Why Drawing Without Purpose is an Important Skill for Artists

I watch quite a lot of artist channels on YouTube and one thing that is common to many of them is that each new video sets out with the goal of creating a piece of finished art. Even if the artist is just doing something 'rough' in a sketchbook, by the end of the video that 'rough drawing' will look like a finished artwork ready to be framed and hung on a wall.

In my latest two art videos I unintentionally demonstrated why not sitting down to create a piece of finished art every time is also an important part of any artists practice.

My first video was pretty much me sitting in front of an empty page and starting to draw. I couldn't think of anything I particularly wanted to draw (I was just trying to get content for a video) so I went straight to my 'go to' drawing, a cat. That's how the video came to be about why I draw cats so much and how I got to that point.

In amongst it all I made the point that I didn't think it would be reflective of my art process if every time I made a video I created a finished artwork. Drawing, with no real goal other than to just see what happens, is very much a part of how I create a lot of my art.

By the end of the above video I've completed two full pages of random sketches, one of mostly cats, and one of faces. One of those faces I really liked so, for my next video, I decided to take that face and give it a body. I thought it would make a really good character rig for a future animation (not that I have anything specific in mind).

My point is, when I set out to create my Why I Draw Cats' video, I never planned to draw anything even close to the girl I decided to develop further into a character. All I had in mind was to draw and see if anything came of it. That particular session I met a girl.

Not every drawing session results in an image that inspires me to explore an idea further but, if you don't do this kind of exploratory drawing, and always have a destination drawing in mind, you could miss many new ideas that you wouldn't otherwise see.

Not only that but drawing without any real purpose other than to see what happens is the most effective way I know to overcome the dreaded 'artist block' or 'blank page syndrome'. All the pressure of creating finished art, or creating anything finished at all, is removed.

The next time you're struggling with what to draw, get out your sketchbook and start drawing whatever your 'go to' is to get started, then branch out into other lines, shapes and ideas. Keep working on a drawing until it starts to look like something. If it's not really working, abandon it and start a new drawing with new lines and shapes.

It doesn't matter if nothing comes of this drawing session, the important thing is, just drawing to see what happens. You may discover something new that you wouldn't have tried otherwise.

Comments

Movie Review: Superman (2025) No Spoilers

T he one thing I like about James Gunn as a comic book movie director is that he leans into the comic book nature of the world and the characters. He's not trying to do a realistic take on any of the characters. He's simply bringing the comics to life. It's still his take on the characters, but he doesn't shy away from their comic book origins. James Gunn's Superman is very much a comic book movie in every sense. Nothing is off the table because it's too 'comic-booky' and might look silly in a live action film. To me that's incredibly liberating. It lets James actually tell a proper Superman story that isn't hamstrung by reality, or tip toeing into the fantastical just enough to allow Superman to exist in the real world. Superman begins in the middle of a battle. Metropolis is under attack by a super powered being known as 'Hammer of Boravia', however everything is not as it seems, and Superman (David Corenswet) must work with other s...

James Gunn's Social Media Monkeys Joke Was a Highlight of His Superman Movie For Me

B efore James Gunn's Superman Movie was released there was a whole rumor going around that the movie would feature monkeys on computers trolling Superman's social media, sparking much outrage. #supersh*t. I didn't know this was even a thing until just prior to writing this article. I did a search to see if anyone had posted a clip of the monkeys scene from the movie and got pages of discourse featuring videos and articles prior to the film. Most of it from Gunn detractors (let's say) seeing it as some kind of childish swipe at them... well not them specifically but, you know, those other people who have every right to hate on anything sight unseen. Anyway, I'm not going to give even one such example a link or air because it's kind of sad watching someone devote so much commentary to a throw away gag that is absolutely a nod to James Gunn's Superman trolls. The whole reason this post exists, is to say I loved the joke, because fourteen years ago, and I...

Movie Review: A Complete Unknown (2024) No Spoilers

Y ou would think the Bob Dylan story would be 'wind-swept and interesting,' to quote Billy Connelly, however, despite A Complete Unknown being quite an engaging film, it feels like it missed the years that really shaped him as a song writer/performer. The film starts in 1961, with a then unknown, 19-year-old Bob Dylan (Timothée Chalamet) arriving in New York City with his guitar. From there he forges relationships with musical icons on his meteoric rise, culminating in a groundbreaking performance that reverberates around the world. The problem being, according to this film, Dylan arrived in New York, for the most part, fully formed as a folk singer/song writer. In virtually no time he makes a very important connection that puts him on the trajectory of doing the work and becoming a name, before making his world changing performance. While there is some drama behind the scenes with his various relationships, none of it is particularly unique to any number of up and com...

I'm Confused About Why People Prefer to Say Discombobulated?

D iscombobulated. Is a word that I think someone rediscovered about three or four years ago (maybe more because the pandemic years have thrown out my sense of time) and now I hear it a lot. It's not a new word by any means, but when I started hearing multiple celebrities using it in everyday sentences, I actively had to look up what it meant. Define it with as many synonyms as you like but essentially it's just another word meaning 'confused'. Seinfeld Quotes: Quotes.net The words are pretty much interchangeable. He was discombobulated by too many choices. He was confused by too many choices. My confusion is the length of the word. It's unnecessarily long with too many syllables. There are many other words that mean confused, and therefore also mean discombobulated. Most of them are shorter and easier to say. So why not just say 'confused'? Perhaps discombobulated sounds more intelligent, maybe? Hawaii Five-0 Quotes: Quotes.net I've noticed it gets us...

I'm Joining the Illuminati Brotherhood By Personal Invitation of Hiltom Rothschild... Wait, What?

How special am I to have finally come of age (53 years young) and am now eligible to participate in building the world alongside other members of the Illuminati Brotherhood... Yes I've received the call by way of an email, which I'm sure is real because I had to translate it from the Dutch language and it was personally written by Hiltom Rothschild, one of the non-existent members of the Rothschild family (or perhaps deep undercover because Google has never heard of them?). A Transcript of the email below: To: etourist From: Illuminati Brotherhood Subject: Illuminati Broederschap (Illuminati Brotherhood) I am Hiltom Rothschild, a member of the Rothschild family, one of the 13 families of the Illuminati brotherhood. I'm here to let you know that you've come of age and are eligible to participate in building the 🌎 world. It is a calling and a privilege to honor him with pride and gratitude as not everyone will ever be chosen by the LIGHT, many are called but few are ch...

Australian Federal Election 2025 - World's Most Boring Government Re-elected by Landside - We're Even More Fine!

Anthony Albanese Victory by ChatGPT and TET. W hen I started writing about the 2025 Federal election the polls were suggesting the world's most boring government was crusing to a defeat . As it turns out, boring is good, and Australia wants more of it, handing the current government a landslide win with a majority vote. Anthony Albanese became the first PM since John Howard to win a consecutive term, and the first Labor PM since Bob Hawke to do so. Some of that comes down to the leadership revolving door both major parties had through the mid 2000s. Although Anthony is my preferred PM over Dutton the irony is Dutton sounds more like a leader with a fairly commanding voice and an ability to speak well, without sounding like he's waffling and dodging questions, even if he is. Anthony, on the other hand, does have the ability (and speech writer) to say a lot of inspiring things but it gets lost in the delivery. He doesn't seem to know when to emphasise a point for effect. In h...

Unitree's R1 Humanoid Robot Brings the Cost of Advanced Robotics Hardware Down to Less Than USD$6000 (Robot Uprising Update)

Unitree's R1 Humanoid Robot. The first humaniod robot prices under USD$6000. C hinese robotics developer, Unitree, has launched the Unitree R1 Robot , an advanced humanoid machine, for under USD$6000. Standing at 5'5", this very agile robot walks with a very natural 'human' gait, and can easily perform cartwheels or get up from a fall. It is controlled by AI and is capable of conversation but also comes with a remote control (so you can turn it off if it starts asking about someone named 'Sarah Connor'). Rather than me describe it, watch AI Revolution's video (below) to see it in action and hear their take on why this robot is a big deal. China’s New AI Robot Is So Good and Cheap It’s Scary: Unitree R1 - AI Revolution You'll notice that the robot doesn't have proper, human like hands, but apparently this is an option you can purchase as an extra (dexterous hands are listed as 'optional' on educational versions of the robot on Unitree...

TET.Life (The Extraordinary Tourist Life)

Search This Blog