17 Sad things to draw (& uplift your mood)

In this blog post, we will give you 17 different situations with 17 sad things to draw in order to help you express your feelings and also to make you feel better. 

The situations we have chosen are the ones we thought could make people sad, desperate, anxious. If you have other ideas that we could write about, please leave us a comment with what other sad things to draw we should add in this article.

The names of the authors of these drawings and illustrations are inscribed on the image or mentioned below. If the author’s name is not written, it means that it is unknown.

Sad things to draw when you miss someone

When we miss someone, we feel an emptiness in our chest, and our mind seems to think of nothing but the person we are missing. Things around us remind us of this person, it is difficult for us to focus on the things we have to do and time seems to pass very hard.

In the three images below you can see examples of sad things to draw when you miss someone. You will see that the three authors represented this state through a reflective body position, a lost, thoughtful and sad look.

You don’t have to have perfect drawing skills to draw what you feel when you miss someone. How will this exercise help you? Simple, it will make you feel more liberated and help you understand your feelings for the person you miss. 

As you draw, allow yourself to reflect on how you are feeling, and focus on when you will be able to see that person again. And if this is not possible, then you can use this opportunity to say goodbye.

Sad things to draw after a breakup

Among the most popular and easy sad things to draw after a breakup are broken hearts. Why? Because it quickly became a symbol of lost friendship, lost hope and love.

How will drawing broken hearts improve your mood? Well, after a breakup, it’s very difficult to heal yourself, and it’s common to feel that, literally,  your heart is broken in two pieces. One-piece remained with you, and the other with your ex-boyfriend/ex-girlfriend.

While drawing a broken heart, imagine separating all the negative moments from the positive ones, the beautiful memories from the least beautiful ones, the quarrels of the moments when you felt good in your former relationship. 

Put aside everything that makes you feel sad, vulnerable and alone, and choose the piece of heart that still has hope, that still smiles, that still has a lot of love to offer.

It is an exercise of imagination that will help you a lot and that will relieve your pain. Try it!

Sad things to draw when you are lonely

These sad things to draw when you are lonely emphasize shadows, lack of eye contact, a deep sense of sadness and emptiness. Elements that describe very well the feeling of loneliness.

How will drawing improve your mood? The purpose of art therapy is to explore emotions, reduce anxiety, and manage problematic behaviours.

Once your drawing is ready, it might help if you interpret the symbols in your drawings, such as the moon, stars, or body position, if you are drawing a person.

These seemingly insignificant elements can communicate more to you than you think about your condition and emotions.

Sad things to draw when you are bored

These sad things to draw when you are bored will encourage you to do some introspection, to find creativity and answers to questions you didn’t even know you had!

For example, you could draw what it feels like when you failed; when you feel you have no way and no solution for your problems. Or, what it feels like when you are alone; when you are angry and you cannot shut your inner voice? See some examples below.

By drawing these kind sad things, you will probably find more about you, about what loneliness, anger, sadness or boredness feels like to you. It is always a great idea to draw sad things because they help you express your feelings, help you manage your anger issues and eventually, help you improve your mood. 

Sad things to draw when you are anxious

The difference between fear and anxiety is that fear is best described as an emotional response to a real or perceived threat, while anxiety focuses on anticipating a future threat. Anxiety can often be described by words such as stress, worry or nervousness.

Anxiety is classified as a condition once the symptoms become chronic and limit our ability to function in our daily lives. Anxiety is not always easily defined in terms of behavioural experiences: one person may initiate management mechanisms that are internalized through poor concentration and memory and avoidance behaviours, another person may manifest anxiety through physical symptoms such as rapid breathing, hands sweating and physical weakness.

Sad things to draw when you are anxious. For this exercise, use any art therapy materials or techniques you like. You can paint or draw the answers. Or you can create a collage. Ask yourself these questions:

• If anxiety had personality and body, what would it look like? How would it speak? What would it say? What interests it?
• What does your life look like under the pressure of anxiety? What would it look like if anxiety were no longer present?

Sometimes it may seem that anxiety is the ultimate enemy. It just feels so uncomfortable, maybe even terrifying. In addition, it may prevent us from doing the things we really want to do. 

Art therapy can help us become curious about our anxiety and better understand why it exists. It can help us access calm, reminding us that ease is actually in us.

Sad things to draw when you are stressed

Art therapy can help you heal from stress and channel your energy into something creative, for example, colouring.

Today’s society has become “patronized” by stress. Everywhere you look you see people who are gloomy or quarrelling over anything. If they had a balanced life and did not have as many stressors like work, colleagues, bosses, children, parents, life partners and much more, the world would be healthier and more civilized.

Because I tried and it really works, I recommend that you try to colour about 20 minutes every day. You will notice that all your negative energy will be shattered. For some time now, bookstores have been selling colouring books for adults. There are so many models to choose from.

Art has the therapeutic role of improving the emotional state of people subjected to a very high level of stress and is like a bandage for the wounded soul. It also develops creativity.

Sad things to draw when you are depressed

Depression must be taken seriously and fought with all our might. Even in the darkest situations, there is a ray of hope, and it can take the most unexpected forms.

If you are experiencing a depressive episode, there are several solutions you can use. Art may be one of the best solutions and will help you overcome the difficult moments.

Sad things to draw when you feel lost

Regardless of the artistic act practised during the sessions – colouring, painting, music, sculpture – this event represents a bridge between art and psychotherapy, with the purpose of:

• improve mental health, regardless of the nature of the trauma suffered;
• manage addictions and other problematic behaviours much better;
• resolve conflicts between two or more office colleagues;
• improve interpersonal skills and reach harmony with yourself.

Sad things to draw when you don’t know how to express yourself

These sad things to draw when you don’t know how to express yourself offers you the freedom to express – through art – an extensive series of complex emotions, such as anger, fear, hatred, happiness, uncertainty, etc .;

It also gives you the opportunity to discover yourself, thus better understanding your role in society and the meaning of your own life. See some examples of sad things to draw when you don’t know how to express yourself. 

Sad things to draw about love

Love is both the most beautiful and heartbreaking feeling that one will have. These sad things to draw about love will help you overcome breakups, impossible love, and any other kind of pain generated by love. 

Sad things to draw when you feel misunderstood

Sadness, emptiness and loneliness. Who hasn’t felt all this at least once in their life?

When you feel alone, there is a feeling that you are misunderstood, disconnected, isolated from others. There is a lack of emotional connection with the people around you.

The following sad things to draw when you feel misunderstood perhaps will inspire you and make you feel less lonely and misunderstood. 

Sad things to draw when you lost hope

I hope you learn to get up every time you fall. I hope you remember that the pain you feel today will lead you to the success you will enjoy tomorrow. I hope you take a break to enjoy the journey of life instead of focusing only on the destination.

I hope that these sad things to draw when you lose hope help you express your despair and help you learn from your mistakes and grow. 

Sad things to draw about friendship

There may be many reasons why someone may need inspiration for sad things to draw about friendship. Perhaps you miss your best friend or you recently have lost your friends, but drawing about your feelings and worries, you will almost immediately feel better. 

Sad things to draw about mental issues

To manage/improve a whole set of emotions and feelings, the following activities are recommended:

• Expressing emotions through drawings;
• Making the so-called “Diagrams of Emotions”;
• Drawing and colouring meditative paintings;
• Keeping a creative journal, with the progress made;
• Managing emotions through doll play;
• Writing and sending letters to certain people;
• Clay sculpture and meditative collages.

Sad things to draw about BPD

In the case of people who have suffered a strong trauma, determined by an event (or a series of events) with a major emotional impact, the following activities are recommended:

• Drawing a space that the patient can identify as a “personal” one;
• Graphic representation of the fears that the patient constantly experiences;
• Portraiture of loved ones, who suddenly disappeared from the patient’s life;
• Building a motivational collage, with objects that have a special meaning.

Below are some sad drawings of people with BPD.

Sad things to draw when you cry

To reduce strong stress and replace it with states of happiness, harmony and relaxation, art therapy can be translated as:

• Painting, colouring and drawing, starting from various musical tones;
• Graphic representations on oversized sheets of paper;
• Graphic representations, using ONLY certain colours and shapes;
• Painting and modelling with closed eyes;
• Painting and sculpting in sand containers;
• Painting with the help of palms and fingers;
• Photographs in nature or of objects chosen by the therapist.

Below are some sad things to draw when you cry.

Sad things to draw step by step

• If you’re tired, draw flowers. The flower has higher energy so you will charge energy from it.
• If you are sad, you can draw a rainbow. His colours, ROGVAIV, will make you open and smile. It is known that you can treat stress using colour therapy.
• If you lack concentration, draw with dots.
• If you’re confused, take a self-portrait.
• If you are in despair, draw paths.
• If you are tense, draw geometric figures
• If you want to put your thoughts in order, you could draw diamonds or squares.
• If you want to find the best way out of a certain problem that is grinding you, draw waves and circles.
• If you want to focus on one goal, draw grids
• If you can’t remember anything, draw mazes on paper
• If you feel anger overwhelm you, draw a line
• If you are bored, you can draw using many colours

Below are some sad things to draw step by step. 

When you feel sad

Sadness is an emotion like all the others, only it is one that we run away from. You do not like how it feels neither inside nor outside, how it is seen and how you are perceived when you experience this emotion as naturally as possible.

I wonder if we would have felt the same way if we hadn’t been programmed as children to believe that sadness is something bad, something that shouldn’t happen, something that we should either run away from or replace with smiles. I see parents who always urge their children not to be sad, not to cry, to always smile, no matter what happens inside them.

Well, sadness, like any other emotion, does not dissolve, it does not disappear as long as it is not consumed, lived, felt.

What can you do? First of all, accept that you are sad. Then wait and let the sadness manifest. The process is painful because it involves relieving maybe that sad event, crying, maybe even screaming, but after it came out it ended, it left, it disappeared and you released yourself, you calmed down.

Nothing good happened overnight. And don’t forget that sadness is a natural emotion. It is like joy, love is part of us and what we feel, and when you deny it, you reject a part of yourself.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions of sad things to draw, do let us know!