Back in September I was browsing my bookshelf and came across a dusty book I bought off the bargain table in Barnes in Noble 15 years ago. It was called You Can Draw in 30 Days. That enticing promise lured me to purchase the book, but in my initial half-hearted attempts I never got past the first few lessons.

From a young age I absorbed the message that drawing is a talent some people are born with and others are not. Because drawing well didn’t come easily to me I put myself in the latter category. Yet for a long time I’ve felt a nagging desire to draw. I love photography, and drawing seemed to promise an even more intimate and immersive way of capturing the world.

Many artists I admire (including Mark Kistler, the author of my dusty book), insist that drawing is not an innate talent but rather a skill anyone can develop. I felt encouraged by these claims, but as it turns out old beliefs can be hard to shake. Some part of me thought surely I was the exception: “My mind just isn’t wired in that way…. I’m not artistic or creative.”

But I was curious if the book could deliver on its claim that anyone could learn to draw with 30 minutes of practice for 30 days. Newly funemployed with all the time in the world, I had no excuse not to finally confront that swirl of desire and fear. So I cracked the book open and started one again from Day 1.

The book begins with a couple of sketching prompts to establish your baseline skill level. You’re asked to draw a house, a plane, and a bagel without using any references. My drawings were elementary, reflecting the fact that my skill level has been frozen since elementary school, the last time I dared to draw anything.

It was painful to look at those drawings, and that little fearful voice in the back of my head started to pipe up. But I forged on, encouraged by examples in the book of other students’ “before and after” progress.

The 30 lessons that follow each introduce a principle of drawing and one main exercise, as well as one or two bonus exercises. Right there is a major catch: I found that a half hour wasn’t enough to complete all the exercises in a lesson. As an incorrigible teacher’s pet and completionist, skipping the “extra credit” was not an option. Also, drawing every single day didn’t pan out, because life happens. So, all told it ended up taking me months to get through all of them.

With that caveat in place, let’s address the question: Can someone learn to draw in 30 days?

Well, yes, within 30 days I was drawing things I never imagined I could! I was quite pleased with how a number of my drawings turned out. I’ve shared some of my favorites at the end of this post.

With each exercise I experienced the satisfaction of watching the first few tentative pencil strokes take shape into something identifiable, which always felt like a monumental win in my book. I delighted in showing my drawings to my partner, asking “What does this look like?” and hearing him respond correctly without hesitation. And not only were the subjects immediately recognizable, but they had depth and 3-dimensionality, seeming to pop out of the page. A far cry from the flat doodles and stick figures from before.

Here are the most important lessons I took away from the experience:

Anyone can get better at drawing with instruction and practice.

It seems painfully obvious, but it’s a lesson I had to learn firsthand. The experience proved to me that progress is possible, putting that nagging question of talent vs. skill to rest for good. It confirmed that the only thing standing between me and drawing competence was showing up at my sketchbook and putting in the pencil miles.

Mostly importantly, it got me to pick up my pencil and draw on 60 different occasions. It helped me establish a drawing habit, figuring out how it fit into my daily life. For me the best time was right after dinner when the dishes were cleaned up. Once my partner had settled onto the couch to play video games I took it as a cue to crack open my sketchbook at the dining room table and set a timer for 30 minutes. I was usually surprised when the timer went off, caught in the feeling of complete absorption, and would opt to continue a bit longer.

Drawing is all about illusion creation, employing proven strategies to translate the 3D world onto a 2D plane

Mark Kistler teaches 9 fundamental principles which create the illusion of depth in a 3d drawing: foreshortening, placement, size, overlapping, shading, shadow, contour lines, horizon line, and density. In all the resources I’ve consumed since his book I’ve continued to see those same ones echoed over and over again.

Reading this book felt like learning all the secret tricks of a magician. It’s amazing how the tiniest little details (a little shading here, a little overlap, a shift upward in placement, etc.) can trick your eye into seeing a flat image as 3D. My biggest “aha” moment was learning about one and two-point perspective, using a ruler to align objects with vanishing points: Drawing a realistic scene is more akin to geometry than a magical talent!

Drawing is as much about observing as it is about mark-making

One unexpected and delightful effect of learning to draw is how it makes you look at the world around you with more observant eyes. I found myself appreciating the smaller details: the texture of a tree, the structure of a pinecone, the slope of an armchair back, or how a delicately curving handle connects to a coffee mug. I wondered how each thing could be captured on paper. I came to appreciate a realistic drawing as a work of keen observation rather than just the physical skill involved in mark-making.

You really don’t need special supplies

More than once I’ve started an online art class or book only to get lost in the introductory chapter about all the different types of pencil, paper weights, erasers, watercolors, paints, markers, etc. you might use. This time I resolved to not get bogged down in supplies and instead commit to completing the whole thing with the HB (aka #2) pencil and the Amazon Essentials sketchbook I had on hand.

I did eventually break down and purchase a blending stump, because I was tired of staining my fingers with graphite. While at the art supply store I also treated myself to a new refillable stick eraser. But at least I stuck with my original intent of not acquiring supplies as a means of procrastination!

A more honest answer to the question is: Sort of? While the things you draw on Day 30 would astound your Day 1 self, your Day 30 self won’t be satisfied. But it’s the right amount of time to surprise yourself and to inspire a journey. Your sights will be set even higher, and you’ll be eager to close the gap between what you see and your attempts at representating it on paper.

As I turned the last page I felt a little lost about how to proceed. One shortcoming of the book is the relatively few prompts to draw objects from life. I still felt a little dependent on the book’s guidance to break down a drawing step-by-step and not yet confident that I could draw anything I wanted to. I continued drawing regularly, but soon I found myself craving additional instruction and structure to keep up the momentum.

In a future post I’ll share how I’ve continued my drawing practice and learning journey since then. Stay tuned!