3 Reasons I’m Enjoying Drawing Again

How color and variety can pull you back into your sketchbook.

All illustrations by the author.

Do you have fun practicing the art you love consistently?

Scheduling time daily to sit down and write, draw, or even paint helps you turn it into a regular habit. Doing what you love whenever you feel like it doesn’t.

Even though I know to make it into a routine first, so my mind and body expect to create every day, I don’t always follow that advice. I’m fully aware if your goal is to improve at playing the piano, you know regular blocks of time tickling the ivory is how to grow as a musician.

If you’re trying to draw more, let this article be the reminder you need to get back on the horse.

How can you get excited about getting started, though? If you’re an artist, growing your drawing skills takes work. You know, focusing on the fundamentals, like figure drawing, anatomy, and portraiture, is essential, but maybe not all that fun.

I hear you. As a cartoonist myself, drawing funny faces and cute characters was what I was all about.

Who has time for drawing a bunch of realistic faces?

I had to accept; I most certainly should make time for it if I wanted my art to grow. The dream of filling up sketchbooks with beautiful examples of my artistic explorations has always been a dream, one I never thought I’d reach.

Taking an online class for portrait drawing via Domestika helped jolt me into committing to growing through sketchbook drawing, and I’d like to share some of what I learned with you.

1. Hardback sketchbooks help you feel like an artist

You can choose all kinds of sketchbooks—large-sized ones, small enough to fit in your pocket. The ring-bound ones drive me nuts because rings on the side get in the way of my hand while drawing. Even turning the book to the side doesn’t feel right.

Everything got better when I discovered hardback, book-like sketchbooks. You can open them and lay them flat to draw across two pages or focus on one. I always feel more like a true artist when I pick it up because it looks like an actual book.

Staying on top of contributing drawings to your sketchbook is easier if you set a straightforward goal. Commit to filling every page.

Only show others what you choose or want to share, just because you feel it worked. You don’t have to take photos of your drawings or even show your work to anyone. Try and fail privately, then move to the next page.

Hardback sketchbooks are easier to collect and put on a bookshelf when you’ve completed them. They look handsome. Write a title on the spine with the year and date for your collection if you want. You can look back to see how you’ve grown over the years.

I like how you feel accomplished with a hard sketchbook instead of a soft or ringed one. You get the feeling you’re making something that will last. It’s sturdy and heavy. Like your dedication to art, it’s not easily bent or manipulated.

2. Variety spices up your pages and sparks joy

Picking a few areas to focus on improving, like facial expressions or body poses, can help you know how to begin. Saying you will fill one page up with different people you find from photos on Pinterest will help keep you motivated.

The next page in your book may revolve around drawing ten different hands or making a point to get away from humans and go outside to draw a landscape or urban setting.

It can be fun to get back to basics, then throw it all together. Maybe you decide to combine a mix of everything you’re studying on one page to see how you can compose it all within a small space.

Look honestly at your art. One thing I had to accept is drawing portraits from photos, especially of women, is difficult for me. I need to improve and overcome my fear of drawing attractive women, especially. I can make cute cartoony women just fine, but not beautiful realistic-looking women. Could I do it by using photo references?

Challenge accepted!

Having a hill to get over or a goal to strive for in your sketchbook will help motivate you just enough to start drawing and want to draw more. The joy of seeing what you’ve completed on each page will keep you excited about moving forward.

3. Adding color brings your pages to life

Why only use pencils and the occasional black pen? Drawing with colored pencils gives life to the page and catches the eye. Painting in the sketchbook with mini watercolors also helps add energy and interest.

You can use a gray brush pen for shadows and Gelly Roll pens for white highlights where needed. When I thumb through my sketchbook, I smile at the color variety and pay more attention to what I created.

Asking questions like, “Did this drawing work well?” “What can I do to draw a nose better?” The color is hard to miss, and my growth areas stand out more.

The softness of colored pencils feels nice while drawing, and it surprised me. I like to use a non-photo blue pencil first when sketching heads to rough out the head shape and eye lines, then add in features starting with the eyes and nose.

Suppose you want the easiest way to begin drawing a face. Starting with the left eye, then the nose, and over to the right eye works well. Down to the mouth or up to the eyebrows next is a good order. Try this out and find what direction works best for you.

The smoothness of colored pencil lines makes for a buttery drawing experience. Of course, the rich color will create a pleasant feeling on the page you’ll enjoy taking in as you look back on your growth.

Draw when you can, where you can

In conclusion, I want you to know I understand it can be challenging to find time to draw. Let go of needing hours to work on the pages in your sketchbook. Even fifteen minutes at a time will do fine.

Opening up your sketchbook first thing in the morning, looking at a reference photo online, and drawing one portrait, will send a feeling of satisfaction that will last all day.

You drew something. Even one thing is better than nothing.

When you have a day with more time, by all means, draw more. Don’t get hung up on how long. Focus on your accomplishment. You added to your sketchbook, and you’re one step closer to filling it up.

Your art skills are improving.

Take a small sketchbook with you in your bag or back pocket. Sketch on the train, at the park, or in a cafe, even if it’s only for five minutes. You did it.

When you set the intention to draw regularly, use a sketchbook that feels comfortable, and add color and variety, watch how your drawings explode off the page.

Then, make sure to come back and let me know how it’s going.

Happy drawing!

Want more? If you’re struggling with doing original work, click here to join my (free) email list, and through comics, articles about culture, and living your truth, you can upgrade your mindset and share your art with the world.

4 Reasons Your Hobby Should Not Become Your Business

If you’re good at something, it doesn’t have to be your side-hustle.

Photo by Victoria Heath on Unsplash

Let’s imagine you’re exhausted and up late working on an important personal project. The one that, once it’s out in the world, will put you on the map and attract attention. With some luck and a little bit of success, your dream of quitting your day job could come true.

Then what? You get to do that every day, all day? Is this really the future you’re hoping for?

Why can’t this be something you do for fun?

If you’re good at something, it doesn’t mean it has to become your job.

I know that’s counter-intuitive to what everyone’s touting online today, but it’s true. Your hobby shouldn’t always become your business.

I’m sure you’re good at many things. It doesn’t mean you have to turn them all into side-hustles that turn into big-time companies.

Unfortunately, I’ve learned this the hard way. My love for drawing comics and writing has led me to pursue making money from them as a side-hustle. It’s not as fun as it’s cracked up to be. Between deadlines, prospecting for clients, and balancing my work and projects with family responsibilities.

We live in a time now, with the internet giving us opportunities to easily share work with the world, where people think you should “Do what you love, and the money will follow.”

We all feel like we’re missing out if we don’t have a passion and pursue it for profit.

Contrary to popular belief, making money with what you love is hard. Does it have to be your goal? Here are four reasons why you might not want to turn your hobby into a business.

1. Hobbies should be fun

Why do you love doing your hobby? If it brings you a sense of joy, for example, isn’t that enough?

If all of your needs are being met by your day job, perhaps adding on more work to make your hobby into a business isn’t worth the extra stress and commitments.

Your hobby should be — and stay — enjoyable. Something you look forward to escaping into and forgetting about the outside world.

I remember my grandfather had several hobbies. He enjoyed making the most delicious fudge and giving it as gifts to family and friends. Should he have opened up a business selling fudge out of his kitchen? Not necessarily.

I doubt he enjoyed it enough to add on all the extra responsibilities involved with a bakery business.

He mainly wanted something fun and fulfilling to do in his leisure time. Making fudge brightened his days and added a little sweetness to others. For him, that was enough.

Knowing you can go deep into something at your own pace, where you think clearly and feel at ease, is a blessing. Don’t complicate it.

“I can elect something I love and absorb myself in it.”
― Anaïs Nin, The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 1: 1931–1934

2. Making it a business turns it into work

We don’t always know if what we love to do will be something we enjoy doing full-time. It takes experience, yes, but also honesty. Do you love your hobby so much that you wouldn’t mind regularly dealing with the business's complex, tedious, boring parts?

If you want to turn your hobby into a business, it will become work.

Drawing comics full-time has been a goal of mine since I was a kid. Even though I know it’s one of the most challenging forms of art to make good money in, I still go after it. I’ve had to take on other jobs to pay the bills when comics weren’t bringing in enough, and most of the time, comics would become my side-hustle.

Becoming a professional at anything means learning to work even when you’re not in the mood.

I learned to do that by making comics and pushing through the “resistance” in my head when it would try and hold me back from not only getting art done but taking care of more administrative tasks.

Now, I know I can be a professional comic artist because I like the day-to-day work involved. I haven’t reached my full-time goal yet, but I’ve had years of freelance experience to get a good idea of what it would feel like.

When you put your hobby to the test, by intentionally treating it like a business, you’ll be able to feel whether or not it’s something you could do as your job.

I get it. You might need a side-hustle right now. It could be that a side income is vital to save money or pay for outstanding bills. Does your hobby have to be the way you make that money, though?

There’s nothing wrong with getting a part-time job in retail or driving for Lyft for a certain amount of time — think seasonal work — to save up enough for you to get back into a good place.

Do anything you can to keep your hobby as an outlet and a source of release.

3. Should you monetize your obsession?

People can get way too into their hobbies. Like collecting memorabilia or toys, for example. Nothing wrong with those hobbies, but I’ve seen friends lose their minds over a piece of plastic. If you’re obsessed with a hobby, can you think straight enough to make it a business?

Will you identify all of yourself as that hobby if you make it a business and carry unrealistic expectations on your shoulders? For example, “I’m a writer now, so I must write every day for five hours, or I’m a failure.”

Sometimes we love a hobby so much; it becomes an obsession. If you can’t stop painting portraits of politicians to make a statement, and no one can give you feedback or suggestions on how to grow because you refuse to listen. Maybe this shouldn’t be your business.

You need to be open to pivot and take on new ideas when things aren’t succeeding for a business to work. If you can only do things your way because this hobby is everything to you, it should probably stay a hobby.

“Whatever you like to do, make it a hobby and whatever the world likes to do, make it a business.”
-Warren Buffett

4. Be selfish when it comes to your hobby

Keep something just for you. You don’t even need to share what you make or create with anyone. Let your hobby remain an outlet for life’s frustrations and hide it for yourself. If you need to share it with someone who has more experience and gives you feedback, great.

I bet there are plenty of creative people who work professionally and never show it to anyone. That way, it’s for themselves. Or, they keep it for their family and friends. If one of those people wants to buy from them or support the work, they can.

A few years ago, I was learning to play the ukulele. I wanted to do it for fun with no expectations of performing live in front of strangers. It would be a relaxing hobby I didn't need to press myself to do professionally, like drawing comics.

I spent about two years practicing chords and learning songs on the uke. Having a hobby only for the fun of it was terrific. The only problem, music takes a regular committed effort to improve. Balancing work, drawing comics, and being a family man proved to be too much.

It hurt, but I had to stop playing the ukulele. I went from practicing every day to a few days a week, to only once a month. All of my time went into improving as an artist and not a musician.

Facing the hard truth—I didn’t have time for a musical hobby—was tough to face. But, I accepted it and put down the uke. Who knows, I hope to have time to get back to playing it again in the future when I have more time for myself.

Drawing in my sketchbook is purely for fun now. I don’t have to share my scribbles with anyone if I don't want to, and the practice makes me a better artist for the comics I share with the public. Hobbies can have a private and a public side if it helps keep you growing and feeling balanced.

In conclusion

All hobbies are not good businesses. Just about anything can be made into one, but you have to be honest with yourself about what you can handle.

Find a nice balance of interest in the subject matter, love of the creation process, and detachment from the perfection of the final result.

When you can look at your work objectively, share it with others, take criticism, make changes, and still enjoy what you’re doing. It might be the proper pursuit for you.

Try and keep these points in mind when deciding if your hobby should become a side-hustle:

• Hobbies should be for fun. If yours is mainly for fun and a way to relax and unwind, don’t make it a side-hustle.

• Making your hobby into a business turns it into work. Are you ready to deal with the not-so-fun parts of running a company connected to what you love?

• Don’t try and make money from your obsession. If you can’t even think straight while doing what you love because you’re so engrossed by it, maybe it should stay a hobby. It would be best if you could be objective about your work to grow it as a business.

• Keep your hobby to yourself if you choose. You don’t have to share it with anybody. Remember, I didn’t play the ukulele for people I didn’t know. It was my private hobby. One I’m looking forward to getting back to soon.

Make time for your hobbies in your leisure time to stay balanced and recharge. Let your interests become your job or side-hustle when you need one.

That way, you can enjoy what you do for a living and still have energy for your passions.

Struggling with creativity and putting your work out regularly? Join my (free) email list and discover how to upgrade your mindset here.