If you’re anything like me you wish you could draw better, faster. Have you wondered “How can I see quicker progress in my drawing skill?”
Personally there have been many times when I’ve done a drawing and wondered why it didn’t look right. I found myself thinking “How long does it take to really see improvement?”
It’s natural to think that maybe if you spend more time on a drawing it’ll look better.
But counterintuitively, that’s not the case. To see dramatic improvement you should spend less time on individual drawings and do more drawings instead.
What is the Best Way to Spend One Hour Drawing?
Let’s say you only have one hour to draw. Are you better off spending the whole hour on just one drawing? Or are you better off doing several drawings in that hour?
Most beginning artists who spend a full hour or more on a drawing will spend most of that time adding details and shading on a drawing where the foundation is wonky.
In other words they don’t spend enough time on the foundation part—measuring and making sure the proportions are correct.
By limiting the time you spend on a drawing you’ll find yourself spending those first critical minutes in observing and sketching out the foundation lines quicker.
Progress is measured in number of drawings, not the amount of time you spend on a drawing.
Here’s an example. Imagine two beginning artists who each have just 1 hour per week to spend on their art. Artist A spends the full hour on just one drawing. Artist B spends the same hour doing 6 drawings, 10 minutes each.
- At the end of a year Artist A will have 52 drawings.
- At the end of the same year Artist B will have 312.
Who do you think will show the most progress? The greater the number of drawings the greater the improvement.
Different Time Lengths Have Different Benefits
Drawing for one hour can be split up in different ways:
- One drawing per hour
- Two 30-minute drawings per hour
- Three 20-minute drawings per hour
- Four 15-minute drawings per hour
- Six 10-minute drawings per hour
- Twelve 5-minute drawings per hour
Here are twelve 5-minute drawings I just did:
5-minute drawings don’t look like much, so why do such short drawings?
As an example take a closer look at the 5-minute drawing of two horses (from a photo on Pixaby.com ).
It doesn’t have details but by focusing my attention on the negative spaces around the horses I’ve sketched them in the right places and in the correct proportion to each other.
The benefit of doing short drawings is it forces you to see the large shapes and angles quick and get them down.
Here I’ve continued the drawing and captured it at the different time lengths:
As I was working on the last drawing I found myself leaning in, trying to capture a lot of detail from the photo reference.
The result was I was losing sight of where I wanted the viewer’s attention to be focused, and the horse on the left pulls more attention than I wanted.
So in Photoshop I combined the 30-minute and 1-hour drawings and pulled back some of the detail on the left horse to better direct attention to the horse on the right.
The adjustment is subtle but it shows how much can change in thirty minutes. It also shows how important it is to take breaks from your drawings and see them with fresh eyes.
This table lists some of the benefits from doing drawings of different time lengths:
Personally 15–20 minutes is my sweet spot for most of my drawings. In that time I’ve captured the essence of the scene and I get antsy to do the next one.
Once in awhile I get the urge to make a more detailed drawing that takes an hour or more.
And sometimes I want to work fast and loose at around 10–15 minutes.
5-minute drawings are also a good way to force myself into a drawing mood if I’m feeling sluggish and not in the mood.
Hundreds of Drawings = Progress
I know, doing hundreds of drawings sounds impossibly daunting, especially if you take an hour on each drawing.
But to give you an idea of how quickly you can improve, look at this chart. It shows how many drawings you can do with only 3 hours per week.
It’s obvious that someone who draws 936 drawings will show more improvement than someone who only drew 156.
The amazing thing is you’d still have spent the same amount of time.
Setup for Success
For quick progress have your drawing references in front of you.
If you don’t have your own photos available try using these free online resources:
• Random picture generator: https://randompicturegenerator.com/
• Figure drawing (random figure drawing practice https://quickposes.com/en/gestures/random )
• Landscape and buildings (Mapcrunch https://www.mapcrunch.com/ )
Once you have your photos, set a timer and go.
Mix it up to see the fastest improvement.
Try a 5-minute session for one hour, then a 10-minute session.
Or do a 20-minute session followed by a 30-minute session.
Remember, it’s not about the finished drawing. It’s about the process of drawing, and you want to experience as much of that process as you can.
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