Where do the drawings come from, and can I use them commercially?

They are constructed here from arcs, curves and straight sides — not taken from a clip-art collection, not drawn by a person whose work would need licensing, and not produced by an AI model. So yes, they can go into something you sell, with no licence and no credit line. The reason that can be said without hedging is that the drawing is not your content and not anyone else's. Where a printable is made from an image somebody supplied, the question of who owns it is simply passed back to whoever supplied it.

Which setting is easiest?

A break in the outline is the gentlest: the line stops and starts again a short way along, and the gap is short enough to see across. Taking away a half is the hardest, because there is nothing on that side to measure from.

Is this the same as the mirror sheet?

No. A mirror sheet always removes exactly one side of a fold, and the answer is the reflection of what is left. This can take a quarter, or the windows out of a house, or a piece of the outline — and the answer is the picture it came from, not a reflection.

Why does it sometimes refuse a picture?

Because a drawing whose only removable piece is a stalk would print as a complete picture with an instruction on it. It says so rather than wasting the paper.

Finish the Drawing Generator

Rubbing bits out at random leaves a drawing with holes in it. Taking away a whole half, a quarter, a named piece, or one continuous run of the outline leaves a drawing with something missing, which is a different thing to look at and a much better thing to draw. The rule is printed on the sheet, so a child knows what they are being asked for, and the answer page shows what was taken. The drawings are built here out of arcs, curves and straight sides, not taken from a clip-art library and not produced by an AI model — so what comes out is yours to use, including commercially, with no licence to buy and no attribution to give.

Picture

Difficulty

The ages are a rough guide to who a level suits. What the setting actually changes is how much of the shape is drawn — a harder sheet has more curves and corners to follow, not a smaller picture or a fainter line.

What is missing

How much to take away

A percentage, between 20 and 60.

Seed (optional)

A word gives back exactly the same sheet.

Paper size

Print size

Margin

Millimetres of blank edge, 5 to 40.

Turn the paper sideways

How to print this, or save it as a PDF

There is no PDF to download, and there does not need to be. Open the print command in your browser and choose “Save as PDF” as the destination. The page addresses and dates a browser normally prints across the top and bottom are already kept off.
Set the scale to 100%, not “fit to page”. This sheet is already the exact size of the paper you chose, so anything that resizes it makes every measurement on it wrong.
Leave the paper size in the dialog set to the same one you chose here.

Your sheet will appear here.

What this generator does

Draws a complete picture, takes a named part of it away — a half, a quarter, whole pieces or a run of the outline — and prints what is left with the rule written underneath.

How to use this tool

Choose a picture and a difficulty.
Choose what goes missing: a half, a quarter, some of the parts, or a break in the outline.
Set how much of the drawing to take away.
Make the sheet. The rule is printed under the picture so a child knows what is wanted.
Show the answer to see the complete drawing with the added part dashed.

Understanding the controls

Picture: Which drawing gets the treatment. Some pictures have parts to remove and some are a single outline, which changes what the rules can do.
What is missing: One half, one quarter, some of the parts, or a break in the outline. The break is the gentlest and the half is the hardest.
How much to take away: Between a fifth and three fifths of the line work. What is printed and what is missing always add back up to the whole picture.
Difficulty: How much of the picture is drawn in the first place, which decides how much there is to lose.
Seed: A word gives back the same sheet, including which part went missing.

Common use cases

Observation practice that is not just copying
A gentle drawing task for a child who says they cannot draw
Symmetry and proportion work without the word symmetry
A cover lesson that needs no marking
Something to fill five minutes at the end of a lesson

Randomness and fairness

Which picture is drawn, how much of it is drawn, and which particular half, quarter, part or run of outline is then taken away all come from your browser’s secure generator unless you type a seed word. With a word in the box the same sheet comes back — the same picture with the same piece missing — so a lost sheet can be reprinted to match the one a child has already started, and a class can be given one sheet while a teacher keeps the answer. A different word makes a different sheet. The seeded path is deterministic and not cryptographic: anybody with the word gets the sheet, which on a worksheet is the point rather than a problem.

For how randomness is produced across the whole site, see how Generate Random works.

Limitations and good to know

The drawings are geometric — recognisable as a boat or a flower, not as a particular boat or a particular species of flower. Anyone expecting a lifelike illustration will be disappointed, and that is the honest trade for owning the result outright.
Taking away parts needs a picture with parts. A picture drawn as a single outline offers a half, a quarter or a break in the line instead.
The pictures are simple line drawings, not shaded illustrations.

Frequently asked questions

Where do the drawings come from, and can I use them commercially?: They are constructed here from arcs, curves and straight sides — not taken from a clip-art collection, not drawn by a person whose work would need licensing, and not produced by an AI model. So yes, they can go into something you sell, with no licence and no credit line. The reason that can be said without hedging is that the drawing is not your content and not anyone else's. Where a printable is made from an image somebody supplied, the question of who owns it is simply passed back to whoever supplied it.
Which setting is easiest?: A break in the outline is the gentlest: the line stops and starts again a short way along, and the gap is short enough to see across. Taking away a half is the hardest, because there is nothing on that side to measure from.
Is this the same as the mirror sheet?: No. A mirror sheet always removes exactly one side of a fold, and the answer is the reflection of what is left. This can take a quarter, or the windows out of a house, or a piece of the outline — and the answer is the picture it came from, not a reflection.
Why does it sometimes refuse a picture?: Because a drawing whose only removable piece is a stalk would print as a complete picture with an instruction on it. It says so rather than wasting the paper.