The squiggle test

What you need: paper and a pen or pencil.

One line. From one corner of the paper to the other. No lifting the pen, no going back, no erasing.

It will look wrong. It is supposed to. What you are drawing is not a picture yet — it is a rhythm. Look at where it speeds up and where it slows down.

Now use that line as the base of a drawing. A fish, a road, a sleeping animal, a wave. The squiggle is already half of it.

Do it again with your eyes closed if you dare. Children usually laugh, and then draw their best one.