When you sit down with a blank piece of paper and can “draw anything,” how does that feel? For most people, it’s overwhelming. Where do you start? What should you draw? Is your idea good enough?
Now imagine someone gives you a simple instruction: “Draw circles filled with small dots.” Suddenly, you know exactly what to do. Your hand can start moving immediately, and your mind can relax because the decision has been made for you.
The Art of Rules is an online card deck that provides those simple instructions. It offers 48 “rules” grouped into six categories:
- Armature is the invisible framework of your page
- Elements are shapes in your drawing
- Placement is where to put elements
- Relationship describes element interaction
- Fills define patterns to use
- Color sets the palette for the drawing
Each rule card includes text and visual cues to help you interpret what to do. Use a single rule as a starting point or combine them for an interesting challenge. You can use them to doodle patterns or draw realistically – the rules are loose and permissive. There’s no right or wrong way to play with them.
The cards can be interpreted many ways. No two people will create the same drawing – each artist’s own style and imagination flow though the rules onto the page. Even you won’t create the same drawing twice using the same cards (unless you’re doing it on purpose) Here are two examples of how I applied these rules: Horizontal Bands; Nature-Inspired elements; filled with Radiating Lines
In each example, the cards sparked an idea. One was inspired by my neighbor’s net-covered lotus pond; the other started out as an abstract rock strata doodle then morphed into a beach. I let myself lose track of time as I layered colors, added shadows, slowed down my line work. Having those three rules to guide me was much better than staring at a blank page with an anxious mind.
Deal yourself a hand and see where it takes you.