Shapes and patterns are everywhere and our imaginations are always trying to put a name to them. We see faces in bunches of leaves, animals in the stars, and otherworldly flora in the texture on a wall. So, if you’ve ever done a double take to check if you really saw what you thought you saw, take it as a sign that your imagination is healthy and you can rely on it as an ever renewing source of drawing potential.

There are lots of traditional ways to access that creative reservoir of drawing goodness but, as with everything in life, there’s an app for that!

Computer Assisted Imagination

Drawing made with the Meander app.

The drawing to the left was made on an app called Meander. Just touch the iPod or iPad screen and lines go strolling in all directions on their own. I wasn’t trying to draw anything when I “generated” this image, I just wanted to watch the pretty lines grow. :)

But, I see lots of images in these lines now. Two of the strongest are a face and a snake with wings, and I could definitely draw them, and fill in the missing parts too, because they’re so clear to me.

Image created with Alchemy.

And if you’d like to try some full-blown creativity software, there’s a neat program called Alchemy that lets you easily generate fantastic mishmash images with a combination of lines,  gradients, shapes, patterns, colors, brushes, and you name it! (There’s even a brush that responds to sound.)

The one thing you can’t do with it is make a representational drawing. (At least I can’t.) Alchemy tickles your imagination into creation mode by giving it lots of visual  toys to play with.

Roll Your Own

If you want to take a break from being plugged in all the time, here’s an old fashioned way to get your imagination’s attention.

Scribble.

Play with felt tip pens.

Dance, skip, and hop a pencil across some paper.

Close your eyes and feel where the line wants to go.

Use graphite, ink, crayons, or whatever is handy, on whatever paper is nearby.

Alma

People are storytellers, so look at your scribble and tell yourself a story about what you see. Then think about which story images appeal to you the most.

And Then What?

You’ll probably start with a drawing concept instead of an entire piece with all the details worked out, so don’t over-think this or you may never begin. Your drawing idea will grow to completion in its own way though, if you have the patience to let it.

There are as many ways to get the images from your head onto paper as there as artists, so I’ll tell you about some of my techniques and maybe they’ll help you come up with your own.

1. To get a three dimensional and “real” look, I keep the lighting the same throughout the drawing.
2. I often use the side of the pencil to quickly express an idea because of the range of line and texture that’s possible with that pencil angle. (See video at bottom of post.)
3. I let myself edit the drawing as I work by listening to inner prompts that say things like, “move that … make it darker … now larger … add more texture here … less there.”
4. And then, if I’m lucky, an image finally appears that reflects a little bit of what my imagination was able to dream-up.

So what are you waiting for? Find a pencil and draw something phantasmagorical.

ps – There is no such thing as failure when you’re dealing with creative invention. There is only discovery.

Weighted And Varied Line With The Side Of A Pencil

Fractal Gray Scale

There are several smaller composition possibilities in this image, so if you don’t have enough time to draw the whole thing, use a mask to frame a smaller part.

Fractal Layers

Optical Illusion

Do you see the way the “levels” look as if they’re lighter on one edge and darker on the other? They’re actually one solid value.

Fractal Gray Scale Masked

Draw What You See?

The illusion is a problem, and there are a couple of ways to work with phenom like this.

You could slowly shade all the levels at the same time and the illusion would appear, but it would take an awful lot of self-control to let the illusion happen without forcing it to appear by controlling the shading.

(It’d be a great Art Kung Fu practice though. Do not force the illusion to appear Grasshopper — let the illusion appear.)

But I’m pretty practical about drawing, so I’d put a mask around a level to find its value and then use a value scale to get the same value on the drawing, and then I’d do that again for each level.

Shading

Don’t work yourself into a freak-out over the type of shading to use. A very smooth hatch would look nice, but a rough hatch will work too as long as you use the same hatch over the entire drawing to give it a sense of continuity.

Two Versions To Draw From

The original fractal has white dots that are a little distracting, but they remind me of buttons in padded upholstery which would be a neat effect to try for. So, I’m giving you two versions.

Fractal Dark

The white dots are removed from this one,

Fractal Original

and here’s the original in case you’re inspired by the white dots in someway too.

I’d use 2H through 2B pencils to draw these values, a kneaded eraser to correct mistakes, and a vinyl eraser to clean up smudges around the edges when it was done.

Faber-Castell Drawing Kit

If you’re looking for a beginner’s or grab-and-go drawing kit, here’s a good one from Faber-Castell that’s hard to explain with words so I’ve added a picture. I have one of these and it comes with nearly everything you need for sketching, and the handle makes it easy to grab for spontaneous drawing expeditions.

All you need to add is a kneaded eraser, and there’s plenty of room to fit one in the bag, and a few things more too.

And here’s a link to Dick Blick’s kneaded erasers. (I usually buy four or five small ones at a time because they’re cheap and so easy to lose.)

The links take you to my affiliate, Dick Blick. (For U.S. readers only. Sorry.)

Happy Drawing!

One of the easiest ways to find something to draw is to draw what’s right in front of you. This exercise gives your sense of perspective a hardy workout too, since the objects very close to you will be a lot larger than those farther away.

Here are some examples of scenes I’ve drawn that were right in front of me.

Billy And Closet

This is my cat Billy lying on top of me, with blankets underneath him, and our closet with bifold doors in the background.

It was drawn on an iPod with the Harmonious drawing app.

It was very early in the morning and the lighting made everything look flat, so I added color to perk it up.

Please notice that various parts of Billy’s face are drawn in odd positions. That’s because he kept moving his head and I just drew each part as it was at the moment.

(I do a lot of drawing on the iPod when I can’t sleep, and I don’t care that much about correct placement or proportion when I’m sleepy. It’s kind of liberating.)

Molly at Night

And this drawing is my cat Molly beside me on the bed. It was drawn on my iPod with the same drawing app.

This time there was a lot less light though. Low light drawings are particularly challenging, and are excellent opportunities to sharpen your observational skills, because you have to focus on what you can and can’t see.

~

Teepee Boot

And finally, here’s my foot wearing a teepee boot.

It was evening when I drew this, instead of some strange hour of the night, so the lighting was normal for a change.

This is another iPod drawing, but this time I used PaintMagic.

Other right-in-front-of-you scenes might even include your sketchbook since you can see it too. And in the drawing of your sketchbook, you might draw another sketchbook and so on like a mirror reflecting your drawing into infinity. Or you can just stop at one reality if you’re short on time. :)

The next post in the “what to draw” series will be about drawing from your imagination.