How to Get Motivation to Draw

Updated on 07/24/24 3:58 PM CT

Here I am sitting at my desk and ready to create something beautiful when suddenly, my motivation to draw plummets, and my inspiration for creating artwork just vanishes. “WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN?” Is what I ask myself at that moment. I frequently complain about not having the time to draw, but realistically, I have more than enough.

The issue isn’t time. It’s a lack of motivation. So, the question is – how do I motivate myself to draw?

Well, here are some thoughts I have on the topic. I decided to write them down in a hope that they will help me (and others) overcome “drawing motivation killers”.

Here are the top 10 ways to motivate yourself to draw:

1. Set Specific Art Goals
2. Eliminate Time-Wasters
3. Get a Drawing Prompt Book
4. Just Start Doodling
5. Try New Media
6. Write About What You Want to Draw
7. Look at Other Artist’s Artwork
8. Go Outside
9. Listen to Music or a Podcast
10. Generate Drawing Prompts with ChatGPT

1 – Set Specific Art Goals

Goal-setting is the unsung hero of productive individuals around the world. It might sound silly, but setting goals can psychologically wire your brain to be more motivated to draw and to put forth more effort than if you didn’t have goals set.

“Sure, sure,” you say, but according to Psychology Today, goal-setting is, in fact, linked to higher achievement. But it’s important HOW you set your goals.

Your goals should be SMART, which is an acronym for the following:

• S – Specific
• M – Measurable
• A – Achievable
• R – Relevant
• T – Time Bound

Use the following two examples to differentiate between a goal that is or is not SMART

• Not a SMART Goal – “Draw more”
• SMART Goal – “Start and finish 25 original full-page drawings by the end of the year”
  • Specific – I know what exactly the goal is and what next steps to tale
  • Measurable – I have a definitive way to know if my goal has been achieved (finishing 25 drawings)
  • Achievable – I have the available time in my schedule to create this many drawings within the time frame and will add drawing times into my schedule’s openings
  • Relevant – I want to make a living, or at least a side income, from my passion.
  • Time Bound – The goal should be achieved before midnight on the final day of this year

2 – Eliminate Time-Wasters

It’s not uncommon for me to find myself just loafing around on days I’m off work.

I’ll watch YouTube videos, browse the internet, stalk people on Facebook, play games on my computer or phone, work on my plan for world domination, and the list goes on. These aren’t inherently bad things, but they’re also not good for you.

*queue the rage of the internet about to tell me why I’m wrong*

Bear with me here. Being entertained isn’t bad, but it can very easily become bad when you’re consistently using it to replace productive or worthwhile endeavors. Here are just three reasons why too much entertainment is killing your motivation to draw:

1. It’s Unhealthy
   • Entertainment addiction is a real thing, and it can have serious detrimental effects on your health. According to Mayo Clinic, too much screen time has been linked to things such as obesity, depression, and even violence.
2. It Replaces Time You Could Be Productive
   • You could be using the time spent on entertainment to improve your skills as an artist by sketching, painting, or creating in some way
3. It Can be Toxic
   • You’ll never be better than that guy online who spent his entire life playing League of Legends and crushes you while typing “lol gg no re” in the chat.

If I had spent HALF of the time I wasted playing video games with drawing, I’d probably have my own art gallery in NYC by now… Alright, that might be a stretch, but you get the idea. Keeping time spent on entertainment to a minimum is an excellent way to make sure your motivation to draw stays high.

3 – Get a Drawing Prompt Book

I’m usually all about doing everything digitally.

• My Schedule – Google Calendar
• Random Notes – Default “Notes” app on iPhone
• Drawing References – Internet Images
• Basically anything that involves numbers – Spreadsheets (I love them so much)

But what I’ve discovered is that I don’t typically like using the internet to decide what I should draw next. I’ll use references online once I’ve decided, but I don’t like Googling things like “101 drawing ideas.” I end up spending more time looking for ideas since I know there’s so many options. And realizing you’ve spent 2 hours looking for ideas doesn’t help you get motivation to draw.

To me, the allure of a drawing prompt book is that it’s kind of like getting an achievement when you finish the book. Once it’s finished, you just have this incredible feeling of accomplishment for filling the full book.

That feeling can come with filling a typical sketchbook, but what I like about drawing prompt books is that you can skip the “what to draw next” phase. Just draw whatever the prompt is on the next page. It’s like a sketchbook with built-in drawing motivation.

To add a level of urgency, I recommend setting a realistic deadline to completely fill the book. It should vary based on how many prompts and how large the book is, but just whatever you think is possible without too much strain on your personal schedule.

Here are just a few you could try (I have an old version of a Piccadilly Prompt Book):

1. 642 Things to Draw: Inspirational Sketchbook to Entertain and
2. Piccadilly 500 Drawing Prompts Notebook
3. Piccadilly 400 Drawing Prompts Notebook

4 – Just Start Doodling

Believe it or not, drawing motivation doesn’t often magically appear on demand. Well, aside from being sprinkled with magic dust from the drawing motivation fairy. But she was arrested for distributing unknown, potentially harmful substances.

Anyway, I’ve come to find that just doodling for a few minutes is enough to get my creative juices flowing. How do you doodle? Put your pencil on paper and wiggle it around based on how you’re feeling. No, seriously – that’s it. No direction, guidance, or purpose. It’s kind of like brainstorming, but instead of writing words, you’re just scribbling on paper and hoping that it’ll turn into the next Mona Lisa.

After doodling for a bit, I’ll ultimately end up getting inspired to draw something more detailed. Often the doodles will make me think of characters on Movies, TV shows, or video games, and ultimately I’ll end up motivated to create things like these:

See? I told you entertainment isn’t bad, and it can even help motivate you to draw. You just don’t want to turn into an entertainment junkie, shooting up the new season o-OMG THE NEXT SEASON OF THE MANDALORIAN!-

(1 hour later)

Sorry about that… where was I?

5 – Try New Art Mediums

I know it might be easy to get comfortable using the same mediums, but there are SO many different art utensils out there to try.

There’s pencils, colored pencils, ballpoint pens, micron pens, basic markers, Copic markers, charcoal, *Inhales deeply* watercolor, oil painting, pastels, and SOOOoo much more. Not to mention how many different things you could use as a canvas. Why stick to just white paper? In fact, why stick to paper at all? A YouTube friend of mine named Josue.With.Context (Formerly Agapey) used to make art by drawing on wooden cutting boards! How awesome is that?

If you need some ideas, here are a few products that I use personally for my artwork and really enjoy! I started using each of these as a way to regain my motivation to draw: 

1. SAKURA Pigma Micron Fineliner Pens
2. Pentel Arts Aquash Water Brush
3. DecoColor Paint Markers

I’ll also add more to the list as I find items I think are worth adding! (Note – The above links are affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission if you choose to purchase one of the products, at no additional cost to you)

My wife signed me up for SketchBox in the past as a birthday gift (She’s the best), and it came with all sorts of interesting new mediums to try out. Actually, I’m pretty sure the water brush and paint markers I recommended above both came in a SketchBox.

6 – Write About What You Want To Draw

This may sound odd, but it really works for me. When I lose my motivation to draw, I write about what I hope to draw in the future. I don’t tend to keep what I write, but maybe as an example I’ll post the next one I make. Although, this article actually started out as a way to try and get my creative juices flowing, so that counts, right?

Try to be descriptive when you write, too. So if I use this tactic myself, I would write something like this:

“It’s been a bit since I’ve really spent time drawing much (life can be busy with kids), but I’d love to finish some artwork I started ages ago such as my Disney Castle drawing. It was originally intended to be a gift for a friend, but after I finished the general outline of the piece I just ran into some motivation issues. I’m going to set aside a time a place to finish it, and then I’ll publish it on my site!”

7 – Look At Other Artist’s Artwork

What could be more inspiring than watching the artwork of your fellow artists? If you’re an artist, then I’m sure you’re already aware that you tend to connect well with other artistic people. We’re often greatly passionate about our artwork, and when we find someone else that loves art, it inspires us to continue our hard work.

With access to the internet, viewing artwork is easier than it’s ever been before. There are MILLIONS of artists out there that share their work with the world through both videos and photos (I’m only one of them), and searching through their artwork is one of the best ways I’ve found to get inspired.

Here are just a few channels that I love watching (both big and small):

• General Art – Jazza (Formerly “Draw With Jazza”)
• Abstract Art – Peter Draws
• Art Business – Kelsey Rodriguez
• 3D Animation – SavannahXYZ
• Underappreciated Artist – ArtGirlFunky

In addition, add your social media name in the comments (no links, please) and I might add it to this list!

8 – Go Outside

I know, I know. Sounds easy, right? Well that’s because it is! Motivation for drawing can come from anything, and when you’re just sitting in the house, your inspiration is limited to what’s indoors (or on the internet, but that’s besides the point.)

There’s a variety of different levels of “going outside” to give you motivation as well. Some are easy, and some are a little harder:

1. Sit on your porch or doorstep
   This is the easiest one, but can still bring a lot of motivation! Simply taking a step into the outdoors opens up a world of ways to get motivated to draw. Do your neighbors have a dog that’s barking and keeping you up at night? Draw it. Birds in a nearby tree singing you songs? Draw them. A giant meteor hurtling towards the earth about to doom all of humanity and you along with it? Dra-… My lawyers are telling me that I can’t give you advice for this one.
2. Go for a walk around the neighborhood
   Still fairly easy, but if you’re a habitually sheltered individual that likes being inside, it could be a little harder. You’ll be amazed at all of the motivation that can come through just walking around your neighborhood.
3. Go on a hike at a nearby trail
   Woah woah, a HIKE? That’s a lot of work to get motivated. Trust me, I know. That’s why to help with this step, I suggest marrying someone that loves hiking and then they’ll MAKE you hike with them until you like it too. (Please don’t actually marry someone just for this purpose, that’s terrible relationship advice and I take no responsibility for your actions if you choose to take this route). But in all seriousness, hikes are a phenomenal way to supercharge your motivation for drawing. Especially if you’re hiking in places you’ve never been before. As someone that has lived in Clark County, NV, there’s a TON of hiking opportunities and every trail has its own uniqueness to it.
4. Visit a Tourist City Like Las Vegas
   Las Vegas might be known as “sin city”, but it really does have a ton of PG activities and tourist spots that will set your inspiration on fire. Even something as simple as the “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada” sign is a great place to start. In fact, that was one of my drawings I added to my Daily Sketch Journal
   

9 – Listen to Music or a Podcast

Music has been around since basically the existence of humanity, and there’s a reason for that. Music has a natural tendency to inspire and motivate those who listen to it. I mean, they literally used to have people in war completely dedicated to war drums or some other kind of musical instrument just because of the profound effect that music has on those that hear it. Knowing this, I couldn’t leave this one out.

There really isn’t a limitation to what you can listen to either. It could be genres that you’re already a fan of, or genres you’ve never heard of. Just hit the play button and skip until you find something that kicks your motivation into high gear.

Podcasts have also become hugely popular lately, and while I’ve only listened to a few here and there, I can say that there’s plenty of opportunity for inspiration from them. There’s podcasts about basically anything you can think of, so just browsing and picking one could help you with that artist’s spark you’ve been looking for.

10 – Generate Drawing Prompts with ChatGPT

If you haven’t heard of ChatGPT yet, I assume you’ve been living under a rock for a little while now. Which, after the whole Covid debacle, I almost don’t blame you.

ChatGPT is a free-to-use artificial intelligence chatbot that can answer questions and give you any information you’re looking for based on prompts you provide. This includes anything from basic math to creating intricate backstories of original characters for a D&D campaign.

So, if you’re looking for an interesting way to get some more drawing motivation, try some of these prompts and see what it says (I’ve included AI responses from ChatGPT as an example):

• Prompt: “Give me a random drawing prompt”
  • ChatGPT: “Draw a group of animals having a tea party in a magical forest”
• Prompt: “Give me a drawing prompt for something that would be quick and easy to draw”
  • ChatGPT: “Draw a cartoon version of your favorite food.”
• Prompt: “Give me an idea for something to draw using a fine tip micron pen”
  • ChatGPT: “Draw a detailed botanical illustration of a leaf or flower, with intricate patterns and textures.”
• Prompt: “Give me a drawing prompt for something that would be more likely to get shares and likes on social media”
  • ChatGPT: “Draw a whimsical portrait of a popular fictional character, such as Harry Potter or Elsa from Frozen, in a unique and creative style that showcases your artistic flair.”

“But wait. Didn’t you just say in one of the other points that you don’t like using the internet to come up with drawing prompts?”

Did you actually read that?… Good on you for reading through the article.

But yes, you caught me. I don’t personally use ChatGPT for drawing prompts (le gasp). BUT, ChatGPT is a powerful tool, and you can be as specific as you want when requesting a prompt. Plus, the fact that it’s free means that I had to add it to this list for anyone who might want to consider it.

ChatGPT also has a premium version that offers AI image generation. While AI art is getting a lot of hate from the art community, I personally think it’s a genius idea to utilize it for specific references on something you’re creating. I’m of the mindset that nothing is truly original. We all “steal” ideas from others, whether or not we intend to. I’m probably one of the few artists out there with this opinion, though.

Conclusion

Well, if you came here asking yourself how to find the motivation to draw, I hope you found your answer. Overall, getting motivated to draw requires patience and self-discipline. A routine helps, but it can be difficult for some lifestyles. Set goals and follow through, and sprinkle in the 10 tips you’ve found here for an improved chance of success.

Well there you have it. Those are the 10 methods you can use to get up and motivated to create that next beautiful work of art. I would love it if you shared this article with your friends, or better yet, send me your artwork! I have a page set up so I can feature the artwork of other artists and I would love to share yours!