You want to draw you want to improve by drawing everyday but how. Maybe like me you would do great for a week or two but then it slowly fizzles out. There just isn’t enough time. Work, school, family, all of demands our time how can we manage to insert something creative. Continue reading below as I list some tips to help you build the habit of drawing daily.
- Put your cell phone down
You’ve heard it many time. Ironically you might be on your phone right now. Everyone has technology at their finger tips and it can be a great resource to learn something new, connect with others and work from home but it can also be a great distractor. I used to doom scroll.. a lot! I still do on occasion. One January I decided to fast from Instagram. I didn’t stop using my phone I just made the conscience decision to not be on Instagram. It made a big difference. I had more time to do other things. I realized how much time I was spending on my phone. I didn’t start drawing right away actually I just watched more TV but even that felt more productive than doom scrolling on my phone. I read once before that our brains get a small dopamine hit every time we complete a task. However when we look at social media, for example, it gets a huge dopamine hit with little effort so we continue to do it and small tasks don’t give us enough dopamine so we don’t do it. Making this small change could be exactly what you need to re train your brain to get those hits from drawing. What will happen is once you start drawing you will get little hits and then more and more and then you will want to do it automatically.
2. Make it as convenient as possible.
Fast food is so popular because it’s easy and takes the least amount of effort and your eating in minutes. Microwave meals, crockpot meals they all have the same thing in common ease of use and convenience. The more convenient something is the more than likely you will do it. How can we translate this to drawing everyday. Put your sketchbook in plain sight. Leave it on the desk with a pencil next to if you have to make it as assessable as possible. If your sketch book and drawing pencils are buried in a desk you won’t take the effort to dig it out. Carry your sketchbook with you, invest in a tiny moleskin so that you can draw on the go or a sketch wallet. It’s perfect when you pull out your wallet to order something you can draw a quick sketch while waiting for your coffee drink etc. It works. I will pass by my desk look at my sketchbook and do a quick doodle.
3. Draw what interests you
When people are first starting out they will pick a ‘how to draw’ book and they get hung up on the technical side or drawing. Eventually, it can become boring or maybe too difficult. Now, there is merits to the technical side and it will definitely be necessary to improve but right now you just want to build the habit of drawing everyday. Once you got that down the drive to learn and improve will come. Now take a moment to think about what interests you? Make a list, or brainstorm web. Do you like Anime? Manga? Disney? Maybe there is an artist on Instagram you really admire. Maybe you want to be able to draw people or interesting architecture. You love to draw fruit or cute characters. Whatever it is draw it! You want to draw Pokémon then start there! Make it fun and don’t worry about messing up. You are more likely to stay consistent if you are drawing something you like.
4. Use Drawing prompts/Go through a book
Sometimes this issue to drawing everyday is knowing what to draw. There are lots of free drawing prompts you can search online. When I am not sure what to draw I use 300 Drawing Prompts by Piccadilly. I bought mine from Barnes and noble you can also check Amazon(affiliate link). Also, I have a book I bought while in Japan that has fun easy cute illustrations. I don’t have a link to this book but I found one similar here: How to draw Cute Stuff (affiliate link).
You can go through one of these books page by page this helps take the burden of “what to draw or artists block” away. You could also participate in a drawing challenge like ‘Inktober’ or ‘Mermay’ there are lot’s artist on Instagram like these: Tom Haugomat, Angela Pan, Gaux Art and there are many others. You could follow for inspiration for these drawing challenges. Whichever you choose make sure it interests you.
5. Push past the drawing slump
This is the toughest part but you can do this! The first week of drawing everyday is easy but I’ll admit you will reach a slump when you don’t feel like drawing. Push through that feeling. If you can push past this slump it will be so rewarding. What do you do when, it’s been a rough day at work or school, your home and it’s just not in you to draw. Walk to your sketch book and simply draw an emoji or how you feel or just draw one line. Anything, that one thing will get you into drawing and 9 times out of 10 you will draw more and if you don’t that one smiley face or that one line counts for drawing that day so you didn’t fall of the wagon. You can check it off and count it as a day you drew and yes maybe there will be three or four days of this maybe even a full week but that urge and that feeling to draw will come back and you will sit and create art without the feeling of failing because even if it was small you still managed to draw that day.
6. Accountability
Another way to stay consistent with your drawing challenge is to have a friend join you! Maybe you and you bff want to draw together or your partner. When two people are walking together and one person falls down the other person can pick them up. It can be the same for drawing. The days you don’t feel like drawing your partner will and they will encourage you to draw and vice versa. Together you make it through the slumps and keep the habit of drawing everyday. They also make it fun you show each other your latest sketches your silly mistakes and you can tell each other how you’ve improved. What if you don’t have someone to hold you accountable, this is where social media can be a help. You can post your daily sketch to Instagram or other social media. Don’t worry about posting a ‘bad sketch’ the goal is to share and stay consistent maybe even get a dopamine hit from likes and if you gain a mass following that’s only a plus!
7. Have Fun!
Sounds a bit cliché but remember why you are doing this because you enjoy drawing and creating art! Don’t worry about your sketchbook being perfect. You will make mistakes turn it into something fun. For example, you are trying to draw a sunset on a cityscape but can’t get the perspective right, now frustration has set in and you want to just erase or rip out the whole page. Draw a wonky face on it and move on but leave don’t scratch it out. Dr. Seuss’s art style happened because he was trying to draw realistic zoo animals. He couldn’t get it right and his mom told him to keep drawing it that way because it looked great. He later became a famous children’s author and illustrator. Maybe these mistakes might lead to something wonderful. Enjoy your art journey!
I hope these tips can encourage you to keep drawing! It is a skill that anyone can learn and having a daily habit of any kind honestly feels good you feel accomplished. Don’t give up and keep drawing you can build the habit of drawing everyday and become the artist you want to be!