5 Things to Draw When You Don't Know What to Draw.

Hey. Quick one.

Sometimes you sit down to draw and your brain just goes blank. The pencil is there. The paper is there. You are there. But the idea isn't.

This happens to everyone. Including the kids whose creations end up in theINmag every issue. Including me. The trick is to stop looking for a good idea and look for a weird one. Weird ideas are easier to start. Once you've started, the good idea usually shows up.

Here are five.

1. A monster made out of your cereal box.

Look at the cereal box. What is the cereal called? What animal is on it? What if that animal got way too much sugar and turned into a monster? Draw the monster. Give it a name. Maybe give it a job.

This one is the warm-up. It's silly on purpose. Silly drawings are how you remember that drawing is fun.

2. Your pet from the future.

You don't have to have a pet. You can invent one. The rule: it has to be from at least 100 years in the future. Does it float? Does it have wheels? Does it eat noise? Does it speak in colours?

This is one of our favourites because there's no possible wrong answer. A future-pet can be anything. Draw the strangest one you can think of.

3. The inside of your own head.

Imagine you could open up the top of your skull and look in. What's in there?

One kid in Mag01 drew everything that was inside his head - all the stuff he thought about every day. The Italian flag. Hot dogs (with sauce, of course). His Switch. Basketball. All on one page. When we show this page in workshops, kids always go wow.

So. Whatever's in your head, draw that.

4. A special place.

Somewhere only you go. It could be real, or it could be made up.

Maybe it's a house on an island in the middle of the ocean. Maybe it's a deep dark cave hidden in the jungle. Maybe it's your bedroom. Maybe it's an alien getaway in a crater on one of Jupiter's moons.

Wherever it is, draw it like you're already there.

5. Yourself, but as an animal.

If you were an animal, which one would you be? Don't pick the one you wish you were. Pick the one you actually think you are.

Then draw it. Make it look like you. Same hair (or fur). Same favourite colour. Same look on your face when someone asks you to do the dishes.

Now your turn.

Here's a thing worth knowing.

Every drawing you've ever seen - the cool dragon your friend draws, a comic in a book, a $1 billion painting in an art gallery, all the stuff in between - started the same way. Somebody had an idea. Just an idea. Sometimes a small one. Sometimes a weird one.

Ideas need a place to grow. Sometimes they sit in your head for a while and ruminate. Sometimes they come out and they're not quite right yet, and you put them down and come back later. Sometimes you throw them out completely. That's okay too.

So grab some paper. Give yourself as long as it takes. Draw the weirdest thing you can think of, and see what happens.