Can’t STOP WON’T STOP
Imagination in motion tends to stay in motion
One of my favorite practices that I’ve adopted through the years is a process l call “Can’t Stop Won’t Stop Drawing”. Basically filling a piece of paper entirely with doodles without stopping. The result brings all sorts of shapes, characters, and ideas onto the page—something kind of like a polaroid snapshot from inside of your imagination.
All you need to get started is a pen and a piece of paper of any size. Other types of drawing tools work, too, but I recommend something that gives you clean, even lines and something that can’t be erased…(there’s no such thing as mistakes in this exercise.)
The project expands exponentially according to the size of paper you choose, so if you’re up for a creative challenge, try a 8.5” x 11” piece of paper. If you only have few free minutes, try something smaller, such as a 4” x 6” index card, but really any blank surface works great for these types of drawings.
And then just start doodling. Whatever pops into your head. Just let your hand keep moving. Don’t try to plan it out. Just try keeping your pen in motion. Try to let yourself discover what you’re drawing AS you draw it. While you’re drawing, look at the shapes between the things you’ve already drawn. Try filling them in with doodles. Remember there’s no wrong way to do this. Just keep adding doodles until you’ve filled the entire page.
What I love about these types of drawing is you can’t do it wrong. You’re going to draw things that surprise you. You might even draw things that you don’t like at first, but don’t scribble them out. Just keep drawing. Try not to judge what appears on the page. Just add more doodles or draw something else.
Sometimes these drawing might be silly, other times, they might feel like a Richter scale of emotion. As you make more of these types of drawings, you’ll find your lines become more confident. You’ll discover your favorite kinds of shapes and familiar objects. I’ve ended up writing whole stories about characters who seemed to appear out of nowhere amongst the doodles.
I recommend keeping all of your Can’t Stop Won’t Stop drawings in the same place. Hung up on your wall of inspiration, or in a notebook you can leaf through. Someplace you can revisit later and see what your subconscious was thinking. (I like to write the date on the back because I’m usually curious when I’m looking at these drawings later.)
I think this is a particularly great drawing exercise for brainstorming, getting unstuck, or for learning more about your personal drawing style. Through this type of drawing, we get to practice drawing without inhibition, freeing both our hands and our imagination from our overthinking mind, and—hopefully—discovering something new about ourselves in the process.
Happy Doodling!