Drawing is a skill that almost anyone can learn, although some artists seem to have an innate ability for it.
Some artists even make careers out of drawing.
If you’ve never drawn before, then you may wonder if drawing can become a hobby.
Here’s what you need to know about drawing and whether it can be a hobby or not.
Is Drawing A Hobby?
Yes, drawing is a hobby for some artists.
Other artists treat drawing as a passion or career.
Even non-artists can consider drawing a hobby.
A hobby is something that one does outside of work or mandatory social engagements to relax.
If you think drawing sounds relaxing, then it could be a perfect hobby for you.
If you think drawing sounds like a lot of work and stressful, then it may not be an ideal hobby for you.
What Types Of Drawing Styles Are There?
If you want to start drawing as a hobby, then you may wonder what style you should try first.
Just like with other types of art, there are different types and styles of drawing.
You may find that one type or style works a bit better for you.
Here are a few drawing styles that you might want to consider trying as a hobby.
1. Doodling
Perhaps one of the best ways to get started with drawing as a hobby is doodling.
When you doodle, you’re not as worried about correctness and form.
You’re just moving the pencil or drawing instrument on a piece of paper and seeing what happens.
Some scientists consider doodling a way to manage stress and improve mental health.
When you’re feeling stressed, everything can feel out of your control.
Doodling can help you manage those fears because it requires hand-eye coordination.
You have to focus on what your hand is doing and follow it with your eye.
Since it forces you to focus on something else, your mind can forget the stressful thoughts for a moment.
Even if you can’t totally forget your stressors, doodling can be a way to calm yourself.
Some find doodling to be meditative.
In a meditative state, it’s a bit easier to manage stress.
You can let go of feelings of lack of control and remind yourself that you can’t control everything.
In many cases, you can only control how you respond to things.
Some also find that doodling is helpful when trying to remember something.
It’s a method of personal communication.
Others may not understand what your doodle means, but it might remind you of something important.
Doodling in class, for example, might help you remember certain aspects of the lesson better.
Regardless of why you do it, doodling is a great hobby because you can do it any time.
You can do it in class or while you’re working.
Since it helps you enter a more calm and meditative state, you might even find that your performance in class or at work is better after doodling.
Because doodles are imperfect, you also don’t have to worry about getting a sketch correct.
Doodling is a great style of drawing that can be your starting point for making it a hobby.
2. Photorealism Or Hyperrealism
The opposite of doodling is photorealism or hyperrealism.
This style of drawing often requires several years of practice.
While some people seem to excel at photorealistic drawings right off the bat, most artists spend years perfecting the skill.
As the name might suggest, photorealism is a type of drawing that looks so real it could actually be a photo.
The artist tries to capture an image as realistically and perfectly as possible.
A lot of thought goes into the shape and form of the object.
If the focus is a person, for example, then the artist must have some understanding of the muscle and bone structure of the individual.
This helps them shade and draw those structures to capture them perfectly.
No detail is too small or too unimportant to include.
Photorealism can turn into a profession if you want to devote your time and skills to it.
However, you can also treat it as a hobby.
If you want drawing to become a long-term hobby, then you might want to consider this style of drawing.
It will typically take a long time before you start to see the type of results that you want to see.
As such, photorealism drawing isn’t an ideal hobby for someone who is impatient.
It may take a decade, even, before you start to see the kind of results that you are hoping for.
It all comes down to how much effort and practice you put into it.
Those who have patience and don’t mind having a hobby that takes up a good portion of their time will likely find that photorealism is an ideal hobby.
It’s visually rewarding and you can easily track your progress with each completed project.
Photorealism is an advanced style of drawing that’s ideal for more serious artists.
3. Cartoon
If you’re a fan of cartoons, webcomics, or comic books, then you’re probably familiar with the cartoon style of drawing.
This style has several different variations.
That’s because the great thing about cartoons is that you can essentially make up your own style.
While some styles clearly belong to certain categories—comic book style, for example—you can reinvent the wheel with this type of drawing.
Cartoon drawing often focuses on disproportionate features or non-realism.
Some characters might have ridiculously long noses or teeth, for example.
However, some artists might mix cartoon style with photorealism to create extremely realistic-looking superheroes or other characters.
The reason you are creating the art can also determine the look of the cartoon drawing.
For example, if it’s a children’s cartoon, then the art will likely be a bit more cutesy or whimsical.
If it’s a mature comic book, then the art may be grimmer with hard edges.
Illustrators tend to use this style of drawing most frequently.
If you want to make a profession out of drawing, then you might want to consider learning this style.
Fan art, caricatures, and even creating your own comic book are all possible.
One reason why learning cartoon-style drawing is ideal is that the rules are a bit looser.
You have the freedom to make your work your own.
Even if you think your art looks terrible, there are likely others out there who will love it.
The cartoon style of drawing allows you to be unique.
It’s a great starting point as a hobby because you can continue to develop your skills and try other styles after mastering this one.
4. Line Art
Another popular style of drawing is line art.
Line art involved the use of lines to create an image.
These lines are usually straight or curved.
This style doesn’t include other hues or gradations to transform 2D into 3D objects.
A substyle of line art is continuous line drawing.
With this style, artists draw an image with a single line.
They never remove their pencil or pen from the page.
It’s complex and requires a lot of planning.
Other artists will simply let their pencils wander and form an image organically.
Line art is simplistic but elegant in its simplicity.
While some artists will use different colors for the lines, others prefer to stick to black lines on white or grey paper.
This style works great as a hobby because it’s basically the next tier-level after doodling.
There’s a bit more thought that goes into line art than doodling, though.
If you feel like you’re ready to move on to the next stage of drawing as your hobby, then you might want to give line art a try.
5. Architectural Drawing
If you think you have more of a technical eye, then you might want to try architectural drawing as a hobby.
As its name might suggest, architectural drawing involves the drawing of various buildings and other forms of architecture.
It isn’t simply drawing a building as you see it, however.
Architectural drawing focuses on precision, perspective, and detail.
The goal is to capture the building as accurately as possible.
Architects learn how to do this from a technical standpoint.
Their artwork can help designers and builders put together a blueprint.
As an artist, you have a bit more creative freedom.
However, your focus should be on drawing buildings or other architectural structures as precisely as possible.
You need to consider how tall buildings are and how tall other features are when compared to each other.
The perspective matters, too.
Are you looking at the building head-on or from the corner?
That can also influence the scale of certain features of the building.
Finally, you need to include all the details.
If this is a building that does not yet exist, then you need to include things like window frames and the various nail holes in the lumber used to construct the building.
Learning how to do architectural drawing as a hobby is a great idea because it helps train your eye.
You can learn perspective and precision by performing this hobby.
Being able to do architectural drawings may help you if you wish to try photorealism later.
Both require close attention to detail, precision, and perspective.
That also means this style is ideal for those who want to spend a decent amount of time on the hobby.
It isn’t a style that comes easily.
It takes practice.
Architectural drawing is a great hobby for those who love architecture or want to increase their precision-drawing skills.
6. Geometric Drawing
If you love shapes, then you should consider geometric drawing.
This type of drawing focuses on the use of geometric shapes to make a larger image.
For example, you might string together various squares and triangles to create a portrait of someone.
Geometric drawing is a great hobby because it’s something that a lot of people can learn easily.
Almost everyone learns about shapes when they’re young.
You also see shapes all around you every day.
Replicating those is easy.
This is especially true if you stick with common shapes like squares, triangles, and rectangles.
The real challenge comes in using those shapes to form a larger image.
It’s here where you can start to unleash your creativity.
If doodling and line art are the first steps to learning how to draw, then you might consider geometric drawing as the third step.
It can help you define shapes the more you practice with them.
It also helps you tap into your creativity.
While doodling is more of a stream-of-consciousness type of drawing style, geometric drawing requires you to focus on your creativity a bit more.
It takes some planning before you can start simply drawing.
Geometric drawing is a great hobby because it helps you nail down some of the basics of drawing and also helps you tap into your creativity.
7. Tattoo Drawing
All tattoos start as drawings.
Tattoo artists then make stencils out of the drawing before inking it onto someone’s body.
If you love tattoos or tattoo art, then you might want to consider taking it up as a hobby.
Even if you never ink a tattoo on someone, you can still use the various tattoo art styles for your drawings.
There are tons of different tattoo art styles.
Some of them lean toward photorealism while others lean toward cartoon style.
One of the best things about tattoo drawing is that you can draw whatever you want—style doesn’t matter.
Even if you start with a particular tattoo style, as your confidence grows, you can begin to branch out and create your own style.
You may even get good enough that tattoo artists might want to sell your unique drawings to their clients.
Tattoo art is a fun hobby if you love learning about different cultures or art styles.
8. Typography Drawing
If you have a love for words and a creative mind, then you might want to try typography drawing as a hobby.
Typography drawing utilizes words as the main focus of the art.
There are several different styles or types of typography drawings.
It’s only ever limited by your imagination.
The thing that ties them all together is the focus on the presentation of words.
For example, you might have a word like “jungle,” where you draw out the word, then fill in each letter with various jungle animals or a jungle scene.
It’s art, but it also all relates to the word.
You might even make a shape out of words.
For example, you might have a word like “ball” which takes the shape of some sort of ball.
Some artists include calligraphy as typography drawings, but you can also consider it a type of art all on its own.
If you have a particularly creative mind and love words, then you might find typography drawing to be a fun hobby.
9. Stippling
A final drawing style that you might want to consider as a hobby is stippling.
This type of drawing style became popular in the Renaissance era.
It uses dots to add dimension to a drawing.
When something needs more shading, the dots are closer together.
When something needs to be lighter, the dots are further apart.
You can create some interesting pieces of art with stippling.
It’s also helpful in learning about shading, light, and perspective.
If you want to learn more advanced drawing skills, then you might want to try out stippling.
Conclusion
Drawing is a great hobby because it can help relieve stress and put you in a calmer mindset.
It also offers plenty of challenges for those who have an interest in photorealism or architectural drawing.
Anyone can draw, which is what makes it such an approachable hobby.
