Increase Your Creativity With This Creativity Challenge

Wondering how to increase your creativity? Then you might enjoy this creativity challenge!

If you’re worried that you’ve lost your creativity, believe me, I’ve felt that way before. There was a time I thought my creative side was simply gone.

But rest assured: you can’t lose your creativity, even if it feels like it’s been on the back burner for far too long. You’ll always be creative; you have to affirm to yourself that you are an artist, even when you’re not producing any work.

That’s a huge part of the challenge of art and being creative that people can miss- mindset.

Other times, you feel committed mentally, but what you need is a new creative medium to work in. Something that makes you feel inspired and excited. Something that reminds you that your creativity isn’t lost at all. It sure feels great to unlock creativity and dormant energy.

This list of 52 creative art and writing ideas will help you to do just that. So why not boost creativity with a creativity challenge!

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The Creative Lifestyle

First, let’s talk about the elusive nature of creativity. It seems to ebb and flow, doesn’t it? It’s the first thing to go when we get busy and life gets in the way of fun. That’s for sure.

That’s why if you ask “Why did I lose my creativity?” or if you’re struggling to be more creative, it helps to recognize that being creative is both a mindset and a commitment. It’s a lifestyle choice.

No matter if you want to find art or writing ideas, be more motivated, or express yourself differently, you can increase your creativity by making a decision to identify as an artist. And then to do more creative stuff more frequently.

Related: 5 Ways to Unblock Your Mind and Shake Up Your Energy

Creativity Challenge Part 1: Affirm & Commit

Saying to the universe “I’m creative and I commit to being creative” is the first part of the creativity challenge I’m giving you today.

Uncomfortable? Don’t be.

If you weren’t an artist who felt some kind of art block, you wouldn’t be here. Non-artists don’t wonder about how to increase creativity. They don’t wonder “Why did I lose my creativity?”

Without having an artist identity and a committed-to-art mindset first and foremost, it can be easy to not feel like an artist. Even if you’re creating tons of art, you can still feel like “not enough.”

This feeling can mess with your creative drive. It can truly get in your way. All because you don’t fully realize or affirm that you are an artist. You may have never confirmed it to yourself as your identity. Until you do just that, you may think you’re not creative or that you lost your creativity.

Being an artist starts with your thoughts, no matter what. No matter how much crappy art you make. You certainly don’t need talent. To increase creativity, develop a mindset of commitment. And claim an artist’s identity for yourself.

There’s a quote I read somewhere… Every artist has a basement full of old paintings.” (Something along those lines.) If you know who said that, please leave it in the comments! (I gave all mine to Goodwill.)

Creativity Challenge Part 2: Try New Art Mediums

Part two of the creativity challenge is to try one new art medium or art project per week, every week for the next month or year. (Or whatever timeline works for you.)

Don’t allow yourself to get overwhelmed; take it one thing at a time. Make the commitment to increase your creativity by trying something new frequently. You could keep track of your creative projects and ideas in a journal if that helps.

If you find you really like an art medium or get attached to a certain project, then spend as many weeks, months, or years as you want on it.

If you don’t enjoy an art project you’re working on, then stop working on it. There is nothing wrong with abandoning creative ideas. You may return to the project later, or not. It’s all good either way.

Learn to feel the subtle difference between pushing past creative resistance while working on something you love, and accepting when it’s time to shelf a project.

Is that a challenging feeling to grasp? Yes, it can be. Keep trying new things to increase your creativity until something really fires you up.

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52 Creative Ideas to Increase Your Creativity

1. Start a personal journal.
2. Start an art journal.
3. Try pointillism.
4. Paint with DIY alcohol inks. (To make: Take the ink cartridge out of an old marker, put it into a bottle, then add 99% isopropyl alcohol.)
5. Make graphic design images on Canva. You can use the free version.
6. Draw with oil pastels.
7. Zendoodle in ink pen.
8. Make earth art.
9. Make art out of trash or recyclable materials.
10. Learn to watercolor paint.
11. Make collages from scrap paper and acrylic paint.
12. Knit.
13. Learn encaustic painting.
14. Get a drum, keyboard, or another musical instrument.
15. Make slime.
16. Practice photography.
17. Start a blog.
18. Start a novel.
19. Write short stories.
20. Write a memoir.
21. Draw with paint markers.
22. Make hairdryer art.
23. Make a concoction out of random ingredients in the kitchen, (don’t necessarily eat it.)
24. Start a band.
25. Cook a new style of cuisine.
26. Design your own tarot cards.
27. Create a gorgeous Instagram account.
28. Write poetry.
29. Sew clothes and make fashion.
30. Paint with India Ink.
31. Make beaded jewelry.
32. Make your own soap, lotion, deodorant, laundry detergent, etc.
33. Build snow forts.
34. Or sandcastles.
35. Create crystal grids.
36. Draw on graph paper.
37. Use fluorescent paints to create black light art.
38. Learn to decorate cakes with fancy frosting tips.
39. Become obsessed with Gelli art, (*raises hand.)
40. Dried flower art.
41. Use paintbrushes made out of sticks and leaves and vegetable juice to paint.
42. Paint rocks with acrylic craft paint.
43. Try adding gold leaf.
44. Yarn art.
45. Try hand lettering or typography art.
46. Make stuff out of twigs or driftwood. Examples- windchime. Jewelry hanger.
47. Try embroidery.
48. Sea glass art.
49. Self-portraiture ala Cindy Sherman.
50. Create stamps out of found objects.
51. Copy a famous artist or art style. Example: Impressionism, Jackson Pollock’s drip art.
52. Make some art that makes people say hmmm….

What About the Creativity Challenge of Feeling Stuck?

If you’re still feeling stuck, your commitment to being an artist can come in handy.

You can simply sit down and force yourself to make stuff. You can even trick yourself by setting up your art or writing area while you think about something else.

For example, open your computer and pull up your word document then go start the laundry. Then sit down to write. Work in “micromovements” of 5-15 second intervals. Let there be no such thing as art blocks or creativity blocks. Increase your creativity by ignoring those blocks completely.

This commitment to being creative is called, (as Steven Pressfield says in The War of Art ) “being a professional.” This means you push past the resistance which blocks you from getting started. Waiting for inspiration, as he puts it, “is for amateurs.”

Don’t worry about how your projects come out, just get unstuck first.

Concluding Thoughts on Increasing Creativity

This creativity challenge for increasing creativity is about mindset and action.

Know that you are an artist. Then decide to become a committed artist. Let art become your lifestyle. Keep creating so you never again ask yourself “Why did I lose my creativity?” 

In the book Big Magic, author Elizabeth Gilbert writes “Failure asks of us if we still want to create.” You might rephrase this question with the word inaction in place of the word failure. In either case, let the answer be “Yes.” 

Even if you think you lack talent, keep making. Creativity is not about skill whatsoever. That’s ego.

Being an artist is about having an artist’s mindset, plus creating something- anything. Increase your creativity by exploring the unknown, pushing past resistance, and expressing yourself.

I hope this perspective and the creativity challenge list presented helps you to increase your creativity. And helps you to feel more confident as an artist.

Please let me know what you think in the comments.

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