Spontaneous Creativity: Art Timewasters

Sometimes creative thought just won’t come, or seems sluggish and slow–it’s like your creative juices have been frozen and won’t thaw enough to move.

When you get stuck like that, some say to keep pushing ahead, to keep trying to do what has become so difficult. I, however, have found that switching to a different artistic task entirely can revive the ol’ creativity machine in your head. By the same token, I’ve found that doing something randomly creative rather than purposely creative can help the Muse start to work again.

For that reason, I’ve gathered some of my favorite artistic timewaster games, which have served me well as “icebreakers” for my Muse. Check them out and try them–you might find a new idea bubbling to the surface even as you play!

I actually made this fairly-human-looking face using Ultimate Flash Face–surprising and pleasing, considering that most of the faces I try to draw on my own look like alien faces. XD This is a great artistic program–helpful for both art newbs (like me) and veterans alike!




These are three examples of the kinds of swirling art you can create with Flame Painter–so many settings, opacities, saturations, and colors to play with! Great for anybody who loves just playing with color.



Drawing with TypeDrawing is very different–instead of plain lines, you’re drawing with words strung together in a never-ending string. (Thus, my simple landscape done with just the words “tree” and “landscape,” and my attempt at a city skyline done with the word “city.”) There is a data limit–you can only draw in so much detail–but what you CAN make with words will surprise you!

A selection of drawings made with the Scribbler Toy, which takes a simple line drawing done by the user and transforms it with subtle shading lines of all sorts. You can play with the basic settings (as I’ve done in the far right drawing) to change how much scribble it adds, what color/opacity they are, etc.).



From smooth veils of color to waving lines, from fairly orderly to completely chaotic, Bomomo helps you make all sorts of random visual awesomeness. You can’t choose colors, but you can choose from a variety of lovely automatic brushes which follow the directions of your mouse (with surprisingly pretty results!).



And, last but not least, you can unleash your inner preschooler with JacksonPollock.org‘s art simulator. You start out with black paint, and you can click anywhere within the window to change the color to another random selection. Fill your entire browser window with virtual paint–who cares what it looks like, just have fun! :

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