Building a drawing habit is one of the best things you can do for your art skills.
But if you go about it the wrong way – you’ll end up hating the process.
So Here are 4 mistakes I made while trying to form my daily drawing habit (and how you can avoid them)…
Mistake 1: Being too Ambitious
A lot of people commit to BIG HABIT goals for their drawing skills at the start like;
“Draw for 3 hours everyday”
“I need to draw all the time because that’s what the PROs do”
Here’s the problem – Most people don’t do art for a living and you have a life.
You have other priorities that takes up your time and energy. So if your schedule doesn’t realistically allow for hours of daily drawing,
Then its not sustainable, unless your entire life is built around it.
Instead, you need to pick something that feels ‘too easy’. Something that’s Stupid Simple.
It could be:
• 10 mins/day
• 20 mins/day
• Even 6 mins/day
That’s how I started my ‘100 days of sketching’ challenge. All I planned on doing was to show up for 6 mins/day of daily sketching for 100 days.
The point of doing something ‘too easy’ is to help you sustain your habits not only on the good days, but also those bad ones.
Because if you can sustain it – you can grow it.
Mistake 2: Having No System
When people sit down to draw, they are often met with the question of;
“What should I draw?”
To avoid this, you need a ‘System’ for Generating Ideas. And not having one makes everything hard.
A ‘System’ is Repeatable 🔁
An Idea generation system makes the process of showing up to draw everyday, easier.
It could look something like:
• Having a Monthly theme
• A clear focus (specific subjects to draw)
• A purpose for each practice session etc.
And that Theme/Purpose should inform what you draw.
Example: Drawing Stylized Heads (or) Bodies for the month of may (or whatever month)
The system also needs to dictate what tools you’ll draw with.
So, the next time you sit to draw, make sure you know:
– What you’re drawing.
– What tools you’ll use.
– What themes you’ll stick to and for how long.
This will reduce your ‘decision fatigue’ and will help create a sustainable habit.
Mistake 3: Having No Schedule
People say if you do something for 90 days, it becomes a habit,
But that’s NOT TRUE ❌
I used to meditate everyday for about eight months But I don’t have a consistent meditation habit right now, despite having done it for months!
Why? Well…
You can do something for years, but if it’s not scheduled – it won’t continue.
Every habit needs a:
• The trigger for that habit
• A fixed time block in your schedule
Else, the habit won’t stick. 🙂↔️
What you need to do is: Have a Scheduled Time in your day to draw, and a Trigger that’s Automatic (like an alarm), so that you don’t rely on memory alone to execute your habit.
And finally…
Mistake 4: Trying to do it Alone
This was the BIGGEST mistake I made.
Ten years ago, I tried multiple times to build a consistent drawing practice.
But it never stuck. 😔
But in 2018, I publicly announced that I was going to draw everyday for 100 days and invited others to join in.
Suddenly, it became much Easier to draw everyday. 💪
All because I had a community of artists who drew along with me.
I did the same thing in 2025…
I drew everyday for 2025 and I did it with a community of artists inside my ‘DrawDaily365’ program.
That made the habit of drawing daily more easier for me to stick to. 😌
Doing it Together with a tribe of people is the KEY to success.
Your environment needs to support your goal, and being around people with the same intent and culture makes that frictionless.
So – Find your tribe (build one of you can’t find it).
These were the 4 mistakes I made that made my habit forming process hell.
Do the opposite of them.
And you’ll be in a much better place. 😌
—-
P.s If you want to avoid all these mistakes and have a solid structure to draw everyday this 2026, along with a tribe of fellow artists…
(Enrollments Open for 5 days only)
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