How taking part in a drawing challenge can help with depression
When we’re feeling low or depressed it often helps to have a little structure to the day. We’re encouraged to break the day up into activities that we can manage to do — to stop us retreating into our ‘bed cave’ and so we can feel (however small) that we are accomplishing things.
For creatives, one of the most punishing things about depression is that it can rob us of the inclination and inspiration to make art — or music, or write, or whatever activity we enjoy. For that reason, I started a 14 day drawing challenge with United ArtSpace.
I was fed up of not being able to make time for art. I am a creative person — or that’s how I want to think of myself — yet I wasn’t making any time for art! Even in a period of unemployment I was prioritising TV, reading, and social media over doing anything creative.
I’d seen that an acquaintance had started a Draw Everyday Challenge and was posting her 3-minute pencil sketches on Instagram . Then I found United Art Space on Facebook.
I thought the drawing challenge would be a good way to kick start a daily (or at least regular) drawing habit. I liked the fact that the challenge could be as little as 1 minute of drawing from the photo prompt and that it had a supportive group on Facebook to share progress.
Each day I was emailed a photo and a simple Art Brief with themes such as ‘Line’; ‘Shape’; or ‘Colour’ with the objective to draw for as long as we had available. We could do just 1 minute, 5 minutes, 10 minutes — or draw for an unlimited time. A lot of participants, including me, took pictures at 1 minute, 5 minutes, 10 minutes and beyond and uploaded them to a closed forum. Others did whatever time limit they had available around work, family etc. (though, often, if you have one minute it’s easy to carry on to at least five).
So I set myself the challenge of completing at least 10 minutes of drawing every day. As well as posting on the Facebook group, I also posted on my Instagram account for friends to see.
For some reason even though no one would have berated me for missing a day, I found that sharing the drawings gave me some accountability and kept me on track. It was also great to see what others had produced — to marvel at how the same photograph became so many different styles of art. It also gave me ideas of ways I could re-visit the drawing challenges if I wanted to and using different medium.
And — lo and behold — I started to make art daily! I began to look forward to the email with the art brief each day. I started to remember what I enjoy and what I’m good at. I produced something each day that was important to me. Less important, but still nice, was that I got likes and positive feedback by sharing my drawings online — and I enjoyed giving positive feedback to others.
A word of warning though — if you are in the real depths of depression it’s advisable to think twice about joining a forum for sharing artworks. Although I would encourage you to, if you can — for reasons given above. However, if depression’s negative thought patterns have you within its grip you may find yourself comparing your art work to others’ and feeling worse. I occasionally had the odd twinge of thinking “Wow, his/her image is incredible, I’ll never be able to produce something like that” — and that’s with all the Art Therapy training with its ‘all art expression is valid’ philosophy. Comparison is natural but if you feel like sharing your work with strangers would be too much at this stage then by all means keep your drawings private, or show only to supportive family and friends.
It’s important to remember that art challenges aren’t about being ‘good’ or ‘better than someone else’. It’s about the daily practice, the being in the moment, the personal improvement, the challenge of using different mediums and drawing something you may not usually draw. It is a challenge — not a competition.
I feel like the drawing challenge got me focused, yet also more playful. It got me practising what I preach (i.e. be creative to alleviate depression), and to just be in the moment. In fact, I found it so helpful that I’m on the look out for another one ;-)
I did the 14 day drawing challenge with United Art Space. Check it out here, as well as their other courses: http://unitedartspace.org/
Have you tried any drawing or art challenges? Have you found them useful? What has been your experience?
