You feel inspired, have some free time and sit down to draw. The first thing you see is what scares so many artists – A BLANK PAGE.

I know oh-so-well what it feels like. And so do thousands of artists all around the world.

How do I know?

You guys email me about it all the time! And it pains me to see you avoid drawing or get discouraged because of this.

As you probably know, I decided to help you with ideas and came up with 365 Drawing Ideas To Fill Your Sketchbook!

So, next time when you struggle to find inspiration when looking at a blank page – you will have the tool to help you get inspired and get started right away!

You will have 365 different ideas of what to draw when bored!

If it’s not your cup of tea, that’s OK. I want to help you avoid this struggle either way!

Here is how…

5 Ways To Always Know What To Draw When Bored

1. Look Around

The first and the simplest thing you can do when lacking ideas is to look around yourself.

What inspires you? What surrounds you? What makes you come up with stories?

One time when I had some free time and wanted to spend it drawing I looked around my desk for some inspiration.

I saw a mug, my laptop, some pencils, and some books, and then… HEADPHONES!

I knew right away that they are going to be the start of my new drawing! This item inspired me today, but tomorrow it could be any other from the list.

Here is the artwork I came up with on that day:

It’s not the best artwork I have ever done, but it’s good enough! And it all started with me looking around my surroundings.

2. Get Inspired!

You always have ideas of things to draw, you just don’t know it. The reason to that, I believe, is that you are not inspired enough.

So when that happens to me I spend 10-15 minutes browsing Instagram, ArtStation, and Behance.

I look at other artist’s work and that inspires me!

(Note: Make sure not to look longer than that, not to copy any of the ideas and not to compare yourself to others! These things can result in you feeling not the greatest by the end, and that’s not our goal.)

Other days I get inspired by music, movies, books, and events! Keep exploring and see what fits you best on a particular day 🙂

One of such days I watched a video on YouTube about the killer whale Orca. I was so inspired and fascinated!

I thought to myself that I would really want to meet one someday. This inspiration resulted in a quick illustration:

3. Daydream

Having free time away from my phone, computer and any other tasks was the best thing I did for myself as an artist and a blogger.

When I wake up, I spend some time filling up items in my Productivity Planner and the 5 Minute Journal (both by Intelligent Change).

I also make sure to flip my phone over and not go on any social media for at least the first 2-3 hours of the day.

This allows me to daydream, wonder, come up with stories and just think. Sort of like meditation!

Daydreaming without any disruptions will help you stay creative and come up with creative concepts!

One of those daydreaming sessions helped me come up with a story based in my homeland – Ukraine. There is currently a war with Russia where they try to take us over and tell on the news that Ukrainians eat their babies (what year is it again that people believe this stuff??).

Anyway, we also have this celebration called “Kupala Night” when girls float wreaths of flowers with candles on rivers to gain foresight into their future romantic relationships.

So I wondered, what it would look like this year during the war, and that’s how this Illustration was born:

4. Respond

As artists, we often try to communicate our opinions and observations through our work.

Find an event, a situation or news and respond to it! How does it make you feel? What does it make you think of?

When I first learned about the movement against sexual harassment and sexual assault #metoo, I had very strong feelings on the topic. And responded to it with an illustration.

5. Tell A Story

Another way to get a drawing idea is to tell a story. I can be something that happened to you, something you saw on a street or heard about. Something that you thought of. It’s simple really.

For example, one day I woke up in a pretty sad mood. Then, I started listening to music and I felt like my whole world is colorful, fun and exciting!

You know how some awesome songs make you want to sing, dance and just smile 🙂 Everything was great until my battery died and I went back to the boring daily tasks.

I wanted to tell this story. And so I did with a short comic (the final has one more page where the character is dancing in the middle, but you get the point).

6. Do Studies

If you don’t know what to draw AT ALL it’s always a great time to do some studies! You can decide to learn how to draw something particular (an eye, a hand, a fruit or an object) or you can learn by creating master studies of your favorite artists.

Here is a master study I did of “Madame X” by John Singer Sargent.

I gave myself 30 minutes and learned a bunch from it! I think it’s important to give yourself a time limit adn then move on to a different study.

7. Keep a Journal

You never know when you will come up with an amazing idea for your next piece! And the truth is, it will probably happen at the worst time when you can’t sit down and actually create it.

Also, you will forget the idea 80% of the time! So why not write it down?

Saw an awesome artwork you want to study? Write it down!

Don’t feel confident drawing hands? Write it down!

Daydreamed of a cool story for a comic? Write it down!

Then when the time comes to draw look through the list of things you wrote down for yourself and you will never have to worry about feeling lost for ideas 🙂

Get a separate journal for your thoughts, or have a few pages dedicated to brainstorming inside your awesome sketchbook.

Bonus Tip:

It takes time to build a library of things to draw, and you can always get the 365 Drawing Ideas that will last you for over a year. 

That’s 365 Ideas of what to draw when bored!

The ideas in the sketchbook are both simple and complex – but all have enough room for creativity that your work to look much different than anybody else’s!

Why reinvent the wheel?

Keep creating,

– Anna.