Do you find yourself often with your sketchbook open, pen in hand, feeling kind of blocked because of the big question that pops up in your mind: “what should I draw?”
In my book, Life Is Better When You Draw It, I dedicated a chapter to this. My mantra is “everything is interesting when you draw it”. It doesn’t matter what you draw; it matters that you draw.
Our minds play tricks with us - we forget why we wanted to draw in the first place (because you love doing it), and start thinking we should find a meaningful subject to draw or that the drawing should have some kind of message that matters to the whole wide world (even though you’re not planning to share it with anyone).
Forget about trying to come up with an important story, or an original idea. It’s better if you don’t. Just start drawing before thoughts can pop up that create expectations or prevent you from getting started at all. If you keep filling up a page (or even just a corner of it) in your sketchbook, with whatever catches your eye, those pages will add up to a story about you, about your life. And because it’s done in your handwriting, your style - it is special and original and .Nobody but you can make the drawing you make. Even if you don’t love the drawing. It’ll be part of many drawings in your sketchbook and of your beautiful unique story.
By not spending too much time deciding what to draw, you gain drawing time - which means more enjoyment of your creative time. It can be meditative, and you will learn with each drawing as well. About your skills, techniques, the subject, and yourself.
Don’t take it all too seriously. It’s just pen and paper, and making art is fun!
Now that I got that out of the way, you might still be looking for tips to get you going.
Here’s a list of 25 suggestions that could be helpful:
What are the hardest things to draw? Some of the most challenging things to draw include facial expressions, foreshortening of the human body, drapery folds, drawings based on your ideas instead of a direct reference, hands, movement, and gestures.
Looking around will eventually make you come up with one or two ideas on what to draw. It's easy if the object or person is close to you, because then you have an exact copy of the real thing when you are drawing.
Introduction: My name is Corie Satterfield, I am a fancy, perfect, spotless, quaint, fantastic, funny, lucky person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
We notice you're using an ad blocker
Without advertising income, we can't keep making this site awesome for you.
