How to Build a Daily Painting Habit: Unlock Your Creativity

Many people start painting to relieve stress and boost creativity. Regular practice not only improves technique but also sharpens observational skills and attention to detail. Personally, my painting habit enhances my focus and patience. Do you agree it’s increasingly hard to concentrate on one task nowadays?

Complex pieces require careful planning and sustained focus, though sometimes I can’t resist completing a piece in one go. On casual days, I enjoy painting while listening to podcasts or YouTube—it feels like a truly blissful moment of relaxation and creativity.

I believe forming a habit of painting is similar to learning a new skill like a language, instrument, or maintaining exercise and reading habits. It’s all about mindset and consistency.

To make painting a seamless habit, consider creating a ready-to-go environment:

Here are some of my thoughts:

Creating a Space to Start Painting Anytime

A dedicated space: Set up a clutter-free corner or desk for your art.
Avoid having to clear it each time, ensuring a peaceful start.
Proper lighting: Good lighting aids color accuracy and enhances the painting experience, especially for sharing or recording your process.

Set Small Goals to Build a Consistent Painting Habit

From my personal perspective, developing a painting habit doesn’t need to be a strict goal. It can be as simple as three times a week or just on weekends, with each session lasting 10 minutes to half an hour. What matters is engaging with the medium you want to use, whether it’s traditional or digital painting. The key is consistency and focusing on the process, not necessarily completing a piece every time.

As you grow accustomed to this routine, you can adjust your focus to more specific goals. Keep it flexible to avoid discouragement when things don’t go as planned.

What Subjects Should You Paint? Tips for Finding Inspiration

Many people ask: What should I paint?
Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Things Around You

Sketch items on your desk, passersby outside your window, or even your dinner.
Choose one object and create a series of paintings based on it.

Focus on a Theme

You can think about what themes interest you, such as food, portraits, animals, fairy tales, or city architecture you’ve visited. Then, collect lots of reference materials, like from Pinterest, so that each time you practice, you can immediately jump into the process instead of spending time searching for inspiration every time.

Focus on Technique

If there is a specific painting medium you want to improve, you can search for related techniques and add them to your practice schedule. For watercolor, you might focus on perspective this month, masking fluid next month, and skin tones after that. If you’re working with colored pencils, you could focus on techniques like blending or drawing animal fur, tailoring your practice based on your interests.

Follow Artists or Courses

If you have a favorite artist or course, you can try replicating their work or follow their lessons while practicing to develop a routine.

Learn their color choices, composition, and try to understand their painting process, or extend it into your own work.
For example, sometimes when I see unique color combinations in illustrations, I incorporate them into my landscape pieces.

Here are some course platforms you can explore:

• Domestika: Offers a variety of courses that can be purchased individually or through a subscription. Courses typically guide you through completing a project or artwork.
• Skillshare: A subscription-based service that gives access to all content, including a one-month free trial.
• Aaron Blaise: The animator behind films like Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King, offering courses on animation and digital painting.

Here are some more ideas to try

• Take two photos and experiment with combining them
• Draw a story you love
• Practice drawing the same object (like a tree, cat, or small house) in different styles, using different mediums, colors, or shapes
• Transform an object into a pattern design

These exercises can help you explore creativity and push your artistic boundaries.

Stay Motivated with Art Prompts and Creative Challenges

Challenge yourself with themed activities or create your own list.

Many people on Instagram and Pinterest share their art prompt, like searching Inktober 2024 list on Pinterest to discover practice lists created by others. These links can expose you to works from other artists on the same journey, motivating you to create consistently.

These are some ideas I’d like to share.

Lastly, don’t feel frustrated if you haven’t drawn yet—it won’t make things easier. Just start, and the act of doing will help alleviate anxiety.

Do you have other great methods for building a drawing habit?
Feel free to share in the comments!