Jacob's No Pressure Guide to Learning How to Enjoy Art Practice
DISCLAIMER: I own none of this. All of it is just an abridged version of the Drawclass (link: Drawclass 04/29/2022: Jacob's No Pressure Guide to Learning How to Enjoy Art Practice - YouTube). Please watch the video for the full experience, context, and nuance.
So, recently Jacob Andrews from Drawfee taught a class on how to practice art without putting too much pressure on yourself, and honestly, it was excellent. Do give it a watch if you're also facing a wall in getting started on art practice (also subscribe to their channels and support them on Patreon for more excellent content :D). Since I don't really have a good memory for basically anything, I did what I usually do to memorize stuff: I made notes. This blog post is basically just for me, but I'll be glad if it helps other people too. (again, all credit to Jacob and Nathan for the excellent Drawclass).
The Rules
Rule #1: Pick any 5 days during the week to practice. Take your break days whenever you want.
Rule #2: Set a minimum time for each day that is easily achievable. Continue drawing after that only if you feel like it.
Rule #3: If you miss a day, it doesn’t matter. Just try again the next day. (Avoid thinking of it as maintaining your “streaks”)
Rule #4: Do NOT try to do a good job (Practice is INPUT). The only judgment you get to make is if you drew or not.
Rule #5: Focus on something you want to improve on each week. It can be as general or specific as you want it to be.
The Schedule
Day 1: Draw from imagination to the best of your ability
- the aim is to get warmed up and also to get a baseline for the week
- Jacob’s Example: Jumping poses, 15 minutes
Day 2: Speed sketching
- numerous and fast drawings from reference
- Fast is subjective, whatever feels comfortable for you (the upper limit is 3 minutes, Jacob does 30 seconds to 1 minute)
- Not going for detail, just capture the structure and vibe, as fast as you can
- No need to even save it
- Jacob’s Example: 10 minutes, ~1 minute for each reference photo (reference photos from Pinterest)
● Nathan’s sketches from the same reference photos:
Day 3: Reference drawing
- Pick references (the number is up to you) and spend a little more time with each one
- Capture details and complexities this time (like if day 2 was poses, then in day 3, try to capture musculature or folding of clothes etc.)
- Doesn’t have to be a one to one copy, you can stylize
- Another thing you can do is lower the opacity of the reference image and place your sketch over it to see which areas need improvement. In case of Jacob’s example, he mentions that the torso and legs are too short (areas of improvement which he was already aware of, so in general he tries to keep those in mind while drawing).
- Nathan’s sketches from the same reference photos:
Day 4: Style study
- Take a look at how professional artists portray the topic you’re studying
- It helps you to develop shorthands and your own style
- Pull up references and try to imitate to the best of your ability
- Can also draw over the reference pics to understand the shape language and flow (but don’t simply trace the drawing)
- Also try to notice shapes made by the negative space
- Basically don’t mindlessly copy, this is “active copying”
● Nathan’s:
Day 5: Draw from imagination again
- Put together what you learned throughout the week
- Compare with day 1 (hopefully, you will notice improvements)
- Changes will be incremental, don’t be discouraged!
- Jacob’s example: 10 minutes of free drawing:
● Nathan’s:
I hope this was helpful. Good luck with your art practice!
