How Pencils Inspired Bob Dylan

Often, the hardest part about creative expression is trying to get started. It’s a challenge everyone faces at one time or another, including the great Bob Dylan.

While Dylan is known first and foremost as one of America’s most influential musicians., he is also a highly accomplished sketch artist. His drawings have been featured at galleries throughout the world, and on the covers of his own albums.

Early in his career, while roaming the streets and coffee houses of Greenwih Village, Dylan often had trouble finding inspiration for his art. He ultimately freed himself from this peril by narrowing his focus to objects he held in his hands.

In his 2004 memoir Chronicles, Dylan said he would “start with whatever was at hand… the typewriter, a crucifix, a rose, pencils and knives.” He then explained, “I’d lose track of time completely. In a strange way I noticed that it purified the experience of my eye.”

All of us have trouble thinking outside the box at times. Instead of putting pressure on yourself to think bigger, sometimes you just have to make the box smaller.

Give it a try. To get started, focus on something close at hand. Like a pencil. If it worked for Bob Dylan, it just might work for you.