Sometimes our days can become a little too overwhelming. But that’s okay. Not everything needs to be solved right now. Our thoughts can run wild when we have so may things to worry about or do but it’s important to take a few moments for some deep breaths, then slowly walk our minds through our most important feelings and tasks. What can really help in these moments is to take 5-15 minutes for ourselves and do a few art therapy exercises, as it helps pulls us out of mountains of thoughts into the present moment while sparking our creativity.
I’ve listed 10 drawing-based art therapy prompts anyone can do, that will help improve your overall focus, mood, slow down racing thoughts, and put some positive creativity into your schedule.
Now grab your favorite drawing tool, something to draw on (paper, a journal, sketchbook, or even a tablet), and let’s get creative!
10 Soothing Drawing Art Therapy Prompts for Racing Thoughts, Anxiety, & Stress Relief
1. Colorful Designs and Patterns
For our first art therapy prompts, let’s get colorful!
If you have any, take your most colorful drawing or painting materials.
It can be anything from highlighters to markers, colored pencils, pens, watercolors and anything else you have lying around that you find colorful and exciting to look at.
With your drawing supplies ready, draw random different shapes like circles, squares, swirly loops, or anything else that you find interesting to draw. Keep repeating shapes and simple designs until you’ve filled up most of the page or drawing area.
The final result doesn’t need to look like anything nor be anywhere near perfect. Just try to make it as colorful as you can, using your favorite colors.
Try to fill up as much of the page as possible, trying to leave very little white space. This forces you to take advantage of the page real estate you have and become loose and gestural with your art.
This allows for a lot of happy accidents to happen.
A great technique in art therapy is to draw over areas or objects that have already been drawn. This is a fantastic art therapy exercise because it breaks up boundaries and expectations of having your drawings be perfect and apart from each other.
Instead, redrawing over areas allows you to think in multiple layers and opens up the door for some extremely interesting final drawings that maybe you weren’t expecting to make.
Remember: try to keep it as simple as possible.
You can try using a different combination of colors as you do this.
Tip: You can use the designs as a color reference sheet. Try googling simple patterns and designs that you like, and try drawing those for this exercise.
2. Fun Food
Another fun art therapy drawing is to draw one of your favorite foods.
I love eating donuts, ramen, cheese, and sweets. I enjoy drawing foods like these because they’re so tasty but also really fun to look at. Those are my usual go-tos when I need something to boost my mood or for an instant art idea.
What’s your favorite food or a food that you find really interesting to look at?
Make a quick list of 1-5 things that you loooove to eat.
Once you got your list, pick 1-2 of those foods and draw them. They don’t need to be detailed, just something that looks kinda like it.
Color them in to make your art therapy drawing even more scrumptious. You can even use your favorite colors for a more personalized look.
*Positive personalization is one of the many techniques in art therapy that can help you associate your feelings with something less negative because it uses positive/neutral object associations with a calming and relaxing experience. So that next time you think of that object or engage in an activity, you’ll more likely associate that with a positive experience.
To take these art therapy prompts a bit further, you can try thinking of 1-3 reasons for each food item of why you like each one. With that list of reasons, do your best to draw out each reason for why you like that food item. Again, try to focus on more of the idea, not detail.
If you don’t have the time to draw & need some art to boost your mood quick, grab this beautiful digitally-drawn ice cream dessert printable wall art & add it to your living space!
3. Draw Yourself on an Island with Your Favorite Things
This is definitely one of the more imaginative art therapy prompts.
Find a quiet place or put on your favorite music. Then, take a couple of deeps breaths.
Close your eyes for a few minutes.
Now, imagine you’re on an island by yourself.
Imagine the calm ocean water, a gentle breeze against the side of your face, and the feeling of the sun on your back. Relaxing, right?
Draw an island, it can be as big or as small as you like with as little or as many palm trees as you want but make sure there’s room on the island to draw other things.
Then, make a small list of 5-7 of your favorite things, people, food, etc.
Now, draw those objects on the island. These will be things and/or people you feel you can’t live without or that play a big part in your daily life.
Feel free to color it in if you’d like.
How do you feel afterwards?
These are fantastic art therapy exercises for gratefulness.
4. Art Therapy Drawing From Memory
Make a list of at least 3 things that you’re grateful for.
Then, draw them. Try your best to not use any references of photos. Use your memory instead and draw your objects out the best you can.
When you use your memory, you’re allowing yourself to slow down your thinking and breathing, allowing you to slow down your mind and stop racing thoughts.
Try making your drawings big and start off with only a line drawing or sketch. Don’t color or shade your drawings inside.
Instead, after you are done drawing each thing, write why you are grateful for each, inside each sketch.
This is a great art therapy exercise because not only is it a gratefulness, grounding exercise but the finished drawings can be used for art journal therapy, or you can hang the finished drawing on your wall as a reminder of things that make you happy.
If you’re looking to draw more quick and simple doodles, check out these 15 Relaxing Random Doodles to Draw When You’re Bored, to further help ground yourself.
5. Quick Watercolor Gradient Art Therapy Exercises
Take your paint brush and wet it so that when it touches the watercolors, the paints become paintable/usable but not too watery. Getting the right consistency can be tough at first so don’t stress too much about this on your first few tries.
Pick any color you’d like & try to get a good amount of paint on the brush.
Then, from one side of the paper to the other, slowly drag your paint brush in a single line across the paper.
As you drag your brush, the amount of paint being transferred should decrease the longer your line is, creating a monochromatic gradient from dark (where you started) to light.
The final result should be a simple one color gradient from heavy paint to a very light version of the color.
If you can’t get a perfect gradient, say your line still has a lot of paint on it, just keep drawing more horizontal lines without refilling your brush until the paint runs out.
6. Continuous Art Therapy Drawing
Another one of my favorite art therapy prompts is continuous drawing.
Continuous drawing is when you draw without ever lifting up your pencil from the paper!
Sounds simple enough, right?
Instead of lifting up your pencil, continuous drawing forces you to stay in the present moment while constantly moving your writing tool and going with the flow.
Just draw with one continuous line all over the page.
Try doing this for at least 5 minutes and try your best to not make anything recognizable. Go with the flow of your hand and arm movements and try gliding your hand all across the page, doing your best to reach every corner and edge.
Doing this expends any pent up physical energy and stress, allowing you to feel more relaxed after the exercise.
What’s great about these continuous drawing techniques in art therapy, is that you’re somewhat out of control. You’re just going with the flow of your hand movements and letting an image happen, not forcing one out.
7. Transferring Emotions Techniques in Art Therapy
Take a moment to sit down and think about how you’re feeling.
Are you stressed, frustrated, or maybe indifferent? Or maybe you’re feeling motivated and optimistic? Do your best to be the most honest with yourself when answering this question. There’s no wrong answers here.
Listen to your body and your thoughts. How do you feel? Are your thoughts racing or is your mind calm?
After answering these questions, try your best to draw your emotions.
They can be a simple emoji face of how you’re feeling or something a bit more abstract, like scribbles, lines, or random shapes. It doesn’t have to be complicated, just as simple and easy as you want.
For this type of art therapy drawing, it might be helpful to draw using colors that best represent the emotion you’re feeling. For example, if you’re frustrated or upset, try drawing with red or a warm color. If you’re feeling calm or relaxed, try using a type of blue.
Using these types of colors are all subjective to you, so use the ones you think fit the best for you when drawing out your emotions.
You can even try drawing things that you associate with your emotions if you don’t know how to transfer your emotions onto paper. For example, if you’re feeling happy, you can try drawing the sun with some flowers or if you’re feeling a bit down, maybe a rainy day will work instead for these art therapy exercises.
If you want to expressive yourself further with art therapy, check out these 10 Super Simple Expressive Art Therapy Activities to Try Now!
8. Drawing Your Mood Throughout the Day
Some techniques in art therapy help you understand yourself better by drawing out your mood.
I love these art therapy prompts because not only are they very simple but they’re a great way to keep track of how you’re feeling throughout the day, especially if you’re keeping a self care journal and /or want to learn about why you feel a certain way.
First, draw 3 circles in a line on a piece of paper and space them out a bit so they’re not touching each other. They can be as big as you’d like but try not to make them too small since we’ll be drawing inside them.
Second, above each circle, write “Morning” atop your first circle, “Afternoon” atop the second, & “Evening /Night” on top of the third circle. These will be when you check in and draw your mood throughout the day.
Feel free to write the date somewhere on the page, if you’d like to keep track of your mood for a particular day.
Then, throughout those time of the day, check in and draw how you’re feeling. It can be a simple smiley face with 2 eyes and a mouth, or something a bit more detailed if you’d like.
Make sure to do your best to convey your mood.
If you’re not great at drawing expressions or faces, no worries! Draw something that represents that feeling instead, like in number 7’s art therapy exercises.
You can even write down your mood under each circle to make them easier to identify.
For an even more thorough art therapy drawing, you can write or draw a max. of 3 reasons why you’re feeling that way. This is a fantastic exercise to get your thoughts onto paper and get into some mindfulness.
9. Fast Scribbling and/or Shading
What is an art therapy activity without a bit of quick sketching and scribbling?
All you need to do is take your writing tool and just start making scribbles or randomly shading in areas on the paper / page.
You can go as fast or as slow as you’d like but try your best to cover a large area in a small amount of time.
You can even press as hard or light as you’d like. Just make sure to have an extra sheet of paper or something underneath your page so no marks will show up on your table or drawing surface.
15 minutes is usually a great place to start but try not to go over 20-30min. for these art therapy exercises since it can be a bit more physically demanding, the longer you do it at once.
What’s great about art therapy prompts with quick scribbling and mark making is that not only is this a mindfulness technique that brings you out of your thoughts into the present but it is also a fantastic way to expend any pent up energy or stress especially if you’re feeling a bit tense.
You can try thinking of this as a stress reliever or a way to transfer any negativity into a safe physical and productive outlet.
10. Gratefulness Sketching
Gratefulness sketching techniques in art therapy can really help ground you and help you focus on the simple, happier things that are going on in your life.
To start off, make a small list on your piece of paper of 1-3 things that you’re grateful for.
It can literally be anything from the food you had to eat today to the people in your life that you’re thankful for.
I chose to draw a tree because I’m grateful for when I have time to take walks in the park and get out for a bit.
No thing is too small to be grateful for.
Then, draw those things from your list.
Take as much or as little time as you’d like and of course, they don’t need to be perfect.
Feel free to color in your art therapy drawing if you’d like.
This is a great exercise to get you out of your thoughts because you’re taking a moment to stop and think about the things you feel are going well in your life or that provide some sort of positive experience for you.
It’s a wonderful reminder to ground yourself and get into a more positive, maybe even optimistic mindset.
Next time you need a little pick-me-up or just a bit bored, feel free to bookmark this page, choose your favorite art therapy prompts, and start drawing!
What is an Art Therapy Activity?
An art therapy activity is an art-based exercise that is used to provide mental and physical relief from daily life or mental obstacles such as stress, anxiety, and other emotions and /or thoughts that may be overwhelming.
An art therapy activity can be anything from drawing out your emotions to painting something calmly or just letting your hands and mind go with the flow with what you’re creating and doesn’t particularly need to look like anything nor have to be complicated.
If anything, art therapy activities are meant to slow down your thoughts and bring you into the present. Think of it as an artistic mindfulness and grounding exercise.
They can include anything from painting and sculpting art therapy exercises to art therapy drawing and art therapy prompts that can put in a more positive mindset.
Whatever type of art you like to make, there’s sure to be an art therapy activity for it!
How You Can Use These Art Therapy Prompts & Your Art Therapy Drawings As Positive Inspiration for Yourself and Others
- Use Your Drawings as Your Smartphone Wallpaper
- Print it out your art therapy drawing on a 4×6″ piece of cardstock or postcard paper and send it to someone important to you
- Frame it as a reminder that you are amazing and are doing your best in the moment you created the drawing.
- Use it as a background for an inspirational quote – Write a quote or statement that best represents how you feel after the art therapy exercise.
Other Helpful Art Therapy and Resources for Total Relaxation and Self Care:
- Calming Art Therapy Activities for Stress Management | Post
- 10 Expressive Art Therapy Activities to Try Now | Post
- Easy Art Journal Therapy for Beginners | Post
- 15 Art Therapy Activities for Anxiety to Help You Feel Calm Now | Post
- Free Stress Relief Cheat Sheet With Drawing Activities | Freebie
- Natural Stress Relief with Drawing for Beginners & 7 Rewarding Ways It Halts Stress | Post
- 10 Relaxing Random Doodles to Draw When You’re Bored | Post
- Free Download: 9 Soothing Anxiety Art Therapy Activities +Printable Drawing Sheets | Freebie
- 10 Relaxing Art Inspiration Ideas to Boost Your Mood | Post
- 5 Insanely Easy and Calming Drawing Ideas of People for Non Artists & Beginners | Freebie
- The Big Differences Between Expressive Art Therapy Activities & Traditional Art Expression – What You Need to Know | Post
- 7 Ways to Stop Anxiety & Depression When Posting Your Art Online or as a Social Media Artist | Post
- Relaxing Yet Colorful Printable Wall Art to Help Boost Your Mood | Store
Other Self Care Tips
- Breathing Exercises to Relieve Anxiety & Slow Down Thoughts – Article by Very Well Mind
- Grounding Exercises When Feeling Overwhelmed – Article by Talk Space
Which art therapy prompt are you most excited to try out? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below!
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