72 exercises
Checked October 2026

Art Block Help

Press the button for one small exercise that gets a pencil moving, with when to stop.

Art Block Help

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Your own knees and feet as you sit thereThe model is always present. Stop when you shift in your seat.

Next step Everyday objects to draw Deal a subject to try it on

All 72 exercises

Lower the stakes 12

Cover a page with one small shape repeated edge to edge There are no decisions after the first one. Stop at the last gap.
Draw for the length of one song, then close the book The song sets the end, so you only have to begin. Stop when it stops.
Draw the worst possible version of your favorite thing to draw Aiming low on purpose makes getting it wrong the brief. Stop when it makes you laugh.
Draw until the kettle boils, then stop mid-line The ending arrives by itself. Stop when it clicks off, wherever the pen is.
Drop a loop of string on the page, trace around it and turn the outline into something The page is no longer blank before you have decided anything. Stop when the outline has a name.
Fill a page with bad drawings on purpose Nothing on this page can go wrong, which is the point. Stop when the page is full.
Hold the pencil in your fist the way a small child does Nobody expects a fist to draw well, including you. Stop after one page.

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Lower the stakes, continued

Make one drawing and recycle it without showing anyone A drawing with no audience has nobody to please. Stop when it is in the bin.
Rule a row of small boxes and put a different rough idea in each Too small to fuss over. Stop at the end of the row, even if the last box is the best.
Start in the middle of a used page, among old notes The page is already marked, so there is nothing to spoil. Stop when the gaps are full.
Tell yourself you are only testing the pen, and test it over a whole page A pen test is not a drawing, so it cannot be a bad one. Stop when the pen has been to every corner.
Write 'this page does not count' at the top, then draw under it The page has been told it does not matter. Stop at the bottom of it.

Change the tool 12

A brush and plain water on a dry paving stone The drawing dries away, so nothing is kept. Stop when the first marks have gone.
A fingertip on a fogged-up mirror It clears by itself, so nothing can be kept or judged. Stop when the glass does.
A fistful of colored pencils bound with a rubber band Every line comes out as several and none is exact. Stop after one small drawing.
A pencil taped to a long stick, held at the far end Control goes, and the wish to control goes with it. Stop after three tries.
A stick in damp sand, bare soil or fresh snow Too big and too rough to be careful with. Stop when you have walked once around it.
A tray of salt or flour and the handle of a spoon One shake of the tray wipes it, so a poor line costs nothing. Stop after three shakes.
A white candle stub on white paper, then watery paint over the top You cannot judge the drawing until the paint finds it. Stop when the wash is on.
Coins, buttons or dry pasta pushed into a picture on the table Pieces can be nudged, so no mark is final. Stop when it reads, then clear the table.
Every rubber stamp in the house, pressed until the marks make a shape A stamp makes the same mark each time, so no mark is the bad one. Stop when the ink runs pale.
Fold a sheet until the creases make the picture, and draw nothing A crease is straight or it is nothing, so there is no line to fuss over. Stop when the sheet will not fold again.
One finger on a phone or tablet screen, no stylus A clumsy tool sets a clumsy standard. Stop before you zoom in.
Torn paper and glue instead of a line Tearing gives rough shapes you could not have planned. Stop when the scrap pile is used up.

Borrow a limit 12

Begin each stroke at one corner of the sheet The rule decides where each line begins. Stop when the shape reads.
Black and one gray, no other tone Two tones turn everything into light or dark. Stop when both are down.
Finish before the pencil needs sharpening The tool sets the end. Stop when the point is gone.
Fit a whole picture inside a tracing of your own hand The border is drawn before you have to think. Stop when the hand shape is full.
Keep a gap around every shape so that no two meet One rule to watch leaves no attention for judging. Stop when the page is full of islands.
Roll a die and draw that many objects, no more The number is not your decision. Stop when the count is reached.
Ruled lines for anything alive, freehand for anything built The rule is odd enough to keep your mind off quality. Stop after one of each.
Spell the subject's name and allow yourself one stroke a letter Cat gets three strokes, and nobody expects much of three. Stop at the last letter.
Trace around three things from your desk and build the drawing from those outlines The first shapes are borrowed, not invented. Stop when the three have become one picture.
Use every pencil in the box once, in the order they lie The box picks the next color, so you never have to. Stop at the last pencil.
Use the space left on one sticky note A note fills quickly and can be stuck over. Stop at one note.
Write five words about the subject, then draw only what the words name The list is the whole job, and it is short. Stop when all five are drawn.

Go and look 12

A person or a pet nearby who is dozing They hold still without being asked. Stop when they move.
The door handle or latch closest to you A small shape with a few moving parts. Stop when it would work as a diagram.
Everything in your pockets, emptied onto the floor An instant still life you did not compose. Stop when every object has a shape.
One leaf brought in from outside, both sides No one checks whether a leaf is right. Stop when both sides are on the page.
The pile on the chair: clothes, bag and whatever else landed there A heap you did not arrange, full of big simple folds. Stop when the chair legs are in.
The plate in front of you before the first bite It comes with a deadline. Stop when you are hungry.
The top drawer of the nearest desk or dresser, left open A jumble nobody arranged. Stop when you want to tidy it.
Whatever is on the other side of the nearest door The door decides. Stop when you want to step back through it.
Whatever is on the table in front of you, exactly as it lies There is nothing to set up. Stop when you reach the table edge.
The window itself: frame, latch and smudges, not the view The subject is chosen for you. Stop when all four sides of the frame are in.
Your own knees and feet as you sit there The model is always present. Stop when you shift in your seat.
Your shoes where they fell No arranging and no choosing. Stop when both shoes are on the page.

Redo something old 12

Add the next scene to a picture you made long ago The setting and the cast exist; you add one beat. Stop at one frame.
Color an old pencil sketch The drawing is finished; you only choose colors. Stop when no white is left.
Cut up a failed drawing and glue the pieces into a new one A page you already wrote off cannot be ruined. Stop when the pieces are used.
Enlarge one corner of an old drawing to fill a page A crop is a new picture with the planning done. Stop at the frame.
Go back to a drawing you abandoned and finish one part of it only It is already started, which is the hard part. Stop when that one part is done.
Ink over a pencil page you never inked The decisions were made long ago. Stop at the last pencil line.
Redraw a sketch from last year The idea already exists; only the drawing is new. Stop when you can lay the two side by side.
Redraw an old favorite at half the size Smaller means less to solve. Stop when the main shapes fit.
Redraw an old piece from memory without looking at it Memory keeps the parts that mattered. Stop, then compare.
Redraw one of your childhood drawings the way you draw now The subject was picked by a bolder artist. Stop when the two can hang together.
Trace your own old drawing, then change one thing Tracing gets the hand moving on something that is yours. Stop after the one change.
Use the blank back of a drawing you kept The good side already exists, so this side is spare. Stop when the back is full.

Copy to learn 12

Copy a diagram from a textbook or a field guide Clear lines drawn to be understood. Stop when the labels are on.
Copy a map of somewhere you know Roads and edges with no shading to judge. Stop at the map's border.
Copy a page from a sketchbook you admire, marks and all You borrow the hand as well as the subject. Stop when the page is copied and keep it as a study.
Copy a pattern from a rug, a tile or a shirt A pattern repeats, so the second unit is easier than the first. Stop after one row.
Copy a photograph you took yourself It is yours to use and already flat. Stop when the main shapes match.
Copy a statue or a figurine from three sides It holds still and has no color to solve. Stop after the third side.
Copy an old master drawing through a grid of nine squares, one square at a time Each square is a small job of lines and shapes. Stop at the ninth square.
Copy one panel of a comic you like, line for line Someone else has solved the layout. Stop at the panel border and keep it as a study.
Copy only the darkest shapes of a painting you like You take one layer and leave the rest. Stop when the darks are in.
Copy the label on a tin or a jar by hand Letters and a flat picture, with every choice made. Stop when the label is whole.
Draw around a real leaf, then add the veins by eye The outline is given; you add the inside. Stop at the last vein.
Write one word in your normal hand, then redraw it as tall as the page A shape you already make without thinking. Stop after the one word.

How this list was compiled: Original list written for Draw This Next on 2026-10-02: 72 exercises for someone who wants to draw and cannot start, in six groups of 12 (lower the stakes, change the tool, borrow a limit, go and look, redo something old, copy to learn). The line under each exercise is our own: what the exercise takes off the page, and when to stop. Nothing here is a claim about health, mood or wellbeing. Copies of other people's work are studies to keep, not to show as your own. One term was checked in Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), read on 2026-10-02: Old Master, a skilled painter working in Europe before roughly 1800 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Master). No exercise repeats a title from any other list on the site. Licence: own work

How it works

Art block help here is something to do, not something to read. Art block is wanting to draw and not being able to start. Each of the 72 exercises makes starting smaller, and each says when to stop.

Read the full guide

Exercises to help with art block, by kind

The list under the button sorts them six ways: Lower the stakes, Change the tool, Borrow a limit, Go and look, Redo something old, Copy to learn. Pick the kind that fits what is in the way: a precious page, a tired habit, too many choices.

No art block cure, only a first mark

Nothing here promises to end a block. An exercise gives one sitting a job and an ending. Do one, stop where it says, and decide afterward whether to draw more.

Questions and answers

What is art block?

Art block is the stretch when you want to draw and cannot begin, or begin and stop. It is a common name, not a diagnosis, and this page treats it only as a blank page that needs a first mark.

Are there art ideas for the uncreative?

Yes: the Go and look and Copy to learn groups need no ideas at all. You draw what is in front of you or copy something that exists, so the only decision is where to put the first line.

What if I need a subject, not an exercise?

Use the art prompt generator, which deals a subject, an action and a setting. This page holds no subject list: its exercises change how you start, not what you draw.

How are these different from drawing warm-ups?

Drawing warm-ups are timed drills for hand control. These exercises are about beginning at all. None of them is a drill, and none needs to be done well.