Art dice are sets of six-sided dice, usually wooden and one inch on a side, designed to be used for getting past art block by giving an artist a clear idea of what to draw or paint. They are typically painted different colours to serve as colour coding for convenience, and there are usually between nine and twelve dice in a set, intended to be rolled simultaneously, with every die's result contributing to the final composition. A set of art dice, such as those produced by the company Two Tumbleweeds, will usually feature most or all of the following specific dice:
- Style or Genre - surrealism, realism, impressionism, pop art, etc.
- Emotion - joy or happiness, love, calm or serenity, anger, sadness, and fear are usually the six emotions listed.
- Medium - acrylic paint, watercolour paint, oil pastels, charcoal, ink, sketch pencils, oil paints, crayons, markers, gouache, all appear as options on art dice by various manufacturers. Of these, pencils and at least two kinds of paint are always included, regardless what other options are included.
- Subjects - There are between one and four "subject" dice, each of which features something concrete to depict, such as a weather event or season, a type of animal, food or drink, sports and games, buildings, or people.
- Colour - A straightforward selection of six colours, one of which is to be featured prominently in the composition, though usually art dice list black and white on the same face, and red, green, blue, purple, and yellow / orange on the remaining five faces.
- Texture - rough, smooth, glassy, soft, hard, etc. Whether this is applied to the medium itself, or to an object being depicted, is up to the artist.
- Scene or Setting - still life, portrait, landscape, seascape, cityscape, outer space, etc.
- Other - Some art dice sets include a blank "DIY" die with stickers to add your own elements, or a layout die suggesting a vertical or asymmetrical layout, etc.
Art dice are far from the only dice used to get past creative blocks; writer's block can be targeted using "writing dice," for example, which help a writer to select a genre, setting, and traits for the protagonist of the story.
The greatest utility I have observed in dice of these types, is their ability to remove the excuse of not being able to come up with something to draw, paint, or write about. They supply a subject and enough other parameters and constraints that the cognitive heavy lifting (and potential decision fatigue at this phase of planning and composition) are preemptively managed on behalf of the artist. With persistent use, the constraints become a source of inspiration, in and of themselves, rather than a limitation. Some combinations of options will appear self-contradictory (or at least aesthetically prone to clashing with each other in an unpleasant manner), creating a sense of challenge about how to achieve a working result from the dice's prompts. Likewise, they can be useful as educational tools, encouraging an artist to research genres, techniques, and media that they are unfamiliar with, or which they experience as a weakness or undeveloped area among their skills as an artist.
Speaking from personal experience, randomness works wonders for my creative process. The random nodeshells page is my "landing page" on everything2, the first place I go when I do not already know precisely what I intend to node on a given day. The sheer abundance of options allows me to find what I want to write, through the elimination of what does not immediately appeal to me, and when I find a topic I have never even heard of, it becomes an occasion to research and fill the gaps in my knowledge. Art and writing dice accomplish a similar effect, because even if I dismiss the results of a roll immediately, it tells me something useful about what direction my creative urge is taking on that occasion, by process of elimination. I also find them useful as aids for worldbuilding in tabletop roleplaying games, whether for a group or for my solitary enjoyment and skill development.
While art and writing dice are hardly a necessary tool in any creative arsenal, they are decidedly helpful in maintaining a consistent daily praxis, when one wishes to advance one's skills without burning out one's Muse through excessive planning. They lend a certain blissful spontaneity, as well as a remarkable capacity for unintentional comedy, that can be a great benefit to an artist suffering creative stagnation and drought.
Iron Noder 2023, 7/30