Рисование помогает мне успокоиться.

Because рисование is a noun, meaning drawing as an activity.

In this sentence, Russian is using a noun for the subject:

• Рисование = drawing
• помогает = helps

So the structure is basically:

• Drawing helps me calm down

Russian often does this with activity nouns:

• чтение = reading
• плавание = swimming
• рисование = drawing

Using рисовать here would not work, because рисовать is an infinitive verb, not the subject noun the sentence needs.

It is a verbal noun formed from the verb рисовать.

That means it comes from a verb, but behaves like a noun. It names the activity itself.

So:

• рисовать = to draw
• рисование = drawing, the act/process of drawing

Grammatically, рисование is:

• neuter
• singular
• here in the nominative case, because it is the subject of the sentence

Because the subject, рисование, is singular.

Russian verbs agree with the subject in number and, in the past tense, also gender. Here we are in the present tense, so the important thing is that the subject is one thing/activity:

• рисование помогает = drawing helps

If the subject were plural, the verb would be plural too:

• Упражнения помогают мне успокоиться.
• Exercises help me calm down.

Because the verb помогать normally takes the person being helped in the dative.

So:

• мне = to me
• тебе = to you
• ему / ей = to him / her
• нам = to us

This is a very common Russian pattern:

• Он помогает мне. = He helps me.
• Музыка помогает ей уснуть. = Music helps her fall asleep.
• Рисование помогает мне успокоиться. = Drawing helps me calm down.

So even though English says helps me, Russian uses something closer to helps to me.

Because Russian often uses this pattern:

• что-то помогает кому-то + infinitive

In other words:

• something helps someone do something

So here:

• Рисование = drawing
• помогает мне = helps me
• успокоиться = to calm down

Together:

• Drawing helps me to calm down

This is a very natural structure in Russian.

Because успокоиться means to calm down or to become calm, while успокоить means to calm someone/something.

Compare:

• успокоить ребёнка = to calm the child
• успокоиться = to calm down oneself / to become calm

The -ся ending makes the verb reflexive, and here that matches the meaning: I calm down, not I calm someone else.

So in this sentence, the idea is:

• drawing helps me become calm

Yes, this is about aspect.

• успокоиться = perfective, focusing on reaching a calm state
• успокаиваться = imperfective, focusing on the process of calming down

In this sentence, успокоиться is very natural because the meaning is result-oriented:

• drawing helps me get calm

If you said успокаиваться, it would sound more like:

• drawing helps me be in the process of calming down
• or helps me calm myself in a more ongoing/repeated sense

Both can make sense in some contexts, but успокоиться is the more standard choice here.

Because помогает is present tense and usually expresses a general fact or habitual truth here:

• Drawing helps me calm down

It means this is something that is generally true for the speaker.

If you used поможет, that would usually mean will help:

• Рисование поможет мне успокоиться.
• Drawing will help me calm down.

That sounds more like a specific future situation.

So:

• помогает = helps / is helpful in general
• поможет = will help

Yes. Russian word order is fairly flexible, though the neutral order here is very natural:

• Рисование помогает мне успокоиться.

You could also say:

• Мне рисование помогает успокоиться.
• Мне помогает успокоиться рисование.

These alternatives change the focus or emphasis, not the core meaning.

The original version sounds neutral and straightforward, so it is a very good default sentence for a learner.

It is more like drawing in the general sense of the activity.

Russian does not have articles like a or the, so whether something is general or specific depends on context.

Here, the meaning is clearly general:

• drawing as an activity helps me calm down

It does not usually mean a specific drawing or artwork. If you wanted to talk about a specific drawing, you would probably use a different noun such as рисунок.

Compare:

• рисование = drawing, the activity
• рисунок = a drawing, a picture

The stress is:

• рисовАние
• помогАет
• мне
• успокОиться

A rough pronunciation guide:

• ree-sa-VA-ni-ye pa-ma-GA-yet mnye oo-spa-KO-it-sa

A few useful notes:

• е in мне sounds like mnye
• -ться / -ться type endings are often pronounced more simply than they look
• unstressed о is reduced in pronunciation, so it does not sound like a strong o

Yes, depending on context, that can be a very natural translation.

Literally, успокоиться is closer to:

• calm down
• become calm

But in natural English, people might also say:

• Drawing helps me relax
• Drawing helps me unwind

So the exact English wording can vary, even though the Russian structure stays the same.