Ideas on Approaching a Blank Page
APPROACHING THE BLANK PAGE
The never-ending blank page, the stress of not knowing what to draw. Looking for something to
flow out of the pencil. Have you been there? I know I have many times. Here are some things I have found to help me through artist block. Here are eight different ways to get creative ideas flowing.
DRAWING PROMPTS
1) Drawing prompts – I like to look for prompts that are a lot of fun, maybe they are seasonal. I’m sure you’ve heard of Inktober, right? Every October a list of drawing prompts is released and each day you draw the prompt in ink. I have not personally completed that one but there are many others that have gotten me from a blank page to new work. I even created my own 100-day project with this idea and did finish that one. If you just google ‘drawing prompts’ there are many out there. There is one in which you are provided with an artist and a color palette to get the juices flowing. I was planning on doing that one but this month has already run away.
LIMIT YOUR COLOR PALETTE
2) Limit your color palette – Find a color palette you like, I use Pinterest for this and then use only those colors in a piece of work. You can find beautiful jewel-tone palettes, vibrant colors, pastels, or just muted colors. Use a color palette you don’t normally use. This is a hard but fun challenge. A lot of times I come up with some fun new ideas too! Again, my goal is to get the creative juices flowing so this is usually just sketchbook work that only I will see. 😊 Don’t put pressure on yourself to create a marketable piece of artwork.
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These are some fun prompts from five artists on Instagram. I follow JessMillerDraws and came across these. A great way to practice and grow your portfolio. Check it out HERE.
Another great person to gather ideas and grow your portfolio from is Shannon McNab with SketchDesignRepeat. Her site if full of prompts and ideas. Give it a look. HERE
drawing skills
3) Drawing skills – this is what I am doing currently to not worry about the blank page. I have decided I want to work on my three-dimensional skills and highlight/shadow work. I have found some images off of Pixabay that interest me. Printed them out, placed a grid on them, and now they are the same size as my sketchbook. From here I draw the image on one side of the page in pencil, concentrating on the highlights and shadows. On the other page, I draw the same image and then use watercolor to colorize it and concentrate on the highlights and shadows some more. The pencil helps me focus on those dark and light areas and limits my tools. Both pages help me with my three-dimensional drawing. Pick a skill you want to work on, and then limit the tools involved to fully focus on that skill. You can also use any medium – watercolor, colored pencils, markers, etc. Dedicate a sketchbook to only that skill, this way you will see your progress as you go along.
WHAT's OUTSIDE
4) Get out of the studio – go into real life situations – a coffee shop, down by the river, the grocery store, an art museum, and draw. Draw what you see, any interesting thing to you. The only drawing tool you need is sketchbook pages and a pencil or pen. Since you are on location your time is limited and your subject matter is moving so drawing quickly is key. This is also a great opportunity to find your drawing style and is good practice too.
LOOK AROUND YOU
5) Draw Everyday Life – this is similar to number 4 but you don’t have to go anywhere! Find things in your everyday life that you can draw. Maybe it is your refrigerator with the door open, your morning routine products, your morning coffee, your dinner, your car or bike, or the living room with your kids watching TV. If there are people in the drawing this is an excellent way to practice facial features too. It can be as simple as just drawing everyday objects or random things.
READ SOME PICTURE BOOKS
6) Picture Books – this is one of my favorites because I LOVE looking at illustrated children’s books. They are a great way to open up your imagination to a new world. You will find simple drawings of scenes and very complex ones. You will find cute characters of people, mythical creatures, or animals doing human things. This is just a fun way to get your imagination working and figure out what you want to draw.
TRY A NEW SKILL
7) New skill – this is another fun way to come up with new ideas. Try a new skill, maybe your work is two-dimensional learn how to draw three-dimensional. Maybe you draw cartoon characters so learn to draw realistically. Try a different media, there are so many out there. Take a class in that new medium or any class. Study the masters or learn more about a single artist you love. These are just a few ideas for trying a new skill.
take a class
8) Take a class – find a class where you get assignments or design briefs to work from. This is a great opportunity to learn how to work with constraints like you would with a client or a commission. This is a good opportunity to develop your unique style, work in different styles with the same brief, or try new things. This can be an online course or an in-person class. For example, I take a BootCamp class each year to sharpen my skills and because they provide a design brief each month with the idea and concept. It also broadens my portfolio of work and provides a lot of practice.
Skillshare is a great resource for learning new skills and generating ideas. One of my two favorites on there is Cat Coq, she is a wealth of knowledge and is always willing to share information. HERE
Skillshare is a great resource for learning new skills and generating ideas. One of my two favorites on there is LIsa Glanz, she has fun character classes and wonderful resources.HERE
find the inspiration
There are so many more ways to find inspiration but these are a few of my favorites, they are all great practice for you as an artist. I try to stay away from Pinterest and Social Media just to limit my influences from there, plus we are on them enough, right? It is really amazing how quickly creative drawing ideas start coming to mind when you start one of these. I don’t always finish what a start because an idea flows quickly and I jump into creating that piece instead of sticking with one of these. There are many sources for great drawing ideas, you just need to find a couple that helps break that block. Please share with me what you do to avoid the blank page, I am curious what works for others. Time to take that creative energy and go create!
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