β¦ Make & notice
Creative hobbies
Art, music, photography and writing hobbies, from drawing and watercolour to guitar, piano and photography. Each guide suggests a cheap way to start, a first project you can finish, and how to keep improving without expensive gear.
Showing 60 of 364 hobbies
Photography
Photography is taking pictures with a phone or camera, learning light, composition and exposure, then choosing and editing the best into photos worth keeping.
Open guide βPainting
Painting is putting colour on board, canvas or paper with acrylics, oils or gouache, learning to mix colours, judge light and dark and build a picture in layers.
Open guide βDrawing
Drawing is making pictures with pencil, pen or charcoal by looking carefully, judging proportion, angles, light and shadow, and building up from quick sketches.
Open guide βWatercolour
Watercolour is painting with transparent pigment and water on thick paper, learning washes, wet-on-wet blending and layering for light-filled landscapes and florals.
Open guide βCalligraphy
Calligraphy is the craft of beautiful handwriting, forming letters stroke by stroke with broad-edge pens, pointed nibs or brush pens in set styles.
Open guide βFlower Arranging
Flower arranging is cutting, conditioning and composing fresh stems into vase displays, hand-tied bouquets and table pieces with a balanced shape.
Open guide βLino Printing
Lino printing is carving a design into a block of soft lino, inking it and pressing it on paper or fabric to make hand-printed images you can repeat.
Open guide βGuitar
Guitar is learning chords, strumming patterns and simple melodies on an acoustic or electric guitar, starting with a few open chords and songs you already know.
Open guide βPiano
Piano is learning to play melodies and chords on a piano or keyboard, reading notes and rhythm and building from five-note patterns to simple pieces and songs.
Open guide βUkulele
Ukulele is learning to strum and pick a small four-string instrument, starting with simple chords so you can accompany songs within a few weeks.
Open guide βSongwriting
Songwriting is writing your own songs, combining lyrics, melody and chords into complete verses and choruses, then recording or performing them.
Open guide βViolin
Violin is learning to draw a bow across four strings and finger notes without frets, starting with open strings, posture and simple tunes.
Open guide βHarmonica
Harmonica is learning to play a pocket-sized mouth organ by blowing and drawing air through its holes, starting with single notes, simple tunes and blues.
Open guide βAnimation
Animation is making images appear to move by showing them in sequence, using stop-motion with real objects, hand-drawn frames or computer software.
Open guide βAcrylic Painting
Painting with fast-drying, water-based acrylic paint on canvas or board, building from colour mixing and simple still lifes to finished small paintings.
Open guide βOil Painting
Painting with slow-drying oil paints on primed canvas or board, learning to blend colours softly and build up a picture over several sessions.
Open guide βGouache Painting
Painting with opaque, water-based gouache on paper to make flat, matte, richly coloured illustrations and small landscapes.
Open guide βPastel Art
Pastel art is drawing and painting with sticks of nearly pure pigment on textured paper, building soft, vivid colour by layering and blending instead of using wet paint.
Open guide βCharcoal Drawing
Drawing with sticks of burnt willow and compressed charcoal on paper to make bold, smudgy tonal studies of still lifes, landscapes and portraits.
Open guide βInk Drawing
Drawing with pen and ink, from fineliner hatching to dip pens and brush work, to make high-contrast line drawings and washes that cannot be erased.
Open guide βUrban Sketching
Urban sketching is drawing streets, buildings and people on location in a pocket sketchbook with pen and light watercolour, in a quick, honest style.
Open guide βFigure Drawing
Learning to draw the human body from life or photo reference, from quick gesture sketches to longer poses that capture proportion, weight and movement.
Open guide βBotanical Illustration
Botanical illustration is drawing or painting plants with scientific accuracy, using close observation, graphite and watercolour to record each leaf, flower and seed.
Open guide βDigital Painting
Painting pictures on a computer or tablet with a pen, using layers and brushes to create illustrations, concept sketches and landscapes without any physical mess.
Open guide βPixel Art
Pixel art is making images one square pixel at a time on a tiny canvas with a limited palette, for game sprites, icons, animations and illustrations.
Open guide βCollage Art
Collage art is cutting and tearing paper, photographs, maps and found material, then arranging and gluing it into new compositions on card or board.
Open guide βMixed Media Art
Mixed media art combines materials such as acrylic paint, ink, collage paper, pastel and found texture in one piece, built up in layers on paper, board or canvas.
Open guide βMosaic Art
Mosaic art is building pictures and patterns from small pieces of tile, glass, stone or china stuck to a base and finished with grout.
Open guide βStained Glass Art
Stained glass art is cutting coloured glass to a pattern and joining the pieces with copper foil and solder or lead came to make panels and suncatchers.
Open guide βGlass Painting
Decorating glass jars, window panes and sun catchers with transparent glass paints and raised outliner, then drying or baking them to set the colour.
Open guide βAirbrushing
Airbrushing is spraying thin paint through a small handheld tool and compressed air to create smooth gradients, fine detail and even coats on models and art.
Open guide βSpray Painting
Using aerosol paint for artwork and finishes, learning can control, layering and clean lines on boards, paper and permitted surfaces.
Open guide βMural Painting
Painting large images on walls or big panels, from planning a design and scaling it up to applying durable masonry paint.
Open guide βMiniature Painting
Painting small tabletop figures, such as wargaming and roleplaying miniatures, with fine brushes through basecoats, washes and highlights.
Open guide βComic Art
Comic art is drawing sequential stories: planning panels and page layouts, then pencilling, inking, lettering and colouring comics, minicomics and webcomics.
Open guide βCartooning
Cartooning is drawing simplified, expressive characters and visual jokes, as single-panel gags, editorial cartoons or short strips, in pen and ink or digitally.
Open guide βCaricature
Caricature is drawing a recognisable likeness of a person with their most distinctive features exaggerated, from photos at home or live at parties and events.
Open guide βFashion Illustration
Fashion illustration is drawing stylised figures wearing clothes, in pencil, ink, marker or digital tools, to show design ideas, fabrics, colour and attitude.
Open guide βArchitectural Sketching
Architectural sketching is drawing buildings, streets and interiors in pencil and pen, using perspective and simple measuring to make structures look solid on the page.
Open guide βMap Illustration
Map illustration is drawing hand-made maps of towns, parks, walks or invented lands, with simplified landmarks, lettering and colour, as prints, gifts or book art.
Open guide βPattern Design
Pattern design is creating repeating motifs and seamless tiles, by hand or on screen, for fabric, wrapping paper, wallpaper, stationery and other products.
Open guide βSurface Design
Surface design is decorating fabric, paper and objects with printed, stencilled, painted or dyed patterns, using techniques such as block printing and monoprint.
Open guide βTypography
Typography is choosing and arranging typefaces, sizes and spacing so text looks clear and good, from posters and invitations to logos and books.
Open guide βHand Lettering
Hand lettering is drawing letters as artwork, building words from outlines, thick and thin strokes and flourishes for cards, quotes, signs and posters.
Open guide βZentangle
Zentangle is a structured drawing method where you build patterns called tangles, one pen stroke at a time, on small square paper tiles.
Open guide βMandala Art
Mandala art is drawing or painting circular designs built from repeating patterns around a centre point, using a compass, ruler, fine pens or dotting tools.
Open guide βSculpture
Sculpture is making three-dimensional work by modelling clay, carving stone, wood or plaster, or building with wire, found objects and other materials.
Open guide βClay Sculpting
Clay sculpting is building figures, animals and objects by hand from clay, adding, carving and smoothing in oil-based, air-dry, polymer or kiln-fired clay.
Open guide βStone Carving
Stone carving is shaping soft stone such as limestone, soapstone or alabaster with a mallet and chisels to make small sculptures, reliefs or carved lettering.
Open guide βWood Carving
Wood carving is shaping wood with knives and gouges into spoons, figures, relief panels and decorative objects, starting with a sharp knife and soft wood.
Open guide βIce Sculpting
Ice sculpting is carving blocks of clear ice with chisels, gouges and saws into shapes such as hearts, letters and swans that last a few hours before melting.
Open guide βSand Sculpture
Sand sculpture is carving figures, walls and designs from compacted wet sand on a beach, using forms and hand tools to build far beyond a bucket sandcastle.
Open guide βPaper Marbling
Paper marbling is floating inks or paints on thickened water, swirling them into patterns with combs and styluses, then lifting the design onto paper.
Open guide βBook Illustration
Book illustration is creating pictures for stories, from picture book spreads and covers to chapter drawings, by planning characters, layouts and one consistent style.
Open guide βStoryboarding
Storyboarding is planning a film, animation or advert as a sequence of simple drawn panels showing camera angles, action and timing before anything is shot or animated.
Open guide βStop Motion
Stop motion is animating objects, clay figures or paper cut-outs by moving them a tiny amount and photographing each frame, then playing the photos back as a film.
Open guide βFlipbook Animation
Flipbook animation is drawing a sequence of slightly different pictures on the pages of a small pad, so that flicking through them makes a drawing move.
Open guide βCyanotype Printing
Cyanotype printing uses sun-sensitive chemistry brushed on paper or fabric to make white-on-Prussian-blue prints of leaves, lace and photographic negatives.
Open guide βScreen Printing
Screen printing pushes ink through a stencilled mesh screen with a squeegee, so you can repeat bold designs on paper, tote bags and T-shirts.
Open guide βMonoprinting
Monoprinting is making one-off prints by inking a plate or drawing onto it, then pressing paper onto it to lift a unique image you can't repeat exactly.
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