Do artist warmup? Do we need to do some kind of an exercise before starting some creative work? Can that exercise be the creative work? And if we did need to warm up, how exactly do we do it? In her book Art Life Practice, Berry Stein offers a couple of drawing warmups, which I tried, I also tried one of my own, in this article, I’ll answer those questions and offer you these 3 warm up prompts the you might do in rotation or as a set.
It’s also a great way to start a sketchbook or artist diary
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I love a good guided sketchbook, and being at my desk at 4.30 one morning, it was the perfect way to get the creative juices flowing. Berry Stein recommends starting with some warmups and after doing them, I could see why…
In her book a couple of warmups that were recommended are Automatic Drawing & Blind Contour Drawing.
Automatic Drawing
The first warm up Berry recommends is called Automatic Drawing originally developed by surrealist artist like André Breton in the 1920’s as a way to access the subconscious mind.
This meditative approach can be done with any material, make a mark, keep going and stop when you feel a sense of completion. I felt that sense of completion multiple times, but kept pushing through.
All the while I was being conscious of leaving my rational mind out of it. For example I subconsciously drew a bird, but when my rational mind asked me to draw more birds, I ignored it and drew a random shape instead.
I also used tape and some cut pieces of paper and stuck them where it felt right. You can call it intuition or the subconscious mind but there is something guiding your hand other than rational thought, and it’s both enjoyable and powerful to be guided in this way when making art.
And automatic drawing is the easiest way to access this unrational way of being. it’s also a nice break from overthinking!
TRY AUTOMATIC DRAWING
Gather your materials and a drawing surface
Set a timer for 10 minutes
Start and keep going till the timer ends, don’t judge the process and express freely, I’m giving you permission.
Nothing is off limits, if something taboo comes out, you can always cover it up later, adding layers and textures to the piece ( I offer this last point to let you freely engage with your subconscious)
If you want to share your drawings with the Ten Minute Artist community you can do so here:
Blind Contour Drawing
I’ll be honest whenever I get this prompt, I always feel, like I already know it. (And thus drag my feet a little)
But today I decided to do it anyway, And I enjoyed it! Blind contour drawing builds the connection between what you are seeing and what you are drawing, and essential skill when drawing.
Try Blind Contour Drawing
Pick a subject to draw, not a reference image something in 3D, maybe a plant, a coffee cup, a partner… I used a fishbowl
Draw the subject while continuously looking at it and never at the paper, making continuous lines that match your gaze preciecely
Remember the goal is not to create a great drawing, it’s to build the relationship between what you see and what you draw, it’s totally okay for the result to be distorted!
This is a brilliant warmup, and there is a thing that happens when drawing that is hard to explain, this brain and eye connection makes you feel like your drawing in 3D, like your flat piece of paper is a 3d space, like you’re building your image in mid air by laying wire… weird but cool, let me know if you get that sensation too.
If you want to share your drawings with the Ten Minute Artist community you can do so here:
I was reminded of these two exercises when reading ‘Art Life Practice’… by Berry Stein. As I continue to work through the book, I’ll share my drawings and experiences here.
And now I have a third warm up to offer you, and I call it…
Collage something
For the past 3 years I’ve colllected books, magazines and ephemera in a collage drawer. Sometimes I add leftover scraps of paper painted with leftover paint. I recommend everyone keep a collage drawer.
Mine is a paper dump, but I’ve seen some people organize by culler and even cut out letters, go as crazy as you want. if you don’t have a collection of ephemera, just grab an old magazine, and lets get to cutting.
Heres the challenge.
Try Collage
Pick a subject, I picked a mason jar with a fish in it.
Now try to create a collage of the subject using 10 pieces of paper or less. This forces you to focus on essential details and shapes. This exercise helps you sift through the abundance of visual information and make thoughtful personalised selection.
You select what to represent.
You select what papers to make those representations.
But cutting, you are drawing with scissors… removing everything that is not essential
And in building the arrangement you are practicing your composition skills.
If you want to share your drawings with the Ten Minute Artist community you can do so here:
And there you have it!
3 ways to warm up your drawing muscles, accessing the subconscious, connecting your hand and eye, and selecting what is essential.
Warming up creates a momentum that you can bring into other creative work, but it is creative work in itself, but while a lot of creative work expands your creativity these warmups done for yourself actually charge your creative batteries.
The next time you have a stretch of creative work to do, try starting with a warmup!
Which warmup did you enjoy the most and which ones to you feel a resistance towards?
FYI, I think I’m going to go back to posting daily again, because, reasons.
PS: I’m hosting an art retreat in Portugal in March 2027, and you can learn more about that here.
I think that it would feel safer if I would make a decision of keeping those warm ups private.