Art Sub Lesson Plans: 10 One-Day Lessons With Paper and Pencil

The easiest art sub lesson plans use only paper, pencils, and colored pencils, finish in one class period, and end with a five-minute clean-up that’s the same every day. Below are ten one-day lessons that fit that rule, each with materials, step-by-step directions a non-artist can read aloud, a warm-up, and an exit ticket.

These are built so a substitute never has to open a paint cabinet or guess what “good” looks like. Each lesson has a clear finished product and a short checklist students can grade themselves against before they turn it in.

Why paper-and-pencil art sub lesson plans work best

Paint, clay, and printmaking are wonderful, but they’re a bad fit for a day with a sub. Supplies get wasted, clean-up runs long, and the sub inherits a sink full of brushes. Dry media fixes all of that.

• Materials: copy paper or drawing paper, No. 2 pencils, erasers, colored pencils, and rulers. That’s it for every lesson below.
• One day, one product: students start and finish in a single period, so nothing has to be stored half-done.
• Built-in checklist: each lesson lists three to four things a finished piece must show, which makes grading quick when you get back.
• Same routine: warm-up, demo read-aloud, work time, clean-up, exit ticket.

Clean-up rules for every lesson

Write these on the board or tape them by the door. The sub starts clean-up with five minutes left, no exceptions.

1. Colored pencils go back in their box or cup, points up, counted by the table captain.
2. Rulers go back to the bin. Erasers stay with the supply caddy.
3. Eraser crumbs get brushed into the trash, not onto the floor.
4. Finished work goes in the class tray with a name on the back.
5. Nobody leaves until the table captain says their table is clean.

For more on how to set up the supply side of a sub day, the art sub plans guide on SubstitutePlans.com and its sub tub ideas are good companions to this list.

Ten one day art lessons for substitutes

1. Contour line hand drawing

Materials: paper, pencil, eraser.

Warm-up: “What’s the difference between an outline and a sketch? Guess.”

Steps:

1. Place your non-drawing hand on the desk in an interesting pose.
2. Draw the outer edge slowly, looking at your hand more than your paper.
3. Add the inside lines: knuckle creases, fingernails, wrinkles.
4. Draw your hand three times in three different poses on one page.

Checklist: three hands, inside lines included, no shading, lines are smooth and continuous.

Exit ticket: “Which of your three hands looks most realistic, and why?”

2. Blind contour object drawing

Materials: paper, pencil.

Warm-up: “Can you draw something without looking at your paper? Predict how it will turn out.”

Steps:

1. Pick an object on your desk: a shoe, a backpack zipper, a pair of scissors.
2. Put your pencil on the paper and do not look down until the timer ends.
3. Move your pencil slowly as your eyes trace the object’s edges. Don’t lift the pencil.
4. Do three 2-minute rounds, then one 5-minute “peek allowed” drawing of the same object.

Checklist: three blind drawings, one peek drawing, all of the same object.

Exit ticket: “Did blind drawing make your final drawing better or worse? Explain.”

3. Value scale and shaded sphere

Materials: paper, pencil, ruler, eraser.

Warm-up: “In art, value means how light or dark something is. Where in this room is the darkest shadow?”

Steps:

1. Use a ruler to draw a long rectangle and divide it into five equal boxes.
2. Leave box 1 white. Make box 5 as dark as your pencil can go. Fill boxes 2, 3, and 4 so they step evenly from light to dark.
3. Below it, draw a circle. Pick a light source and mark it with an arrow.
4. Shade the circle into a sphere: a small highlight closest to the light, getting darker as it turns away, the darkest band (core shadow) near the far edge, and a cast shadow on the “ground” opposite the light.

Checklist: five clear steps of value, highlight, core shadow, cast shadow.

Exit ticket: “Which side of your sphere faces the light? How can a viewer tell?”

4. One-point perspective initials

Materials: paper, pencil, ruler, colored pencils.

Warm-up: “Why do railroad tracks look like they come together far away?”

Steps:

1. Draw a horizontal line across the page. This is the horizon line.
2. Put one dot on the line. This is the vanishing point.
3. Write your initials in big block letters below or above the line.
4. With a ruler, draw light lines from each corner of each letter to the vanishing point.
5. Decide how deep the letters should be, draw the back edges parallel to the front edges, and erase the extra guidelines.
6. Color the front faces one color and the sides a darker shade.

Checklist: horizon line, one vanishing point, 3-D letters, guidelines erased.

Exit ticket: “Name the two lines or points every one-point perspective drawing needs.”

5. Colored pencil color wheel

Materials: paper, pencil, colored pencils, a round object to trace.

Warm-up: “Name the three primary colors. What do you get when you mix two of them?”

Steps:

1. Trace a circle and divide it into 12 equal slices (like a clock).
2. Color red at 12 o’clock, yellow at 4, and blue at 8.
3. Layer two pencils to make the secondaries halfway between: orange at 2, green at 6, violet at 10.
4. Fill the remaining six slices with tertiary colors by blending a primary and its neighbor: red-orange, yellow-orange, yellow-green, blue-green, blue-violet, red-violet.
5. Label every slice.

Checklist: 12 labeled colors in the correct order, smooth layering.

Exit ticket: “Complementary colors sit directly across from each other. List all three primary-secondary complementary pairs.”

6. Symmetry fold drawing

Materials: paper, pencil, colored pencils.

Warm-up: “List three things in nature that are symmetrical.”

Steps:

1. Fold a sheet in half and open it. The crease is your line of symmetry.
2. On one side, draw half of a butterfly, mask, beetle, or building that touches the crease.
3. Press firmly with pencil, fold the paper closed, and rub the back to transfer a faint copy to the other side.
4. Trace over the faint lines and color both sides as mirror images.

Checklist: both halves match, design touches the fold, colors are mirrored.

Exit ticket: “Is your face perfectly symmetrical? How do you know?” (Open-ended.)

7. Pattern-fill name design

Materials: paper, pencil, fine-point marker if available, colored pencils.

Warm-up: “Where do you see repeating patterns in clothing, buildings, or nature?”

Steps:

1. Write your first name in large bubble letters that fill the page.
2. Divide each letter into three or four sections with curved lines.
3. Fill each section with a different repeating pattern: stripes, dots, waves, checkers, scales.
4. Color only the background, or only the letters, so the name stands out.

Checklist: at least eight different patterns, name readable from across the room.

Exit ticket: “Which pattern took the most patience? Which one would you use again?”

8. Positive and negative space chair

Materials: paper, pencil, colored pencils.

Warm-up: “Positive space is the object. Negative space is the space around it. Find a negative space shape in this room.”

Steps:

1. Look at a student chair or stool turned on a desk.
2. Instead of drawing the chair, draw the shapes of the empty spaces between the legs, rungs, and back.
3. When the shapes fit together, the chair appears.
4. Color all the negative spaces one solid color and leave the chair white.

Checklist: negative spaces drawn and filled, the chair is recognizable.

Exit ticket: “Why might drawing empty space be easier than drawing the object?”

9. Book cover redesign

Materials: paper, pencil, ruler, colored pencils.

Warm-up: “Have you ever picked a book because of its cover? What made it work?”

Steps:

1. Choose a book you’ve read for class or on your own.
2. Divide your paper into thirds both ways with light lines (rule of thirds).
3. Place the main image where two lines cross, not dead center.
4. Add the title and author with neat, planned lettering.
5. Use a color scheme on purpose (warm, cool, or complementary) and write which one on the back.

Checklist: title and author, focal point on a third line, intentional color scheme.

Exit ticket: “What does your cover tell a reader before they open the book?”

10. Three-object still life

Materials: paper, pencil, eraser.

Warm-up: “Why have artists painted bowls of fruit for hundreds of years?” (Open-ended.)

Steps:

1. Each table builds a still life from three classroom objects: a pencil sharpener, a water bottle, a roll of tape.
2. Overlap at least two objects.
3. Draw light shapes first, then refine edges.
4. Add at least three values of shading and a cast shadow under each object.

Checklist: three objects, overlap, three values, cast shadows.

Exit ticket: “What does overlapping do to the sense of depth in your drawing?”

Warm-ups and exit tickets that keep the sub day on track

Every lesson above opens with a short warm-up and closes with an exit ticket for a reason. The warm-up settles the room in the first five minutes, and the exit ticket gives you proof of learning without grading every drawing in detail. If you want a single page students can use all week, print a bell ringer sheet and one of our printable exit tickets. New to the idea? Start with what a bell ringer is and how it fits into a routine.

How to grade it when you get back

Use the checklist for each lesson. Give one point for each item that’s clearly there and one point for effort (the piece was finished and cared for). A four-item checklist plus effort gives you a quick five-point score. It’s fair, it’s fast, and students knew the target before they started.

FAQ

Do these art sub lesson plans work for middle and high school?

Yes. Middle schoolers do well with the color wheel, symmetry, and name design. High schoolers can push the value sphere, perspective, and still life much further. The steps are the same; the expectations rise.

What if there aren’t enough colored pencils?

Lessons 1, 2, 3, and 10 need only a pencil. Save the color lessons for days when supplies are stocked.

How long does each lesson take?

Each one is built for 45 to 55 minutes, including a five-minute warm-up and five minutes of clean-up. For block periods, combine two lessons, such as the value scale and the still life.

Can a non-art teacher grade these fairly?

Yes. The checklist makes it objective. The sub can even collect the work in checklist order so you can sort quickly.

More ready-to-run sub days

Pair these with our music sub plans or the general sub lesson plans roundup for the rest of the building. And for a fresh warm-up every school day, check the free daily bell ringers for grades 6–8 and grades 9–12.