There’s always enough time to draw!

Wish you had more time to improve your art?

I often hear people say “I don’t have time to draw” or “I didn’t draw for a while, so I really need to force myself to get into it again”. 

Drawing should be fun and something you look forward to!

When we’re thinking about getting back into drawing, we often think we need to have at least an hour to sit down and draw. That’s not true, though. Think about when you were learning something new when you were younger. Just 5 or 10 minutes a day to practice that one thing was enough. The same is true for your art practice. 

The most important thing about learning something new is repetition. It’s important to repeat what you’ve learned.

Which do you think is better? Practicing for 1 hour a month or practicing 5-10 minutes a day? I think a lot of you will agree that practicing more often for a shorter period of time is the better option. 

I just want to make sure that you don’t think of drawing as something you “have” to do but rather think of it as a habit. Something that you “can” do for just 5-10 minutes a day. If you'd rather practice when you have more time to draw that’s also okay. But when you have a busy schedule, it’s better to practice for just 5 min instead of waiting for that 1 hour to draw. 

Because the more often you practice, the better you get and that's how you improve!

Here’s what you can do: allow yourself to sit down for just 5 minutes (or 10 min if that suits you), set a timer and just start drawing. 

Make a plan

Try making a schedule, to give yourself more structure.

For example: 

• Day 1: draw lines for 5 min 
• Day 2: draw shapes for 5 min 
• Day 3: draw spheres for 5 min 
• Day 4: draw cylinders for 5 min
• Day 5: draw cubes for 5 min 

Or 

• Day 1: draw eyes for 5 min 
• Day 2: draw a nose for 5 min 
• Day 3: draw lips for 5 min
• Day 4: draw eyebrows for 5 min 

They'll be simple sketches, you can practice drawing proportions or get used to how to draw an eye in different angles. These short exercises are not about shading or details. Just quick sketches and repetition. The “5 min practice” sketches are just about practicing.

Instead of making simple sketches, you can also continue working on a drawing. For example, drawing a portrait can take about 4 or 5 hours from sketch to finish.

You might not have the time for this and no one expects you to finish a drawing in 1 or 2 days or even a week. If you don’t have a lot of time you can make a schedule to work on your drawing for 5-10 minutes a day.

With this approach, you will come back to your drawing with fresh eyes. Because every time you come back and look at your drawing again you might notice something new to add or correct that you hadn’t seen before.

So why not give it a try! If you challenge yourself to sit down for just 5 min you are more likely to make it a habit and you might even draw more often. 

In the drawing course within my membership, I will teach and encourage you to practice and improve. Want to join our art community? Check out the details here.

- Emmy

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