Tag: prompts

Art Prompts

Last week it was story ideas, so this week I decided to share some drawing prompts that sound fun. Many of them would work for any medium. (I shared some more general art prompts in my post “Art Is Zero-Calorie Stress Relief.” )

  1. Ask someone to hold a 15 second pose and do a quick sketch.
  2. Go to a public place to draw people. Don’t be afraid to draw people in motion. Your picture may not look great. That’s okay.
  3. Set up a still life and put a bright light behind it. Move the light until the shadows look interesting. Draw the shadows.
  4. Draw something that makes you happy. Draw something that makes you sad.
  5. Draw something from a dream. Daydreams count.
  6. Draw something with an interesting texture. Focus on capturing the essence of the texture. Can you make your drawing look furry or smooth or scaly?
  7. Draw a cartoon.
  8. Illustrate a knock-knock joke or your favorite dad joke.
  9. Make a paper doll or a maze or a crossword puzzle or a word search and incorporate it into a larger picture.
  10. Draw a scene from your favorite story with characters from a different story.
  11. Pause a movie or tv show and draw what’s on the screen.
  12. Illustrate a question that you have.
  13. Draw your problems as a monster and then make the monster look silly.
  14. Draw your menu for the day. Post it on the fridge.
  15. Illustrate a family recipe.
  16. Illustrate a letter and send it to a friend or family member.
  17. Listen to music and draw your impressions.
  18. Close your eyes and draw a self portrait. Open your eyes and draw a portrait with your other hand. Now draw one with your feet.
  19. Draw pictures of what you see in the clouds.
  20. Draw something that you hope will happen someday.

Do you have any ideas to add? Have you tried any of these prompts? Did you have fun?