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# How to Break Your Drawing Habits (Change Your First Decision)
- URL: https://craftedbyrobert.com/break-drawing-habits-loose-portrait-exercise/
- Published: 2026-11-13T21:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-13T20:59:59.000Z
- Description: Stuck drawing the same way every time? Try this: whenever your brain says where to start, do the opposite. A simple loose portrait exercise.
- Author: Robert Joyner
- Tags: Process, Free Lessons

Ever notice you draw the same way every time? You start with the same feature, in the same order. Here’s a simple way to break those habits and get off autopilot.

### Your brain takes the easy route

When I sit down to draw, my first inclination is always the same: start at the nose, then work down the face. That’s my brain saying, “I know how to do this. Let’s take the easy way.”

Those habits and decisions happen almost unconsciously. Sometimes it’s good to disrupt them.

### The exercise: change your first decision

1. **Warm up with the structure.** Block in the basic shapes and proportions. Don’t skip this part.
2. **Pick a new reference.** Use one you haven’t drawn yet.
3. **When your brain says where to start, don’t.** If it says nose, start with the ear instead.
4. **Keep changing.** Every time your brain tells you what to do next, do something else: forehead wrinkles, a hard line behind the ear, red crayon running down the face.
5. **Stop worrying about proportions.** If it’s wrong, it’s wrong.

The result looks different than if you follow the easy route every time. See also [how to draw loose: construct and deconstruct](https://craftedbyrobert.com/how-to-draw-loose-construct-deconstruct/).

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### Try a few more tricks

- **Change mediums.** Pencil, then charcoal, then crayon. Some blend well together, some don’t.
- **Work the negative space** instead of the contour.
- **Try a blind or semi-blind contour.** Look at the reference, not your paper. It gives you a totally different line quality.
- **Draw the eye as a big circle** and see what you can get away with.

Keep each one to about 30 minutes, and use four or five references so you get a fresh start each time.

### It’s not about a perfect drawing

The goal isn’t a cool drawing. It’s whether the session gives me something new: a technique, a medium, or even a new subject. If it changes how I paint tomorrow, that’s a win.

Push things to a point where they shouldn’t work, but they do. It looks clumsy, but it isn’t.

### Structure still matters

Someone asked if I skip the boring face-mapping. Honestly, the more you understand structure, the better your loose and gestural work becomes, because that knowledge lives underneath everything. Don’t skip the warm-up.

For related reading, see [loosen up your drawing: range of motion](https://craftedbyrobert.com/loosen-up-your-drawing-range-of-motion/) and [paint the same subject over and over](https://craftedbyrobert.com/paint-the-same-subject-over-and-over/).

Learn Structure. Paint Loose.

**Construct. Deconstruct. Explore. Repeat.**

### Drawing habits FAQ

**How do I stop drawing the same way every time?**  
Notice your first instinct, then do something different. Start somewhere else on the subject.

**Do I need to draw faces for this?**  
No. It works for any subject, and for painting too.

**How long should each drawing take?**  
About 30 minutes is a good session. Short is fine.

**Does it matter if it doesn’t look like the person?**  
No. The goal is to explore, not to get a likeness.