I struggle a lot with the “Blank Canvas Effect” . It is very hard to start the process of making art even if it is “just” in a sketchbook, but it can be therapeutic to get your creative juices flowing and release some of what is bottled up out onto paper.
Don’t worry too much about your sketchbook being cohesive or a finished product - it is just there for your creative outlet, not to impress anyone. Just put something on the page. I know, easier said than done, so here are a few prompts to get you started.
Fill the whole page with color. Fill it to the edges with pigment and see if that inspires you to move forward. Maybe it will lead to a landscape with rolling hills or a seascape with rolling waves or a skyscape with rolling clouds. Maybe it will be the perfect backdrop for abstract shapes or a journal entry. Maybe it is the perfect spot for you to do some light sketching of your favorite spring flower or crawling creature. Use the color to drive the page into something beautiful, or not beautiful - art can be either or both at the same time. We have so many colorful artists that use color and texture, but a good artist to look at the way colors play together with textures are
Makiko Harris
or
Rebecca Stern.
Pick out a couple old ( or new) magazines or books and your favorite form of adhesive - my personal favorite is rubber cement - and allow your scissors to take control. Cut out an advertisement with a hand you really like the shape of or the title of an article that you really enjoyed reading. Layer them up however thick you want and then play with what you can do with them. Use
Marcy Cook
for inspiration. Cut an image in half and finish it through whatever medium you want and make it as absolutely absurd as you possibly can. Use it as a canvas and write and draw abstract shapes over it. Take inspiration from our artist
Jose Romussi
and sew over the top of the images - give them details they didn’t have in print.
Write it in the messiest handwriting you can or in calligraphy. Take the time to try to copy a font you love or write with your non-dominant hand so you really have to think about the words you are using. Allow what you are saying to branch out your creativity. Write a poem about it or allow the words to turn into a sketch that has the same feeling as the words you are writing. Allow yourself to feel the words you are writing and give them permission to move you.
Angela Chrusciaki Blehm
makes beautiful artwork out of simple words such as "Oh" and "wow" which you can use as inspiration, but don't feel like it has to be as stunning as her finished work, remember, this is a process. It does not have to be a finished masterpiece - this is just your own personal sketchbook.
Simple as that. Make shapes that turn into other shapes. Use colors that go together and ones that don’t. Play with the way the shapes work with one another. Have fun with it. Remember - this is for you, not for perfection or for anyone else to see. Use
Andrea Ferrigno
as inspiration. The way she uses color to add depth and visual interest.
Sketch out a shape that you have to fill and draw flowers or abstract shapes or squiggly lines. Then make another shape next to it that you have to fill until the whole page is filled. Or keep it minimalist and just fill the one shape with whatever you can fit inside it. You could just use paint that is left over from a project or a previous prompt and make little dollops on the page. Use
Logan Ledford
for inspiration and the way she allows the paint to react the way it wants to - allow the medium to speak for itself. Maybe add something to the outside - a color block, writing about what happened that day or an excerpt from your favorite book, stickers that your loved one sent you in a letter - use whatever you have near you. Inspiration is everywhere.
I left my sketchbook open and my puppy came in from outside and stepped on the fresh page I had just turned to, and I am going to be honest, I made her come back and put another footprint on the page. Everything can be inspiration whether it was meant to be inspiration originally or not. Maybe I will make that into a drawing one day, maybe I won't, but I will always love that she made her mark in my sketchbook.
Who said that a sketchbook and a journal couldn't be the same thing? Mix the two and allow yourself to reflect a little with art and your words. Art is already so therapeutic.
It is so important to know that it is okay to start over if something isn’t going the way you wanted it to, maybe that page will speak to you later on and the old you will be an inspiration for the new you. Be your own muse!
I hope this list has helped you get your creative juices flowing and you enjoyed taking a look through my personal sketchbook. Be sure to tag our instagram page to any sketchbook pages you feel proud of and post on social media. We would love to see them!
