Fun ways to practice drawing

[DokiDokiTsuna]

I've been hearing a lot lately (not here, of course) about how drawing practice is so boring and tedious and no one wants to do it...personally I've never felt that way about my own practice. '_'

So I wanted to start a topic about how people make learning art interesting~

I like to have finished products, so whenever I have something new I want to learn I just throw myself right into it. A 'trial by fire', as they say. I make it a point to include the "lesson" in my next art piece/comic strip, and then I find some refs and get to work.

Of course, this means I don't actually get a lot of practice in terms of quantity (you'd be hard-pressed to replicate the work put into a sketchbook full of gesture drawings with an equal number of full pieces) but...call it a humblebrag, but I've never found myself needing a lot of practice. When it comes to art, once I learn something the first time, it's pretty much learnt...whether I have the willpower to put the same amount of effort into it next time though, that's a different story...

[TheGentleArtist]

If drawing characters: just have them sketched up doing stuff whether by themselves or with other characters, not a lot of thought needed, since it is a sketch

If animals: You can do the same thing as above, but you can also just have gesture drawings of them like....drawing a dog in an adorable pose

Backgrounds: draw from life if that helps, or just sketch up a background that comes to mind

You can also draw some memes to help spice it up as well or draw funny scenes of your favorite show/book/movie/comic/novel

[Seaby]

Those art challenges that you see floating through the internet are just about the only way - at least for me, someone who similarly never does but really should be practicing - for art practice to be fun. Some of them are nonsensical, but some really force you to step outside of your comfort zone while leaving you with a completed work. If you want to work on something specific it's possible to make up your own challenges and see where that takes you.

[nathanKmcwilliams]

I always like doing sketch requests for people. It ends up being pretty fun usually, and it helps me learn how to draw things and characters that aren't mine. But...finding participants isn't always easy.¯_(ツ)_/¯

I'm not likely to do a social media art challenge, mostly because I have no idea where to find them. I'm just not on the various platforms enough to be in the know I guess.

[spadedigsbutts]

Lately I’ve literally been just like, looking around the room, grabbing a random object and drawing it for 10 minutes max. It’s not super fun but it’s been a good warm up and has forced me to draw things I usually avoid (I will never understand shoes). Usually I just go until one quick doodle looks enough like he original object and call it quits for the day!

[sartinjacqueline05]

When I get the urge to practice drawing I like to make character sketches or even concept work. This is tectnically more of a filling the void or planning for the future. These are some examples.

[darthmongoose]

Honestly I'm kind of the same as you, Doki. I don't find drawing pinups especially interesting, so when I sketch outside of comics, it's usually anatomical practice or concept art to try to nail down a character design or an expression or pose I want to use in a dramatic panel.
My approach is instead to try to put challenging things into my comic that will push me. Like "Okay, Kate, you hate doing this, but this panel there's going to be a big, detailed establishing shot of a building", or "All right, this panel there's going to be an art shift to shoujo manga. It'll be tough, but it'll be so funny if I nail it." or "For this punch I want to use extreme foreshortening". If I put in my best effort at visual storytelling in a comic, there are always angles or subjects or poses I haven't attempted before and wouldn't think to just randomly draw. So honestly I think it's okay to jump in and use your comic as your sandbox for improvement. If a panel is going to be really tough, use some prep sketches beforehand and do some studies, but yeah. I don't see a problem with how you're doing it because I'm the same way!

[KizKat]

My comic actually started out as a way for me to practice! I wanted to do a warm up sketch every day, and make sure I kept to the routine, so that I didn't stop drawing. I decided then to draw around a theme I loved so I wouldn't get bored, tried to keep it quick (10min - 1 hour max), and promised myself not to get too bogged down in the details. Coming from an animation background, drawing poses quickly but reasonably reconisable was always the goal.

I also feel that I remember things more clearly if I learned in a practical environment, rather than just doing tutorials without any direction. The trick is to find your own direction, and then run with it.

[DeformedSunflower]

I agree with @Seaby. Drawing challenges like Inktober work for me, because I'm forced to constantly draw new things, even if it's out of my comfort zone. Art Style Challenge is pretty fun too.

Otherwise, pick a couple of your favourite scenes from movies, comics, or even novels and draw it in your own art style.

[humhumsong]

I have been wanting to share this story to someone since all of my friends doesn't like arts haha.

Well the story is, arts never been an option in my family. They hate it and doesn't want me to involved with it but I still keep drawing whenever I at school or outside my house (since they can't saw me) and I literally got caught when they check my math book after coming back from school, tsk tsk tsk. I draw it at the back page with the thought they won't notice but I guess I am too naive at that time hahaha.

So, for me, being a rebel feels awesome, that's why I love drawing.