How to draw everyday

collector

I really like the "Iterative Drawing" convention mixed with "Quantity, not Quality". First and foremost, I recommend watching this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0ufz75UvHs and then reading this http://johnmuirlaws.com/art-and-drawing/quantity-quality (I think everyone will like these links :)).

Instead of stressing out trying to make ONE perfect subject (quality), you will instead draw hundreds of imperfect versions of the subject, but always learning something new (iterative quantity). After that, you will be able to draw UNLIMITED perfect variations of the subject. <- make sure you always review every drawing and correct your mistakes in the next one/add something new in the next one, otherwise it won't be "iterative", it will be "blind" practice.

Every drawing is a preparation for the next one, so don't focus on pretty pictures on daily practice.

IN DETAILS:
It is no use if you keep blindly drawing something for the sake of "practice everyday" without correcting your mistakes, without learning about them and without improving upon them. So the iterative drawing + "quantity not quality" makes you draw the same subject dozens upon hundreds of times. But applying what you learned in the previous drawing and fixing it. Then since you are focused on quantity, you will draw, for example, a billion eyes iteratively, with just a little fix here and there, until you master it.

“The ceramics teacher announced that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would weigh the work of the “quantity” group: fifty pound of pots rated an “A”, forty pounds a “B”, and so on. Those being graded on “quality”, however, needed to produce only one pot – albeit a perfect one – to get an “A”. At grading time, a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the “quantity” group was busily churning out piles of work – and learning from their mistakes – the “quality” group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.” and Drawing isn't about trying and trying until something nice turns out. If your drawings look bad, there's a reason for it. You need to find it and solve the problem, not go and create a situation in which this problem will not be visible. You won't become a chess champion by facing only players that are easy to beat.

EDITED - these are my notes and annotations that I extracted from the video:

Creating bridges between the analytical and intuitive sides of the brain.
The intuitive brain is not struck in this world where everything has to be explained and measured, like the analytical one.
Do not get struck in one way of doing things (creative freedom)
Example: Instead of creating a whole body, create 20 heads, changing positions, etc ITERATIVELY, checking defects and correcting them next. With this you will get a lot of mileage and muscle memory.
Wait a day, analyze, see what’s right and wrong, and do again.
Iterative: not about making a finished image, it is about developing the brain, from purely analytical to intuitive mileage
Analyze and make better guesses of the first item you draw in the series, then keep iterating it
Also focus on iterating a single item many times instead of doing for instance: a person, a tree, a skull, choose one, let’s say a very specific tree and keep iterating it by your own, analyzing it, until mastered.
Another example: don’t draw 20 different eyes in a page, instead, repeat the first eyes 20 times, BUT analyzing and improving one by one until perfected or until you feel it is right
Pages and pages of iterations
If using references (https://youtu.be/k0ufz75UvHs?t=35m5s), don’t copy. Study and analyze based on your drawing, what is different / let’s try again / what I remember etc. Also try this day and then wait until next day and try again from memory, or comparing to previous day.
Draw pages and pages, BUT ANALYZE WHAT YOU ARE DOING, WHY AND HOW CAN I IMPROVE IT and then draw again improving. And keep improving and analyzing. Instead on relying on tutorials and everything else that tell you what to do. Figure it out yourself.

MOO

@Bob-Crum That's interesting. When I was a little girl with 5 sisters and one brother (later two), we all liked to color and draw with crayons. We did ti so much! My mom used to spread out the newspaper want ads on the hardwood floors and dump the crayons out and we would draw over the small print

MOO

@NoWayMe Character Design shuffle! Ha! That sounds good!

Tyler Hallstrom

One thing that always helps me draw is to have an ongoing project to work on. That way you can see tangible progress towards a finished product. That could be a multitude of things. You don't need to start with something huge, think about what area of illustration you enjoy the most and find a project/product that accentuates that. A Drawing Challenge, a Comic Book, a Children's Book - anything that gets you excited to draw!

rcartwright

Scribble until you find something. Basically just throw down some lines and then think of something to turn it into (not a face) and start drawing over top. You will find yourself creating goofy characters and objects that can be refined into real items. As far as doing it everyday you need to make an actual time for it and stick to that time.

audrey dowling

sorry if I repeat what others have said, I don't have time to read all the replies. but here are a few things I do (on top of my head):

draw what's in front of you (even if it's boring. once you start, you might find yourself tweaking what you see to make it look more interesting, that's when creativity comes out)
do anatomy studies (hands, feet, nose, preferably what you need to improve). I love this website to practice and sketch https://line-of-action.com/
keep a list of things you would like to draw, styles or media you would like to try: whenever you look at other people's work, you probably think "oh I'd like to try this some day", so whenever you think of something, write it down, because when you have no inspiration, these ideas never come up then!
do master copies and value/composition studies: any artist you admire, work that caught your attention, do it. a pinterest account is great for that, you can pin whenever you see something and come back to it later, when you need it
practice drawing a character consistently: you can go back on a character you've drawn before and draw it from different angles, face expressions etc...

eventually, something will come out of that: whether is unblocking your creativity, improving your skills or creating something new and exciting
Giuseppe Castellano recently gave an art tip on twitter, that I really liked:
• Buy a cheap sketchbook.
• Title it: Bad Drawings Only
• Use a cheap pen/pencil.
• Draw freely

Lee White

Some good suggestions here.

Some more basic advice is to simply make time (like a week) to actually figure out what you want to draw. This is part of the process. If you skip it, everything after that becomes difficult because you are sitting there staring at a blank page.

Sketching just what is around you is sort of lazy and super boring (IMO). Take a week and gather the coolest, most interesting stuff you can find and put it in a notebook. Then use it as inspiration when you sit down to draw. You can do master copies, or just start on a theme and run with it. Space ships, robots, tree houses, city scapes are all things that get me going. What is it going to be for you?

smceccarelli

I thought I had nothing to add to this thread, until I read Lee´s post - which reminded me of something.
I used to draw from posebooks, cover-to-cover (I still pick them up sometimes). I have always been interested in drawing people more than anything else, but going out and sitting in a coffee shop to draw happens too rarely. So I bought posebooks (there are a zillion out there, even some with different focus, like "children" or "action poses" or "sports") and just drew from them, one page after the other. Some have the same pose from 6 or 8 different angles, which is even more interesting. You can even use a timer and set it as short as 3 minutes per pose (short poses are a staple of live drawing). When you can draw without thinking what and learn something in as short as 3 minutes, there are no excuses for not doing it

linhb

i dont get your question tho u said u dont know what to draw(dont have any idea), but i feel like u dont know how to draw( dont know how to start ). if im wrong im sorry and stop reading right now.

if u dont know how to draw here is some tips

1.first watch finished not perfect of jaked parker
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRtV-ugIT0k

2.maybe 30 mins before u go to sleep just find some refs u like i try do draw them by basic forms try to break them by boxes, spheres, cylinders,...

+draw outdoor with sketchbook (dont buy expensive buy the cheapest u can find)

U dont need to draw by your memory that thing for professional or at least forget it for now
2 kind of sketchbook u may wanna consider
-A4 sketchbook is great u dont usually forget at a coffee shop a in a restaurant easier to draw details
-small sketchbook really easy to carry around draw quick because u dont need to do the details... your drawing will be really rough if u dont draw well....
up to u use whatever u want to make u feel comfortable
Find some refs u like to draw and keep them inside/near your sketchbook maybe u wanna write down drawing process in your sketchbook i have my own drawing process and i always follow it
+basic forms/shapes
+center line/curve/...
+perspective or contour lines
+rough drawing
+clean lines/ink

crosshatching/marker
+color

if your draw not good dont find some thing complex just find something simple to draw ( walk before run)
if the place very crowd and u really afraid of ppl look at your drawings then do some straight lines, circles, curves(help your line work better) or 1,2,3 point persp

basically if u want to do drawing or designing for living just draw anything on any piece of paper u can find( and dont wast paper tho try to fill up) dont wast time
hope it help

@lee-white said in How to draw everyday:

Some good suggestions here.

Some more basic advice is to simply make time (like a week) to actually figure out what you want to draw. This is part of the process. If you skip it, everything after that becomes difficult because you are sitting there staring at a blank page.

Sketching just what is around you is sort of lazy and super boring (IMO). Take a week and gather the coolest, most interesting stuff you can find and put it in a notebook. Then use it as inspiration when you sit down to draw. You can do master copies, or just start on a theme and run with it. Space ships, robots, tree houses, city scapes are all things that get me going. What is it going to be for you?

Thanks so much for your suggestion! I have a bunch of inspiring artwork on folders on Pinterest and Instagram that I'd love to pull out. I'll try and start, and after a while I'll possibly post a thread here on how it turned out. Thanks again.

@linhb Thanks! I love that video from @Jake-Parker! This will definetly help