Play in your Drawing Practice

When you hear “drawing practice,” what comes to mind? 

A still life?  Drawing a live model? Filling up sketchbook pages? 

With what came to mind, was it… fun? I’m guessing not. When it comes to improving your drawing and practicing, sometimes it isn’t as much fun and can feel like a slog, but drawing practice doesn’t have to be grueling! 

Your drawing practice should include some exercises that are less about your performance and more about getting your hand moving and enjoying yourself. Fun and play is just as important as the “serious” skill building exercises. Here’s a few ideas to insert fun and play into your drawing practice: 

• Blind Contour Drawings. Here’s a video tutorial
• Try this fun Dice Game from Jason Sturgill originally featured in Illustoria Magazine
• Blob Drawings. Here’s a fun tutorial
• Urban Sketching with a twist: Focus on only one thing like using a tool, a color, lines, or time limit. Here’s a video example.
• Ditch the pen and try drawing with paint instead! Get a paint set from the dollar store or craft store for less than $5 and try drawing with a brush just to shake things up. Pick colors you’d never normally pick! 
• Play Telestrations with your friends, especially your non-artist friends. It’s more fun that way! 

If you’re not having fun while trying to improve your drawing abilities, don’t take it so seriously and loosen up! A lack of fun is the quickest way to kill any creative endeavor. 

My blind contour drawings from a recent workshop I attended. It was uncomfortable, but I also had fun because it wasn’t about performance.