It's World Art Day!
- Cara Gruhala
- Apr 15
- 4 min read
Some know, and some may not, that I have a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting and drawing. While I'm at a phase of life that I don't get to be creative as much as I would like, I try to grab the opportunities where I can. So today, on World Art Day, I wanted to share a creative project that many people can try. It's fun because it blends art with psychology and mindfulness, and it doesn't require any specific confidence with art or art materials. Follow along for steps to create your own neurographic art piece!
Neurographic art was created by psychologist Pavel Piskarev, and includes free-flowing lines, no hard angles, and is reported to connect the conscious and subconscious mind. Neurographic art has a mindful element to it, requiring you to focus on the present without the pressure of any specific outcome. You might even notice that you feel more calm, more focused, or more creative after an exercise like this.
Let's get started! There are lots of ways you can do this. I'll highlight what I'm using and how I'm doing this, and also give some alternatives. Today I've got watercolor paper, a permanent Sharpie marker, watercolor paints, water, and a brush. Some people like to plan lines with a pencil first and then go over it with marker when they're more certain.
Some people like to use colored pencils, ink, or markers instead of paint, and that's just fine! If you use watercolors or ink, a heavier paper, or watercolor paper is best. The pad of paper I'm using is attached on all four sides to help it dry flat. If yours isn't you may want to use masking tape around the edges to attach to your surface.
Next you'll use your pencil or permanent marker to start making lines. One of the things I so often hear from people who feel uncertain about their artistic abilities is "I can't even draw a straight line!" No problem here because none are necessary. Draw squiggles, shapes, or whatever your brain and hand feel like marking.
When you put down your lines with marker, be sure to use one that isn't water based so that your lines don't bleed when you add paint.
Use your marker to create smooth, rounded edges at any intersections of lines. These should be swoopy marks that bend toward the intersection at the middle.
Then use your marker to color in that shape you made with those lines. It's not supposed to look like anything or look perfect. Just let yourself decide how rounded, or how long your lines should be.
Once you've filled in all your intersecting lines, you may want to go back and change the thickness of your lines in some places to add interest. I like to make mine a little thicker at some of the curves. Fill in those thickened spots in. Some people like to start with a fine-line marker, then add the thicker marker in certain places to have even more contrast between the thickness of their lines.
Once you have all your lines the way you like you can add color. I like to fill in a shape with plain water first and then add watercolor on top. I also like to add more watercolor to some parts of the shape so there is some fun blending and variance that happens inside the shape. You could also paint the watercolor directly on the dry paper if you want bolder colors.
You could definitely use crayons, markers, or colored pencils instead of paint. You can also layer different supplies, like colored pencil over dried watercolor or marker.
Keep filling in your shapes. You might do every shape. You might decide to leave some white. You could add patterns within. I really love flowing, transparent watercolors, so I like allowing colors to bleed and blend between shapes a bit. If you want to try this, you could paint two shapes at once with water, even covering your black line between, then add watercolor from the outside of both shapes toward the black line. You could also do one shape at a time and allow the wet parts of each shape to touch a bit as shown below.
If it blends more than you like, no biggie. We don't have any specific outcomes planned here! If you really want to remove some color, you can try using a dry piece of paper towel to soak it out a bit.
If you want some texture in your shapes you could use a paper towel to blot away color in some parts of your shapes as shown here. If you blot when the whole shape is really wet, you'll get more blended variance. If you blot when it's not soaking wet you'll get slightly more defined shapes as seen here. Don't like it? Add more water and/or paint and blend!
Another fun way to add texture is to drop salt crystals on your wet paint area. Each crystal sucks the water and paint toward it making some natural, crystalline shapes. Once the paint in that area is dry you can brush the crystals off your paper.
Here's what happened to both of those sections when dry. I love the feathery lines between different concentrations of paint, how that orange flowing into the yellow turned into a beautiful peachy patch. I also love how both of the textures turned out, especially the salt that reminds me of flowers or rock candy.
Want to see me work through this whole process? Check out my video below! Don't miss the cat paw in the top left corner :)
This activity can be fun for lots of ages. Younger kids may like coloring in bigger shapes and using thicker lines. Teens and adults may have a lot of fun with a variety of shapes and sizes, playing with color and texture, or even adding other decorative elements. Have fun, let youself be fluid, and try to let go of the outcome and just be present for the process of creating something! Let me know if you try it out, and feel free to upload a photo of your finished project on our social media here:
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