List of Art Therapy Prompts (55+ Interesting Cues)

This blog mentions some art therapy prompts.

There is a lot more to learn about art therapy and art therapy prompts in this blog, so let’s not delay further and take a start from the definition of art therapy.

What is Art Therapy?

Art therapy is a blend of art and psychotherapy.

This is a therapeutic program that uses creative thinking and artistic methods to help a person improve his or her self-awareness, recognize his or her feelings, and confront his or her unresolved issues or traumas. 

Art therapy also helps children develop social skills and increase self-confidence.

This uses the concepts of positive thinking to help people control their feelings efficiently and to address the complexities of life in order to promote overall well-being.

Artists like Yayoi Kusama are the most recent instance of art therapy.

According to the American Art Therapy Association (2013): Art Therapy is an integrative mental health and human services practice that enriches the lives of people, families, and communities through effective art-making, innovative methods, applied psychological theory, and human experience in psychotherapeutic relationships. 

Exercising art therapy does not require formal training in the arts. Art therapy can be applied to any person, whether artistic or non-professional.

There are no right or incorrect responses in art therapy. Art therapy is a way to discover and assess oneself.

This helps people to find out more about themselves without being judicious.

Art Therapy Prompts 

The following are some art therapy prompts:

1. What are you Feeling Today? 

This is probably the most common prompt also called the “feelings journal.” I often advise that clients keep their feelings journal between meetings and spend a little time every day drawing “how I feel today” using colors, shapes, lines, or images. 

2. Spontaneous Imagery

Spontaneous imagery can mean many things; most of the time, it refers to the formation of scribble or free-form lines and the quest for images within those lines. 

3. Non-Dominant Hand-Drawing

Art Therapy / Maven Journaling, advises people to “draw with your non-dominant side” over time to see what happens; she also suggests writing with your non-dominant side. As part of the tradition of journaling. 

4. Working Within a Circle

This is often referred to as a “mandala journal.” You may simply trace or draw a circle on each page of your journal and do a daily practice of making images inside and/or outside the circle pattern. 

5. Dream Journal

When you have the first time in the morning after you wake up, try to keep a mental picture diary from your dreams. First, try to write some keywords and phrases, accompanied by sketching the key elements of your dream.

6. Photocollage Report

If you’re not interested in drawing, start collecting your favorite pictures, phrases or quotations from magazines or books, and/or printing memorabilia, and practice generating a picture journal on a regular basis. It can be any theme [travel, calming pictures, etc.] or you can buy a Smashbook and a stick of glue and start gluing. 

7. The Diary of Doodle

Doodling with felt pens or iconic Sharpie pens is not only enjoyable but has also been shown to potentially boost memory in some situations. You may also duplicate Zentangle patterns or make your own “tangle doodles”.

Making patterns of repeated lines and shapes. By all means, make sure you ‘re having a nice time and you’re going to get into the “doodle zone” [a state of creative activity where time doesn’t exist]. 

8. Intention Journal

If you have a specific purpose in mind [for example, a practice of gratitude or the main objective to become healthier in the coming year], try to keep a pictorial/prose journal dedicated to a particular purpose or vision. 

9. Altered Book of Books

Any book [old novel, cookbook, or children’s storybook] can be used as a visual journal; you can use the words and pictures in the book as part of your journal or draw/paint/collage over the text. This method of visual journaling will be discussed in more depth by the next post in this series. 

10. Create Your Own Approach to This

Drag / paint / collage as you like and die happy. It’s your visual journal, do what seems right to you and to any medium that relates to you. 

Some other short ideas 

More Fashion Journal Tips for Teenagers 

• Drawing an image of yourself as something other than a human. 
• Draw pictures of your family doing something about it. 
• My dream day looks like a … 
• Draw a creature you ‘re dealing with (i.e., anxiety as a creature, an angry monster, a depression monster). 
• Create a picture of the person you let others see, and a picture of the person you really are. 
• Who makes me special to you … 
• I am the happiest when I … 
• I wish I could have … 
• Drawing or expressing your feelings. 
• Create a picture with only the colors that calm you down. 
• Create a collage with a quote that inspires you. 
• Create an image of what freedom feels like to you. 
• Document the moment where you did something that you didn’t think you could do. 
• Draw or collate somebody you ‘re admiring. 
• Drag a place where you feel free. 
• Build a collage of inspiration. 
• Build a timeline and diary of the most memorable moments of your life, with the most important moments visually highlighted. 
• Create an image of a very powerful childhood memory. Try to understand why this was so important to you.
• Highlight a fairy tale about yourself. If you could put yourself in a happier situation, what position would you play? How’d the story go? Build a visual tale that tells the story. 
• Build a coat of arms of your own. Use symbols that represent your power. 
• Drawing a comic strip about a funny moment in your life. 
• Create an image of someone else. 
• What are the anchors of your life? Create an anchor and decorate it with people and items that give you stability and energy. 
• Create a mind map that’s a visual image of all your feelings. 
• Draw your own dreams. 
• What do you need in your life right now? Draw an image or create a collage illustrating it.
• Draw or collage a picture of what you’re worried about right now. 
• What kind of smartphone app would you like to produce or see produced? Reflect that visually. 
• If magic was true, what kind of spell would you try to learn first? 
• Which kind of problem are you actually dealing with? 
• Create an image of what makes you feel better when you feel bad. 
• What do you really want to tell or explain to your family? 
• What is it that you really wish you could say or explain to the teachers at your school? 
• What is it that you really wish you could tell the other kids at school? 
• What would you like to get better? 
• Draw your super-power (or the super-power you ‘d like to have).
• Build a broad vision    
• What’s the charm of your good luck? 
• Draw an image of something better broken than the entire thing. 
• How do you need to help with right now? 
• What kind of question are you afraid to ask? 
• Build a dream chart, please. 
• What’s the charm of your good luck? 
• Draw an image of something better broken than the entire thing. 
• How do you need to help with right now? 
• What kind of question are you afraid to ask? 
• Build a dream chart, please. 
• What’s the charm of your good luck? 
• Draw an image of something better broken than the entire thing. 
• How do you need to help with right now? 
• What kind of question are you afraid to ask? 
• Which kind of people or things do you feel drained? 
• Create an image of how you want to feel at home.
• Draw or collate 10 things that make you feel special. 
• Develop a logo of your own. 
• Create an image of what keeps you up at night. 
• If I really loved myself, I would have … 
• I’m worried that people won’t like / love / accept/want me if they learned about me. 
• If you came across a genius in a bottle that could give you three wishes for anything in the world you want, except for more wishes, what would you want? 
• Create an image of what it would feel like if you woke up tomorrow and everything was better. 
• I guess I’m pretty good at …
• Draw pictures of where you’d be if you could be somewhere right now. 
• What would you do if you weren’t scared? 
• Drawing a self-portrait WITHOUT drawing your face (make it symbolic).

Recommended Books

The following is a list of some good books on art therapy. These books are a great source of increasing knowledge. Just click the book you wish to study and you will be redirected to the page form where you can access it.

• Essential Art Therapy Exercises: Effective Techniques to Manage Anxiety, Depression, and PTSD by Leah Guzman ATR-BC | Mar 31, 2020
• Art Therapy Sourcebook (Sourcebooks) by Cathy Malchiodi | Aug 30, 2006
• 365 Days of Art: A Creative Exercise for Every Day of the Year by Lorna Scobie  | Oct 17, 2017
• 250 Brief, Creative & Practical Art Therapy Techniques: A Guide for Clinicians and Clients by Susan I Buchalter  | Oct 5, 2017
• Attunement in Expressive Arts Therapy: Toward an Understanding of Embodied Empathy by Mitchell Kossak | Feb 20, 2015

What are 3 uses of art therapy?

In art therapy techniques may include drawing, painting, coloring, sculpting, or collage.

As people create art, they can analyze what they’ve made, and how they feel.

By developing their art, people may look for patterns and contradictions which can influence their feelings, emotions, and behaviors.

Who can benefit from art therapy?

Art therapy enhances the mental health of people dealing with addictions, anxiety, disorders of attention, grief and loss, dementia, depression, eating disorders, physical disease, PTSD, trauma, relationship issues, and much more.

How does art therapy help anxiety?

Art therapy helps anxious people calm down.

The practices in art therapy are meditative, relaxing, and soothing, helping to soothe the effects of fatigue, nervousness, and irritability.

A relaxed mind can handle intense thoughts and interactions easier.

Does art therapy really work?

The Association of American Art Therapy states that art therapy can be an effective mental health treatment for individuals who have experienced depression, trauma, medical illness, and social problems.

Making art in therapy can be both a means to attain personal insight and healing.

Who invented art therapy?

Margaret Naumburg and Edith Kramer were the two founders of art therapy in the US.

Psychologist Margaret Naumburg began to refer to her work as art therapy in the mid forty’s.

Unlike Hill, Naumburg’s research was focused on the concept of utilizing art by promoting free interaction to liberate the unconscious.

What are the disadvantages of art therapy?

One unique piece of art created in the space of therapy does not encapsulate the whole experience of a person.

It may capture the thinking process of a person, or how they feel at that particular moment, but some clients may lean too much on the content of their work and reduce the underlying influences.

This blog explained in detail art therapy and mentioned various art therapy prompts.

If you have any questions or queries regarding this blog, let us know through your comments in the comments section.

We will be glad to assist you.

References

Top Ten Art Therapy Visual Journaling Prompts | Psychology Today

55 Art Journal Prompts for Teens – Creative Resilience …

100 Art Therapy Exercises – The Updated and Improved List …

Amazon.com 

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