New pens and an open sketchbook

This isn’t about learning to draw well. It’s about giving yourself a place where nothing has to be good, and seeing what shows up.

Try this

1. Go pen shopping. Visit an art supply store, a stationery shop, or the craft aisle and choose three or four pens you like the feel of: a fine black liner, a brush pen, a few colors, maybe a metallic or gel pen just for fun. Try them on the test pads if the store has them.
2. Pick a sketchbook you’re not afraid of. A plain, inexpensive one works better than a beautiful one you’ll be too careful with. A pocket size travels; a larger one invites bigger marks.
3. Ruin the first page on purpose. Fill it with scribbles, test lines, and a swatch of every pen. Now the book is already started.
4. Give it ten minutes a day. Draw what is in front of you: your mug, your shoes, a plant, the view from the window. Or write: a list, a line you overheard, three things you noticed today.
5. Let it wander. Doodle a border, letter one word in a fun style, tape in a ticket stub, sketch a garden plan. If a page turns into a poem or a project, follow it.

If it feels hard

• If the blank page stares back, use a prompt: something round, something you used today, your hand holding the pen, the view from where you sit.
• If you dislike what you drew, turn the page. Nobody else needs to see this book.
• If writing comes easier than drawing, try morning pages, Julia Cameron’s practice of three handwritten pages of whatever is on your mind, first thing in the day (morning pages, explained).

Why it works

Making marks is good for you, even if you are sure you can’t draw. In a Drexel University study, 39 adults spent 45 minutes making art with markers, clay, or collage. The stress hormone cortisol fell in 75% of them, and earlier art experience made no difference (ScienceDaily). Doodling helps attention, too: in a University of Plymouth study, people who shaded shapes while listening to a dull phone message remembered 29% more of it than people who only listened (ScienceDaily).

Where to start

• Take the new book outside with A field notebook you’ll actually use.
• Collect a palette for your pens with Bring home a color, not a souvenir.
• Try your paint pens on stone with Paint a rock.
• Find a drawing or lettering class at your library or through this craft school directory.

Buy the pens. Open the book. See where it goes.