I found this article and was impressed at how true this is not only in art but in our everyday life.
https://www.eternallyinspiredmama.com/5-benefits-of-starting-a-daily-art-practice/
1. You Get Better
You’re probably thinking this one’s a no-brainer, because you’ve heard it so many times. The only way to improve is to practice.
Sure, yes, of course. But take a moment to think about what that really means, and what it would look like for you. How much better would your art be if you spent 20 minutes a day on it, every single day? Think about what your paintings would look like a year from now. No, seriously. I want you to close your eyes and really picture your improvement. Can you see it? I bet you can. Those proportions you’ve been struggling with? You’ll have a handle on them by that point. You know how your noses always look a little funky? Draw faces for a year and I promise your nasal labial folds will be much improved.
The truth is that improvement isn’t linear. You’re not going to get 2% better every time you practice, like some kind of robot automaton. Instead, what’s going to happen is that you’ll get exponentially better, and you won’t even see it happening. It just will.
It sounds a little magical, doesn’t it? Well, there’s nothing woo-woo about it. Every time you practice, you teach your brain that what you’re doing has value. If you commit to your artistic practice and focus on it to the exclusion of all else, even for just a few minutes a day, you will make significant progress forward. It’s inevitable.
2. You Stay Motivated
Motivation is sometimes hard to come by. Often we don’t know what we want to paint or draw, and there’s nothing worse than staring at a white piece of paper. But the act of practice takes the pressure off, because it encourages us to detach from the end result. Our practice sessions aren’t about producing masterpieces. They’re about the act of creating for the pure joy of it. They’re about playing, experimenting, letting go without the pressure of external criticism.
Maybe you don’t know what to draw, but you’re passionate about faces, like I am. Your daily art practice could simply be drawing facial features. Every day, you sit down and draw a nose. Or an eye. Or a mouth. Or, if you’re really fired up, all of those – and add a facial structure while you’re at it. Because you’re not aiming for a sellable final piece, the motivation to create will actually always be there, fueled by the previous day’s practice session. It will be simmering in your subconscious, waiting to burst out of you during the next practice session.
You’ll be surprised at the way your subconscious works while you’re away from your art. Often when you commit to a daily practice, you’ll find yourself thinking of new things you want to create during your next session, techniques you want to try, skills you want to work on. And you’ll be filling that blank page faster than you ever imagined possible.
3. You Get Closer To Your Goals
We all have them: those goals that seem out of our reach. We think to ourselves things like, “When I get better, I’ll get a booth at a local craft show and attempt to sell my paintings” or “If I could only master that technique, I could approach the art gallery owner and see if he wants to carry my work.” With practice, you will get better. You will master that elusive technique you’ve been admiring, which in turn will give you courage to approach that gallery owner who seems so intimidating right now.
Perhaps you don’t feel like you’re ready to go after your goals today, and that’s fine. But with a daily art practice, you will be – and sooner than you think.
4. You Keep Your Art Muscle Strong
Have you ever taken a break from your art for a while? Say, a week or two, or a month? Or even longer? When you came back to it, you probably felt ‘rusty’. Maybe you panicked a little, wondering if you can still do this, if you remember how. Perhaps you felt a bead of sweat on your forehead as you gripped your pencil and made the first mark on paper. Worst of all, maybe you convinced yourself that you’d forgotten how to be an artist, and you gave up before you could reclaim your artistic identity.
When you practice daily, you don’t have to worry about any of that. You won’t have to wonder if you remember how to do this, because, well, of course you do. You just did it yesterday. Your confidence will increase along with your artistic muscle.
I’m not saying you’re always going to feel inspired. Inspiration is fleeting. What’s more important is scheduling your practice session and keeping that appointment so you hone and preserve your artistic ability over the long term.
5. You Grow Your Talent
How many times have you said to yourself, “Wow, they are really talented!”? I bet you say it all the time, whether you realize it or not. In reality, what you attribute to natural ability is more than likely skill acquired through hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of practice. That artist who paints incredibly life-like, realistic ideas has probably been painting daily for the last decade.
Once again, stop and consider where your skill level would be if you painted daily for the next ten years. Imagine what your art would look like at that point, and then think about how many people would be saying, “Wow, they are really talented!” – and they’d be speaking about you.
