I want to draw again.

I used to, when I was in a classroom or at a bar. Actually managed to get quite good at it through sheer boredom in grande école. Then life happened and that faded away, alongside my mental health. Recently I've rediscovered doodling while attending ACM CCS 2025 as an independent (long story) and I want to improve my mental health in 2026, to the point where I can draw regularly again.

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throwaway2037 42 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Thanks for your openness about with struggling with mental health. It is brutal. For me, exercise really helped. For others, it is reconnecting (or getting closer) with friends and family. Keep at it -- you can beat it!

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nicbou 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I was in the same boat and started drawing again at around 30.

Remember that paper is cheap and that experimentation is valuable. Make all the bad art you can. The cost of all the paper I wasted in the last 5 years is probably less than the cost of a pizza. There is a valuable life lesson in there about being okay with making mistakes so that you can learn from them.

Nowadays I always carry a notebook, and more often than not pens and watercolours. You can build a really tiny kit out of makeup palettes.

I also loved taking painting lessons and going to live nude drawing at one of my favourite pubs. Making art is such a pleasant disconnect from work and digital life.

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b4ckup an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

That's awesome! I feel similar, I drew a lot back in the days because growing up in a small town I was bored so often. I did portrait art only but today I struggle because I just don't know what to draw and I'm just not good at doodling. Best of luck to you!

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sandspar 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

What subjects or style do you like to draw?

	▲	boricj 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Being entirely self-taught, I'm not sure how to describe my style. If I have to, it's kinda a nondescript knock-off of Gisèle Lagacé's recent webcomics. As for the subjects, being a horny teenager at the time I mostly drew scantily clad women. Sometimes portraits/caricatures of teachers or other students, mostly on request. All together, that led to an unfathomable number of hijinks. Thankfully, the one time that a teacher came across their caricature, it ended well. A fellow student requested it while in class (of handwriting Java of all things). She then took my handout and brought it to the teacher, proudly stating with glee "look at what boricj drew!". Cue the laughter. Then the teacher stated flipping pages and stumbled upon the rest of my usual bodywork, so to speak. Cue the laughter again. By that point, I was rolling on the floor, my sides hurting. I don't think I'll ever top that, but the reception of my doodles at the conference by academics reminded me of that past. Hopefully I'll manage to rekindle it.