Hey guys, it's Celestia, and today's video is gonna be a fun and light-hearted one, because I am
pathologically incapable of being too serious for too long without inevitably turning any situation
into a joke to avoid acknowledging my deep-rooted fear of emotional honesty and vulnerability,
so instead of doing that and tactlessly turning a serious, delicate topic into a venue for my comedy,
I'm just gonna intersperse those serious topics with these fun little videos instead. Which brings
us to today's video, in which I'm gonna try to cure your art block with some mediocre ideas
and inspirations, one of which will hopefully make you want to draw it. More seriously, art block is a
real problem, and I understand as much as any artist that sometimes, inspiration is not easy
to come by. Personally, I tend to either have so many ideas that I physically do not have enough
hours in my day to draw them all, or so few ideas that they're scarcer and less consistent than a
paycheck from an art career, and the latter can be unbelievably frustrating. There's nothing more
annoying than desperately wanting to draw but not having any motivation to because you can't think
of anything TO draw that actually makes you want to draw it. The most satisfying and validating part
of art is being excited about an idea and getting to visualize and interpret it, and if there are no
ideas that make you excited, it's really difficult to find any joy in your work. And that's where I
come in - with a lot of enthusiasm, some subpar jokes, and 50 ideas of things for you to draw when art
block stops you from coming up with any. Before I get started on those, though, let's quickly go over
some tips on finding your own inspirations when you're struggling with art block, because sometimes
it's easier to immerse yourself in things that spark your creativity than to just have some
on YouTube throw ideas at you. And the first tip is pretty much exactly that - surround yourself
with content that inspires you and makes you want to create. Personally, when I'm feeling artistically
drained and lacking in creativity, I spend a solid 10 hours watching Ghibli movies, and come out of
it feeling like an artist protagonist in a messy yet whimsical workplace with more ideas than time.
But even if you decide to approach it like a well-adjusted human being rather than an
obsessive disaster wearing a Totoro onesie, even just watching a couple episodes of a show that
inspires you or playing a few hours worth of a game that makes you want to draw can replenish
your... creativity well, let's call it a creativity well. For me, Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley, Pokemon,
Genshin Impact, and We Happy Few are all games that I can play for just a little while and already
have new ideas for art, and all for different reasons. Some of them have environments and
locations that are just so pretty that I want to draw all of them specifically, some have characters
with designs that are so good that I just want to make a whole piece to be able to draw them,
some have vibes that just make me feel passionate and creative, some have plots and worlds that make
me feel so immersed and involved that ideas come to me just by being a part of them - regardless of
the reasons, the media that artists consume tends to have a pretty large impact on whether or not we
want to draw, or can think of anything to draw, and no matter why you find a particular type of media
inspiring, it can be really helpful to immerse yourself in it when art block is kicking your ass.
Similarly, if you can't think of anything to draw, you could always do what I do and
redraw a scene you like from a show or movie you like, or even redraw one of your own older pieces.
It saves you from having to come up with an idea, character, composition, or any of the harder aspects
of visualizing something new to draw, while still allowing you the creative opportunity to reimagine
the piece in your own style or reinterpret an old piece with your current skills. I often find
that after doing a redraw, I feel more inspired to create original work, because I got to enjoy
the experience of just sitting down and drawing without any pressure to worry about coming up
with an idea or figuring out how to make it look good from scratch. It's almost like a warm-up or a
slow walk after tiring yourself out jogging. At least for me, it's really helpful to replenish
creative energy. Another idea is Pinterest which... is less of an idea and more of just-- a platform,
but the point is that it helps. Once you've made your FBI agent jealous by letting the all-seeing
Pinterest gods monitor your browsing activity for long enough, they'll have collected enough data on
you both to be able to sell it for more money than most artists make in a year and provide you with
a personalized algorithm. And if what you look at and pin on Pinterest is art related content, this
is really handy. In my experience, I look at and save largely a combination of Animal Crossing
screenshots, artistic headshots, photography, and art, and my Pinterest feed regularly provides
me with the perfect mix of art reference, island development ideas, art tutorials, Animal Crossing
creator codes, and both digital art and photography that inspires my work. Like, this platform is
alarmingly good at suggesting content specifically tailored to what you engage with, and while that's
fundamentally terrifying and something that not nearly enough people are addressing as a problem,
it's also a renewable well of ideas to dip into when you run out of your own. I personally
have upwards of 10 different Pinterest boards full of pins that give me ideas for new pieces,
specifically organized by type of content and type of art they inspire, and every time
I want to draw and feel like I can't think of a single idea, that's the first place I turn to.
If you want some boards to look at and engage with so that Pinterest starts recommending you that
kind of content, I'd strongly recommend Ergojosh's boards, which I'll link in the description, because
I found them very helpful when it comes to sharing, organizing, and displaying the types of pins that
I'm looking for. A few other things that inspire me during art block are colour palette challenges,
which tend to give me ideas by forcing me to figure out what character or general subject
matter would suit it best, and pose reference packs, like Rachel Bradley's or Senshistock's, because I
struggle to look through a whole pose pack of photos without thinking "oh my god, I have, like,
eight OCs that would look so cute in that pose", and then immediately spiraling into sketching them all
at once, which usually ends up with me having a pile of unfinished sketches I have neither the
time nor energy to ever get around to completing. But that's a separate problem that we're not
gonna talk about. Just because my solution to a problem ends up causing a completely different
but equally frustrating problem doesn't make it less of a solution - that's actually the case for
most solutions. Okay, so with the more general tips out of the way, let's finally get into the 50 art
ideas I promised. I've tried to include pretty non-specific concepts that can work for artists
of any medium, so hopefully whether you want to do fully rendered digital illustrations, traditional
themed sketchbook spreads, character designs, sketches, or just doodles, at least some of these
ideas will work for you. So, given that the only real way to deliver these ideas is with the rapid-
fire precision and speed of a Buddy the Elf snowball fight, I'll give up on any semblance of ceremony
or formality and just chuck some art snowballs. 1, draw something based on a season, be it a character,
theme, or location. 2, look at some of your old photos and either draw them or draw something
inspired by them. 3, do what I do whenever I have a full minute of free time, and draw plants or
flowers. Draw them on their own, paint them, design a character based on them, draw a forest or a
field of flowers, just go feral with the nature. You can't go wrong, it's literally always pretty. 4,
draw a self-portrait, or 5, which is basically the same thing with some bonus social media clout and
eligibility as your pinned tweet, draw a meet the artist meme. 6, draw a memory from your favourite
vacation, or conversely, draw somewhere you want to go on your dream vacation. 7, draw a bunch
of characters based on one singular trait. Like, for example, I recently did a sketchbook spread where
the theme was just wings - so I drew one character with angel wings, one with bat wings, demon wings
fairy wings, etc. It could really be any common trait, like themed outfits, animal ears, tails, aliens,
you do you, man. 8, a sketchbook spread of what you do in a day. 9, draw things that bring you
comfort, like hot chocolate, plushies, beaches, rain, blankets, pillows, comfort foods, so on. 9, draw
something based on a holiday. If you're me it's probably Halloween or Christmas, and it's at least
40 different somethings you're drawing, because the months of October, November, and December are
objectively the best ones of the year based on those holidays alone. If you're a normal human
being, it could be absolutely any holiday. 10, take part in a drawing challenge like Inktober
or Mermay. 11, draw your pets or draw a pet you want. 12, draw a friend, family member, or partner.
13, draw a character or scene based on an astrological sign. 14, make a sketchbook spread or
doodle sheet of art of your favorite video games. 15, draw some of your favorite foods and beverages -
or, if you're like me, draw foods and beverages that you think look cute or pretty and inevitably
end up making them into kawaii caricatures with sparkly eyes and uwu faces. 16, draw something
retro or vaporwave or synthwave or glowwave or glitchwave or signalwave or simpsonswave,
because there are so many fundamentally different but the same sub-genres of the aesthetic that
I can't begin to name them all, but they're all f*ckin' sweet and artistically inspiring.
17, draw the inside of a Pokeball. 18, draw fanart of your favorite Youtuber, Duchess Celestia--
...draw fanart of a character or creator you like. 19, design a new outfit or look for a character
you like. Not like the whole problematic nightmare of redesigning characters to fix them, more like
League of Legends or Cookie Run skins. 20, design a new Animal Crossing villager, and
bonus points if it's based on your pet, like these beautiful commissions my wife got of our cats.
The artist is a blessing and she's linked in the description. 21, redesign one of your old OCs. 22,
turn a handful of random items into your room into a cute sketchbook spread. 23, draw your office desk
or workspace. 24, make one of those really cool silhouette pieces that uses negative space and
interesting backgrounds to create something really eye-catching. 25, draw a fond memory that makes
you happy. 26, either draw a mythical creature or create your own brand-ass new mythical creature.
My wife has been playing D&D again lately and it's led to me learning that there is literally
a species based on absolutely f*cking anything and everything, so the sky is the limit with species
creation, so long as you don't try to patent it on DeviantART. 27, draw a Polaroid photo - or a bunch of
polaroid photos in a pile, or a scrapbook, or on a clothes line, I don't know. That's the power of
Polaroid photos, they're tiny, they can go anywhere. They're the chameleons of art pieces. 28, try
graffiti art - the brilliance of digital art is that you can draw it and then overlay it on a picture
of a brick wall so that you can be Banksy without the crime. 29, draw a liminal space: the backrooms,
one of the million pictures of liminal spaces that already exist, or create your own based on
what makes you feel that exact right combination of unsettled and nostalgic. 30, draw yourself as
a Pokemon trainer or gym leader. Conversely, 31, draw your pet as a Pokemon, or just design a new
Pokemon from scratch. 32, draw a window - and I know, that sounds like the most boring non-idea to ever
exist, but hear me out, because the point is that drawing the environment outside the window from
the perspective of looking out at it or drawing a character looking at that environment through it
is fun, and it can yield some pretty cool-looking results. 33, draw a tarot card, or be an obsessive
completionist like me and refuse to draw just ONE tarot card unless you can commit to drawing a full
deck of all 78 major and minor arcana cards and subsequently put it off for at least five years
until you either have the time for that kind of project, or come to realize that you'll NEVER have
time for that kind of project, and that maybe you need to f*cking chill. 34, design a character
based on a thing - for example draw your favorite food as a character, your favorite flavor of ice
cream, your favorite brand of chocolate, a social media platform, a game console, a planet - there is
really no limit to what you could turn into a cute anime girl with enough time and willpower. 35, draw
a character with cool alternative fashion, like decora, visual kei, lolita, goth, etc. 36, design an album
cover, even if it's just for fun and not an actual album or even song, or draw your interpretation
of an existing album cover you like. 37, do an anatomical study - and I don't just mean literally
sit down and study anatomy to improve your art skills, I mean for fun, draw a brain for the sake
of drawing a brain. It sounds weird, but I did it, and it was weirdly relaxing despite or maybe
because of the fact that it did absolutely nothing to improve my art skills, because I'm obviously not
out here drawing cute sparkly uwu anime brains for work or even regularly for leisure. 38, draw
a piece with dramatic lighting that you wouldn't normally draw, like lit from behind or below, light
shining through trees, multiple sources of bright neon light, etc. 39, design a fake magazine cover for
your characters or creations. 40, design a magical girl form or outfit for an existing character, be
it your own character or one that you like. Bonus points if it's a character that does not even
vaguely seem like they would have that kind of a form, like-- think Star Guardian Urgot. 41, illustrate
your interpretation of old classic fairy tales, like Little Red Riding Hood, or Goldilocks, or even
the unbelievably morbid original ones if that's your kind of thing. 42, draw something inspired by
lyrics from your favorite song. 43, draw a character just hanging out and vibing somewhere they either
shouldn't be or physically couldn't be, like just casually drinking a slushie in area 51, or checking
their Twitter inside a retro TV screen, or eating a family-sized bag of Doritos inside a crane game
at Denny's. Actually, okay, I don't know if you guys have recently been to a Denny's, but I have,
and can we talk about how they are inexplicably maintaining the late 90s and early 2000s aesthetic completely
independent from the passage of time outside of Denny's? Like, I cannot think of one single
place that still has old-ass classic crane games filled with the plushies of the penguins from
the Madagascar movies made in 2005, but you can bet your ass that any Denny's has like three of
them somewhere in the restaurant. People say that cockroaches are the only things that will survive
the apocalypse, but I disagree - it's going to be cockroaches and Denny's, which will continue to
exist in the year 2001 entirely separately from the world outside of it, even if the cockroaches
are the only ones still ordering Grand Slams. Okay. Struck a nerve I didn't know I had there, moving on.
44, draw your favorite scene from a game movie or show you like. 45, draw a piece in an environment
or setting that you normally wouldn't have considered, like underwater or in outer space.
46, draw nature reclaiming something man-made, like a phone box, mall, subway, building, so on.
47, draw you, your characters, or characters you like having some kind of fun night or party,
like karaoke, a sleepover, or a pool party. 48, draw a piece or character based on a constellation. 49,
look at some old retro ads and posters and create your own. 50, make a cute or whimsical piece out of
characters doing something mundane, like grocery shopping, cleaning, or working. Okay, that was your
last snowball. Hopefully you guys found some of these concepts helpful or at least enjoyed my slow
descent into Denny's madness, because that's really all I offer on this channel anyway: art ramblings
and a passion for breakfast food. If you decide to use any of these prompts to make some cool new art,
please feel free to tag me in it, because not only would I love to see it, I will absolutely
retweet it to my massive audience of 2000 Twitter followers because I'm an exceptionally big deal.
Honestly, though, in all seriousness, I'd just be so happy to see some of my dumb, random ideas turned
into something beautiful. Finally, before I end this video off, I have a very exciting announcement:
I officially have a Live2D Vtuber model in the making! I did the base art for the model myself and
have hired a very cool artist to do the rigging, so while it's not ready to go yet, I'll have a
date for a debut stream here on YouTube ready to announce in the near future. And past that, the plan
is to do a doodle stream with that model once a week where I'll just hang out and chat with you
guys while I doodle memes or work on projects. I'm really looking forward to being able to connect
with you guys more through streaming, because while I'm obviously still an exceptionally small
creator, I've still gotten to the point where I don't have quite enough time to be regularly
answering all of my comments anymore, and I think streaming could be a really fun way to make sure
I'm still engaging with you guys and vibing with you, so I'll keep you guys updated on more details,
the debut stream date, and an actual schedule. But in the meantime, just know that that's coming.
Alongside that, I'll also be opening commissions for Vtuber models as part of my new art studio,
with more information in another announcement, so consider this a teaser for that, because that's a
very cool project my wife and I have been working on, and we're both really excited to see it happen.
Anyway, thank you guys for watching, and as always, special thank you shout out to channel members
Cafe Soleil, Joseph Solomon, Adel Juarez, and Fionapollo. I hope you guys enjoyed today's video,
please leave a like and subscribe if you did, and I'll see you in my next one!