The Collaborative Drawing
Collaborative drawing is a powerful and engaging activity to encourage collaboration and inspire group creativity.
Ask your group to break into groups of 2-3 people. The ideal is to form pairs.
Distribute a sheet of paper and pens to each partnership/small group. Then, setting-up each group with a hard surface (table, clipboard, etc,) announce that you would like everyone to create a work of art, together.
Instruct one person in each group to start by simply drawing any line, object or shape onto the sheet of paper. It should take no more than a few seconds to complete, and it does not need to mean anything, nor look like anything.
Then, instruct their partner to draw their own line, object or shape to the paper, either complementing what is already there, or adding thereto. It doesn’t matter.
This process of back-and-forth continues for several minutes. The first person continues to add more to the artwork, and then their partner(s) continues this process, back and forth, over and over.
Encourage everyone to let go of controlling the outcome and be open to something magical. Invite them to ‘let go’ and go with the flow and see what happens.
When ready, invite one or more pairs to share their work. For some groups, this can be a powerful activity, so be prepared to process this experience.
Moment of Reflection
- What feelings, thoughts, behaviours or stories emerged as you were drawing?
- Did your perceptions shift or change during the exercise? How?
- Did you notice moments when you chose to let go or didn’t let go?
- What was the most surprising part of this task?
- Did you and your partner impress yourselves? Why?
- What might this exercise teach you about trusting and collaborating with others?
- Does collaboration come to you with ease or effort? Why?
The topics of this publication: interactions, collaboration, teamwork, cooperation, integration, adaptability skills, adaptation, motivation, improvise, disinhibition, creativity
