A Jar of Words

Hey guys! This week I wanted to talk about a great way to get unblocked if you’ve ever been stuck on what to draw!

Firstly, if anyone knows what its like to be art blocked, its me. Blank sheets of paper and unused paints can be so scary and definitely can and do hold you back. For Illustration students I also know it can be very hard to come up with your own projects and ideas. Illustrators work with an idea or project in mind, they want to achieve something for a wider audience, even if its their portfolios for finding work. When no one is there to give you a project, it can be very hard to come up with an idea by yourself.

I recently discovered the random word generator trick!

What you do is go to any random word generator, or idea generator, and get a few things generated. As you generate, write down the words onto different slips of paper, and then fold them up and put them into a jar. The size doesn’t matter, but the bigger the jar, the more slips you can fit inside of course.

Once you feel you have plenty ideas in the jar, go ahead and draw two at a time! Use those words and break them down into ideas. The plan is to not just go with the first idea you get when you pick those words. You can brainstorm or make a tree of ideas, whatever works for you. Even some thumbnails, working with shapes and contrasts, then switching them up. Then if you get a chance a different day, put more words into so you always have fresh ones for a rainy day!

That’s all for this week! What are some ways you get out of blocks? What are you favorite ways to break into you creativity? Until next week, keep on creating!