HOW TO FIND TIME FOR DRAWING

HOW TO FIND TIME FOR DRAWING

Hello, my name is Ida Andersen Lang, here with Art-Tv.
One thing that I am asked about again and again about drawing is, what if I don’t have time for drawing, I really want to draw I’m just so busy, I never have time to draw, then what do you do? It’s a fact that we live in a time where we are all busy with tons of things, it seems like time has sped up, we have the feeling that we never have time. The act of drawing and being a person who takes time to draw, can pull you in the other direction in a positive way.

Before I proceed to my tip of day about how you can find time to draw, a fact that I think many of us know but may not be conscious about, is that from morning to evening you do have some time, you can take out time to draw. I have for more than half a year had an app on my phone, that is tracking my behavior on my phone, and it’s a little bit embarrassing to watch what I’ve done on my phone sometimes. But also enlightening and it reminds me of what I really want you to know about time, I found out that on average I spend about an hour of time every single day on my phone. When I started to track, it was two and a half hour and that was a shock, I really tried to cut it down and now I’m on approximately one hour, I can’t seem to get it any lower.

Much of the time spend on the phone is free time, I could choose to do whatever I want in that time, so why not choose a bit of that time for drawing. It’s possible so what I suggest is that you set a goal for a minimum time you want to spend on drawing every day. Don’t put up an unrealistic goal, what I suggest is that you begin with the goal of 10 minutes, I’ve done this on and off for many years. I do other drawings, not every day but I’m a person who draws a lot, so I of course have other projects. Keep a small sketchbook where you commit yourself to draw a minimum of 10 minutes every day.

You should keep it simple and small so it’s manageable, I suggest if you don’t already have it, go and get a small drawing sketchbook. It doesn’t have to be a fancy one, it can be with a spiral back if you prefer, or it could be a hardback or a folded sketchbook of some kind. Something simple and keep it small, if you prefer a larger sketchbook please do go ahead, but to keep it simple then use a small sketchbook that you can keep in your pocket or in your back.  Keep it with you during the day, when you have five minutes then pull out the book, the pencil and draw a little sketch. That’s what it’s about, a small manageable book and one pencil, if you prefer more, go ahead, but you just need one pencil to draw.

It can be a mechanical pencil if you prefer to draw with a sharp tool, I prefer to draw with a sharp tool and love mechanical pencils. It can be an average writing pencil, keep it simple and put a date in your sketchbook in the morning, or when you feel like it during the day.  Commit yourself to draw on that page for 10 minutes during the day, you can draw anything and it doesn’t matter if you feel good at drawing or not, this is about is building up the habit of taking out the notebook, the pencil and do the act of drawing. Don’t judge your drawing at all in this book.

You can draw from your surroundings, something simple that you’re looking at, like right now I’m looking at a sweater hanging on my cloth hanger. Could be a drawing from my imagination, if you’re on a train or bus trip, you can make a quick sketch of something you see through the window, and then keep drawing on that from your imagination. We are talking about ten minutes drawings not finished drawings, simple stickman sketches and don’t judge it at all. Draw from your imagination or a motif from a dream, from something you want to happen in the future, imagine that and make a drawing of it.

Or draw your hand that’s also a possibility, something we’re not talking so much about today, but it’s a good practice to draw hands regularly. It could be whatever, some doodles, patterns or whatever it doesn’t matter at all what it is, the thing is to commit yourself to take out your notebook every single day, put a date on a page and draw something on that page for at least ten minutes every day. You can split it up in two times five minutes or whatever is possible for you, if you do that on a regular basis you will see some results, and you will get much more comfortable with the act of drawing just by doing it.
So, I challenge you to try and start that up, see where it will lead you.

That was the drawing tip of today from me and I’ll see you another day for more drawing tips, bye!