Mirror Drawing
Draw what's in the mirror — including the mirror.
creativecraftyFree15 mindifficulty 2/5
Mirror drawing is what happens when you notice your own reflection is free life-drawing practice. You draw your face, your hand, a stranger's face reflected behind you in a café. The trick isn't skill — it's that you're looking twice: at the object, and at what the reflection changes about it.
How to start
- 1Sit in front of any mirror. Bathroom is fine. Bedroom is fine.
- 2Pick one feature — your eye, your knuckle, the curve of a lampshade behind you.
- 3Draw it for 10 minutes. Don't look at your paper until the timer goes off.
- 4Compare. Laugh at the result. Do a second one, looking at the paper this time.
- 5Sign both. Date them. Make it a diary.
What you'll need
- Any mirror in your homeEssentialFree
- Pencil and paperEssentialFree
Where to learn more
Plot twists
Ways to spice this up when the basics get boring.
- Draw your reflection in a spoon. Distortion is the whole point.
- Draw every mirror in your house. Each one has a different view.
- Sketch strangers reflected in café windows. Don't get caught.
- Draw your reflection at the same bathroom mirror every morning for 30 days.
ADHD notes
The mirror is always there, so 'set up' is zero. Great way to use the 5 minutes before a shower or between meetings.
Fun fact
Rembrandt painted over 80 self-portraits across his life — essentially turning his face into a 40-year aging experiment. He was doing mirror drawing on expert mode.
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