How to Think of What to Draw

Step-by-Step Guide

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   Step 1: Use a prompt.

   There are a number of websites that have lists of prompts that will give you a task or subject to draw.
   
   You can find some of these with a quick internet search.
   
   You can also follow prompt feeds on social media, like the Art Assignment Bot (@artassignbot) on Twitter or Drawing-Prompt-s on Tumblr.
   
   Typical prompts include things like:“Draw a flock of birds hanging out in a club” “Draw something that terrifies you, but in a comical way” “Draw a restaurant you would not eat at” “Draw a fictional game show host”
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   Step 2: Work with a favorite category in a new way.

   You might feel in a rut if you draw the same sorts of things over and over again.
   
   If you like drawing in a particular category, like nature scenes or fantasy scenes, you can still work with this, just work with it from a new perspective.
   
   For instance, if you like doing figure drawing, you might draw someone:
   You know well in a place you’ve never seen them.
   
   Like you normally would, except make one of their hands be unusually large.
   
   Reimagined as an unlikely superhero.
   
   As you imagine them to look fifty years from now. , Sometimes, it’s the wide openness of the question “What should I draw?” that makes it so hard.
   
   If you force yourself to think “inside the box,” you might actually break through to create something interesting.
   
   Give yourself a couple of rules and start drawing according to them.For instance, you might draw the same thing 20 times, making one small change each time.
   
   Likewise, you might tell yourself to draw the first 10 things that start with the letter “M” that pop into your head, no matter what they are. , Oblique Strategies was originally a deck of cards developed by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt.
   
   Each card has a unique direction mean to guide your work through lateral thinking, or approaching a problem from an unusual perspective.
   
   There are now virtual versions of these cards freely available online.
   
   Choose a card and let it influence your drawing.
   
   Typical prompts include things like:”Retrace your steps.” ”Make a sudden, destructive, unpredictable action.
   
   Incorporate.” ”Look closely at the most embarrassing details and amplify them.”
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   Step 3: Set limits or parameters for your drawings.

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   Step 4: Try oblique strategies prompts.

Detailed Guide

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