Why You Should Start Drawing In 2018

When it comes to New Year's resolutions, it’s our physical health that’s usually prioritised; quit drinking, start going to the gym, stop smoking. However, our mental health is just as important and you shouldn’t neglect it in 2018. One surprising way of improving it and improving how your mind works is to take up drawing. And the great thing is that anyone can do it – all you need to do is pick up a pencil or pen and find something to draw on.

It develops your creativity

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Taking up sketching as a hobby will encourage your creativity to flourish. Everyone draws differently and each drawing is something unique to that person. The left and right brain model may have been disproven, but there are certain parts of your brain which deal with different things.

Drawing and sketching will improve your creative process and can be a great way to solve a problem; just step away from it for a bit, have a draw and come back with your creative side charged up.

It aids concentration

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It’s ironic that drawing can improve concentration when the manifestation of a mind wandering is often a doodle in your notes. But, to do a drawing, you have to really concentrate on making sure it looks how you want it to. You look back and forth between paper and subject with complete focus to make sure you are rendering it accurately.

Even something as simple as drawing the side of a building can take several attempts because of how important this line is to the rest of the picture. All of this aids and improves concentration.

It helps you visualise

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If you’ve ever tried to draw a landscape or some kind of complicated structure then you know how difficult it is to get it looking lifelike. This experience gives you a real appreciation for the delicate and impressive designs both man and nature have come up with. There are so many different drawing implements you can use in your drawings; pencils, charcoal, graphite, chalk pens, watercolour pens and much, much more.

Visualisation also extends to our everyday and professional lives. Bar charts, pie charts, scatter graphs; they all help us understand complicated data. With a more developed creative side, you can come up with new solutions and better ways of approaching problems.

It's effective stress relief

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Creating something from nothing is satisfying and rewarding. Even if you just take a 10-minute break from work and do a bit of drawing, you can really calm your nerves by taking your mind off it. It doesn’t have to be anything accurate or even real. Just draw without thinking using colours, shapes and marks that feel natural.

You could draw something that calms and comforts you, or even create manifestations of your stress. Filling an empty page with something that you’re happy with can create a sense of enormous well-being.

It encourages your kids to draw, too

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Drawing from an early age develops fine motor skills in children. Fine motor skills are essential for all aspects of life, from typing and driving to tying your shoelace. The skill required to make the marks they want to make and to recreate the objects and images they want will develop their dexterity and hand-eye coordination.