This imaginative watercolor doodle exercise is all about having fun. Have you stared at the clouds as a child and tried to see all kinds of shapes and figures in them. I could do that for hours as a child. Just getting lost in your imagination. The longer you stared at them, the more you saw.
This exercise is a little like that. A playful exercise to get your creativity flowing. It’s not about making the most beautiful doodles, it’s about having fun with it.
And while we’re being kids again, why not use a straw as well? Blowing on your paint is so fun and it will create even weirder shapes. So all you need to do before you start this exercise is get your supplies, relax and have fun. No special skills are required.
Have fun with this watercolor doodles exercise! Please let me know if you liked this one.
You can find a small video of this exercise on my Instagram @thecreativecooldown
Supplies used:
Watercolor paper 300gr (Arches), watercolor (Winsor & Newton), paintbrushes (da Vinci), fineliners (Copic), a straw.
Alternative supply suggestions:
Of course, this exercise is easiest with watercolor. You can even use your kids’ watercolor paints. They may not have as much pigment as the ones in the art stores, but it’s something you can start with at the beginning.
You could try other paint as well, but try to make the color not too opaque, because that will make it harder to see your doodles.
The straw is optional. You could just make a blob with your paint and not blow on it. But trust me, that part is really fun, so if you have one, at least try it.
If you only have regular paper, please be aware that your paper cannot hold that much water and will probably warp. Try taping it down to prevent it from warping too much.
Instructions:
1. Pick a color and add a large drop of this watercolor on your paper. It should be watery, like a little pool on your paper. The runnier it is, the easier step 2 will be.
2. Grab a straw and put it right above your small pool of watercolor. Blow on it. The paint will move in all directions. Make sure there is something under your paper, as it may go over the edge. Try to take in the moment when you blow on your paint. Isn’t it really satisfying to see the paint behave like that? I’ve always loved doing this, makes me feel like a child again.
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 with different colors until your page is filled with watercolor blobs.
4. Stare at a watercolor blob like you would have stared at the clouds as a child. What kind of animal does it look like? You can even rotate your paper to look at it from all sides. Try to doodle it on your watercolor blob. Keep in mind that this is an exercise to get your imagination flowing. It doesn’t have to be a real animal, maybe you see something you completely made up. That’s ok. Also, the proportions do not need to be perfect. If it fits better to give an animal bigger ears or something, please do so. There are no wrong doodles. This is your imagination. As you can see in the images below, I also did this with some of the ears and the legs. That does not matter, just have fun.
5. Try to come up with a doodle for all your watercolor blobs. And then you’re done with the imaginative watercolor doodle exercise. I hope you had fun!
If you liked this exercise, you might like my Animal tails – a creative association exercise as well.
