Transcripts
1. Introduction: Ever wish you could
draw from imagination? Just picture something in your mind and bring it
to life on the page. Funny enough, it's something
all kids do naturally. But somewhere along the way, many of us lose that ability. The good news, like any skilled drawing from
imagination can be rebuilt. It all start with
two simple habits. Observing the world around
with more intention and interpreting what you see by translating it into your
own visual language. In this class, I'll
help you strengthen these two creative
muscle through seven simple daily drawing
prompts that are playful, reflective, and
easier to follow. Hi, I'm Simon. I'm an
independent illustrator based in Copenhagen, and I've worked on
several travel and lifestyle illustration
and animation projects. Signature theme in my work is celebrating love in a
wholesome everyday way and helping busy people like you slow down and really find
the beauty in the ordinary. In this class, you'll commit
to just a few minutes of drawing each day to
reflect on your mood, your day, or small
moment that really stood up for you. Don't worry. I'll be drawing alongside. Think of it as your time to self reflection
and creative play. And by the end of the week, you'll have a visual record of your days and a
stronger foundation for drawing from imagination. You'll also build a
daily drawing habit, practice observing and
interpreting everyday life, and finally let go of perfection and enjoy
the creative process. This class is perfect
for beginners, busy people, and anyone looking to reconnect
with their creativity. Be drawing on my iPad
using Procreate, but if you don't have a tablet, you can absolutely follow along using your
favorite medium. So if you're ready, let's get creative together.
2. Your Project: So as part of your project, you will follow a daily
prompt to create a drawing. To make the most out
of this challenge, I really recommend setting aside at least 15 minutes of
uninterrupted time, and this will help you
for the next seven days. So each day, you'll
explore a new theme that really encourages you to tell
a story through your art. And there's really
no pressure because this is a very personal project. It's just a chance for
you to play, experiment, and enjoy the process of drawing because drawing
is supposed to be fun. So on day one, we'll
talk about the weather, something that we draw all
the time since we're a kid. Day two will explore
our mood and feeling. On day three, we'll focus on food and draw what's
on your plate, Day four, an activity that
really made you happy. Day five is a small
moment that made you feel at home, cozy. Day six is going to be a fun one because
we're going to create a creature inspired by different things that
you've seen along the way. And finally, day seven is, how do you depict
your future self? Now, many people think that nothing interesting
happens in their life, but I'm here to tell
you that there's always something worth noticing. And this challenge will
help you turn every moment into a nice visual story. Throughout the class, you'll
build a daily drawing habit. That's because
inspiration really comes from doing and action. You'll practice drawing from
imagination and memory, and you'll learn to
let go of perfection. So I'll be using my
iPad to show you how I visually journal my days
in 5 minutes or less. Also, feel free to share
your drawings on Instagram. Tag me and use the hashtag my cozy art to connect with
me and others during this.
3. Setting Up Your Canvas: All right. So if
you're unsure on how to set up your iPad
for this challenge, don't worry. I got you covered. And here's how I personally
keep things simple and fun. For the canvas size, I use
a four to five ratio in landscape at 132 DPI. So there's really
no need to have it all the way up to 300 DPI
since we're not printing. And for better
shaability on Instagram, you can always draw
vertically as well. Brush, my go to is the dry ink because this brush has
a really nice texture, and it feels kind of like
drawing with a crayon. A good tip is to go to the brush studio by
tapping on the brush, go to stabilization, and change the amount
to your liking. Personally, I go around
20% stabilization because it smooths the line
a little but not too much, and it's perfect if you have a little bit of a shaky hand. For layers, I keep it super
simple for every day. So just two layers, one for the line and one
for the color underneath. And then I group them
into one folder. Page assist is a
fun one because I like to use the iPad
as a sketchbook. So I just go to action and
Tuggle on Page assist. This lets you use each
folder as a separate page, and it makes it super
easy to stay organized. See? It's just like
flipping a book. And that's it for now, you're
now ready to start drawing. No need for fancy setups. Just grab your iPad,
start drawing.
4. Day 1: The Weather: For day one, we're going
to focus on the weather, and I usually start by
drawing a simple rectangle, just a loose boundary to keep
the composition in place. For me, it's also a great way to fight the blank sheet
of paper syndrome. You know, when you are
faced with a blank sheet of paper and you're paralyzed because you're not
sure how to start. So in doubt, just start
drawing a rectangle. In the top left corner, I'm going to sketch a sun, and I've noticed that whenever I draw without overthinking, myself revert to a playful, almost childlike
version of myself. I don't know, it
just feels right. And for that reason,
I'm going to give the sun a little smile, and I'm not sure why we always place the
sun in this corner, but this is what
we've been taught to do when we were
in kindergarten. But since it wasn't
sunny all day, I'll have to add a
few clouds, too. I'm going to start
drawing a couple of half circle to give an
element of softness, and I like giving my drawing
some personality, too. So here, I'm going to
start giving the cloud a few teeth and a crooked
little smile, too. So the goal of this exercise
is to draw from imagination. No references, but read your personal experience of
how the weather was today. And instead of
aiming for accuracy, focus on how the
weather felt to you. Was it cold and crisp? Was it humid and heavy? And let that guide
your lines and shape. Because it was a cold day, there was a little bit of snow falling off the edges, as well, and to balance it
out at the bottom of the page and when you start
drawing a small umbrella. And whether it's something
that we're very familiar, as we've all drawn it as kids, a simple sun, puffy clouds
or zigzagging lightning. So restart tapping on those
natural drawing reflexes. Now, on the layer
below the line, I start adding colors. And I feel like for
that specific day, a bright yellow feels like the natural choice for the sun. So this will add a little bit of warmth and
brightness to the tration. So I'm going to start
tracing underneath the lines of the sun to fill in the color and make
sure that the shape is fully close so the color stays
inside and doesn't bleed. And with that same yellow, I'm going to use it for
the umbrella, as well. A little extra brightness
on the character. I don't know why whenever I start visualizing an umbrella, it's either a black umbrella
or a bright yellow one. So bright yellow it is. And that's today's weather with some sun and a little
bit of wet snow. How was the weather
for you that day?
5. Day 2: Your Mood: For day two, we're going
to document our mood, which I think is very important
for your personal health. I'll start by
organizing my layers, one for the drawing line on top and another one below
for the colors, and I'm going to put them in
one folder named Day two. On the line layer, I draw a rectangle to frame
the composition, and having a body
helps me get started. So today, I wasn't
feeling really great, just a bit under the
weather with a runny nose. I'm not sure if you can hear it from the sound of my voice. So here's me blowing my nose. This exercise is all about documenting your state of
mind through simple prompts. So just draw whatever feels
right for you in the moment. And for this specific exercise, don't be shy to draw
different arrays of emotion because we're not always happy and in a good mood. We're also allowed to
feel sad and angry. So whenever you're
drawing emotion, I think that exaggeration
is your best tool. So facial expressions,
body language, and really even small details in the posture can help communicate
how you felt that day. If you're unsure on how
to show a certain mood, think about how your body reacts with that specific emotion. Are your shoulders slumped,
when you're tired? Are your eyes wide open,
when you're excited? You can also use a little bit of symbols like storm cloud for frustration or my favorite
little floating heart for joy to reinforce
that feeling. And since I wasn't
feeling my best, my mood was pretty
low because I was constantly cold and a little
bit drained, to be honest. So here I add a big chunky
scarf to reflect that. There's still some
space on the canvas. So here I'm going to
draw another face. This time, I'll be
frowning because, well, I wasn't in the best
mood being a little bit sick. But, you know, moods
shift throughout the day. So to be fair, I'm also going
to add one more this time smiling at the bottom right
portion of the canvas. And that's because
I started feeling a little bit better
later on that day. And, you know, a day
isn't just one feeling. It's really a mix of
different moments. So trying to recollect your
thoughts and memories and think about how you feel during different
times of the day. And another tip is to use color because that's a great
way to emphasize mood. I try using warmer tone
for happiness or cool, desaturated shade
for exhaustion. For color, I'm choosing
a deep red to emphasize how I felt because I think it
was a very polarizing day. I like to use a
single accent color in each drawing for each day. So this really helps everything
feel a bit more cohesive. Red works well here because
it reflects warmth, the heat from my body, the inflammation from the
runny nose, my bad temper, and really those
little rosy cheeks when I'm feeling a
little bit happier. And that's my mood for the day.
6. Day 3: Your Food: So for day three,
let's draw some food, and I'm going to start
with a dark blue. And as usual, I'm going
to set up my layers, one for the line on top, another one below for color. And I'm going to group them into one folder
called day three. Now I'm going to begin with a simple rectangular border
to define my canvas. So whenever I'm
not feeling well, I tend to eat a lot
of clear broth, and amen is always a go too. So here, I'm not sure
if I'm drawing smoke or noodles initially
coming out of the bowl, but I think it's slowly
turning into noodles. And here I'm going to fill up the lines by
following the curves. I think there's something
really therapeutic about sketching these curvy lines
not touching each other. Food often have different
components like the topping on the ramen
or layers in a sandwich. The way I drew it in that
specific instance is that I drew the layers
of the ramen separately. You can also
exaggerate the steam, the garnish to bring warmth
and movement into the piece. Here, I want to be very abstract by throwing all of the
different garnish of the ramen, flying around kind to
create a little dense. And with the ramen, I love adding a nice boiled egg and a few slices of chase. So whenever you're drawing food, focus on texture and shape to make it feel more appetizing. So, for example, instead of outlining everything perfectly, try using small loose
strokes to subject softness, like on bread or noodle, and also crispness
like fried food. With some wickle lines, I'm going to add
some layer of fat to the pork and then sprinkle
some chopped green onions. And to make the food
more appetizing, I like to add some steam. So this makes everything
feel warm and comforting and more appetizing. Finally, I'm adding a
stylized Chinese clout at the bottom to fill the space. I don't know, because
I just feel like it. And now for the color, I'm going to make the
drawing pop a little bit with a mustard yellow
for the noodle strand. What I want to do specifically for this exercise was to take the time to kind of think
about what I ate on that day. I realized that a lot of
the time when you ask people what they had
for lunch a day before, it's really difficult
to remember. So just to be more aware and conscious about little
details in our day. It's not about
drawing perfectly, but it's also about
being conscious of what we had for
lunch the previous day and also to remember that styles food can also be very delicious and
mouth watering. I'm going to drop the color in and make sure
that the shape is properly closed so it
can fill in properly. I'm also going to
fill the egg yolk and the chasew slices with a little bit of that
same mustard yellow. To fill up the
space, I'm going to add a few more
noodle strengths to bounce out the composition and just doodle here and there. And that's the food I ate today. So mouthwatering ramen.
7. Day 4: An Activity: For day four, we're drawing a fun activity from that specific day. So
you know to drill. I'm going to start
by naming my layers, one for the line, and one for
the color right underneath. And we're going to place them
in a folder named day four. This is again, so it's easier to access them via
the page assist. As usual, I begin with a simple rectangular border
to frame the drawing. This time, at the bottom, I add some wavy lines since today's activity is
swimming laps at the pool. I really enjoy swimming, and I used to do it
several times a week. And now it doesn't
really happen as often because I don't have
access to a swimming pool, but today was different. So I'm going to start
withdrawing my swimming cap, and my face is shown
half in the water and half out as I
turn out to breathe. And this is why you
see my big mouth. This is a weird angle, but my left arm is
extended forward, reaching ahead of me, and I find it difficult to draw, especially from this angle. And remember not to
focus too much about the perfect anatomy and more about capturing the feeling
of doing the activity. I think that the proportion
might be a little bit wonky, but I'm going to
leave it as it is, as the purpose of this
exercise is really to draw an activity
that I did today and not focus too much
on a perfect drawing. But to keep things simple, I'm going to use the same color as my lines to fill in the cap, the goggle, and the
swimming trunks. So whenever you
draw an activity, you can try to capture
your sense of movement or stillness by
adding some lines. For example, if you're
swimming or running, I'm going to use some
flowing lines to show action or some drop of water
floating away from the body. And right now, I feel
like I'm floating a little bit too much
above the water, so I'm going to add some
waves in the background, and I'm also going to
add a lane divider. You can also add background
elements like water splashes, wind line or scatter object
to give more context. In this case, I've added
water splashes and even a line divider in the swimming pool so
people know where we are. I just want to use one color, and I think that color
will be a light blue. This will help me fill
in the pool water. With that very
recognizable pool blue, and I'm going to add
also some splashes of water around the body to bring
movement into the drawing. And here I'm going to
leave some white space at the top of the composition
to let it breathe a little. I know usually I would
add some hearts or some, but I'm going to decide to leave a lot of white space
for the drawing. And that's my activity of the day swimming laps
at the swimming pool, which I really enjoy doing.
8. Day 5: Special Moment: So for day five,
you know the trill. We're going to start by
creating two layers, one for lines, and one
for color underneath. And I'm going to group them into one folder that
we're going to call day five so then we can easily access them
via the page assist. So, using the same
dark blue as before, I draw a simple border to
frame the composition. So today's theme is a sweet moment that
happened during the day, something that made me happy. And I was going to draw
myself reading a book, but that's not what
actually happened. Instead, I'm going to draw
myself sitting on my bed, holding my phone and
watching videos on TikTok. This is a small, mundane moment. Things don't need to be grandios for your own visual journal, but this is something
simple that really made me feel
cozy and comfort. When drawing a sweet moment, focus on the little details and made it very special to you. And it doesn't have
to be a big event. Sometimes the most
comforting moment are the simple everyday ones. I would say to think
about the atmosphere, was it warm, cozy, quiet, or was it a big party? To complete the scene,
I add a warm beverage, which was coffee because
this is my quiet time, my time to unwind, and I just like wasting time on TikTok while drinking
a hot beverage. Don't be afraid to use
small visual cues or icons to bring that feeling across like steam from a cup of coffee, little bit of hearts, soft lighting, even
a relaxed posture. For color, I start with my hair, so I feel it with
the same dark shade, and I'm going to purposely
leave a thin white edge. This will represent the light
coming in from the window. This is not a drawing exercise, so the proportion
of your characters don't need to be perfect. This is more of an
exercise about capturing a feeling rather than
making a perfect drawing. Then to bring in the warmth, I'm going to pick a soft yellow. I use it to draw
a four rectangle. This will represent
the window panel, and also the warm yellow
represents the afternoon sun. And simply filling
them is going to create a warm glow to the scene. And if you're unsure
about what you draw, rethink about that
part of your day where you really felt at ease, relax, or having
fun in the moment, even if it was just
for a few seconds. I think it's really
these small moments that often hold
the most meaning. To make the light feel a
little bit more present, I'm going to add a subtle
reflection on my lap. I'm going to mirror those
window panel onto the blanket. And finally, for this
journaling exercise, I'm going to try not to
erase while I'm drawing. It's a little bit of
a reflex, I know, but I'm trying to
capture the moment as it was from my head to the
paper or through the iPad. The goal of these drawings, once again, isn't
about perfection, but rather to visualize something and translate
it into paper. And that's day five.
It's a simple, sweet moment sitting
by the window, sipping coffee and scrolling on my phone. How was your day?
9. Day 6: New Creature: So for day six, we're drawing an imaginary creature
inspired by today. And I think this is
a great exercise to help you drawing from
your imagination, taking a little bit of reality and mixing it
into the fantastic. So since I'm in Denmark, I've seen a lot of swans lately, so that's where we're
going to get started. Swans are often depicted
as elegant and majestic. But honestly, I find
them kind of scary, especially as they can be very protective
out their spaces. So I'm giving mine
some angry eyebrows. And also, I'm going to add
some really sharp teeth. So let's go of logic
here for a second, and let's just have fun
with our new creature, because the goal here is
to draw from imagination, and imagination is always
built in some type of reality, what we know, things that
we've experienced and seen. When you start drawing without a sketch and
improvise on the go, you might mess up
your proportions. Like, I think I might have drawn the animal a
little bit too large, so it doesn't really fit into the rectangle, but that's okay. You can see that the wings
are still within the border, so the composition works. And I'm going to make it work in the end because it's
not about perfection. It's more about fluidity. And because I don't want
to just draw a swan, I want to mix it
with another animal. So on my walk, I passed by the little
mermaid statue, which gave me an idea. I'm going to add a fish
tail to the swan's body, and I'm going to turn it into some sort of swan
mermaid hybrid. But really, it's going to be
more of a swan fish hybrid. So I'm going to curve the tail slightly to make sure that
it fits within the frame. And then using simple W shaped, the round one, I'm going to start creating the
scale of the fishtail. For the background,
I add some waves. This is going to make it look like this strange
little creature is just floating and is
completely unbothered. I think this is a great exercise because it really
help you stretch your creativity while being grounding in some
familiar element. So, for example, if you haven't encountered
any animals today, just draw whatever
comes to mind, and don't limit
yourself to animal. Your creator we
could be anything. You can anthropomorphize
a cup of noodles, turn a TV character
into something new, or bring an everyday object like a pen or a
notebook into life. The weirder, the better, and also make sure to not
erase and overthink it. And finally, for the color, I'm going to go with
a soft turquoise hue. I start by filling in the
very tip of the fishtail, then adding some color to the
middle section of the tail, and this creates a little bit
more depth to the drawing. And that's my
creature for the day, a swan fish hybrid inspired
by my walk in Copenhagen.
10. Day 7: Future Self: So for the last day, I want us to focus on our future cell. So I'm starting by
setting up two layers, one for the lines on top, and one for the color below. And then we're going to
group them again into a folder that we're
going to name Day seven. To begin, I'm going to create a border to
frame the drawing, and this really helps me. So here you can
see that I sketch an ear and a smiling face, my glasses, and the
shape of my head. So sometimes it might be difficult to visualize
your future self. And one good way of
doing it is to look back at the previous days and
exercise that we worked on. For example, what
moment brought you joy? What activities did you
feel was meaningful? Use all of this information
as clues because your future self is
often a continuation of what already makes you
feel fulfilled today. And for me, it's teaching, drawing and really
drawing every day. Also, focus on feelings,
not just details. It's often very difficult
to visualize how you feel. So I hope that these type
of exercise can help you putting into
paper your emotions. Instead of thinking
about the right answer, really focus about how
you want your future self to feel confident, joyful, accomplished, and
use expressions like body language and
small symbolic elements. For me, I added stars and
heart to represent your goals. And this isn't just
about drawing an image. It's really about visualizing and manifesting
your aspirations. I want to capture a
sense of accomplishment. So I'm drawing myself proudly holding one of my illustration, published in a big
editorial cover magazine. It's really a dream of mine. So to complete the look, I add a blazer because we need to look a little bit
more put together, one hand tucked into my pocket. Here I'm drawing
straight lines for my pants and finishing
up with my shoes. That feels like a good
place to stop now. And to emphasize this
feeling of success, I'm going to add
stars around me. And a pile of magazine
in the left hand corner, magazines that are
featuring my artwork. Another dream of mine
is to create and sell more fun march and maybe even
have my own apparel line. So here I'm drawing my face on a sweater next to a
best seller medal. And this is a great
visualization exercise to focus on your goals. Because I'm an avid traveler
and I love to travel, I'm going to draw a
plane taking off. This will symbolize my travel, new experiences and opportunity. And you'll notice
that I like adding a few little icons,
wiggly lines. This adds a little bit more
emotion to the drawing, but it's also a great way
to fill up the space. Now for the accent color, because I'm a very positive
optimistic person, I'm going to focus on
a bright yellow for this great manifestation
that we have ahead of us. So I'm going to color the stars
I drew earlier in yellow, the little medal that
says best seller as well, and the magazine covers to bring warmth and really a nice
energy to the piece. And that's it for day seven, a little manifestation
board for the future self, myself, drawn with a lot
of positive intention. So what did you draw?
11. Conclusion: Alright, you made it to the end of this
challenge. Amazing work. And I hope this
experience has helped you build a daily drawing
habit and show you that inspiration really come
from simply showing up and putting pen to paper or
in this case, a screen. So let's recap what we
covered this past week. You explored seven
unique prompts to turn everyday
moments into art. You practice drawing
from memory and imagination to strengthen
your creative skills. And finally, you let go of perfection and embrace
quick expressive sketching. I'd love to see
what you created. Sharing your work
is a great way to stay motivated and
connect with others. So here's what you can do. First, upload one or several
of your drawing under project and resources so you can all celebrate
your progress. Second, post on Instagram
using the hashtag My Cozy Art and make sure
you tag me at ip Cozy Art. And I'll be checking them
out and cheering on you. Thank you so much for joining
me in this challenge. If you enjoy this class, I'd love for you to leave a review because it really helps a small creator like me create better content
just for you. And if you have any questions, feel free to ask in the discussion board
under discussion. I hope this challenge sparked new ideas and brought some joy
to your creative practice, and to your day, keep
drawing, keep exploring. Stay grateful, and
I can't wait to see what you created next. Bye.
Simon Ip, Digital Illustrator
