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Having trouble coming up with something to draw? No worries - while you'll eventually learn how to start from a tiny seed of a thought and gradually nurture it into a complex concept to explore through design and illustration, it's perfectly fine not to be there just yet.
For now though, here's an idea that might interest you.
The Annual Parade
Running a small business isn't easy. In the small town of Paradeville, running a small business is even harder. Paying for advertisements in the local paper just doesn't seem to gain the kind of traction it once did, everyone wants to hear about your services from a friend of a friend, otherwise they're unlikely to ever give you a shot. Hard to get word of mouth though, if no one will bother hiring you in the first place!
The town has one saving grace, though. One thing that keeps you from packing it all in and moving to the big city. One thing that, if used correctly, can take your business from a debt-ridden failure to an overnight success.
The Paradeville Annual Parade. Every year, the whole town gathers to put in the greatest procession of oversized, colourful, and utterly delightful floats in the world. And here's the kicker - anyone can enter a float. The bigger and more extravagant your float, the more the townsfolk will remember your name, and of course, your business.
Design the most eye-catching float to get the town talking. While you should definitely think about the type of business you're running in order to decide how to sneak its name in and ensure that free publicity isn't going to waste, you don't have to limit the float itself to something obviously related to whatever it is you sell or provide.
This one isn't doing it for you? How about this one instead: As Old as Stone >>>
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Staedtler Pigment Liners
These are what I use when doing these exercises. They usually run somewhere in the middle of the price/quality range, and are often sold in sets of different line weights - remember that for the Drawabox lessons, we only really use the 0.5s, so try and find sets that sell only one size.
Alternatively, if at all possible, going to an art supply store and buying the pens in person is often better because they'll generally sell them individually and allow you to test them out before you buy (to weed out any duds).