Digital Art Therapy Exercise Using iPad or Tablet

Hello friends, today, I'll show you an art therapy exercise you can do with an iPad or tablet.

This art therapy exercise is great for someone who wants to do something more expressive with their iPad and it's good for beginners, kids and adults alike, and especially those who worry about making mistakes.

I’m Youhjung and I have been helping people through art therapy for years and I am sharing this with you so that you can make art for your own self-care.

Make sure you're in safe, quiet place where you will not be disturbed during the creative process. Also, keep your phone on silent or turn off your notifications.

If want to watch the step by step video tutorial where I share the exercise in detail you can see it here:

WATCH HERE

Art Materials You Need

The materials you need are:

iPad or tablet (I used this).
stylus (I used a simple one from Amazon).
drawing app

Options for Apps

There are many options for drawing apps. I use Adobe Photoshop Sketch, which I believe is free on both Google Playstore and Apple Store.

Some other apps you can use are:

Medibang
Fire Alpaca
Autodesk Sketchbook
MyPaint
IBIS Paint X
Krita

The Art Therapy Prompt

Now that you are ready, open up the app, and here are the steps:

Get in touch with your mood or how you're feeling today. Imagine a landscape that reflected how you feel today. What kind of landscape would it be?
Draw an image of this landscape on your app

Many people associate drawing or painting as art therapy, but art therapy can be done with digital mediums as well. These days, there are many different ways to use digital technologies - like digital storytelling, filmmaking, animation, and even virtual reality.

Digital art therapy can be easier for people who already have a tablet or iPad and the neat part is that it's easy to erase and start over.

You can also make it simple or complex with many layers; you can work on a piece as much as you want.

The benefit of using digital medium is increased concentration, focus, and higher self-esteem, especially for children. And drawing on tablets can be especially satisfying for children with Autism.

Reflective Writing

After you have finished the work bring a pen and a journal/notebook to write with. (If not, write/type in your iPad or tablet). To reflect on our art-making process and the artwork, let’s do some writing.

Write down the answers to these questions:

What kind of place is this? Describe it in an objective way.
What kind of weather or climate does this place have? How is this related to how you feel today?
If you could imagine yourself entering into this picture, where would you be? why?
What would you change about this landscape? (How can this translate to what you can do now to improve your mood?)

I hope you enjoyed this exercise. Make sure to pin this or bookmark it for whenever you need to come back to it in the future. Also, share this post with a friend or family.

Thanks, and I’ll talk to you next time!

P.S. Curious about therapeutic art and want to learn how to facilitate it or incorporate it in your work to help others? Then I’ve got the ✨perfect✨ resource for you. My Therapeutic Art Facilitation School course is THE place where you can learn the foundations of therapeutic art work. I teach you my step by step signature method of using therapeutic art to help people, even if you’re just starting (no artist or therapist background needed). Want to learn how to do this? Check out my therapeutic art course here.

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