Fear of the Blank Page - Traditional Art
Ponderings about Art, for Gallavich Newbies Week 2026
Anyone who has ever sat and stared at a blank piece of paper (or an empty word document), too scared to start for fear of messing up, absolutely understands just how detrimental to creativity this kind of paralysis can be.
Fear of failure, need for perfectionism, lack of ideas… there’s a lot of things that will block your creative juices in moments like this.
One of the reasons why blank pieces of paper are so scary is because the longer you hesitate, the more importance you are placing on that first mark (or that first sentence). What if it’s bad? What if it’s wobbly? What if it’s weird? What if it isn’t perfect?
Perfectionism doesn’t exist.
Now that’s out the way… I want to give you some ways to address this problem.
Instead of worrying that you’re going to mess up, give yourself permission to do exactly that!!
One of my absolute favourite thing art class taught me, is to start off every drawing session with a series of 30 Second Drawing Exercises.
You can't create a perfect drawing in 30 seconds. There's literally no pressure here!!
Below I’ve outlined 3 of my regular exercises
Set a 30 second timer. Find an object in the room you’re in. Put your pen to paper. Hit start on your timer. Draw!
In this exercise you are ONLY ALLOWED TO LOOK AT THE OBJECT. Do NOT look at your paper. (Sometimes it helps to lightly cover the page you’re drawing on with another piece of paper, to keep your eyes from straying). Following the lines of an object with your eyes and recreating them on paper, without looking at your hand, strengthens the connection between your eyes, your brain, your hand, and your pen.
30 Second Non Dominant Hand
Set a 30 second timer. Find an object in the room you’re in. Put your pen in the hand you don’t normally draw with. Hit start on your timer. Draw!
In this exercise you are allowed to look at your object and your paper. The challenge is to draw with the “wrong” hand. This will force your brain to not go into auto pilot, causing you to think about mark making in a whole new way. Also, it lowers your expectations. Your non dominant hand isn't trained, so there's no way it's going to create a master piece. Just have fun. Give it a go. See what happens.
Personally, my non dominant hand drawings are aways my favourites. That's what happens when you let go of expectations and fear!
30 Seconds Continuous Line
Set a 30 second timer. Find an object in the room you’re in. Put your pen to paper and do not lift it off until the 30 seconds are done. We are drawing ONE continuous line! Hit start on your timer. Draw!
Do you spend more time erasing than making more marks? Do you struggle drawing a smooth line and instead feel the need to break each line into lots of smaller lines? Are you constantly correcting yourself? Yeah, me too. This exercises forces you to think about the shape and flow of an object, rather than perfection and accuracy. It's all about VIBES. If you are an overthinker, this exercise is perfect for you!
Bonus Exercises: If you're looking for an extra challenge you can combine any of the above! The owls above were Continous, Blind, and Blind AND continuous. Madness! haha Alternatively, to mix things up, draw your object (an okapi, in this case) using only STRAIGHT LINES. Then draw the same object using only CIRCLES. Keep that your brain on its toes!
The goal is to make A mark, not the RIGHT mark.
That's what @gallavichthings' Gallavich Newbies Week 2026 is all about. Did you draw something yesterday? No? Then whatever you're drawing today is going to be better than what you drew yesterday!
Let loose, have fun, try something new! 💜
