Stretch Your Mind With Shapes

Hi, I’m Jonathan. I’m a cartoonist, an illustrator, and an educator.

When I was younger, and even now, I really struggled with getting things right and making them perfect. I’ve worked on trying to let go, be looser, and just allow myself the freedom to draw and play.

This project is about seeing things differently and having fun with drawing, not about making everything perfect. Letting your mind wander when you draw is similar to going for a walk or a bike ride. It helps release any stress or anxiety you’re feeling.

If you prefer to follow along using my videos, just click here.

First, we’re going to do a shape exercise that helps us think outside the box.

This exercise is used in cartooning to simplify things we see in the world and make them interesting. For example, instead of drawing every face with an oval, why not try a triangle?

To try this, take one of your light drawing tools and, without thinking too much, draw five random shapes on your paper. They don’t have to be perfect; they can look like chewed bubble gum like mine!

You can also try this with others, taking turns drawing shapes and seeing what each person comes up with.

Then, you can fill in your shapes with color if you want. This helps them stand out.

Once you have your shapes, use your dark pen to start transforming them into whatever comes to mind.

Maybe turn one into a face and another into an object.

Take your time and have fun with it. This is great for letting your creativity flow and seeing things from a new perspective.

How was that? Did you discover a new way of looking at shapes? What do your transformed shapes remind you of?

This character with sunglasses reminds me of Arnold Schwarzenegger.

What’s also fun is that you can take your transformed shapes and build off them. I decided to play around with the Arnold character on a new piece of paper to make it a little fancier.