5 Unique Ways to Exercise Your Creativity

I think it's safe to say that we've all been in a creative rut before. Personally, I've struggled with finding the motivation, or time, to exercise my creativity. Despite this, I've always looked for little ways to be creative everyday and I want to share them with you! I hope that most of these are new ideas and inspire you! So whether you're currently in quarantine and just want some little activities to do, or you're actively looking to improve your creativity, I think this post will help you out! :)

1) Creative Guide Books

If you're willing to spend a little money, I highly recommend books that have creative exercises and prompts. I first heard about this idea a couple years ago when The Wreck it Journal gained popularity. Then, it faded out of my mind for a while. A couple months ago, I rediscovered how great these books are when I was walking around my local Barnes and Noble and came across a book called 365 Days of Creativity by Lorna Scobie. It turns out that there are many other books filled with creative prompts! They are great additions to your library and you can pick them up whenever you feel bored or need a creative boost! Plus, they are relativity affordable considering the benefits you can get from them! Here are some of my personal favorites (besides 365 Days of Creativity):

only $7!

only 7$

2) Try a Design Challenge!

These can be such a fun way to get your creative juices flowing when you don't know where to start. Plus, they give you something to look forward to completing every week or so, depending on the challenge. I recommend checking out Mallory on the Moon's creative edit challenge if you want a super fun and whimsical theme! These types of challenges are great for exploring different types of design that you may not have otherwise tried!

3) Notice Something New

This is a really fun activity to do when you're bored and it will definitely challenge your creativity! All you have to do is walk around your house and take notice of 3 objects that you haven't noticed before or paid any particular attention to. Then, pick one object and write a background story for it. You can make it as in depth or vague as you'd like, just be creative! You could write about where it was made, who made it and what they thought of it, who owned it first, and how it got to your house. There is a lot of creative freedom here and a lot of room for fun stories!

4) Finish a Scribble

I have personally done this all throughout middle and high school whenever there's a lull during class. Besides being fun to do when you're bored, it is actually a really great and simple way to exercise your creativity! Start by drawing a quick scribble (closing your eyes for this step is optional but I recommend for some crazy scribbles) and then turn it into a drawing! Again, this can be as simple or intricate as you want, depending on how much time you have or want to spend on it. For an extra challenge; use pen! :) If you try this one please post it and tag me! I'd love to see what you guys create!

started with a little scribble

turned into a chameleon!

5) Draw a Dream

This is definitely one of my favorite ideas and the most challenging! For most of us, dreams are very abstract and confusing, which make them the perfect art subjects! It may be hard to follow the plot of an entire dream so just pick one scene that you can remember most clearly and illustrate it to the best of your ability. I would use paint, such as watercolor, for this because I feel like it gives the most dream-like effect. Don't be too strict with this one, have fun and be creative!

Heres an article about one woman's experience drawing her dreams every morning: https://medium.com/@marybirdsong/how-drawing-each-morning-helped-me-remember-what-i-dreamt-the-night-before-d8a66b166c37

I found her experience and perspective to be very interesting!

Of course, drawing them every morning or for hours on end isn't necessary, quick sketches still exercise that creative muscle!

While there are countless other ways to be creative every day, I hope that these provided you with some new and unique ideas! If you guys try any of these out, please let me know! Stay safe and stay creative!