5 short, fun & easy prompts to get creative
Happy Wednesday! Today I come with a few short and easy activities that you can do at home to improve your creative practice. What do I mean by that? Well, think of these activities as a warm-up to start writing, journaling, drawing, knitting, even working I’d say. The whole idea is to get the creative part of the brain ready to start!
How does it work? Pick one activity (maybe save this post for later and come back each day for a new one!) and take your time to do them, it can be an hour for some or 5 minutes for others. There’s no wrong or right way to do them!
- Draw what’s in front of you
Category: Illustration
Materials: Pen & Paper
Estimated time: 5 minutes or 1 hour (depending on the level of detail you look for!)
This is a super easy prompt for those of you who want to get into drawing, don’t know what to draw or who feel like doing something different. Grab your pen/pencil/marker and draw what you see! Maybe you want to be more specific and draw the whole scene or you just draw different objects randomly on a page. Have fun, experiment with colors, spaces and objects!
- Make a collage
Category: Craft
Materials: paper, magazines, color papers, scissors, glue, tape
Estimated time: 1 hour to 3 hours
Do you remember the time we used to make collages at kindergarten? Well, now I realized I love doing them for fun! If you have a blank sheet of paper (those A4 for printing work wonders 🙂 bring it to the table or the floor, get some music on to set the mood and pick up your magazines, cutting the bits and bobs you like: words, patterns, images, colors. Now place them on the blank sheet, organize them in the best way you like, and proceed to glue them. You can add your own art on top with markers, washi tapes, or acrylics! Idea: if you like your collage so much, why not frame it on the wall?
- Coloring Pages
Category: Illustration
Materials: Coloring pages, markers, color pencils, watercolors…
Estimated time: 30 minutes or 1-2 hours
I’m so excited because this one is an activity I’ve been wanting to do for so long! As an illustrator, my job is to draw lines and match colors to look good together, and sometimes that creates a bit of pressure, so coloring without thinking too much about the outcome is completely relaxing and omg I love it so much.
Where to get coloring pages? You’ll find them in the links down below. They are all free to download and make magic.
Together Gallery: a place to be together.
Flow Magazine: Comforting Coloring Pages
My friend Angie has also designed her own coloring pages: ODNI
Of course, I have designed my own too: Color Full page by Wan Raitelli
- Design a map
Category: Illustration/ Craft / Writing
Materials: Pen & Paper
Estimated time: 30 min- 1 hour
Design a map of something: do it with words, with lines, drawings, or as a collage. It could be a map of your house: is it big? Small? How many rooms? How long does it take to get from the bathroom to the kitchen? Which are the directions to find a pair of scissors?
Maybe it’s a map of your mind: where do you find your ideas? Which room, street, alley do we have to cross to get to your creativity? Is there public transport to get from one place to the other?
There are so many things you can create a map of. Your kitchen, your drawers, your face. Try them! And use whichever media you feel more comfortable with.
- Write a letter
Category: Writing
Materials: Pen & Paper / laptop
Estimated time: 1 to 2 hours
Write a letter to somebody. It could be an old friend, your cat, even yourself. Write who you are now, what you’re going through, how you are feeling. It’s a great idea to write it by hand and have no distractions so you can focus on that only task. Make it beautiful: put some colors on it, stickers, tape. Make a nice envelope (even draw stamps, like these ones) and keep it safe to read it later.
If you’re more of a laptop writer, go ahead and write your future self a letter: I’ve done that on this website a few years ago and it gave me so much joy to read it. Consider this letter as a gift to your future self. There you have them! If you happen to make any of them, feel free to send me a DM on Instagram or an email sharing your creations! I’d love to see them! And, of course, if you feel like this post could be helpful for someone you know, be sure to share it!
