You're staring at the white rectangle. It’s mocking you. We’ve all been there, sitting with a perfectly good sketchbook or a brand-new Procreate canvas, waiting for some divine bolt of inspiration that never actually shows up. Honestly, the hardest part of art isn’t the technical skill—it’s just deciding what to do with your hands. You want cool stuff to draw, but your mind is just a dial tone.
Sometimes you don't need a masterpiece. You just need to move the pen.
Drawing is weirdly psychological. If you try to draw "The Greatest Dragon Ever Seen," you’ll probably freeze up. But if you tell yourself you’re just going to doodle some weird-looking fungi or a toaster with wings, the pressure vanishes. That’s the secret. Low stakes lead to high creativity. Let's get into the stuff that actually works when you’re stuck.
Why We Get Stuck Searching for Cool Stuff to Draw
Creative block is basically just your internal critic being a jerk. It tells you that if it isn't "portfolio-ready," it isn't worth doing. That’s total nonsense.
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Expert illustrators like Loish or the late, great Kim Jung Gi didn't just spawn talent; they drew the "boring" stuff until it became interesting. When people search for cool stuff to draw, they’re usually looking for a spark that bypasses that critic. You need subjects that have built-in "coolness"—things with high contrast, interesting textures, or slightly surreal vibes.
The Anatomy of Objects: Drawing From Your Immediate Reality
Look at your desk. Right now. There is probably a tangled charging cable, a half-empty coffee mug, or a crumpled-up receipt. Most people ignore these because they seem "ugly." In reality, ugly things are often the most fun to draw because you can't "mess them up."
Take a glass of water with ice in it. It's a nightmare of refractions and light. It’s hard, but it’s rewarding because even if you get it slightly wrong, it still looks like a cool abstract study. Or try drawing your own non-dominant hand. It’s right there! It’s free! Hands are notoriously difficult, which makes them the ultimate "boss fight" for artists. If you can get the webbing between the fingers right, you've basically won for the day.
The Beauty of "Greebles" and Mechanical Chaos
Have you ever heard of "greebling"? It's a term used in movie modeling—think the surface of the Death Star. It’s basically adding tiny, complex details to a surface to make it look larger and more intricate. You can do this with drawing too.
Start with a simple shape. A cube. Now, start adding pipes, vents, tiny screws, and panels to it. Don't plan it. Just keep adding. Before you know it, you’ve drawn a sci-fi engine or a futuristic city block. It’s incredibly meditative because there is no "wrong" place for a wire to go. This is a top-tier choice for cool stuff to draw when you want to zone out.
Nature Is Weirder Than You Remember
We tend to draw the "symbol" of things rather than the things themselves. When you think "tree," your brain suggests a lollypop shape. Forget that. Look at the way a Banyan tree’s roots drop from the ceiling, or how a Venus Flytrap looks like a mouth from a horror movie.
- Bioluminescent Deep Sea Fish: These things are terrifying. Anglerfish, hatchetfish, and viperfish have shapes that defy logic. They have glowing lanterns, translucent skin, and teeth that are way too big for their heads.
- Succulents in Macro: Specifically, the ones that look like little rocks (Lithops) or the "String of Pearls." The geometry is repetitive and satisfying to ink.
- Skull Studies: Don't just do a human one. Look at a bird skull or a deer skull. The eye sockets are massive, and the bone structure is delicate. It gives your art an instant "dark academia" or "grimoire" vibe.
The Surrealist Hack: Combining Two Things That Don't Belong
If you’re still hunting for cool stuff to draw, start playing "The Exquisite Corpse" with yourself. Pick a random noun and a random animal.
A jellyfish made of lightbulbs.
An elephant with butterfly wings.
A Victorian house that is also a backpack.
This is exactly how concept artists for games like Elden Ring or Horizon Zero Dawn start their process. They take familiar silhouettes and break them. If you draw a cat, it's just a cat. If you draw a cat with three eyes and moss growing out of its back, you've suddenly created a story. People love stories.
Master the "Single Line" Challenge
Sometimes the "cool" factor isn't what you draw, but how you draw it. Try a continuous line drawing. You cannot lift your pen from the paper until the drawing is done. It sounds easy. It’s actually infuriating.
But here’s the thing: the resulting drawing always has this loose, energetic, "I’m a professional artist in a Parisian café" look to it. It forces you to look at the subject more than the paper. If you’re looking for cool stuff to draw that also builds your hand-eye coordination, this is the gold standard.
Architectural Moods and Street Scenes
Buildings are just big boxes with personality. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by perspective, just draw a single doorway. A weathered door in Italy with peeling paint and a rusty knocker.
Or, go the "Cyberpunk" route. Take a normal street corner and add twenty neon signs in a language you don't speak. Add some hovering drones and some tangled power lines. The contrast between the old, grimy brick and the high-tech glowing lights is a classic aesthetic for a reason. It works. It's visually dense. It's cool.
Why Mistakes Actually Make Your Art Better
Let’s be real: your first few sketches today might suck.
That’s fine.
Actually, it's better than fine. A "perfect" drawing is often boring because it lacks the human touch. When you’re looking for cool stuff to draw, lean into the imperfections. If a line goes wonky, make it a scar. If you spill ink, turn the smudge into a shadow or a black hole. Some of the best character designs in history came from someone trying to fix a mistake and ending up with something unique.
Actionable Steps to Get You Drawing Right Now
Don't spend another hour scrolling Pinterest. That’s just "procrastivity"—the act of doing something that feels productive but isn't. Instead, do this:
- Set a Timer: Give yourself exactly 10 minutes. No more.
- Pick a Prompt: Go with "A Mechanical Heart" or "A Bird in a Spacesuit."
- Use a Medium You Hate: If you usually use a pencil, grab a Sharpie. If you use a tablet, grab a ballpoint pen. Removing the ability to "undo" or "erase" forces you to commit to your lines.
- Zoom In: Don't try to draw a whole person. Just draw an eye. Or an ear. Or a lace-up boot. Detail is easier to manage when the scope is small.
- Look for Contrast: Focus on the darkest shadows first. Sometimes "carving" the subject out of the darkness is easier than outlining it.
The world is full of cool stuff to draw if you stop looking for the "perfect" subject. Your sketchbook isn't a museum; it's a playground. Go get some ink on your hands.
To keep the momentum going, grab the nearest object to your left—literally anything—and draw it as if it were a legendary artifact found in a 2,000-year-old tomb. Add some cracks, some vines, and maybe some glowing runes. You’ll be surprised how quickly a stapler becomes a piece of high-fantasy lore. Once you finish that, move on to a different texture, like fur or liquid, to keep your brain engaged and your hand moving.