Ink Monsters Blown Ink Drawing Guide
Learn to create amazing works of art is a two part process. You have to learn the technical skills to draw and use various media. And you also need to develop your creativity and artistic style.
The more you push your creativity, the more you’ll begin to develop you own style. After all, creativity IS the foundation for new and original ideas.
Ink monster drawings with blown ink is a fun creativity exercise that will help you push yourself to come up with new creations. The lack of control that you have over the direction of the drawing is both challenging and exciting.
This is a process that was made popular by Stefan G. Bucher. Check out his Daily Monsters.
You only need a few art supplies and your imagination. Your creativity will thank you.
* Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links. This means I receive small commissions for purchases made through these links at no extra cost to you.
Art Supplies
- Cardstock or watercolor paper
- India Ink
- Paint brush (optional)
- Straw
- Pencil (optional)
- Black pens
- Colored pencils
FREE Creativity Exercise Workbook for Artists
Blowing Painting with Straws
When doing this creativity exercise, you want to be careful using India ink as it is permanent. Start by making a line with the ink across a section of your paper.
As an option, liquid watercolors work really well too. I’m sure other types of paint will work too as long as they are thinned down. You could experiment with different paints to see how they turn out.
I’m using cardstock that I cut down into artist trading cards. If you’re now sure what those are, you can read all about it at How to Make Artist Trading Cards (ATCs).
I used the dropper that comes in the bottle of ink, but you can use a paintbrush as well.
Next, use a straw to blow the ink around your paper.
Be very careful when blowing the ink as it will cause a mess everywhere if you use too much force.
This technique takes a little bit of practice. Adjusting the distance your straw is from the paper, as well as the force of your air, will alter how your blown ink will look.
Experiment a little bit and have fun with this process. You really can’t mess it up. Maybe try doing more than one line of ink.
You’ll have to set your blown ink aside for a bit and allow them to dry. However, while you are waiting you can look at them and try to find your monsters in the ink.
Finding Ink Monsters In Blow Painting
When trying to find a monster in your blown ink, rotate your paper around and look at it from different angles. If you made several pieces of blown ink you can set one aside if you’re struggling to find a monster in it.
Sometimes the image will pop out at you right away. But other times you’ll have to work a little harder to find your ink monsters. It may be helpful to take a break from one blow painting and look at a different one.
Then go back later and you’ll probably see it differently.
Right away I noticed these blow painting looked like a horse. This one was pretty obvious so I went with it. However, you could always push your creativity more by looking for something less obvious to work with to make your ink monsters.
As you work on your drawings you’ll find yourself being more comfortable with the exercise and finding the monsters will become easier
Ink Monsters Drawings
When drawing your ink monsters from blown ink you can use a pencil, or you can draw it directly with your black pen. I prefer drawing mine with a pencil first.
Have fun when drawing your monsters. Try seeing how crazy you can get with your art.
Draw out your monsters by adding eyes, legs, arms, wings, antlers, or whatever else you want them to have. This one reminded me of a horse, so I drew this weird looking guy.
Adding Color to Your Ink Monsters
You can add a little bit of color to your ink monsters, or you can leave them black and white.
I typically use colored pencils for mine. You can use the cheap Crayola brand pencils. But Prismacolor are what I prefer to use in my artwork.
You can read our full product review at, Prismacolor Colored Pencil Review – 48 Pack.
When I drew my ink monsters with blown ink, I did them all on artist trading cards. This is typically what I choose to do my drawings on so I can trade them to other artists when I’m finished.
I was able to draw several ink monsters in a fairly short amount of time. Some were done on cardstock, some on watercolor paper, and others were on Kraft paper. It’s fun to experiment with different papers.
Ink Monsters Drawing and Creativity Lesson
I hope you enjoyed this fun little art lesson on how to draw ink monsters from blown ink, and feel inspired to make your own. This is a creativity exercise you could do on a regular basis that would really help you develop your creativity and allow you to push your imagination.
You could use your ink monsters as starting points to create a more refined drawing, or just enjoy them as they are. Or, you could choose a different theme other than ink monsters.
Maybe try some animals, people, or insects. There are many possibilities for how you could finish your blow painting drawings.
If you give the lesson a try, stop back and let us know how they turned out. Or if you have some other ideas for what to do with the blown ink, let us know about that too.
Don’t forget to grab your FREE Creativity Workbook
Other Creativity Exercises For Artists
- Creativity Exercises For Artists
- Better Art in 7 Days
- Blackout Poetry for Beginners
- Cracked Faces Exercise for Creativity
