An art or artist block is when you run out of ideas or motivation about what to create. You are stuck in front of a blank canvas, lump of clay, or array of yarns and you haven’t any vision of what to do next. Rehashing old ideas doesn’t stimulate you, nor can you generate new approaches. For a creator…it is a terrible place to be.

Sometimes these blocks happen because an artist is working in a bubble. They are surrounded by their art materials and artwork, but for various reasons cannot interact with artist colleagues or others who can spark inspiration. There are different methods to breaking this block: sketching, reading, looking at art….but one that has not been explored extensively is using AI.

So far AI has been seen both as an enemy of human creation and as a tool artists can wield to produce finished works…but it has not been promoted as an idea-generator for artists. In fact, there are multiple ways that AI can be used to help creators get past their artist block or re-inspire them to create new works.

Sketchbook

As artists, a sketchbook should always be in reach for us to jot down ideas, doodle, or freely sketch in. Think of your sketchbook as your way to organize your ideas. This is your diary. But how do you use AI in your sketchbook?

One way is to have AI generate random ideas for you to sketch. In your favorite chatbot, you can ask it to “Generate art prompts to break an artist block” or “Give me a 30-day sketch challenge.” If the resulting suggestions are too vague for you, narrow down the prompt by adding “make the themes Steampunk-inspired” or “limit my materials to crayons and pencils.” You can continue to add parameters to your prompts until AI generates something that you can work with. But don’t avoid a challenge! Sometimes the more vague the prompt is, the more creative you can be…which, after all, is the goal of breaking an artist block.

Another approach is to use AI as an image generator. Ask it to combine either related or provocatively dissimilar elements, like a shoe with a trash can. Depending on the image generator, it will give you one image or several versions in response to your prompt. After each generated image add another prompt, such as changing the color of the objects or adding more elements. “Create a blue shoe with an orange trash can that has wings.” Or “add a purple cat with big eyes.” You can print the images and add them to your sketchbook or explore sketching versions yourself. Make sure you write the prompts you used to create the images. You never know if you’ll need those exact prompts again.

Create Finished Works

Using image generators can help spark ideas. Like the previous example of the shoe and the trash can, you may find one of the images inspires you and you wish to recreate it. You could recreate it as-is, or you could challenge yourself to add personal meaning to the piece. Think of why you were attracted to the image. Was it the color? The composition? Perhaps it reminds you of your life, or your world. You could challenge yourself to create a poster that incorporates a version of the AI-generated image to promote a concept or an entity that you value (Clean streets? Protecting the environment?). From that one image you could push past an artist block and expand on an AI image to make it your own.

You can also return to the prompt challenges you drafted in your sketchbook. Consider those smaller pieces and expand on them. You might combine several images into one, or reflect on what attracted you to sketch what you did and how that might lead you in a new and exciting direction.

AI will only become more entrenched in our world. So, as artists, we should learn how to leverage it as a tool that assists us. If you are still uncomfortable using AI, remember that not every work an artist creates is meant to be seen by the public. Sometimes art we create is meant for a small group or just for ourselves. Using AI to create works that perhaps serve as intermediate steps to something that is fully-worked is a great use of artificial intelligence to nudge the creativity that resides within all of us.