How to make money from doodles: creativity meets entrepreneurship
Turn your doodles into a thriving business.
Doodling is a creative drawing style that allows you a multitude of possibilities of expression. In this post I ll show you how you can transform your doodles into products. And if you’ld like to expand your creativity further by learning new sketching techniques, I’ll show you where you can learn for less than £1.
Turn Your Doodles Into a Business
If you can doodle, you already have the raw material for dozens of products.
A page of simple cats could become fridge magnets, an apron, a bookmark or a child's dress. Twenty Christmas doodles could become a sticker sheet, a deck of christmas cards or pyjamas. Chemistry doodles could become revision cards or academic stickers.
The question isn't really what can I draw?
It's how can I turn my drawings into something that sells.
That's what we're learning here.
For every idea below, I'll show you what to make, what you'll need, where you can get it made and where you can actually put it up for sale.
You don't need to try all of them. Pick the one that looks easiest, make your first product and see what happens.
1. Make money from Doodle Sticker Sheets
What to make: A5 or A6 sheets containing around 10–20 coordinating doodles.
Some of the best seeling doodles feature Christmas icons, teacher stickers, planner stickers, flowers, cats, dogs, food, gardening or school doodles.
If you're making them at home:
Get your doodles saved as PNG files
Get Printable vinyl or sticker paper
An inkjet printer — an Epson EcoTank-style printer is worth looking at if you plan to print regularly
Cricut or Silhouette cutting machine if you want individually kiss-cut stickers
A paper cutter for simple rectangular sheets
Clear self-adhesive laminate if you want additional protection
Envelopes or rigid mailers
Where to sell
Start with Etsy if you want access to people already searching for stickers.
Alternatively, set up a Shopify store if you're planning to build a proper standalone stationery brand.
Instagram and TikTok can then become your shop window. Instead of simply posting finished stickers, show the original doodle beside the product it eventually became.
One collection could become: sticker sheet → individual stickers → digital stickers → printable planner stickers.
2. Turn Pet Doodles Into Fridge Magnets
What to make: Custom illustrated cat and dog magnets based on customers' photographs.
This is a lovely personalised product you can use to make money from doodles because you don't need hundreds of designs. You create a recognisable drawing style and apply it to each customer's pet.
To do this at home you'll need:
Cutting machine or scissors
Protective laminate
Packaging
To save money, you can also outsource production rather than buying equipment immediately. While outsourcing may mean you get only a small profit margin, it is only a phase that actually helps you test for demand.
Where to sell
Etsy is probably the easiest place to test personalised magnets.
Instagram also makes sense for this business because before-and-after content practically creates itself:
customer's dog → your doodle → finished magnet.
Later, you could move repeat customers towards your own Shopify store.
3. Create Doodle Greeting Cards
What to make: Birthday, teacher, new baby, friendship, Christmas and occasion cards. Ideally, you would want to start by selling digital cards. You can doodle things like cake, balloons, present, champagne, flowers, candles, party hat, bow, confetti. Physical cards tend to have more perceived value and may generate sales quicker, so consider having a physical offering if you can handle it.
You can either use a print on demand service or print the cards at home yourself. For printing physical cards you'll need:
Good-quality inkjet printer e.g. Epson EcoTank-type printer
Approximately 250–300 gsm printable cardstock compatible with your printer
Paper trimmer
Scoring board
Envelopes
Clear or paper packaging
Printer ink
But don't buy £300 worth of equipment to test a £3 card.
Your first batch can be professionally printed.
4. Create a Doodle Colouring Book
This is one of the ideas where you don't necessarily need to manufacture anything yourself.
What to make: A themed colouring book containing approximately 30–50 original pages.
You could create:
Cute Cats to Colour
Cosy scene Doodles
My First Science Colouring Book
50 Cute Foods to Colour
Garden Doodles
What you'll need
Your drawings, a design/layout program and finished print-ready interior and cover files.
Keep the illustrations clean and make sure you're working at sufficient resolution for printing.
How to sell it
Use a print-on-demand publishing service such as Amazon KDP or Lulu.
Upload your interior file and cover according to the printer's specifications.
When someone orders the book, it's printed for them.
You can also sell a downloadable digital PDF version through Etsy or your own Shopify store.
This is where one set of drawings can generate both a physical and digital product.
5. Turn Your Doodles Into Fabric
What to make: Seamless repeating patterns.
Draw 10–20 coordinating illustrations.
For example:
strawberry + strawberry flower + leaf + bow + tiny dots.
Arrange them into a repeating tile.
You don't need to buy fabric.
Upload the finished pattern to a print-on-demand fabric marketplace such as Spoonflower.
Your pattern can then be made available on fabric, wallpaper and selected home products.
You can order a sample first so you can photograph the actual finished design.
That's much more convincing than filling your shop with digital mock-ups.
6. Sell Doodle Clip-Art Packs
This may be the cheapest business on this list to test.
What to make: 20–50 coordinating PNG illustrations.
Materials needed
Very little:
Paper and pen OR drawing tablet
Scanner/phone if you're drawing traditionally
Canva/Procreate/Photoshop or similar software
Cloud storage
Etsy or your own website
There's no printer, cutting machine, stock or postage.
Your finished product
Imagine you've drawn 30 Christmas baking doodles. Create a folder containing 30 individual transparent PNG files. Add a simple PDF explaining the licence. Zip the files. Upload the product.
You could offer a personal-use licence and, if appropriate for your business, a more expensive commercial-use licence.
7. Create Educational Doodle Products
This is where I'd get much more niche.
Don't just create "school doodles."
Create:
Chemistry laboratory doodles
Anatomy doodles
Space doodles
Pharmacy doodles
Maths doodles
Nursing doodles
Then turn them into useful products.
For example, 30 chemistry doodles could become:
revision stickers, flashcards, notebook covers, classroom posters and digital clip art.
Where to sell
For teacher-facing resources, investigate marketplaces specifically used for educational materials as well as Etsy.
You could also build a Shopify stationery shop around a specific student niche.
The important thing is that the doodles aren't merely decorative.
Make them useful.
A chemistry student may have little reason to buy a picture of a beaker.
A pack of illustrated organic chemistry revision cards is a different proposition.
8. Put Your Doodles on Packaging
You don't need your own product for this one. You're selling the illustration service.
Create three imaginary brands.
For example: a bakery, a candle company and a children's skincare company.
Create a small doodle collection for each.
Then mock your artwork onto a box, tissue paper, label and thank-you card.
You now have the beginning of a commercial illustration portfolio.
Where to find customers
Set up a simple portfolio website. Create a dedicated Instagram account displaying your work. Then look for small product businesses whose branding would genuinely suit your illustration style.
Your Instagram shouldn't just say:
"Here's a flower I drew today."
Show:
the flower doodle → repeating pattern → candle packaging.
You're demonstrating what a business can actually buy from you.
9. Sell Doodle Invitations
Draw one themed collection and turn it into an entire party suite.
For example, create 15 dinosaur doodles.
Use them to make:
birthday invitation, welcome sign, cupcake toppers, thank-you card, favour tags and party stickers.
Sell the invitation separately and then offer the entire matching bundle.
You can sell editable templates, finished digital invitations or personalised files depending on how hands-on you want the business to be.
10. Create a Doodle Notebook or Journal
You don't necessarily need to print these yourself either. Create a beautiful doodle pattern.
Design a notebook cover. Create the interior. Then use a print-on-demand publishing platform such as Lulu or Amazon KDP to produce the physical book.
The important part is giving the notebook a reason to exist.
Instead of another blank floral notebook, consider other options:
Chemistry Lab Notes
My Garden Planner
Cat Lover's Reading Journal
30-Day Doodle Journal
The doodles provide the visual identity. The useful interior gives someone a reason to buy it.
11. Create Doodle Canvas Prints and Wall Art
Create collections rather than individual illustrations.
Examples include:
36 British foods
20 cocktails
30 dog breeds
25 garden flowers
Coffee drinks
London landmarks
Chemistry equipment
Arrange the illustrations into a single poster.
You can initially sell it as a digital download.
If it sells, add a physical version using a print-on-demand supplier rather than immediately purchasing a large-format printer.
12. Create Seasonal Doodle Collections
This is less a product and more a business system.
Create a calendar.
January: winter
February: Valentine's Day
March: spring
April: Easter
May: flowers
June: summer
August: back-to-school
September: autumn
October: Halloween
November: Thanksgiving/Christmas preparation
December: Christmas
For every collection, aim to create around 20–30 coordinating illustrations.
Then turn each collection into stickers, cards, digital graphics, printables and patterns.
You aren't starting from zero every time you launch something.
13. Sell Commercial Illustration Services
You can also sell the doodling itself. Businesses commission illustrations for:
advertising campaigns, websites, email newsletters, packaging, social media graphics and editorial articles.
You need a portfolio before you need a huge audience.
Create 6–10 strong fictional briefs showing how your illustration could be used commercially.
Then build a simple portfolio using your own website or a portfolio platform.
Instagram can support this, but treat it as a visual portfolio rather than assuming you need to become an influencer.
14. Start a Doodle Tutorial Website
This is the route I'd consider if you enjoy blogging more than fulfilling physical orders.
Instead of only selling your doodles, teach people to make them.
Publish tutorials such as:
How to Draw a Cat in 6 Steps
30 Easy Christmas Doodles
25 Easy Flower Doodles
How to Draw Cute Food
50 Things to Doodle When You're Bored
Easy School Doodles
Create vertical step-by-step images for Pinterest that lead back to the full tutorial.
Then create your own products around the traffic.
A reader searching for Christmas doodles could be offered a 50-Page Christmas Doodle Workbook.
Someone reading your cat tutorial could download your 30 Cute Animals Drawing Pack.
Eventually you could create a complete beginner doodling book and publish the physical version through Lulu or KDP.
Now your blog traffic has somewhere to go.
What I'd Buy If I Wanted to Make Physical Doodle Products at Home
You absolutely do not need all of this on day one.
But if you decide you want to physically produce stickers, cards, magnets and small paper products, your eventual home setup might include:
Epson EcoTank inkjet printer
Cricut or Silhouette cutting machine
Paper trimmer
Scoring board
Printable sticker paper/vinyl
250–300 gsm printer-compatible cardstock
Printable magnetic sheets
Self-adhesive laminate
Cutting mats
Envelopes
Rigid mailers
Packaging cards
Small postal scale
Start with the product first and buy equipment as orders justify it.
The £0 Version
If I had doodles sitting on my iPad today and wanted to see whether anyone would actually buy them, I wouldn't buy a printer.
I'd create 20 coordinating doodles.
I'd turn them into a digital clip-art pack, one printable product and one print-on-demand product.
I'd open an Etsy shop or add them to an existing store.
Then I'd create a Pinterest account and an Instagram page showing the transformation:
sketch → cleaned doodle → pattern → finished product.
If people buy, I'd expand that exact collection.
Only then would I start looking at printers, cutting machines and physical inventory.
One set of 20 drawings is enough to find out whether the idea deserves your next £100.
Want to Get Better at Doodling?
I use Domestika to learn. In the past year, i've learnt that improving few basic skills particularly line drawing, character design, composition and repeating patterns can make it much easier to turn simple sketches into products.
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