3 Websites that are Guaranteed to Boost Your Creativity
By Macy Jackson on March 13, 2026
The good thing about hobbies is that they’ll always be there for you. They’re fun, they pass the time, and having them can even improve your mental health (which is great when you’re a student and have stress-inducing homework). The bad thing about hobbies is that they can unfortunately take time, especially if they have to do with art. Art-related hobbies, in my opinion, are some of the most fun, and it’s rewarding to create something that you’ve visualized in your mind and have it exist in the real world. That being said, here are three websites that I believe will be helpful to you when it comes to pursuing art seriously, or if not, they can at least introduce a little bit more art-related joy into your life.
- Like its name suggests, this first website has to do with character design, and is perfect for those who want to improve their art, and develop their style by studying others. Some of its features I especially enjoy are the Grand Portfolios, and its Art of Animation pages, both of them have a wide array of art styles to take inspiration from. You can take as much time as you’d like to study the old-school fantasy works of John Howe (who take artwork for J.R.R’s Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings), the colours and shading techniques of Mimi’s digital artworks, the distinctive style of Dan Mora’s comic book works, and more!
- I’m not exaggerating when I say that sites’ Art of Animation pages are a goldmine. It’s got character pages from movies like Mulan, Into the Spiderverse, and Ghibli Movies like Castle in the Sky, to shows like Naruto, Sailor Moon, and Little Witch Academia, so that if you can really study the character design sheets and practice on making your own.
- This next website differs from the first in that while nothing is stopping you from making some serious artwork off of it, its intention for you is much more casual. Flipanim allows you to make short little flipbook animations. It gives you a selection of drawing tools (pencil, marker, bucket tool, etc), an eraser and an undo button to fix your mistakes, and a whole lot of colours and pages for you to let your creativity fly. When you’re done, press play, control how fast you want the animation to go, and watch your flipbook come to life!
- This one is less drawing related, but still an opportunity for discovery and creativity. It’s a simple website that lets you mix elements and see what they make combined. The site starts you off with fire, air, earth, and water and all you have to do is click and drag and keep going until you find all 580 possible combinations. How do you make fire into a volcano? Or earth into obsidian? This is a good website to chase the boredom away.
Obviously there’s no rush, but just because you’re busy with school doesn’t mean you have to let your creativity die. So if you like art, whether it’s a serious or a casual hobby, make sure to keep these websites in your back pocket so you can turn to them when you’ve got that itch to create.
Header image created by Macy Jackson