When I consider the importance of practice, I think back to my days as a barista + baker working at a local café near my hometown. It was a rough experience to say the least and I’m still letting go of all the drama I experienced there. Now though, I can say it was worth it, because something magical I learned was… the power of practice.

…I still remember having such a strong desire to make fancy coffees during that time, knowing that if I could just make a lot for practice, I’d get much better at pouring latte art – which was a personal passion I played with at home on my own espresso machine. But only making 1-3 cups a day for myself, I just couldn’t get in enough experience to master the beautiful latte art of my dreams…

So, I looked for a coffee house to join and improve my skills. Yep, I’m that into coffee…

…When I found a barista job, I did indeed witness the impact making hundreds of coffees in a day had on my ability. It wasn’t long before I could pour perfect and beautiful latte art every time.

Customers would look into that warm cup of joe and find a lot of joy in the hearts and rosettas that greeted them. I felt so much pleasure in that connection…

My job also landed me an exciting opportunity to make coffees at IU, where I treated recruiters and office personnel with specialty coffees. That was a lot of fun!

I also took it as a chance to practice my rusty drawing skills. I drew whimsical designs on all the cups… giving them out was a lot of fun, and it was a great method of forcing much needed practice…

…After a while, the staff invited me to work in the back as a baker as well. I was amazed by the intense artistic touch that went into decorating their signature cupcakes… gorgeous icing flowers and elaborate designs that introduced me to a whole new form of art.

I was driven to pick it up. My first attempts were at best, adequate. But I practiced copious amounts of cupcakes every shift and each design brought me a little closer to aesthetic presentation. I was committed to filling the pastry case with sweet and beautiful works of art. And… I really enjoyed it.

..Every cupcake was made as if it should be my best, but even when it wasn’t, I didn’t dwell… I pressed forward with the next cupcake until my skills caught up and I was eventually one of the best in the bakery.

I was even invited to participate in the annual wedding show where we showed off our designs to advertise the business.

…I learned a lot through my experience. I learned that practice only has impact when done in quantity, with intention and structure. Quality is a result of that process.

In the book, “The Science of Rapid Skill Acquisition”, Peter Hollins states that any skill can be learned quickly by applying specific principles of focus and strategy.. quantity over quality, until quality forms itself – I agree.

…Fast forward and back to subject, I’ve taken on a drawing mentor since rediscovering art in my life. You see, I am not a confident person by nature and I crave the drawing skills it takes to be able to paint any subject… so I figured some instruction may be in order.

Lessons with my mentor remind me of Daniel from The Karate Kid. Monotonous drills that do not seem to have a lot of purpose. Endless amounts of charcoal gradients, complex shapes, and steadying my line-work are both tiring and frustrating exercises that he’s had me do daily.

Guess what. I’ve been seeing the benefits unfold before my eyes…

I gotta say, when I see artists practice exercises like brushstrokes or lines, more often than not they complete a small page of various sorts all together, move on, thinking they got about as much as that exercise can offer.

…But that just is not the case. Said artist should put out hundreds, even thousands of each exercise to actually benefit. And each exercise should be in order and repeated in an identical and structural manner, so you may compare the current practice to the last.

Which reminds me of the day I moved all over my upsettingly large 19”x25” sheet of paper with gradient exercises, sometimes at the top of the page and others near the center or bottom. That is so me… completely ADHD and bouncing around all over the place…

My mentor had me slow down and start from the top lefthand corner of the sheet the next round, and work my way down in rows in an organized manner. Then I repeated the exercise on the back. Then another sheet, and then the back. And then another sheet… and even now, my mentor has me doing them every day.

He also had me do this with complex shapes, which I mirrored from templates and repeated many times, along with other exercises which I repeated as well… no rulers, erasers, or tracing allowed.

And it hit me. Practice means nothing unless it’s delivered in a strategic, methodical manner. You must fulfill the exercise in a committed way, as if that particular exercise will be delivered to a customer. But do not dwell on the specific outcome, press forward quickly and repeat.

…Might I also mention that when that I started learning guitar during my teens, I learned through scales and sheer repetition in order to play my favorite songs…

…so just like decorating one cupcake, and pressing forward to the next, and the next, and the next. Just like the coffees, pouring one and then another. And just like scales on the guitar…

There is enormous power in this form of practice, and you can apply it to any exercise you’d like.

Art is exactly the same way. One sheet of lines or brushstrokes has little impact on your skill set. One or two portraits follows the same principle…

When I wanted to practice wet in wet techniques with skin color, I chose a subject and repeated it many times since understanding the structural design of a proper practice session. The example above of my daughter is one of many sheets I attempted. My children are my favorite muses so I enjoy painting them, and it’s easy to put in the excessive amount of work it takes to develop a formula.

I learned a lot through this exact exercise. I learned that I prefer less glazes and to increase the paint mixture with every additional wash. It taught me to pay close attention to the consistency of paint in the mixture.

According to the master watercolor artist Marcos Beccari, a formula of tea-milk-honey consistencies coincides with a light-mid-dark value approach.

When you’ve pushed through and practiced many times, you become desensitized to the results and simply move forward. Being less attached to the outcome allows you to learn more abundantly.

Then, you can attempt a final painting having a lot of experience beforehand… knowing exactly what you want and how to achieve it.

In conclusion, if you want to improve your lines, brushstrokes, or even portraits and landscapes – you can’t bounce around or practice different styles… you must apply this form of practice many many times to the very same subject in a committed way without dwelling on the individual subject, and you simply must press forward in quantity to reach quality.

Good luck my friends, enjoy the process for that is where you develop your style, methods, and confidence!