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what quantifies as the 50% Rule?

8:53 AM, Sunday April 5th 2026

I genuinely ask myself this question, I understand it's doing something without the fact of looking for any type of improvement but I'm still curious if someone can Breakdown the concept of the Fifty percent rule? -

1: Do full illustrations count?

2: Is it drawing a doodle or something random And not looking for anything to critique about it and just feeling the sensation of drawing?

3: Is it Experimentation, like playing with brushes or using Color when you never would normally?

4: Is it Drawing an idea from your head or drawing anything what's not about results? I genuinely am curious or is even other thinkiing it still not 50% cause, you're focusing on what it gives you?

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2:33 PM, Sunday April 5th 2026

The purpose of the 50% rule is to allow you to focus on what you want to draw and not be afraid of producing a bad drawing. You can use reference but only if you are not directly copying from it, if you are using reference out of fear/disdain of producing a bad drawing, hold off until you no longer fear/dislike it.

https://drawabox.com/lesson/0/2

  1. Yes

  2. I would recommend drawing something bigger than a doodle but that would be fine to do. It doesn't have to be random, just whatever subject you are learning drawing for. Yes, you are not looking for critique and are just drawing for the sake of it.

  3. You can do whatever you like, you can use any tool you are interested in. You can experiment or stick with pencil/pen.

  4. It is drawing from your head as long as you hold the fear/dislike of producing a bad drawing. You can use reference to help understand the subject but you must draw it different than how it is represented in the reference. You are learning to enjoy the process, not caring about the end goal.

4:49 PM, Sunday April 5th 2026

Very helpful thank you

4:30 AM, Wednesday April 8th 2026

Wait..I have question

How can I draw from imagination like that I'm confused how it fundamentally works. I usually copy and even that my copy isn't great. I'm saying this because I think I've been doing my 50% wrong. I usually find an image I like then draw it (copy paste) without trying to learn from it,basically for fun.

4:29 PM, Wednesday April 8th 2026

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ocmPR_EprE Go to 17:07 in the video.

The hard part of the 50% rule is doing it from imagination. You won't understand how certain things work because you haven't trained for it. Depending on your aversion for failure, it will be frustrating to do. You will be flying blind and it will be uncomfortable.

You can use reference but, you can't copy exactly how it is represented. For example if you are drawing a character, you are only using the reference to fill in gaps, not to draw exactly what you see in the reference. That would be a study (which is good for learning but not for the 50% rule). You are not trying to learn during the 50% rule, it's to make you comfortable will failure, embrace experimentation, and enjoy drawing for the sake of it.

6:09 PM, Thursday April 9th 2026

I see! thank you so much that really helped. I did feel like I wasn't ready to make art from imagination cause I thought my skills wasn't good enough yet. but I guess that's the point!

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