lets colored pencil build flat, even color without the paper’s texture breaking up each shape.

Do I need to be good at drawing animals or people to try these ideas?

No, every figure and animal here is built from simple rounded shapes rather than realistic anatomy, so a beginner comfortable with circles, ovals and straight lines can finish any of them.

How do I keep the colors looking flat like a printed design instead of shaded?

Use light, even pressure in one direction rather than building up layers, and avoid blending tools entirely, a flat Scandi print look comes from restraint, not from smoothing colors together.

Should I ink the whole drawing before adding any color?

Yes, finish the full fineliner outline first and let it dry completely, then add colored pencil on top, working in ink after coloring tends to smudge the pencil layers underneath.

What is the easiest winter scenery drawing idea to start with?

The girl walking a dachshund past snowy pines is the simplest entry point, since it uses only basic rounded shapes and a small, forgiving palette of red, forest green and cream.