Art Projects To Do Instead of Doomscrolling

If you're anything like most people in the modern day, then chances are you spend a lot of time lying in bed scrolling on the device of your choice. You don't get anything done, and you end up feeling as empty as ever. If you're reading this blog, then chances are you're an artist or you enjoy art. You have that foundational interest that you can use to spend your time in a more productive way rather than watching whatever influencer ad that TikTok decided to throw at you.

So, why not give the things below a go? You will still waste time, but you'll end up feeling more fulfilled with your creative thinking skills stretched further than watching mindless content could ever get it.

Try a New Medium

A good thing to do when you're growing bored of your creative routine is to do something else. Art is an extremely broad concept that doesn't just cover CGI and all the forms of illustration, but also ceramics, music, writing, photography, voiceover, crochet, cosplay, and, honestly, this list can go on forever. It's not difficult to try something new. Find a flower, pull out your phone camera, make the flower look nice and pretty on the screen, then take a picture. With little time or effort, you have just tried photography. Sure, many people don't count point and clicking as photography, but it's a lot like drawing a stick figure. Not only do you need to start simple when trying a new medium, but you can learn a lot just from doing the simplified version with little to no extra resources required.

There are plenty of good reasons why you should try photography in general, which is a topic I already touched on! If you're curious, you can read about the benefits here: https://dextiveblog.blogspot.com/2025/09/benefits-of-getting-into-photography-as.html

Design a Plushie of Your Favorite Character 

If you like a character, why not give them a form that you can snuggle with? There are plenty of textile artists out there willing to bring them to life, but something fun you can do is design the plushy forms. It can make the work easier for artists you're commissioning for a doll, or give you something to work with if you want to give creating a plushy yourself a shot. It's not just established characters you can do this with. It's also popular to make plushies out of characters you made such as a fursona or an OC. It highly depends on what you want when it comes to a custom doll, and whether you want to make one for scratch or pay someone else to do the work for you.

Attempt a New Subject

There are plenty of great artists who specialize in one subject and see a lot of success, and they're masterful at what they work with. Unfortunately, taking the route of a specialist does have limitations and won't allow for them to work on specific type of projects that require familiarity with a variety of art subjects. An environmental artist is never going to create something character-heavy such as a comic, and a character designer will try to avoid putting their characters in an environment. Plus, sticking with only one thing may just be causing you more harm than good, even if that harm is art becoming boring to you.

Branching out can benefit many people. It can make doing art more interesting, and provide a break from routine work. Trying out a new subject and working on it can help expand your skills and make you better at your specialty. Sure, you won't master the new subject, but that is not the point. It's about expanding what you can do and make doing art a little more fun. It's about not worrying about being good, and do something bad purely for the love of the game and the fun of learning something new. You can get good at it eventually, you just need to not give up at the first sign of struggle.

Make Something Bigger

Now, when I say "make something bigger," I don't necessarily mean a mural or a bigger canvas. Nor do I mean a huge crochet plushy that takes over a room. Sure, this point can mean that and it can lead to its own challenges and learning experiences, but I also mean more complex projects. Things that have more parts to them that pushes you to learn more skills and improve your craft. 

If you're a writer, that can look like making a novel trilogy or a long-running blog. If you're an illustrator, then that can look like creating a coloring or illustrated book. If you're a pixel artist, then that can look like creating a video game. As long as you're pushing yourself, then the final product can be physically small.

Design Something Practical

The final thing you can try is to design something that can be used in your everyday life. It's perfect if you would like something useful that matches your aesthetic, especially if it can be achieved by upcycling something you already have. Plus, you can be that person. The one with a gorgeous one-of-a-kind jewelry box, or unique gift bags to make other people at Christmas parties envious of the recipient. You can be the one with a custom designer bag where you are the designer.

Or you can make some sort of gadget that you can 3D print, if you're the type who has a 3D printer. There are all sorts of unique yet practical things you can engineer up even if you hardly know what you're doing! Which, who doesn't like nonsensing your way into making something that just works?

Conclusion

Whether it's wrapped in frustration or you enjoyed yourself, doing at least one of these things will result in fresh memories and a creation for you to take pride in. Plus, you may find that you may want to make more of whatever it is that you just created. The worst thing that can happen is that you had a bad time, and you won't do it again, but is that any worse than letting time slip into a void? So, why not try something out? It's a great way to distract yourself from everything wrong with the world!

But if none of these ideas catch your fancy, there are plenty more. Perhaps some of these cheap and easy craft projects will inspire you? https://dextiveblog.blogspot.com/2025/06/cheap-and-easy-craft-ideas.html

If you enjoyed this post, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments and follow the blog. You can also see what I have to offer on my shop and Artistree, which are linked through my profile.