Here’s a fun and easy autumn art idea for all ages.

Want an easy art idea to keep the children busy on a wet and windy autumn weekend? Enjoy mindful colouring as an adult but want to try something a little bit different? This easy DIY art idea is perfect for anyone of any age and only needs the most basic of art materials.

This idea was inspired by a lovely watercolour artwork that I first saw on Tik Tok by Andrea Nelson Art. Her tutorials are lovely and so easy to try out so if you like painting do check her out.

How to make your own autumn leaf colouring page

What you need:

• A piece of paper

• A black marker pen

• Colouring pens or colouring pencils

Drawing your own leaf colouring page

Start by drawing some simple leaf shapes on your piece of paper. I just went for it with my black marker pen but you could draw in pencil first if you’re not confident.

Next draw random lines all over your leaf drawing. I did lines from one side of the page to the other, but you could do more of a wiggly scrawl if you prefer.

This next step is optional, curve off all the corners. This step takes ages if you’ve drawn a lot of lines like me. I think it gives a cool look to your finished art but if you don’t want to do this bit just miss it out!

Not especially important but the eagle eyed among you might notice that at this point I did extend the vein on a couple of my leaves, just so they weren’t just ‘hanging’ in the middle of a shape.

Now take your colouring pens or pencils and pick out some warm yellow, red, brown and orange shades for the leaves and some cool colours, blues and greens for the background. I was using my favourite colouring pens, Promarkers, but you can use whatever you have of course. Promarkers are lovely colouring pens because they are alcohol based and blend so well they give a streak free finish. They do bleed straight through the paper though. They are pretty expensive but really do last for years and years so are a good investment if you do a lot of art or colouring.

Now all you need to do is colour the shapes you’ve drawn. Use warm colours for the leaves and cool colours for everything else. It’s easiest to colour the larger obvious shapes first. With some of the small shapes and the ones at the edge of your leaves it can be hard to tell which colour it should be. I found it easier to work it out once the bigger shapes are coloured, just take your time.

Doesn’t it look good?

Adding Zentangle Doodles

You can take your autumn leaf art to the next level by adding some doodles on the shapes with a black fine liner if you want to give it a little more.

This style of doodling is known as zentangle and you can find bucket loads of inspiration for designs online. Mine is a very simplified version of a zentangle. I did lots of lines, dots, wiggles, circles etc. Just have fun, there is no right or wrong. You could do something much more complicated if you wanted to but even a simple version looks pretty cute, right?

Would you enjoy creating your own easy leaf art for autumn? This art idea can be as simple or as complicated as you want to make it, add more, add less, you choose. Perfect when you want a little arty moment.

Julie
I’ll be sharing this idea at some of these link ups