Findy · illustration · 7 September 2026

One scene, 14 art styles

The same moment drawn 14 ways: a couple packing a box in their garage while their daughter hands them a toy. The scene is identical in every one of them on purpose, so the only thing changing from picture to picture is the technique, which is the thing you are choosing.

Two things worth knowing before you scroll. First: what made the old characters read as "for three-year-olds" was mostly their PROPORTIONS, not the painting. A big round head on a short body is the drawing convention of books for under-fives, and it would keep reading young in any technique below. Every one of these was drawn with real adult proportions instead, and that alone does a lot of the work. Second: "fairy tale" is a subject rather than a style. It says what is being depicted, not how it is drawn, and fairy tales have been drawn in every technique on this page. So it is a mood you can ask for on top of whichever of these wins, not a rival to them.

What I want from you: which ones you like, and roughly why. One word each is plenty. You can pick more than one and you can say none of them.

What I do not want: for you to worry about whether the faces are exactly right, whether the box is the right box, or whether the garage looks like your garage. None of that is settled by this and all of it is easy to change afterwards. This is only about the technique: what the picture is MADE of.

These are throwaway. Nothing here goes into the app. Once you pick a technique the real drawings get made properly in it, and the people on each screen get chosen to suit what is happening on that screen, which is what you asked for.

One thing about the notes under each picture. I wrote them before any of these existed, from what each technique usually does. Six of the fourteen turned out wrong once the pictures arrived, and four of those were wrong in the direction that flattered a style I had recommended to you. They have all been rewritten to describe the picture actually above them, and where I got it wrong the note says so.

Mid-century picture book

01

Mid-century picture book

1950s inks, flat shapes, overprint texture where two colours cross.

Easiest of all to keep identicalWarm, adult, lightReads 1950s, so it dates itself
Ink line and one wash

02

Ink line and one wash

A confident brush line and a single watercolour pass, lots of bare paper.

The lightest of all fourteenFeels quick and modernVery pale, almost no dark darks
Screen-printed travel poster

03

Screen-printed travel poster

1930s railway poster: flat blocks, no outlines, deep darks.

Confident and iconicReal dark darksAlso reads mid-century
Layered cut paper

04

Layered cut paper

Real paper shapes with scissored edges and shadows between the layers.

Warm, light and deep at onceAlready in separate piecesNothing about it dates it
Felt and stitch

05

Felt and stitch

Cut felt with visible thread and a little fuzz at every edge.

Crafted, not twee: I predicted wrongVery warmPeople and boxes are one material
Clay figures

06

Clay figures

Modelled clay with thumbprints, photographed under soft light.

No sharp edges anywhereReal weight and presenceHardest to take apart to move
Embroidery on linen

07

Embroidery on linen

Stitched in thread onto cloth, the weave showing through.

Genuinely unlike any other appVery busy, will not survive shrinkingPeople and boxes are one texture
Linocut

08

Linocut

Carved block printed by hand: ragged edges, deep unbroken black.

Far warmer than I predictedStrong darksHeavy line, the least airy of the drawn ones
Risograph, bright inks

09

Risograph, bright inks

Inks printed out of register, with heavy visible grain.

Came back pale, with no darks at allThe opposite of the sharpness you asked forGrain will drift between drawings
Rubber stamp on kraft

10

Rubber stamp on kraft

One ink pressed onto packing paper, unevenly.

Lighter than I predictedOn the nose for the productOne colour only, so no palette at all
Shadow theatre

11

Shadow theatre

Jointed figures lit from behind against a glowing screen.

Kept real faces: I predicted wrongBeautiful and unlike anything elseCame back culturally specific, your call
Woven in thread

12

Woven in thread

People stitched in yarn on an even weave, with a fringe.

Far finer than I predicted, faces readVery warm, very unusualSlow to take in at a glance
Stained glass, lit warm

13

Stained glass, lit warm

Glowing panes with dark leading between every piece.

The most striking of the fourteenCame back heavy and gold, not light or airyReads churchy, which was the risk
Peep-show diorama

14

Peep-show diorama

Layers of cut paper set inside a shallow box, real shadows between.

Literally a view into a boxReal depthWarm and light