How do u go about your daily practice?

[Fl3wk]

This has more than likely been brought up before. but I have always had difficulty using search, so i dare not.

What do you guys and gals do for your daily practice to improve your skills? Like what procedures do you go through and with what media?

[invinciblewombat]

Waking up to 3 hours of studio class everyday which is spent mostly trying to not fall asleep on my feet (my professor dosn't let us sit when we draw) by the last hour I usually get a few things done. Other than that just whenever I can fit it in (usually boring lecture classes).

[blacky]

When not drawing or not having time to draw although I feel like it, I tend to have a pocketscetchbook and a pencil around to doodle any free second I have (takes lots of motivation though :( )

[Fl3wk]

i dont think i could do that in a public place. Maybe if no one was around. I do have an A5 sketchbook, but thats not to sketch from anywhere, i usually sketch in it inside, like in college or at home.

[annisahmad]

mmm...
fl3wk, you should. sketch things on the spot. thats what i do... usually.. it helps alot! although, when someone passes by, looking, i cringe and hide my sketchbook. don't want people crowding around. i guess i know where you're comign from :). just have to deal with it for the sake of learning.

[dmitri]

I draw daily nowadays, at least two pages of something (and it's a big change...). A lot of blind contour (? is it called that? When you don't look at the paper but only at the subject you are drawing?) stuff, since I find it a good warm up and I have such positive connections to it so it always makes me feel calm. I think it's just the most fun way to draw. :D
I should probably unify what I do a bit more, since if I go through my books, there's lines, circles, still lifes, self portraits, some copies of photos (animals, people and landscapes) and some anatomy studies... It's a bit all over the place, I need to concentrate.

I also have one of those little sketchbooks that I carry around with me, but somehow remembering to take a pen or a pencil with me too is just impossible to remember... So, I've only managed to get a few quick sketches in it at school.

[timpaatkins]

right now, I draw every day, but in an "office environemnet" where alot of unemployed people over the age of 50 are. They constantly sneak up behind me and look. It pisses me off to no end. They dont see it as work. Since Im a grapic designer/wannabe illustrator I prolly work harder at my skills than anyone in that place!
I also do SP every day, even though I missed a few...

[Jonoy]

There is an a3 sketchpad under my wacom tablet and keyboard... when a page is filled I throw it on tha floor... cocroaches need homes too!
I also try to find something each day when I'm out and about to bring home in my head soasto draw it up from different angles. I like movement studies.

[Vincent Hammet]

I wake up at 8am, go to do some exercice until 10am, back to home, draw until dinner time, at 2:30pm, some spare time, rejoin at 5pm, draw until 10 or 11 pm, some more spare time in the dinner, rejoin at 12pm or so, i have the mood, I draw a little bit more until 2am.

That´s... 11:30 hours of drawing per day. But may vary. Weekends usually go to cinemas, local concerts... etc. In sundays i´m specially lazy, but in a normal day of the week, is usually my routine.

[Andy DV]

:bow:

[Gilead]

Here's a quiet word of advice for those of you who can't stand to have someone looking over your shoulder while you draw:
GET OVER IT!!!

How do you think anyone's ever going to know that you are an artist if they don't see you doing art? And what working environment do you envision for yourself where someone's going to pay you to do something that they've never actually seen you doing?
Carry a sketchbook with you everywhere and use it. Be gracious to people who ask you questions even if they're the same stupid questions you've heard a hundred times before. The next person who walks by and glances at your drawings could very well turn out to be your next client, happens to me all the time.

But in answer to your actual question: I take a sketchbook and some refference photos with me to Carl's Jr. every morning where I have breakfast and draw for about an hour.
After work in the evenings I drop a still life object on the table in my studio, set a timer for 30 minutes and paint. That's about it for practice per se.

[Datameister]

Between my many daily obligations and myriad interests, I don't get NEARLY enough practice time, which is probably why my artistic skills are where they are today. But I try to fit in at least a half hour each day (more if I'm lucky), usually through digital painting in Photoshop. If I'm not currently working on a long-term painting, I'll pick a reference photo and try to paint it. Either that or go for a piece of fruit.

[Fl3wk]

It will be difficult to get used to Gilead, especially if one like me who gets distracted way too easly through sound or movement. Movement doesnt bother me much, but sound rings a bell everytime I hear one. The way I avoid this is by playing repetative loud music on my MP3 player and it seems to work. (Ramstein seems to work wonders)

Ok so I did sketch while at KFC and in the car, but thats not much good when theres no room to work and the rumbling from the car as it drives.

[Mokuu]

Oi, i get at least an hour of sketching in the bus/metro in the morning while getting to work. 1 minute for gesture or thumbnail every time i load a map on a project im currently testing (the game crashes often...) while cross referencing Brigeman on the side of my monitor and a Loomis page on full screen. An hour of sketching with a friend while randomly pulling out crazy concepts or jokes throwing us of the actual drawings. Getting back at 6pm then drawing until 2am cross referencing various anatomy books. But it still aint enought....

[blacky]

I used to be shy on scetching in a public place too. Which was wrong.
Confidence is a very essential attribute one has to aquire in order to make good pictures.

[Farvus]

I get easily distracted while drawing in public place but MP3 player is very helpful in overcoming this. Later when I get used to the place the music is unnecessary :).
As for daily practice... it's usually two hours a day in the evening.

[blacky]

I do not get distrakted that easily (me lucky chap), when I listen to music it is usualy classic one or of the like (Buena Viesta Social Club right now). Sometimes, when that, what I draw does not require too much concentration, I also listen to audiobooks.
I also doodle a lot during classes :)