Drawing Practice Exercises (2025)

FAQs

Is 1 hour of drawing practice enough? ›

Beginners should start drawing with one hour and gradually work up to more. At the peak of their abilities, expert performers only do about four hours of practice a day. Requires focus: You should not be able to multitask during the activity.

Some may want to draw 20 minutes while others 2 hours or even all nighter. If you wanna progress fast (even if you have a busy shedule, a family…), do not focus on HOW LONG you need. But draw as long as your heart tells you to. That way, sketching is going to be your lifestyle and be part of your daily routine.

In his book Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell popularized the idea that, in order to master anything, you'll need to invest in 10,000 hours of practice. This equates to approximately five years' worth of full-time effort. I think this idea is a good place to start when thinking about learning to draw.

Commonly between 5 to 10 years of proper training to reach a level of proficiency. When attending an art class you will only learn information that you are ready to learn at the time. When you retake the course a year later you will learn new information that you were not ready to learn a year before.

In fact, a mere 15 minutes of targeted practice a day can help you advance your technique over time and raise your confidence. And it'll keep you in shape when you're just too busy for more. This list can be an additional exercise to your usual sketching habit, perhaps used as a warm-up.

Early Bird or Night Owl: Consider waking up a bit earlier to squeeze in some drawing before the day begins. If you're more of a night owl, wind down in the evening with a peaceful drawing session before bed. It's a great way to relax and unwind - it can even lead to better sleep.

Art students who would like to become fine artists, start their art education in art schools from the age of 9 or 10. By the end of this school, which takes 4 to 5 years, they have very good drawing, painting, decorative arts, composition, and sculpting skills as well a firm knowledge of the history of arts.

Learn to draw better by copying.

Building off the work of those who've come before you is a great way to learn. Trying to pass off the work of another artist as your own is plagiarism, but emulating the work of accomplished illustrators is an observational exercise that can help you improve your drawing skills.

Square/cubes, circles/globes, cylinders, ellipses, and triangle/pyramid are the common forms that can be found in complex objects. Learning to correctly draw these shapes will improve your drawing skills.

How late is too late to learn how to draw? ›

There's no time limit on any of these skills or passions. As long as you have a passion for it and the willingness to learn it and put energy into it.

Try 30 minutes to an hour a day if possible. Just doodle what you love, but don't box yourself in too much and try to challenge yourself with different things. Regularly, practice everyday at least for 15–20 min.

Through daily, concentrated practice and with an eye on what you can accomplish in a month, there's no doubt your drawings will get better. And that's an achievement worth celebrating!

It's possible to see improvements by drawing only 1-2 hours per day. But if you want to see significant improvements you should be aiming for 5-6 hours per day, or more if possible. Starting anywhere is better than never starting.

There are plenty of excellent artists that have been drawing properly for less than 5 years. And you can also see how far people have been able to progress even in 3 years.