How to Play Drawing from Memory In-Person or Online

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Plus, helpful tips to improve your drawing from professional artists

Co-authored by Kelly Medford and Hunter Rising

Last Updated: January 15, 2026 Fact Checked

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Card Game Rules

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Playing Online

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Playing Without the Game

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Rules for Judging

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TikTok Examples

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Expert Drawing Advice

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Video

If you’re looking for a new game to get creative with your friends, Drawing from Memory is a fun challenge (even if you’re not an artist). Whether you’re using the official card game or playing online, the rules are simple to learn. Keep reading, and we’ll cover how to start playing along with some hilarious examples from TikTok of drawings from memory. We also spoke with professional artists Kelly Medford and Claire Wentzel for advice on improving your drawing skills!

How to Play the Drawing from Memory Game

To play Drawing from Memory, choose someone to be the judge. Draw a prompt card, and everyone else has to draw it from memory. The judge picks the best drawing based on secret judging criteria, like “Best drawing” or “Most unintentionally funny.” A slightly different version of the game is also available on Steam.

Section 1 of 6:

Drawing from Memory Card Game Rules

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1
Choose the judge for the round. During every round of Drawing from Memory, one person becomes the judge and doesn’t have to draw, but they do get to pick the winning drawing. Pick someone randomly as the first judge. Make sure everyone else has a sheet of paper and something to draw with.
- You can play Drawing from Memory with as many people as you want, as long as you have enough paper and pencils to go around.
Meet the wikiHow Experts

Kelly Medford is a professional artist who graduated from the Florence Academy of Art and founded Sketching Rome Tours in Italy.

Claire Wentzel is an award-winning artist and strategic creative consultant based in Las Vegas who has over 20 years of experience.
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Everyone (but the judge) draws the revealed prompt card. Shuffle the deck of prompt cards, and flip one over to use for the first round. Each prompt features a well-known character, person, or object that everyone has to draw from their memory. Take a couple of minutes to draw the prompt as best as you can.^{[1]
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- If someone doesn’t know the prompt, either draw a new card or make the person draw what they think the prompt looks like.
- Try to keep your drawing hidden from other players so it’s a surprise once you reveal it.
- For a faster-paced game, set a drawing timer for 1-2 minutes.
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The judge selects the best drawing based on their Secret Criteria. When everyone finishes drawing, show off your masterpieces to the other players. The judge draws a random Secret Criteria card that has a secret judging rule, such as “Most inaccurate” or “Made players laugh the hardest.” Then, the judge picks the drawing they think fits the Secret Criteria best.
- Give the Secret Criteria card to the person who won the round to keep track of points.
The person to the left of the original judge becomes the judge for the next round. Discard the old prompt card and draw a new one from the deck for the next round of players. Play the game until everyone has had a chance to be the judge or until someone wins 10 rounds of the game.

Section 2 of 6:

How to Play Drawing from Memory Online

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Play a digital variation of the game on Steam. Even though it’s not exactly the same as the card game, Drawing from Memory lets you play online with 2-4 people. Each round starts with a prompt and picks the same character for everyone to draw from memory. Once everyone submits their drawing, vote on your favorite to win the round.
- You can vote on which one looks closest to the original, or you can make up your own rules for judging.
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Try a browser-based option to play drawing games for free. Even if you don’t buy the game, you can still connect with friends online and do drawing from memory remotely. While there isn’t an official version of the card game, try out these alternatives for a funny, artsy night online.
- Nintendo Quick Draw shows you a picture of a character from Super Mario Bros. for 10 seconds before it disappears, and you have to draw it from memory.
- Drawize lets you choose a word to draw, and your friends have to guess what it is before time runs out.
- Gartic Phone lets you write silly prompts for your friends, and they have to draw them for everyone to see.

Section 3 of 6:

How to Play Drawing from Memory without the Game

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Choose a prompt for everyone to draw. You can play with as many people as you want, but make sure everyone has a piece of paper and something to draw with. Choose a character, person, or object that everyone knows and give everyone a couple of minutes to draw it from memory.^{[2]
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- If someone doesn’t know the prompt you give, come up with another prompt or briefly explain it so they can draw it from their imagination.
- To make the game more random, have everyone write prompts on pieces of paper and pick one at random for each round.
- Some fun prompts that could work for your game include:
  - A rhinoceros
  - A kangaroo
  - Darth Vader
  - Sulley from Monsters Inc.
  - Abraham Lincoln
  - Albert Einstein
  - A bike
  - A pencil sharpener
After everyone finishes their drawing, pull up an image of the prompt and show it to the group. Then, take turns revealing your drawings to see if you remembered how it looks correctly.
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Vote on your favorite drawings. You can either vote on which one looks closest to the original prompt, or you can make up your own rules for judging. Have everyone pick the drawing they like the best, and whoever earns the most votes wins the round!
- Play as many rounds as you like, or until each player has chosen a prompt.

Section 4 of 6:

Rules for Judging Drawings from Memory

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Have fun with the different judging rules each round. Rather than always picking drawings that are closest to the original, switch it up to keep the game unexpected and entertaining. Don’t reveal the judging rules until the drawings are finished to keep the game fair. Try these suggestions for adding more laughs to your game, and don’t be afraid to brainstorm some of your own:
- Most accurate
- Most inaccurate
- Most overly-detailed
- Most likely to give you nightmares
- Looks most like a child’s drawing
- Least detailed but still recognizable
- Got the loudest laugh
- Lowest effort

Section 5 of 6:

The Drawing from Memory TikTok Trend Explained

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Many people post their Drawing from Memory challenges. TikTok users challenge themselves, their partners, or their friends to draw characters from their memory. While they sometimes get the drawing close to the original, they often misremember the details and end up with hilarious results.
- A post by @skynixart shows him generating the name of a random Pokémon and attempting to draw it from memory.
- A TikTok series by @meganroseruiz shows them drawing popular characters, like Sonic or Garfield, from memory.
- A TikTok by @disasterofanartist shows them attempting a digital drawing of Mabel from Gravity Falls without a reference.
- A video by @ratiliciousxx shows them doing the Drawing from Memory challenge with their boyfriend using popular characters like Plankton, Jimmy Neutron, and Perry the Platypus.
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Drawing from Memory memes feature quick sketches and one detailed drawing. The memes for drawing from memory start normally with simple line drawings of the original subject. Suddenly, the audio in the video distorts and shows an extremely detailed drawing that most likely used a reference image.
- In a TikTok by @asmrartwork, they draw the Stranger Things cast from memory, but Will’s portrait is completely shaded and finished.
- A TikTok by @fredx67_1 features drawings of Hunter x Hunter characters, with the final drawing featuring a complicated pose and more detail than the others.

Section 6 of 6:

Expert Advice for Drawing from Memory

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Draw a little every day. Medford says, “Draw something every day and take your time to really study how things actually are.” She mentions that people tend to draw what they think things look like instead of what things actually are, so do a drawing of something each day until you get it looking as close as you can to the original.^{[3]
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Expert Source

Kelly Medford
Professional Artist

Expert Interview}
- Wentzel notes that even though having a drawing routine builds practice, you should also take time to rest and experience life.^{[4]
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  Expert Source
  
  Claire Wentzel
  Award-Winning Artist and Strategic Creative Consultant
  
  Expert Interview}
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Try to copy your favorite artwork. Medford recommends looking at drawings and artwork that you love, and doing your best to draw them on your own. She explains that practicing techniques that other artists use can help you learn how to draw with them on your own.^{[5]
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Expert Source

Kelly Medford
Professional Artist

Expert Interview}
- She adds that if you’re stuck on how to draw something, use tracing paper over the art and trace the lines.^{[6]
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  Kelly Medford
  Professional Artist
  
  Expert Interview}
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Practice blind contour drawings. Wentzel explains that blind contour drawings are “exercises where you only look at your subject and you cannot look at your paper or lift up your pencil while you draw.” Blind contours help you train your observation skills so that you improve at drawing what you actually see.^{[7]
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Expert Source

Claire Wentzel
Award-Winning Artist and Strategic Creative Consultant

Expert Interview}
- Wentzel also suggests doing warm-up gesture poses that are 30-60 seconds long. She explains, “It forces you to get down the essential information as quickly as possible, and you don't have time to get bogged down in the details.”^{[8]
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  Expert Source
  
  Claire Wentzel
  Award-Winning Artist and Strategic Creative Consultant
  
  Expert Interview}