Perfect Ink Drawing Exercise for When You Are Out of Ideas

This drawing was more popular than all the other drawings I posted on Flckr.   

Ink Drawing Exercise

This is a technique I learned from Danny Gregory’s original art blog years ago.  Don’t let a lack of compositional ideas stop you from drawing.  This drawing exercise involves drawing several one inch squares and making miniature drawings in each square.

These squares give me joy if they aren’t too crooked.  Absolutely everything looks good in them.  You can have six or nine or twelve.  It is a drawing exercise that can help get things moving, and it is great to have something to work on when you are taking a break from something else.  They can be just right for the ten minutes of drawing time you found..

You don’t have to finish them all in one sitting, and you can feel a sense of accomplishment with only one square completed.  It is a perfect way to finish a sketchbook page and you could make it a story board.

The Worst Advice I Ever Got About Art

The worst artistic advice I ever got was to wait for inspiration, and then draw.  The opposite is true; it is better to just draw and when inspiration asserts itself, you will already be working.

“Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.” – Pablo Picasso

For years I waited for inspiration.  It did come, but inconsistently.  I wasted so much time!  This is probably one of the lessons I missed by not going to art school.  Now I know that inspiration has nothing to do with meeting deadlines and keeping your knife sharp.  I believe that it comes from the Most High.  There are exercises in my toolbelt now that I can do to keep my pen moving when I don’t feel inspired.  Every artist should have a few of these exercises ready.

Old and New Favorite Pens

At the time of this drawing, my favorite pen was the Pilot V-Ball extra fine.  I still do love the ink and the line quality of this pen.  But it is temperamental if not stored tip down.  As they became hard to find, I found a new love.

The Uni-ball Vision Elite.  It is juicy and waterproof and come in a handful of nice dark colors.  After a year of an art supply subscription, I have a grip of other fine liner options, but I keep reaching for this one.  It does take a few minutes to dry and I have smudged more than a few lines with my hand while drawing.  It also dries with a slightly glossy finish.  Sometimes this is great, but sometimes I would prefer an ink that dries flat.

If you have tried this exercise, I would love to see your work.  Or if you have ever heard of Danny Gregory, let me know in the comments.