Most people don’t remember the moment they stopped drawing. There was no single decision or conscious commitment. Instead, the abandonment was gradual: a sketchbook left unfinished, pencils and paper tucked away in drawers, a routine quietly left unattended. All of it carried the assumption that art belonged to an earlier version of themselves.

This is because, as people grow and are forced to take in more responsibilities, creative endeavors can easily become a distant memory, as creativity is subtly reframed as something optional, a luxury rather than a calling.

For many adults, the idea of returning to art feels complicated. Not because they lack interest, but because they assume the door has already closed.

But in recent years, that assumption has begun to shift. Digital learning platforms are giving adults a new, more accessible way to re-enter creative practice. Drawing no longer requires formal enrollment, long studio hours, or physical proximity to institutions. Instead, it can exist in shorter rhythms, alongside work and family, without demanding a complete reorganization of life.

This is the space in which an app like ArtWorkout, the leading learn to draw app on iPad, is making a difference.

How ArtWorkout Makes Drawing Accessible Again

Instead of treating drawing as a purely academic activity for professionals, ArtWorkout treats it as a process. With more than 2,500 short, guided lessons, including foundational line and form exercises alongside kawaii illustration and classic paintings, ArtWorkout seeks to help users gradually re-engage with this creative endeavor. Each session provides clear, step-by-step guidance, with a real-time progress bar that motivates users to follow through and complete every lesson.

The app also comes with a Multiplayer Mode where users can draw together on a shared digital canvas while following the same lesson in real-time, turning a once-private activity into something communal.

Importantly, ArtWorkout’s lessons are created by real artists. Each exercise takes into account the intricacies of the human artistic process: how a hand learns proportion, rhythm, pressure, and visual thinking the more it practices. With AI-generated images only becoming more commonplace, ArtWorkout takes a clear position: technology can support learning, but it can’t replace talent, perception, or the embodied experience of drawing.

This reflects how the platform’s founder and CEO, Aleksandr Ulitin, thinks about education and creative development.

“I am convinced that passion, curiosity, and genuine interest are the core elements of education,” Ulitin explains. “We acquire most of our skills through self-directed, deeply engaged immersion in something that truly interests us.”

“That’s why at ArtWorkout, we cultivate love first. We cultivate passion. And only then do we teach applied skills.”

For many users, that shift changes the experience of drawing itself. Progress is no longer measured only by outcomes, but by continuity. Drawing, in turn, becomes an ongoing, stress-free activity instead of a one-time event.

Championing The Return To Drawing With ArtWorkoutCrazyStories

This past holiday season, the platform extended that philosophy of championing a return to drawing through their latest holiday campaign, ArtWorkoutCrazyStories, which lasted from December 25, 2025 to January 8, 2026.

The initiative invited participants to upload personal moments from their drawing journey, explaining what inspires them to continue drawing and the role ArtWorkout plays in that process. That could be using it as a way to spend less time scrolling at night, reunite with an old hobby, or spend time with one’s children.

As part of the campaign, all participants who joined received a complimentary one-month ArtWorkout Premium subscription, the first 100 creators to sign up were awarded an annual Premium subscription, and the 10 stories with the highest number of views on TikTok or Instagram received an iPad Air with Apple Pencil.

Most importantly, though, ArtWorkout offered the person with the most authentic and emotional story (as selected by ArtWorkout’s judging panel) the ArtWorkout Creative Grant — $3,000: a fully funded certificate voucher for a professional online art education program delivered at a top-tier academic level. For adults looking to find their way back into something they’d put aside, an award like this was crucial to validating their creative ambition and making a long-delayed return finally feel possible.

Submissions to the campaign showed how this type of award can play a decisive role in helping adults return to art.

One participant, for example, shared that using ArtWorkout helped reopen a door they’d closed years earlier. “I always wanted to learn how to draw, but for years I told myself I wasn’t talented enough,” they wrote, describing how self-doubt had kept them from even trying.

When they finally began again, the experience came with a greater shift in perspective. “It wasn’t about talent. It was about giving myself permission to start,” she explained. “And that small permission changed more than I ever expected.”

Stories like these highlight why access and encouragement matter so deeply in creative education. Through their latest ArtWorkoutCrazyStories campaign, ArtWorkout sought to support those moments of return and remind people of the joy of finding their way back to drawing, no matter how much time has passed.