Fun Digital Art Ideas to Inspire Your Next Project

Digital art is a versatile and expansive field that encompasses various forms of media and techniques. Whether it ends up on a website, in a book or sold as an original piece, this work all begins as a concept. But that doesn’t mean digital art ideas are always easy to come up with.

This post aims to inspire digital artists by offering a variety of innovative digital art project ideas, each tailored to enhance creativity and skill development. You’ll get prompts and resources that help beginners and seasoned professionals alike jump-start a new project.

1. Surreal Digital Portraits

Combine elements of fine art and surrealism to create digital portraits that challenge reality. Use tools like Adobe Photoshop or Procreate to merge natural elements with human features, exploring themes of nature and identity.

To give your digital portrait that element of unexpected imagination, explore concepts of surrealist art from well-known and less-famous artists. Then, you can bring that magic to your digital painting, and add your own surreal twists to the subject.

Dark surreal painting of large faces atop blocks in a stark, rocky-looking landscape in blacks, grays, deep reds and hints of blue — Surrealism brings together realistic elements in imaginative, and sometimes absurd and dark, environments. Digital art platforms provide numerous tools for playing with surreal portraiture. Image from Skillshare Class Unlock Creativity and Make Surrealist Digital Art in Adobe Photoshop by Adam Chraibi

2. Animated Typographic Quotes

Create dynamic digital art by animating favorite quotes using typography and motion graphics. This project can merge narrative with visual design, ideal for sharing as a GIF, on social media or as part of a digital portfolio.

Animation brings something extra to your digital word art, but it isn’t easy. With guidance for animating typography in Adobe After Effects and the inspiration of a meaningful quote, you’ll create something that speaks to your audience in a memorable way.

Still life in soft lavender, green and orange of candles, plants, and fruit in an orange frame containing the text of a quote — Pair your favorite quotes with attractive graphics to set the stage for eye-catching, animated typography. Image from Skillshare Class Level Up Typography: Creating Animated Stickers in After Effects by Manon Louart

3. Personal Logo Design

Branch out into elements of graphic design by crafting a logo for your own personal brand or portfolio website. Logo design is a subtle art, as you need to communicate uniqueness without putting too many elements into the design. When it’s for your personal logo, there’s likely an emotional investment as well.

While you might begin creating your logo with pen and paper, digital tools are essential for changing ideas and making edits, not to mention saving the logo in a shareable format. For inspiration, check out these ideas for retro logo creation in Adobe Illustrator.

Your personal logo shouldn’t be terribly complex, and digital programs make it easier to tweak the project until it perfectly represents your personal brand. Image from Skillshare Class Bring a Logo to Life: Principles of Animation for Motion Designers by Megan Friesth

4. Interactive Character Design

Design characters not just for static art but for interactive digital experiences, such as video games or AR/VR environments. Focus on characters that tell a story through their design and function.

As digital artwork for interactive environments, basic character design begins with defining your own style and knowing what mood you want to develop. The character will be a part of a larger world, and it’s important to ensure that they fit well into the gaming or virtual setting.

A grid of thumbnails of digitally drawn characters doing various activities, such as sports, dancing and walking. — Creating characters is fun, especially if they’re going to be living out their lives in video games or virtual reality. Image from Skillshare Class Illustration for Beginners: Create Your Style in Procreate Through Character Design by Smitesh Mistry

5. Conceptual Art Series

Develop a series of digital artworks that express a conceptual theme, such as "A Day in the Life" of different professionals. You may wish to experiment with different formats and styles, like watercolor or 3D modeling.

In concept art, the idea behind the piece is, in some ways, more important than the artwork itself. Still, digital illustration gives so many options for creating and enhancing your work that it can be overwhelming to know where to start. Drawing digital landscapes can provide the perfect “backdrop” for sending a larger message.

Mountainous landscape in oranges, purples, greens and blues, featuring the sun, clouds, cliffs, trees and a lake. — A landscape, in and of itself, isn’t necessarily conceptual. However, such settings are handy backgrounds for a wide range of ideas and messages. Image from Skillshare Class Illustrated Environments: Draw a Stylized Landscape Scene in Procreate by Sarah Holliday

Develop Your Skills in Digital Art with Skillshare

It’s so important to push creative boundaries in digital art projects. Take these ideas as starting points, and bring your own unique interpretations to the resulting digital design.

Skillshare is your go-to platform as an aspiring digital artist. If you’re looking to grow your skills, take on exciting projects and build out your portfolio by learning from experienced professional digital artists, check out tutorials on:

You can find many more where those came from–Skillshare offers digital art learning paths and numerous classes on everything from beginner tips and common platforms to realistic portraits and advanced techniques.

Written By

Katie Mitchell

Katie lives in Michigan with her husband, kids and pets. She enjoys cooking, travel and live music.