I Drew 10 Minutes every day for a Month (part 1)
STORY TIME! REAL TALK.
I know it’s August. I finished this challenge last April, and I’m only posting this now because life happens. Lost most of my clients, so I’ve been sending job applications in the hopes of finding a job. Shout out to all the working moms. Keep hustling!
Decided to write this blog in parts so it’s not too long for one blog post.
Now, let’s get back to the blog.
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The goal for this is to get back into drawing. I’ve missed it.
What prompted me was a video I watched on YouTube from one of the artists I follow, Apple Cheeks, who drew for 10 Minutes every day for a month. So, I decided to do it too. :D
Since getting married and having a baby, everything has shifted; finding the time to do things for myself has been challenging. Creating art has been one of the things I wanted to get back into. It has been put on the back burner, as it’s not generating income for me at the moment. I concentrated on design work, as that’s the main source of my income. I think the last time I made art was in 2022. Three years ago! So, I’ve decided to slowly ease myself back to drawing by taking small steps, taking 10 minutes every day to draw. If I can doom scroll for hours while my baby is sleeping, I can spare 10 minutes.
I also decided to use these Dare To Be Creative prompt cards from Viviamo! as I write my experience in these 10-minute sessions.
If anyone would like to see the reference photos I used, I’ve compiled them on a Pinterest board here.
Here is how the first 15 went :D
Let’s break down how I did it. I will also be sharing my reflections about how I felt before and after drawing. Thoughts about how I can improve and realizations.
I decided to draw an animal for this challenge, specifically birds. (except for one? You’ll see, haha.)
My DAY 1 started on March 26, 2025.
Here is what I drew!
In all honesty, there was resistance to getting started. My imposter syndrome, anxiety, and procrastination went into overdrive. I was supposed to start March 24 but ended up starting March 26, haha.
Funnily enough, when I consulted with Dare to be Creative prompt cards, the card I pulled was this:
“What is stopping you?” and I just laughed at this because what was stopping me was myself. My fear of not being able to achieve the goal I set for myself. The standard quality of the artwork. The fear of “Are my drawing skills good enough?” All those were flooding my head. After pulling myself together, I’m happy I was able to start.
I learned that I concentrate on the details of the bird so much that I don’t get to create the foundation of the drawing. The basic shapes and lines. When I reached the halfway mark, I ended up rushing to draw the shapes for the other parts of the bird. At the end of the 10 minutes, I felt satisfied and content that I was able to draw after so long.
DAY 2
March 27, 2025.
After learning from my mistakes on Day 1, I concentrated more on getting the shape of the bird and placed a bit more depth with thicker lines and shadows. Felt my confidence coming back slowly as I was drawing. The reason for drawing animals instead of humans is so that I won’t get intimidated by all the “is this proportionally correct?” type of inner monolog. And I wanted it to be free from any stress of “does this look good?” I felt accomplished when I looked at the wall (I placed the post-it notes on the wall) and saw that I’d managed to draw.
DAY 3
March 28, 2025.
Okay, I’m not proud of this one, but there are days when it doesn’t look good.
As I am looking at it, I am itching to fix it, but I can’t, haha. I don’t know why it ended up looking like it did. I felt like my time was so short, even if it was the same 10 minutes. Maybe because my environment was noisy and there were a lot of things happening in the background that distracted me from “going in the zone”. All in all, I made a drawing, and that’s what counts.
DAY 4
March 29, 2025
For this session, I wanted to challenge myself to draw 2 birds. It ended up looking like penguins for some reason, haha. I wanted to practice on getting the claws right, so I took a bit longer on that area, hence the end product looking too clean.
I need to practice outlining the bird's shape more quickly. As I’m looking at my progress, I can see it’s so different from day 1.
I’m having so much fun! Even if the sessions are short, it’s time is achievable for my current situation.
Taking small steps to gain my confidence back.
DAY 5
March 30, 2025
I almost forgot to draw on this day. It's a good thing I had the Post-it notes with the dates on the wall.
I think I got a little too ambitious with this one.
I wanted to try a flying bird, but it turned out wonky, haha. Need to try again in the next one.
DAY 6
March 31, 2025
For this session, I wanted to incorporate a background. So, I decided to draw a bird in some plants.
I noticed that if the bird stands still, it ends up stylized.
I’m happy that working on the bird’s shape more gave me the ability to place the shadows correctly.
DAY 7
April 1, 2025
It’s been a week since I started these drawing sessions. Can’t believe I made it. Commemorating this day of #showingup for myself. Thank you for reading this far, too.
I looked back at my day 5 drawing and wanted to try to draw a flying bird again. It ended up looking like an owl, haha, and the wings are still stylized. I need to figure out how to break down the shape of the wings so I can draw it close to a realistic wing.
During the session, I felt calm and happy.
Time for myself, no matter how short, really does help me mentally. A reset button, decompressing what happened throughout the day, and just enjoying the moment of silence.
DAY 8
April 2, 2025
In this session, I wanted to do a bird with facial expressions. I challenged myself to go outside of my comfort zone with a different facial expression.
This one turned out really good!
DAY 9
April 3, 2025
I wanted to try a flying bird again. Practicing the feathers again.
Still stylized but getting better at the shape of the bird. I was happy with it.
DAY 10
April 4, 2025
Explored shading more with this one. I wanted the drawing to have depth, even if it was just striking a pose.
Practicing on the basic shapes really helped in creating the shape of the feet and body of the bird.
Really happy I was able to draw. It feels nice.
Day 11
April 5, 2025
For this session, I wanted to concentrate on the wings. Getting the shape right and making it look more realistic instead of stylized.
After the 10 minutes were up, it looked pretty good!
I captured the fluffiness of the bird, haha!.
DAY 12
April 6, 2025
I wanted to see if I could draw a bird that has something in its mouth. Turned out good.
The feet turned out well, too!
Day 13
April 7, 2025
For this session, I asked my husband to suggest a bird to draw (since I was running out of ideas), and he suggested a Blue Jay.
Such a beautiful bird. But I didn’t do it justice, haha. Messed up the wings. It’s too short based on the reference. I have got to get those wings right. Maybe block out the shape more so I could get the length right.
Day 14
April 8, 2025
At this point, I have to be honest; the willpower I had to exert to draw every day, even just for a short time, was getting to me.
I was this close to just dropping the whole thing because of insert reason here and there. But I looked at the sticky notes on the wall, and I just thought to myself, “Wouldn’t it be nice to complete it?” And I gave a big inhale and exhale and pushed through.
For this session, I tried a different angle of the bird this time. Turned out so well.
Day 15
April 9, 2025
I almost forgot to draw today!!! It was a holiday, and my husband and I went out with our daughter to the mall. I enjoyed it so much that I almost forgot to draw!! SUPER CLUTCH! BUT I’M HAPPY I MADE IT (with 5 minutes to spare!! HAHA ended up drawing at 11:45 pm LOL).
I drew a colorful bird, and I was wondering for the next one, maybe I can incorporate color? Maybe a single highlight color of that bird, maybe yellow, red, blue, or even green! Okay, let’s see if I can do it on the next one.
Please stay tuned for part 2 of this drawing challenge.
Thank you for reaching this far into the blog. I appreciate it. I hope you liked reading my inner monologue, haha
It’s just a glimpse at my drawing process. Hopefully, I have more time to film it and share it with all of you.
