I know the feeling. You sit down with your sketchbook, ready to create some awesome art, but you suddenly have no idea what to draw. Or, you just want to draw something different!
If this sounds familiar, and you need some inspiration, here are 5 ideas for drawings you can add to your sketchbook.
1. A person or animal around you
I LOVE drawing pictures of my dogs.
It also helps that they’re usually curled up next to me, so they’re always ready to model for my next drawing. Or, if they happen to be elsewhere, I have more pictures than I ever need to use as a reference.
Is there a person or an animal around you that you could use for inspiration? If not, do you have pictures you could use for reference?
This is one of my favorite ways to find inspiration when I’m stuck in artist’s block because it’s fun as well as meaningful.
2. A random picture from your collection
Here’s a fun game I like to play when I’m looking for art inspiration. I open my photos app, start scrolling, and randomly stop. Does the photo I land on spark any inspiration? No? So, I do it again.
I scroll and randomly stop until I find a photo that sparks some inspiration.
I love this strategy because it gives me a wide range of artistic topics, while staying relevant to my life.
3. Design a character
For me, a blissful afternoon is one where I can get lost in drawing while listening to a gripping audiobook. I’m a sucker for amazing stories and characters.
So, how about creating a character of your own?
If you need some inspiration, there are random character generators you can find online.
Have fun and see what types of characters you can dream up and bring to life in your sketchbook!
4. Get some musical inspiration
If drawing to a gripping audiobook is classified as a top tier afternoon to me, drawing to music is a close second…or a great reality TV show.
Something that is fun to do in a sketchbook is to do a series of drawings inspired by a genre of music. Turn on a playlist of your favorite music genre, and see what it inspires.
I have music that inspires flowy and beautiful flower scenes.
While other music…not so much.
I love this strategy because it helps me feel the feelings of my art as I’m drawing it. Matching my sketches to the tone and feel of the music I’m listening to makes it feel three dimensional.
5. Go back to the basics
This is something I struggle to do myself, but I firmly believe in. It just doesn’t sound as fun as drawing exciting characters, but it can be SO helpful.
Every once in a while, when you sit down to draw in your sketchbook, practice some fundamental skills.
Go back to the principles of shading, form, perspective, composition, and other key skills of drawing.
If there’s a particular area where you feel like you’re getting rusty, dedicate some sketchbook time to working on it. While it may not sound super exciting, it can be helpful to go back to the basics and refresh some foundational skills.
I hope these ideas have given you inspiration for some amazing sketchbook drawing sessions! Have fun!
Diana has been an artist for over 27 years and has training in drawing, painting, digital drawing and graphic design. Diana’s latest obsession is digitally drawing with Procreate and Procreate Dreams. Diana has experience selling her art across a number of platforms and loves helping other artists learn how to make money from their art as well.