Profoundly Creative

Are you wanting to draw but lack inspiration? Maybe you’re stuck on subject matter, or feel like you aren’t skilled enough, or are unsure about what materials to use? Intuitive drawing exercises can get you started in a fun and low pressure way.

Pablo Picasso once said “inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.” If you can get started—even just making some simple marks on a page—you open yourself up to future inspiration.

Here are a few simple drawing exercises that encourage you to follow your intuition by responding to the marks you’re making on paper and being curious about what emerges. Turn off your inner critic and focus on the process rather than the outcome.

1. Two-handed mirror drawing

First, tape a large piece of blank paper to your table or drawing surface. Then, take two different coloured crayons or markers, one in each hand. Choose one hand to lead and the other to follow. Put both hands/crayons on the page and let the lead hand start to move. Your other hand then mirrors the marks made by the lead hand.

Think of your hands as dance partners mirroring each other’s moves on the page. You could even turn on some music and let your hands draw/dance for the length of a song, following the rhythm of the music.

2. Connect the dots

Draw a series of random dots on a page. The dots can be the same or different sizes, and any colour. Make sure to place them in random order, not a grid. Now, take a marker or pencil crayon with your non-dominant hand and start connecting the dots.

Once you’ve connected all the dots, do you see any patterns or pictures emerge? You can go over the lines with other colours to try different combinations of connections.

3. Continuous line drawing

Place your pen or pencil anywhere on a blank page, and start drawing a line. The challenge is to keep your pen/cil moving without lifting it. Fill the entire page.

As you draw, try changing what the line looks like—squiggly, straight, round, jagged, loopy, thick, thin, etc. Notice what types of lines you’re most attracted to. Do you like areas that are more dense with texture, or open spaces with more fluid lines?

Your observations are keys to figuring out the type of mark-making you gravitate towards and that you might want to explore further in your art practice.