Creativity doesn’t seem to have an end. But sometimes, when the mind is crammed with too many ideas and concepts, it becomes difficult to create interesting artwork.
For this article, I’ve collected some of the best and easiest digital art ideas for beginners to try out. Keep on reading!
Key Takeaways
- Give your mind space for new ideas to come. If your mind is busy, it’s hard to know what to draw.
- Try combining a few different drawing ideas if one isn’t cutting it.
- Have a new idea every week to keep your mind open to new opportunities and ways of doing digital art.
Redraw Challenge
Often we keep looking for newer concepts or ideas that lead nowhere. I would suggest picking up an existing drawing you made previously and reworking it.
Whether it’s a logo, a character, or a portrait, you will be surprised to see the results. For artists, there is no end to the imagination; this process will surely make you experience it.
I’ve been doing these ‘draw this again‘ challenges before and intend to do them in the future too. They are fun, and you can nicely see how you’ve progressed throughout the years.
Inspiration from Animals
You know there is so much in nature to inspire us. When drawing characters, I might sometimes get inspiration from nature. And what impresses me the most is the animals.
You can start by sketching an animal and then make alterations to its features or colors of it. First, do extensive research on animals with similar figures and start drawing an original creature or an animal from there.
Combining animal and human features will surely create something new for the world.
Some of the most favored animals in the world:
- Dog
- Cat
- Fish
- Horse
- Parrot
- Panda
Digital Collage
A digital collage is a type of visual artwork created by combining various digital images and graphics in a single composition. It is a great way to bring together different memories in one frame.
Digital collages can be created from various sources, such as photographs, illustrations, textures, and patterns. They can also include text and other digital elements to enhance the overall design further. Many tools, such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, etc., let you easily perform this when you work in the digital realm.
Freehand Drawing
Just like you used to draw during your childhood days, you can use the digital surface to bring your imagination to life. Use the different tools and effects in your drawing software to enhance the drawings.
I suggest you practice freehand drawing at a stretch and see the results yourself. Think of sketching and not so much about the final image. Even sketches can become the final illustration.
This is about letting loose of creating something final, this is about having fun from the first brush stroke.
Portrait
You can take a picture of your friend, relative, or even a celebrity and sketch their portrait. It is always fun and easy to draw a portrait.
One of the easiest ways to draw a portrait is to draw the person facing forward to the viewer. If you are into it, mix different elements, like animals, nature, or such, to the portrait to make it more interesting and less hyperrealistic.
Landscape Drawing
This is something that probably all of you (artists out there) have done in childhood. Draw a mountain, ocean, or sky and adorn it with animals or abstract elements.
You can try to animate the backgrounds by drawing different elements to different layers, such as the foreground, background, and middle ground to their own layers. Landscapes always give a grand and interesting feel.
Fan Art
One of the best digital art drawing ideas is to draw your idol or inspiration. It could be a musician, writer, politician, entrepreneur, or cartoon character with whom you have respect or connect.
There is no doubt in the fact that you love them, so go ahead and create them with your artist’s hand. If you want, you can also modify their accessories and other features, which yet again gives the world something new to experience.
2D Painting
Digital paintings are used widely by graphic illustrators. It is a simple painting with no added effects. It replaces hand drawings, as you can customize and improvise more when creating 2D paintings.
CTRL (CMD)+Z is one of my favorite shortcuts when it comes to digital painting, and when creating digital art, one of the best things is the amount of experimentation you can do to achieve your masterpiece.
3D Painting
The advantage of digital art is that you can go a step further and create 3D paintings (in virtual reality or with 3D software, like Maya or Blender). It is similar to 2D paintings but adds another layer of effects and depth to the drawing. It looks more realistic and lively than 2D. You can create 3D paintings for marketing campaigns as it is known to connect well with the audience.
Doodle
Doodle represents an unfocused drawing pattern where abstract objects and shapes are used to create an artwork.
Just start drawing randomly and make your way to create a concrete representation. It is engaging and fun to do.
Don’t mix this with sketching, as in sketching, you can have some sort of goal, but with this, you don’t. You just draw and let your mind take you to new places.
Hybrid Artwork
This is where you bring different art forms together. For example, you can mix a natural landscape with a portrait. Hybrid artwork does not have restrictions and is a popular way to convey a social or moral message. It is widely used to draw attention to environmental causes.
Mathematical Artwork
You can use numbers and algebraic or algorithmic symbols to create amazing digital art. It can come in handy while working on education projects. Explore different numbers and symbols to make exciting digital art.
Geometric Shapes
The use of mathematical shapes in creating digital artwork is known as geometric art (one of many digital art styles and types). Several geometric shapes can be utilized to create an intriguing piece of artwork.
Use simple shapes like circles, rectangles, and squares or complex polygons to create wonderful patterns. Many art software has built-in shapes that you can add to your canvas and customize further.
Symmetrical Art
Many art software, like Clip Studio Paint, has a symmetrical ruler that you can use to create symmetrical art. Symmetrical art is mostly noticeable when drawing beautiful mandalas and mandala art.
In mandala art, you create different shapes and patterns that all create this wonderful (usually circle in shape) artwork with lots of details.
When using digital art, all you need to do is play around with the symmetrical ruler settings and start drawing line art. Easy and definitely fun.
Action Painting
This is a dynamic form of painting where color is randomly splashed and smeared on the screen to give vivid patterns. Though it looks abstract, the use of digital technology can give it an attractive and modern feel. The trick to creating amazing action paintings is to use vibrant colors.
Photobashing
Photobashing is an exciting form of digital art, but it is gaining popularity as it enables you to create realistic-looking illustrations by bashing together different photos or 3D elements and objects to create your final masterpiece.
In photobashing, you can use art software, like Adobe Photoshop, to draw and paint on top of the bashed photographs to further expand your creativity and imagination.
Digital Lettering
This is a process in which you use customized letter patterns to create digital artwork. Generally, designers use pre-defined fonts in their artwork.
But by generating customized digital letters using various applications, you can add a peculiar feel to the logos or art you create. This makes your digital artwork stand out in the crowd.
Vector Drawings
Vector drawings are a form of digital art that saves different elements of the image in an editable format. This gives you control over the individual elements in the image, like customizing the size, color, transparency, etc.
You can create one vector drawing and build upon that to make various digital art.
AI Art
While AI (artificial intelligence) art might not be too popular among artists yet, it’s still one way to create digital art and maybe more so to create images for inspiration.
AI can create truly wonderful pieces of art, but the way I see it, I would use them as inspiration for my next artwork. But nevertheless, it’s a fun and easy way to create artwork.
Some of the best AI art generators are Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, and DALL-E2.
Fractal art
Fractal art is computer-generated art, which creates super complex patterns and images by calculating fractal objects and representing the results like images, animation, or media.
While the idea was already presented in the mid-1980s, I would say that currently, what is being produced wonderfully expands the imagination.
Themed Art
Drawing with a theme always gives incredible results. You can pick a theme and base your characters, creatures, landscapes, etc., and elements around it. For example, if your theme is unity, you can create digital artwork that conspicuously conveys this message.
This can be done by showing hands supporting each other or trees bending in one direction. Be free to choose and experiment with different themes.
Themes for your digital artwork:
- Cyberpunk
- Chess
- Element like water
- Wood
- 8-bit/pixel art
- Classical
Miniature Concepts
You can give a wonderful twist to your digital artwork by creating miniature objects. A quick example would be miniature humans climbing a burger.
This way, you can create several interesting digital art concepts that look fresh and different. You can base it on a theme or create it using an abstract setting.
Traditional Symbols
Every culture has its traditions and symbolic representation. You can use them to create inspiring digital artwork that conveys a beautiful message.
These can be used in both object-oriented and landscape-oriented digital arts. To add depth, explore the significance of these symbols to dwell deeper into ideas.
Some of the most known symbols in the world:
- Cross
- Star of David
- Crescent moon and star
- Yin and Yang
- Swastika
- Ankh
- Pentagram
- Heart
- Skull and crossbones
- Peace sign
- Fleur-de-lis
- Eagle
- Lion
- Dragon
- Phoenix
Monumental Drawings
You can take reference to popular monuments to create incredible digital artwork. Experiment with them and put monuments from different continents in a single frame. Many marketers have used these ideas to create exciting digital campaigns. You should also experiment with this.
Some of the most famous monuments in the world:
- Great Wall of China
- Taj Mahal
- Pyramids of Giza
- Colosseum
- Eiffel Tower
- Statue of Liberty
- Machu Picchu
- Stonehenge
- Angkor Wat
- Christ the Redeemer
- Petra
- Moai statues on Easter Island
- Burj Khalifa
- Golden Gate Bridge
- Sydney Opera House
Drip Effect
It is an effect that creates a trickle-down look in your digital art. The objects or characters in your digital art will have a layer of color flowing from top to bottom, giving a fascinating look to your work. You can add this to any of your digital artworks.
Filter Effect
To make your digital art look palpable, you can add filter effects to them. You can apply grayscale or monochrome filters to give a simple and dull tone.
You can apply Vintage, Oil Painting, or Art filters for a brighter tone. Filters can enhance your digital illustrations and works by adding a layer of brilliance and finish to the drawings.
However, overusing them will more than likely kill the spirit and soul of the artwork that your mind and skill created. So try not to overuse filters.
