Art Exercises to Increase Creativity
Creativity is a learned skill that anyone can master with a bit of practice. And it not only benefits you in your artistic journey, but also in all aspects of your life.
Critical thinking is an important skill to learn and develop. And it’s something you could use almost daily.
What Is Creative Thinking and Why Is It Important For Artists
Creative thinking is the ability to look at things differently and find original solutions for problems. This isn’t a skill used only by creative type people.
However, it is an extremely useful skill for artists to have. Whether you’re a hobbyist, or you’re interested in a professional career in art.
Ways to Improve Creativity
There are many ways to improve your creativity. But I’d like to show you a few of my personal favorites today.
These creativity exercises will force you to push your imagination. Through practice and repetition you can learn to create imaginative drawings that are uniquely you.
You’ll also begin to develop your artistic style along the way.
Before beginning these creativity exercises for artists, you first need to let go of fear and the idea of perfectionism.
Creativity exercises for artists are more about the process than the outcome. But they will force you to push yourself. And the increase in your ability to use your imagination in your artwork will be your reward.
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Blackout Poetry For Creativity Growth
This is one of the most rewarding creativity exercises on this list. Blackout poetry is fun and extremely easy to create.
There aren’t any rules and there is no limit to what you can create. You don’t even need any understanding or experience with poetry.
Of course if you are good with poetry, your work will be that much more interesting. But it really isn’t necessary at all.
The great thing about creating works of art is that you are free to do whatever you choose.
The process for creating blackout poetry is pretty straightforward. You find an old book, or another form of written word, then you pull a poem from the text.
You then create your artwork over the rest of the words to make your poem stand out.
We have a full step by step tutorial on How to Make Blackout Poetry.
Blown Ink Monster Creativity Exercise
I absolutely love making these guys. They are so much fun to create. And they look really cool as well.
For this creativity exercise you start by adding some drops of ink to your paper. Then you use a straw to blow the ink randomly around.
After the ink completely dries, you look for monsters in the ink and add features to make a finished drawing.
You can do whatever you want to your drawings. Add a background and throw in some color.
Take a look at our Blown Ink Monsters art tutorial for the full lesson.
Watercolor Doodles Creativity Exercise
This creativity exercise is one I find to be a bit more challenging. However, you can make it either more, or less, challenging depending on your approach.
There is a lot of variation possible with these types of drawings. They are fun to make and are perfect for all ages.
You begin by making random watercolor splotches on your paper. This is a great way to clean off your palette since the colors really don’t matter.
After your paint has completely dried, draw people or critters over the top of your watercolor with a black pen.
We have a couple of different art tutorials for making watercolor doodle drawings. You could also just use these as inspiration to make something completely different.
Watercolor Critters Creativity Lesson
Watercolor Faces Drawing How To
Random Line Creativity Exercise
This is one of my favorite creative exercises because of how open the exercise is. There are no limitations to what you can do.
You begin by drawing a random line on your paper. It can be wavy, loopy, or have all sharp edges. Or a combination of all these types of lines.
Then you turn your paper around, looking at your lines from all different angles until you begin to see an image from the lines.
Next you add to the original lines to create a completed drawing. You can draw animals, monsters, people, or anything else you can find in the lines. You could set a theme to hold yourself to, or just draw whatever appears for you.
Full tutorial is at Abstract Line Drawing Exercise for Creativity.
Sidewalk Cracks Drawing
This creativity exercise is similar to the previous one, except you use photographs of cracks in sidewalks as your starting point.
Your drawing can be done right over the photo, or you could trace over the cracks to make your drawing.
Again, you could use any theme you want for your drawings. Or you can stick to drawing random images. When I did mine it was during a face a day in May challenge, so I looked for faces in the cracks.
Either way will work towards developing your creativity. Pick whichever way you feel is the most fun or rewarding. You can see the full post at Cracked Faces Drawing Challenge.
7 Day Drawing Challenge
These are an excellent way to improve your creativity and drawing skills. I’ve gotten more benefits from doing 7 day drawing challenges than I have from anything else.
7 day challenges are good because they are less overwhelming than longer challenges. And being a shorter time period will help keep you from getting bored.
But seven is enough repetition to feel the shift in your creativity. So here’s what you do.
Start by choosing a theme or subject matter for your drawings. Then do seven drawings in seven days, of that theme.
Artist trading cards work really well for this creativity challenge since they are smaller compared to sketchbooks or drawing paper.
After about two or three drawings you should start to feel the shift in your creativity.
You can go through our entire process at How to Do a 7 Day Drawing Challenge.
30 Day Drawing Challenge
This drawing challenge is similar to the 7 day challenge, only longer. And more often than not, doesn’t follow a theme.
The idea is to force yourself to draw something every day for an entire month. Following a theme would increase the value from a creativity standpoint, as the more restrictions you put on yourself the harder it will be to think of something to draw.
Either way, this is an excellent activity to improve your overall skills and creative flow. Take a look at the full tutorial for doing a 30 Day Drawing Challenge.
Tips For Successful Creativity Exercises For Artists Sessions
One of the most important things you need to do for successful creativity drawing sessions is to let go of fear and the idea of perfectionism. You have to just let your drawings be what they are.
Even if your drawings don’t turn out as well as you would like them to, you’re still working your creativity muscles. And that is the purpose of doing these exercises.
Don’t worry if it feels hard. It probably will at first, but that’s kinda the point. And it does get easier over time and with practice.
And don’t take these exercises to seriously. They are meant to be fun.
7 Creativity Exercises For Artists That Will Take Your Art to the Next Level
For many of you this will be an entirely different way of drawing, and it will take a little bit to get used to. But if you want to experience growth, then you need to get a little uncomfortable from time to time.
Repetition and practice is the key to improving your drawing and artwork in general. But if you want to improve your creativity you really need to get out of your comfort zone and allow yourself to experiment without fear of failure.
If you have any questions, drop them in the comments.
Art Tutorials Related to Creativity Exercises
