What I Do When Having An Art Block: I Just Take Any Animal And Add ‘Fantasy Stuff’ To It

by Patrick Penrose Published Nov 12, 2025

As a 22-years-old freelance artist, I regularly face the challenge of having an art block. I usually try all kinds of things to get rid of it: taking a walk outside, doing fan art, taking a break from art for a couple of days, etc. But lately, I have discovered a really helpful way of overcoming the nightmare every artist faces from time to time: I just take a random animal and add “fantasy stuff” to it.

Before I start I have my reference photos ready. Then comes the fun part. I add anything to my fantasy animal, that gives it an interesting, otherworldly or even odd look: I make the facial hair a bit longer here and there, add some surreal shapes and floating matter, put some markings on the mythical animal’s fur, add long whiskers, crystals or leaves and give it an intense expression by letting the eyes stand out as the only part that’s colored within the drawing idea.

What started as my desperate attempt to gain some creative ideas and overcome my art block has now turned into a series of cool animal drawings I call “Souls of Nature”. This series has actually helped me reach an incredible amount of people and gain lots of new supporters. I also take requests as to which beautiful animals I should do next and that has led to an amazing way of interacting with my followers on Instagram and Facebook.

To put it in a nutshell: as annoying as art blocks maybe, sometimes they lead you to try out new things and discovering unique art fields you might have never found otherwise.

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