Drawing Tutorial: Three Simple Exercises to Free Your Creativity

Discover three quick and easy drawing exercises to help unlock your creativity, with Laura McKendry

It’s easy to get stuck in a creative rut from time-to-time. When that happens, it’s a good idea to do a few playful drawing exercises to help free your mind and get your creative juices flowing.

Laura McKendry (@laura_mckendry) is a drawing and illustration teacher as well as an artist whose work you can find on tableware, fabrics, and fine art prints. Her nature-inspired illustrations have attracted major clients such as Laura Ashley and John Lewis. Laura approaches drawing and illustration with a sense of fun and curiosity, using materials like bubble wrap, blackberries, and teabags alongside her go-to watercolors, inks, and colored pencils.

In this tutorial, Laura gives you three great exercises to help you loosen up and overcome creative roadblock.

3 Simple Exercises to Free Your Creativity

All you will need are the following:

- An object to sketch
- Pens or pencils in 3 different colors
- Paper
- Scissors
- Glue

1. Make three marks in three different colors

Place your object in front of you and choose three pens or pencils in three different colors. You can be as creative as you like with the colors you choose and they don’t have to be realistic in reference to the object you’re drawing.

Now, draw your object using only three marks or lines, using a different color for each one.

2. Cut out the shape of your object and transform it into something else

Using a piece of colored paper, cut out the shape of your object freehand without sketching or following an outline. Stick your cutout onto another piece of paper and glue it down facing in any direction.

Look at your shape and think about what it reminds you of. Take your pens and use your imagination to transform it into something other than the object represented in front of you.

3. Move your paper instead of your pen

Draw your object by holding your drawing hand still and using your other hand to move the paper underneath. You can keep your pen on the paper the whole time to create a continuous contour, or you can lift your pen to make several lines.

Most importantly, do not move your pen around the page - move the paper instead. This exercise forces you to give up control which will help unlock your creativity.

Did you enjoy this tutorial? If you’d like to learn more about Laura’s creative processes, check out her online course Illustrating Nature: A Creative Exploration.

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