{"id":64,"date":"2017-08-28T15:25:00","date_gmt":"2017-08-28T04:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prestosketching.com\/?p=64"},"modified":"2025-11-17T07:28:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T20:28:08","slug":"10-ideas-to-get-you-inspired-to-sketch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prestosketching.com\/blog\/2017\/08\/28\/10-ideas-to-get-you-inspired-to-sketch\/","title":{"rendered":"10 ideas to get you inspired to sketch"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

You want to sketch more\u2026or just start sketching\u2026 but it\u2019s hard to know where to start. I hear you. Here\u2019s 10 things to draw, when you don\u2019t know what to draw.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know what it\u2019s like<\/strong>. You want<\/em> to sketch (or you want to sketch more often<\/em>), but you can\u2019t really think of what <\/em>to sketch, so it\u2019s just really hard to get started. Or you\u2019re looking at other sketches you see, and you can\u2019t help thinking that you have to sketch like that first time<\/em>, which holds you back as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A big part of just getting going is saying to yourself that whatever you sketch is not going to be perfect<\/em>. It\u2019s just not. But it can be not perfect<\/em> and still be satisfying! That awesome sketch by someone else you saw on that Instagram post? That\u2019s sketch No. 10 or 11. You\u2019re never going see sketches No. 1 to No. 9, because they were too crappy to show to the world. But sketches No. 1 to No. 9 had to happen first, to get to that awesome sketch No. 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So with that in mind, here we go: 10 ideas for what to draw when you don\u2019t know what to draw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Get your Kandinsky on<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Start with a fresh sheet of paper, or a fresh page in your sketchbook. Take your marker or pencil of choice, and let your hand draw some flowy curly lines around the page. Draw some straight lines, too. Then, colour in (or make some parallel line marks) in all the little spaces enclosed by the lines. And behold! You\u2019re an Abstract Expressionist!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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You too can be an Abstract Expressionist, like Vasily Kandinsky (painting shown: Composition 8, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection, \u00a9 2017 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York\/ADAGP, Paris)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If someone gives you funny looks while you do this on the train, just tell them you\u2019re studying the renowned Russian Abstract Expressionist Vasily Kandinsky, who did this sort of thing all the time (that\u2019s his Composition 8<\/em> in the image above, painted in 1923).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Find meaning in the scribbles <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This is another idea to help you park your own self-judgement, and to just get going drawing something. Start with your marker in the middle of a fresh blank page, and just do loose scribbles for a minute or two, without taking your marker off the page. It\u2019s better if you don\u2019t even look<\/em> at what you\u2019re drawing. Make sure you fill the page. Then, look at what you\u2019ve drawn, and see if you can find some meaningful shapes among the scribbles. Is that a face there? Or a rabbit? Whatever you find, make them stand out more by outlining them with your marker. Fun, hey?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Here\u2019s my example. What can you see in the scribbles? I saw a weird horse-like thing, a dude with angel wings, and a ribbon of some sort.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

3. Sketch 3D crystal patterns<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This is another idea to help you replace self-judgement with a sense of creativity and discovery. Fill the middle of the paper with some randomly-placed dots. Connect the dots in a way that makes lots of triangles and other random 4- or 5-sided shapes. Then, shade some of the shapes in a mid tone, and some other shapes in a darker tone. Before long, you might see a weird crystalline shape emerge, like these 3D crystal phone covers<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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4. Sketch a wine bottle 5 times<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Alright, let\u2019s move on into sketching actual things. This one\u2019s about giving your hand a chance to practice rendering what you \u2018see\u2019 in your head. Draw a wine bottle. It can be as sloppy as you want. Then draw another, and another, and so on. Each time, pay more attention to the quality of the line. Your wine bottle number 5 is better than number 1, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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5. Sketch different sorts of pot plants<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This is a simple and fun one. Sketch different sorts of plants in pots. They can be simple or complex, beautiful or ugly, regular or hipster\u2026 it\u2019s just a chance for you to draw a similar thing over and over, and inject a little bit of creativity or a lot!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

6. Look at all the trophies you won!<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Time for a motivational one. What\u2019s something you want to be famous for? Sketch a trophy for that thing, with your name on it. What\u2019s something you want to achieve at work? Write that down, add your name, and sketch a trophy around it. Don\u2019t worry, no-one else is going to see these trophies; it\u2019s just a really good idea to visualise your goals to help you make them happen<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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7. Try a bit of Zentangling<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Zentangles are abstract creative drawings that are made by sketching random creative patterns. They can start with a real-life object, or they can be completely abstract\u2026 it\u2019s up to you. Draw a simple object (fairly large on the paper), like a fish, a tree, a figure, headphones\u2026it could be something that\u2019s sitting right next to you, or something you\u2019re thinking about. Then, sketch in a few structural lines inside any of the larger shapes of your drawing, as if it\u2019s made out of a wooden frame. Then, fill each shape with random lines, loops, circles\u2026 wherever your hand takes you! Loads of fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This page on WikiHow<\/a> is a nice place to help you learn more about this absorbing way of sketching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8. Visualise your day as a flow sketch<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Take a look at your calendar for today. What sort of day are you going to have? Or what sort of day did you have? Using a fresh page, draw each event as a small picture of some sort, moving from one side of the page to another. You could just sketch symbols (like stars and boxes), or you could sketch simple icon-like pictures (like people in a meeting, or a document, and so on), it\u2019s up to you. Then, connect the pictures together in a way that shows the flow of your day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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9. Sketch skylines<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Sketches of skylines are really fun. They can be fairly complex and detailed, but even just light simple silhouettes just look crazy cool. Wherever you\u2019re at \u2014 on the bus, at home, at work \u2014 look outside at the skyline, and draw it. If you want to enhance it a bit with extra buildings (or UFOs and Godzillas), that\u2019s cool too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

10. Sketch something from your social media stream<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Do you spend time thumbing through social media streams of images and updates, like on Instagram, Facebook, and so on? Stop at a particular image you like, and sketch it. Remember, your sketch doesn\u2019t have to be good, just sketch it anyway. Do this a few times, and try not to keep thumbing through looking for an \u2018easy\u2019 one, or a \u2018cool\u2019 one. Just sketch a few.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This is sketch of a photo of my mate Josh Stinton and his buddies, who have just completed a 190k mountain bike race in the Arctic, to raise money for charity. Amazing!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And there you have it! 10 ideas to get you sketching, and sketching more often. As always, drop me a line if this has been useful for you. I\u2019ve got bags and bags of ideas like this, so if you want 10 more ideas, let me know, too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You want to sketch more\u2026or just start sketching\u2026 but it\u2019s hard to know where to start. I hear you. Here\u2019s 10 things to draw, when you don\u2019t know what to draw. I know what it\u2019s like. You want to sketch (or you want to sketch more often), but you can\u2019t really think of what to sketch, so it\u2019s just really […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,10],"tags":[23,44,46,45],"class_list":{"0":"post-64","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-fun-and-creativity","7":"category-getting-started","8":"tag-creativity","9":"tag-inspiration","10":"tag-practice","11":"tag-zentangle","12":"entry"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"sidebar-featured":false,"genesis-singular-images":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Ben Crothers","author_link":"https:\/\/prestosketching.com\/blog\/author\/ben-crothers\/"},"uagb_comment_info":22,"uagb_excerpt":"You want to sketch more\u2026or just start sketching\u2026 but it\u2019s hard to know where to start. I hear you. Here\u2019s 10 things to draw, when you don\u2019t know what to draw. I know what it\u2019s like. You want to sketch (or you want to sketch more often), but you can\u2019t really think of what to sketch, so it\u2019s just really…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prestosketching.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prestosketching.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prestosketching.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prestosketching.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prestosketching.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/prestosketching.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76,"href":"https:\/\/prestosketching.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64\/revisions\/76"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prestosketching.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prestosketching.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prestosketching.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}