I Am an Artist Without a Daily Drawing Habit

Creative Practice

Sep 13

Written By Soo

While I called myself an artist—and despite dozens of reasons why one should have a regular drawing habit—I’m quite embarrassed to admit that I don’t have a daily sketching or painting practice.

I would like to imagine myself as an artist who has this daily sketchbook practice, where the first thing she does in the morning is to take out her sketchbook and pencil or brushes, and paints for an hour before eating her breakfast and getting on with her usual routine.

Well, I’m not that person I imagine.

The first thing I reach for in the morning is actually my mobile phone, and the first thing I do is to check email and social media notifications. Ooops.

There were several occasions where I almost cultivated a daily drawing and painting habit, albeit temporary.

Those were the early days when I participated in art prompt challenges (hosted by some artists I followed on Instagram). And there were a couple of times I started my own 100-day art projects.

That’s about it.

Now, coming to understand myself and my creative habit better after a few years, I shall say that I’m more of a project-oriented artist.

This is how I work

Instead of having to think about what to paint first thing in the morning, I like to set projects for myself.

For example, it could be a 6-piece houseplant collection, or a top 10 French pastry series.

After I’ve decided on the theme, I will start looking for visual references; they would be either photos taken by myself, or sourced from copyright-free stock photo websites such as Unsplash and Pixabay.

Then I’ll transfer those images onto watercolor paper through tracing (unless it’s super easy to draw). These ready-to-paint templates will become my main watercolor project for the rest of the month or two.

Remembering my experience with those art challenges, I must say, to have someone handing over a list of drawing prompts saved me a lot of brain juice (and time!) contemplating what to create next.

Flower drawing/painting prompts for you!

So, if you are someone like me, who regularly suffers from the don’t-know-what-to-paint syndrome, and can truly appreciate the convenience of art prompts, this is for you.

I have over time compiled a list of beautiful flowers A-Z—which is currently gathering dust on my Google drive—and I decided to share it with you (see image below). I hope these prompts will make it easier for you to create your next watercolor flower illustration.

On a side note, what other types of art prompts would you like me to create for you? Let me know in the comments!