Check Out NMA    Learn More About our Partnership
Close and Enjoy Drawabox Ad-free

50 % rule - how do you draw ONLY for fun?

8:55 PM, Thursday April 22nd 2021

Hello! first if all, I'm from sweden and english is not my mother toungue so if my english seems weird, thats why. :)

Also, I am really greateful for this place. I am selftaught and want to fill in the gaps. I am looking forward to following all of the steps and lessons.

I am wondering how to draw only for fun and for the sake of drawing.

I dont have a big reportoar of things to draw, my drawing has been mostly observational. So the things I can draw from memory are really childish. And I find this uninspiring and boring. So what do I do? For example, if I want to draw a bird but need a reference photo, can I use one? Or does that count as practice and not "drawing for the sake of drawing"?

Hoping someone can help me with this. Thank you! :)

kind regards

Cristina

Report
4 users agree
9:12 PM, Thursday April 22nd 2021

Hi Cristina!

You can use references and any medium you like. There are no restrictions or boundaries of any kind. As long as you draw what you love without any concern for the final quality it's fine.

I think that what makes for the 50% fun rule is very personal in the end. With time and persistence you will find what you need to balance the time spent studying.

3:46 AM, Friday April 23rd 2021

Hi!

thank you so much for the quick reply! this helps alot!

:)

9:43 PM, Saturday April 24th 2021

I use an app called "sketch a day" for fun drawings.

It delivers a single word prompt each day at 5pm and you can work on the drawing and submit it each day. Lets you be creative about what to draw for each prompt. I often draw from reference.

Also, the community is nice and you can see what other members are doing.

its all free.

8:32 PM, Thursday April 29th 2021

thats a great tip! thank you!! ?

0 users agree
2:11 PM, Monday May 3rd 2021

Hi crissyps, by the way i am also a selftaught learner. the first time i want to draw from my imagination, the result was something that i did not expect and made me down. maybe we can do something better with refference, but i think it's very limited. Then, i just remember the reason why i want to draw is something from imagination. so, i do it but also lower my expectation on the result.

for me, if u would like to draw from refference and can enjoy it, just draw it. but i suggest you to draw without refference to test your visual library. dont think about the result and just let it flow :)

7:48 PM, Monday May 3rd 2021

Hi,

thanks so much for sharing, I feel exactly the same way. My visula library is so small though ?

0 users agree
5:01 PM, Tuesday May 11th 2021

Hello Cristina,

I thought the same thing! :)

I recommend downloading the draw a day app on your mobile phone. Every day a new task and a very friendly community.

Good luck!

11:57 AM, Wednesday May 12th 2021

hello! thank you so much for that! Yes it seems like a very friendly community. I will download that app ?

The recommendation below is an advertisement. Most of the links here are part of Amazon's affiliate program (unless otherwise stated), which helps support this website. It's also more than that - it's a hand-picked recommendation of something I've used myself. If you're interested, here is a full list.
The Art of Blizzard Entertainment

The Art of Blizzard Entertainment

While I have a massive library of non-instructional art books I've collected over the years, there's only a handful that are actually important to me. This is one of them - so much so that I jammed my copy into my overstuffed backpack when flying back from my parents' house just so I could have it at my apartment. My back's been sore for a week.

The reason I hold this book in such high esteem is because of how it puts the relatively new field of game art into perspective, showing how concept art really just started off as crude sketches intended to communicate ideas to storytellers, designers and 3D modelers. How all of this focus on beautiful illustrations is really secondary to the core of a concept artist's job. A real eye-opener.

This website uses cookies. You can read more about what we do with them, read our privacy policy.