Set of 12 Observational Drawing Chance Cards / Prompts

In this resource, you will find 12 prompts that your students can use to generate some exciting drawings.

Inspired by Brian Eno’s “Oblique Strategies” to help get over a creative block, the prompts include methods that your students may have used before (such as continuous line drawing), but also others that I hope will be new and challenging for them.

Each prompt has its own card with an example produced by myself or one of my students, and comes with a more detailed explanation which you can use to help you to deliver the session, or provide to the students if giving the task as independent work.

I originally created these chance cards for my Level 3 Art Foundation group. The materials required are paper (or a sketchbook), fineliner, ink (or diluted coffee), a candle (or wax crayon) a brush, and some collage materials such as an old magazine or newspaper. Each tasks takes a different amount of time to complete, but I have got through all 12 in a 3 hour session. The prompts work well when repeated and combined.

The prompts are general and can be applied to any theme, and can easily slot into your Scheme of Work. Alternatively, use as a one-off or cover session and invite your students to select a theme such as “Natural Forms”, “Kitchenalia” or “Through the Window”, before using the cards to develop their observational skills.

If you have access to a printer, it’s nice to print the cards out and pop them in an envelope to be used again and again. I like to laminate a set for each of my students and give them as a bit of a gift, but they work just as well if you browse and select them from the screen and I have used them with several groups during remote learning.

I hope you find this resource to be useful!
Best wishes,
Hannah