Do you need to exercise a skill every day to get better?
How Long You Should Draw A Day To Get Better? To get better at drawing you need to dedicate at least 30 minutes a day to the habit. Realistically any amount of drawing you can do a day will improve your skill. It’s important to focus on what to draw instead of drawing in general.
Start from the beginning even if you are knowledgeable about the medium. You never know what has been forgotten. Building a drawing habit isn’t only about advancing a talent, but also how it makes you feel.
Read further how to set a drawing habit, what to cover, and how else this hobby can benefit you.
How to begin a habit
Beginning time should match your schedule
The idea of throwing your entire being into this new undertaking may float through your mind but leave it there. Look at the time that you have in a day. It’s likely everything is filed up with things that you already like to do.
Well, you are going to have to give up one of those things. To do something new you have to give up something old.
After you have decided when you can fit in drawing how much time do you have in the day to do it. Some people have some extra time while others are already squeezed tight as it is.
For those who don’t have as much time, you will have to remember the word flexible. You might not have a certain time right now, nor a certain length. Just get it in when you can.
If that means getting in five minutes with a pen and post-it notes. Do it. When you have more time for a relaxing hobby you can put in more time. There is no need to rush the experience.
As you continue to make time for drawing whether you want to make time for will be clearer. If you feel that more time is needed you will look at the other things that take up your time and see where you can make room.
How good are you at forming habits?
If this something that you want to do the first step is to develop a habit. At first, your drawings will be nowhere near what you have in your mind. You will have to deal with that to varying degrees for a while.
Get over being perfect. Don’t tell people when they ask if you can draw that you can’t even draw a stick figure. It doesn’t matter. As long as you put pencil to paper every day.
The lines will get surer and proportions will start to make sense. At first, all that you need to worry about is putting that pen to paper every day.
Some people can draw for an hour every day from the start. While others immerse themselves to judge their amateur talent by a master’s standards. Just take a deep breath and concentrate on the drawing.
Start out with 30 minutes a day, but each person is an individual. Ask yourself how much time you have per day to dedicate to drawing then go from there.
You don’t want the new habit to feel like a duty your mindset will work against it if it views this new habit as an obligation. Try to frame as something that you are excited about and make it a relaxing venture.
Make your favorite drink to sip on while drawing and get comfortable. Framing your activity this way makes it much more enticing. The video below has some more tips for you to ensure that you will draw every day.
What you should draw to get better
Just as important as putting assign time to draw is what to draw. There are a lot of wrong ways to go about it. Just sitting in front of a blank piece of paper will just result in doodling, which doesn’t help your technique.
Those that are new to drawing or haven’t done it in a while should start at the beginning. Even if you took art classes in high school you have no idea what you have forgotten since them. It doesn’t hurt to brush up.
It’s not going to be creative at first. But don’t underestimate the feeling you get the first time a circle is shaded perfectly. Take your time and conquer every step it will help out in the long run.
If you don’t know where to begin you can check out tutorials online. A lot of drawing tutorials are floating around online, but not all of them are created equal. Look for one that gives you the basics of drawing.
- Lines
- Proportion
- Perspective
- Shape
- Form
Each one of these elements builds upon each other. Rather than learning to draw one thing like a lot of tutorials out there practicing the above will help in any art project.
All art starts at lines from fashion to interior. Practice how dark or light you can make your lines. Practice cross-hatching and stippling these will come in handy later with shading.
An understanding proportion will help your drawings look realistic. It forces you to look at the object to see how all the corners and curves interact with each other to make the overall piece. Pay attention to this area, it will make your drawing future a lot easier.
Perspective adds depth to drawings with the objects in them. One point and two-point perspective are where students start on this subject. Think of perspective for city scenes even in distant landscapes.
More than circles and squares shape represents the outline of the thing being drawn. Don’t start with the minor details then outline it. To get the correct proportion you have to learn shape.
The form is when a drawing starts to look real. It’s the little details that give art depth. Shading with values or the above cross-hatching or stippling is where your drawing becomes alive. Learn the realistic method of shading to understand the exact places to place minimalistic values.
What are your intentions for this talent?
Do you want it to be a relaxing hobby that you do for yourself or do you want to take a more commercial path? Each one is a legitimate way to go. Just stick to whatever feels right for you.
How do you maintain a habit?
Keep it up every day. I know that some days it’s harder to maintain a schedule than others, but your life is never going to settle down enough for you to do it later.
For the days where it just doesn’t happen don’t beat yourself up just start again the next day. It’s ok as long as you start again.
How to advance
The simple act of doing something every day will make you better at that thing. After a while, the joy of simply being able to draw something and it looks how you want it to look wears off and you will crave more challenge.
Some people want to go in a more graphic direction and will go with Adobe Illustrator, others will drift into painting capturing more vibrant scenes.
Play with a lot of methods and tools to see what fits for you.
- Realistic drawing
- Non-objective
- Painting
- Sculpture
Why you should set a section of your time to draw even if you can’t
Something happens when you start to draw. Your concentration goes from day to day to stark black lines on white paper. Drawing is a productive activity.
Placing that white paper in front of you then producing something with your own hands with plans from your mind. It clears everything.
The simple act of drawing works as a meditative practice for those who struggle with standard forms of meditation. Instead of sitting on the floor trying to clear your mind you are using the act of creation to do it for you.
Doing this once a day especially in the morning sets the pace for the day. You will be more inclined to be in the moment of the day.
We often live lives of consumption with very little creation. No matter how small or wobbly your new creations are they are something that you have made so be proud of them.
Drawing is a simple form of creating something that didn’t exist before now breathes below you on your tablet.
The best way to set a drawing habit is to view it as a pleasurable experience and start at the basics to help when t your talent evolves. Look for quality content instead of one-off tutorials that show the user how to draw one thing one way.
If you learn the basics no matter how tedious you will know how to draw anything.