Daily drawing - the right materials (and a warm-up)

Setting up the habit of daily drawing is something I've attempted several times - but the habit has never stuck, because I didn't make it past the first week. Not enough motivation ... or something ...

It's impressive to come across people who do have that habit (or need, compulsion, obsession) - one such is Patti Roberts-Pizzuto, who blogs at missouribendstudio. She raises a concern that is close to my heart - using the right materials, satisfying materials. Recently she changed from using commercial ledger sheets (left side of pic) for her daily drawings

and now (right side) traces the main lines of the sheet before starting doing the drawing - or, is the tracing part of the drawing... I'm thinking that this "mechanical" start to the task would be a good way for someone who draws reluctantly but would like to be more enthusiastic about it to get into the habit of daily drawing - you know the first thing you'll be doing and it's not a scary thing, just making a set of lines, right? ... and then before you know it, even while you're warming up by doing the lines, you have an idea for what to draw... or simply want to use a different pen .. or something comes along to respond to  ...

After all, it's only a drawing, right? And there'll be another chance to do something different tomorrow!

That digresses from "the right materials" - we all have favourite pens or pencils or whatever, and they work differently on different papers. Patti realised that commercial paper wasn't giving satisfaction, and has ordered in a lot of handmade paper. I love the idea of having a big stock of something that you know is right for you - it removes another of the barriers to getting started if you don't have to make a decision about which-paper-which-pen every day ... you can Keep It Simple and concentrate on the doing. You have a pleasure to look forward to, not a chore.