10 Daily Drawing Ideas

Have you ever felt like you just don’t have any ideas of what to draw? The blank page of your sketchbook and still no ideas! We know that regular daily drawing improves our skills whether its observation or imaginative drawing, but actually knowing what to draw can often stop us before we start. Daily drawing inspiration can often be a challenge for artists at all levels.

How will I draw? Not what shall I draw?

Draw something in your comfort zone or something that is readily available to you. When we have limited time we often put off drawing because we can’t think of something interesting to draw. The important thing is that we draw regularly not what we draw. So take the pressure of and explore how you draw? Select any subject however simple and it can be the mug in front of you or the view from your window. Try the following ideas with the same subject and you will be able to explore your drawings creatively.


Exploring how we draw ideas:

  1. Stopwatch: set a timer of 5 minutes to complete a drawing, then repeat the drawing in 4 minutes, then 3,2 and 1. each time you will be selecting and making decisions about what is important and how to convey you drawing with the minimal marks.

  2. Don’t look: look at your subject continually but don’t look at the paper!

  3. One liner: don’t lift your pencil from the paper and make a continual line drawing.

  4. Close your eyes: spend 5 minutes really looking at your reference and then with your eyes tightly closed draw for 5 minutes.

  5. Try a new material: be creative and try something new or mix a few things together, ink and charcoal

  6. Left and right hand: Try drawings using your left and right hand.

  7. No pencil or brush: have a look around and select something unusual to draw with, twig dipped in ink. string, tissue or fork.

  8. Positive and negative: don’t just stick to white paper have a go on different colours with white chalk or paint. draw only the negative space.

  9. Over and over: draw your subject several times overlapping the images, you could you different materials for each layer.

  10. At a distance: attach your pencil or brush to a long garden cane and draw standing at least a metre from your paper.

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How I get inspired to create a new series of paintings

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Getting Started in Still life