Introduction

Looking for Art Exercises to boost your creativity and loosen up a bit even though you can’t draw? I got you covered! This blog post will address 5 fun Art Exercises to Boost Your Creativity and Improve Your Drawing Skills even if you’re non-artistic. 

These 5 Art Exercises will not only help sharpen your observation and boost your creativity, but will also teach you how to maintain a good mind-hand coordination.

1-      Doodle monsters

This Art Exercise tops the list for a reason. To do this Art Exercise you don’t have to be an artist, you don’t have to know how to draw at all, and it’s a great way for non artists as well to practice visual thinking and imagination skills. For artists, it will help you let go of expectations and perfectionism.

Let’s get started together:

( Warning: the drawings included are for demonstrative purposes only. Don’t copy them. Get creative 😉 )

1- Draw a free shape

Let it be as random as possible.

2- Turn on your imagination

Answer these questions:

• What kind of character does it have? 

Is it brave? soft? feminine? edgy?… 

• What mood does it radiate?

Do you imagine it being Angry? happy? calm? excited?…

(I’m deciding to make mine feminine, fun and happy)

3- Start drawing

Add the eyes, mouth, extras (hands, legs, horns, tail….).

Congratulations! You have just created an original character of your own.

It’s time now to experiment and have more fun starting with coffee or paint smudges instead of random shapes.

 2-      Blind contour exercise

This art exercise is great if you want to develop eye-hand coordination and sharpen your observation. It also brings you to look at objects from an artist’s point of view. And if done properly, it feels just like meditation, a great opportunity to slow down and be in the moment!

This drawing exercise is not only for artists but also for anyone willing to try it.

To get started, you need to follow three basic rules: 

0 – Choose an object to draw.

1 – Place your pen on the starting point.

2- Start drawing without looking at the paper, keep your eyes on the object you’re copying.

3- Don’t lift your pen.

Say bye to your inner critic and have fun. 

–          Optional: if you want to upgrade the challenge, use your non-dominant hand.

3-      Find the art element

Do you remember when we talked about The 7 Art Elements and why it is necessary to learn about them?

Nah? Check it right here 

Now this is a very simple art exercise that will make your observation skills go from 0 to 10, only by following these two steps only:

1- Pick a painting of your choice and print it.

I chose this one by: Anna Maiko

2- Try to find as many art elements as you possibly can.

3 -Name the art elements.

4- How is each art element giving character to the painting. 

4-  Upside-Down Drawing

This exercise is for artists, and it’s an excellent way to improve your drawing accuracy.

What you need for this drawing exercise is: 

• A pencil (any pencil is OK), 
• A4 paper to draw on, 
• A black and white line drawing as a reference to work from. 

You can use one of your own line drawings or search the internet for a line drawing image. You can also use the same one I used here. 

Note that the line drawing should be smaller than your A4 paper.

1- Draw a rectangular frame around the drawing to enclose it, then flip it over. 

2- Now create a frame the same size on the blank A4 paper.

Next, observe the shapes in the upside-down line drawing for a moment.

3- Firstly, draw them inside your frame.

Be careful where the lines cross and where they touch the frame’s sides. Don’t try to decipher the shapes; simply draw what you see.

After that, turn both the reference drawing and your own drawing the correct way up. Take a look at the outcome.

The result should be a rather exact replica of the drawing you were copying. In fact, you might discover that your drawing is more precise than usual.

This is likely to happen because of one reason: when we look at a familiar thing and start drawing it, we often have to choose between portraying what is actually there and what our brain tells us should be there. While drawing something upside down, the interference of our brain is turned off, allowing us to easily copy and draw what we’re really seeing.

5-      Shitty art challenge

Last but not least, this art exercise is for my fellow aspiring artists who are willing to commit and keep up with habits that would change their attitude towards art and creating.

This art exercise consists of intentionally creating “ugly art” to teach your brain to remove the pressure of creating great, aesthetically pleasing art, and to focus on having fun instead. Practicing this art exercise daily creates a habit of less judging, no comparing, and boosts creativity along the way.

See? Art will never look ugly! Not even if you create it with the intention to make it ugly. So stop judging and underestimating your own art just because you created it.

Conclusion

In this blog post I suggested 5 art exercises to help you boost your creativity, improve your drawing skills and have fun learning:

• First Art exercise: Doodle monster
• Second Art exercise: Blind contour
• Third Art exercise: Find the art element
• Fourth Art exercise: upside down drawing
• Fifth Art exercise: Shitty art challenge

Beyond making art, drawing, and painting, being creative is all about leaving your comfort zone and adopting new habits to challenge your mind and ideas. Enjoy learning and creating.

Question : Which of these exercises will you first try? 

Let me know in the comments below and feel free to DM me on any of my Social Media platform.