So I've finally found an art practice routine that works for me.

The problem I've had—and see whether this sounds familiar to you—is that every time I've tried to start practicing drawing, I completely fail to draw anything that resembles what I had in my head, get frustrated, and give up. I feel like the materials and paper and time I used were wasted, and I've made no progress.

So here's what my new routine looks like:

• I use a sketch pad from Dollar Tree and the cheapest 2mm leadholder I could find (I refuse to use wooden pencils). Daiso sells 2mm mechanical pencils and those would also work. The theme here is cheap shit that I can go through with zero regrets.
• I do one (1) sketch a night, only if and when I feel like it. No time commitment. No obligation.
• No eraser. If I draw a line that's wrong, I just draw another one.
• It's a bare-bones anatomy/pose sketch. Sometimes some simple clothing.
• I'm drawing from imagination, not reference photos. I might start using those at some point; I do have them.
• No heads/faces yet. I need to work up to that.
• Also I will not be sharing any of these sketches at this time. Maybe in a retrospective in five years or something.
• Most importantly: I commit myself 100% to the intention to make bad art.

If I intend to draw utter dogshit, I cannot fail. I will aim my pencil at the ground and hit it 100% of the time.

And that is how I will proceed in my practice. By making mistakes on purpose, I will learn to recognize them and to avoid them—and thus to draw what I imagine accurately, if not always then at least much more often.