Creative Habit

[Anonymous No.3143925]

What is the creative equivalent to doing gesture/figure drawing studies (Croquis Cafe, life drawing) on a weekly basis? Some creative activity that can be done every week to keep a baseline going. Something that isn't too open ended and feels good to do for months/years. Have you found something like that for yourself?

Draft:
once per week (all original designs)
5min sketch a creature
5min sketch a character
5min sketch an imaginary plant
5min sketch an environment

[Anonymous No.3145430]

added 5min sketch a vehicle to the list.

Inconceivable that nobody else does something like this.

[Anonymous No.3145437]

>>3143925
Stop doing all this retarded fucking shit and just draw what u want. If gesture made u better nosebro would have been good

[Anonymous No.3145449]

>>3143925
That's nonsense, everyone gets ideas naturally, you wouldn't be able to function as a human otherwise. This is just another excuse you make up to procrastinate and do anything but actually draw.

You just have to stop waiting for the ideas to come to you and instead pick up the pencil and fucking draw. The ideas come AFTER you start working. If you're not actually drawing, you just go into a mental loop where your mind is not generating ideas because it knows you're not serious about drawing them.

[Anonymous No.3145462]

just for the record I've done tons of creative stuff in the past. I want to cultivate a pleasant habit like I did with gesture and life drawing, to keep a more steady flow going.

>>3145437
I've been doing weekly gesture drawings and figure drawing for a couple months now. It's enjoyable. It's fuels me with motivation to do further studies, which I've done more of than in many years. It's what gives me the confidence to expand into more creative habits.

>>3145449
I think we're on the same page actually. I will do this to get me working more. I am not waiting for idea. I never did.

[Anonymous No.3145463]

>>3145462
Why not just do what people normally draw in their sketchbooks. Instead of deciding "now I will draw hands" you just draw anything that pops in your mind by free association. Tbh I almost never do that forced gesture drawing thing, I find it boring.

[Anonymous No.3145464]

>>3143925
Digitally, I had found making varied blobs and shapes with a large brush and then going back in to define faces out of the shape to be of some use. You could also do something similar traditionally, perhaps making shapes with large chisel tip markers or something.

It doesn't take much time and I've found it caused me to draw stylized faces I wouldn't have done on my own if I had just thought about drawing a head from imagination that I thought would be appealing to me.

But, if you are concerned about this, don't JUST draw from observation and find some drawing from imagination that you are comfortable about fitting in.

You've already done some thinking on some systematic approach, so just implement it and modify as needed.

[Anonymous No.3145476]

>>3145463
It works for me. Zero constraints is too open ended for me - I start philosophizing about the world or wonder if I should dunk the sketchbook into coffee as a form of self expression.

>>3145464
sounds nice. a little like those fill in the shape threads.

[Anonymous No.3145481]

>>3145476
Incidentally, I've some nice drawings out of the stains left when I accidentally spilled my coffee on papers on my desk. That's actually one "creativity exercise" that you can use. Look at the silhouette of that coffee stain. What does it remind you of?

[Anonymous No.3145490]

>>3145481
agreed it's fun. done so in the past. will probably do it again.

[XUFNZLYBZ No.3145504]

>>3143925
A good way to get a lot of creative ideas out is to just do creative thumbnail sketches. As >>3145449 said you tend to come up with more ideas as you draw

>>3145476
Generally if you have a goal in mind it is good to keep it simple so it is much harder to rationalize. As the days come, you can slowly increase complexity of your goals. Idk if this works, but also try doing the same thing at the same time to strengthen habit making

[Anonymous No.3146954]

>>3143925
>Draft:
>once per week (all original designs)
>5min sketch a creature
>5min sketch a character
>5min sketch an imaginary plant
>5min sketch an environment

This is not how you DEVELOP creativity. This is how you USE creativity.

actual way of developing creativity:

>10-60 minutes of people watching/cafe sketching
>~30 minutes of wandering around, environment sketching (trees, furniture, rooms, landscapes etc etc)
>2-5 rough prop studies from photos (prop=cars, equipment, clothing, furniture, mechanics etc etc etc)
>2-5 rough sketch creature studies from life/photos (animal sketches, combining animal traits from photos)
>2-5 rough sketch creature studies from artists
>2-5 rough sketch people studies from artists
>2-5 rough sketch prop design studies from artists
>read a books and comics, watch movies, play story/experience driven single player games
>never just look, but observer.

But in my opinion strict scheduling like this is pointless and "artificial". instead try to incorporate these habits into your life. Doesn't matter if you don't do every section every day, as long as you don't stop doing them.

[Anonymous No.3146976]

>>3146954
These study activities sound great, none of that is really creative though. You're not playing with it. You're not transforming nor recombining. You're just recreating what others have made. I want to create something of my own.

[Anonymous No.3146983]

>>3146976
They're designed to expand your visual library.

Everything that you call "your own" is just transformations of things, concepts and feelings that you've seen or experienced before. Your creative range will not expand if you mostly draw things from your head. For this reason expanding your visual library is important as it will directly help you create a larger variety of things that you can call "your own".

Of course playing around with your current thoughts and knowledge is important as well, but that is less about developing creativity and more about applying the creative knowledge that you have accumulated through observation. You will create all sorts of nice things, but you wont advance your scope of vision.

[Anonymous No.3146995]

>>3146983
I think we're on the same page.
My reasoning is: have weekly exercise/challenge that pushes me to use my creativity. Have that stimulate in me the desire to expand my visual library.