- Would you like to be able to draw?
- Would you like to learn how to draw?
Here are a few more questions…
Can you draw already?
Or, do you think that you can’t draw? If so why?
What stops you learning how to draw as well as you’d like?
Is it because you expect to be able to draw as well as a professional artist?
Well, let me share a secret with you… “A lot of serious professional artists can’t draw”
Say you wanted to draw a still life….
Imagine that the subject is a jug standing in front of a bowl of fruit, on a round table top. It is most likely that you would be disappointed if your finished drawing didn’t look exactly as you see the physical items in front of you. After all, you are trying to make a perfect copy.
Let’s look at things slightly differently. Imagine for a while that the jug is slightly taller than it should be in relation to the bowl of fruit…
Would you be disappointed with the result? Answer: ‘Yes’ or ‘No’
If your answer is YES, then consider the reason why you would feel displeased with the resultant drawing. You are probably a perfectionist. Only an exact copy will do for you.
On the face of it, the perfectionist attitude and approach seems reasonable. Your expectation is that you are trying to achieve visual perfection. Your artwork will be 100% perfect…
BIG MISTAKE!
Alternatively, your answer could be NO!
- Could it be that the size relationship between the real life jug isn’t noticeable?
- Does the jug still look like the jug?
- Does the finished drawing look balanced and attractive to look at?
- Could it be that the balance of the picture has been improved by the ‘mistake’?
If all these questions are positively answered there is 1 final question…
HAVE YOU ENJOYED DRAWING?
Your only aim with your drawing should be to have fun.
Okay, there’s great satisfaction in creating the perfect masterpiece but there is greater pleasure from a picture that shows the artist has enjoyed every moment in its making. An artist’s free hand preparation sketch can show far more energy and life than an overworked finished painting.
A lively drawing can bring out the character and life of the subject, even when there are minor variations and errors.
Now, take a moment out and look back to when you were a small child…
It didn’t matter what you had in your hand. It could be a pencil, a pen or a crayon… you made a mark.
It didn’t matter if you didn’t have paper to draw on… you just made your marks on the wall of your bedroom (or any other flat surface in the house)
More importantly, it didn’t matter what the marks looked like to anyone else other than you. If you said it was a cow or a horse… what you had drawn was a COW and a HORSE.
Better still, as a child, it didn’t matter what color you had in your little hands… the sky could be red, green or yellow, or even BLUE.
It doesn’t mean that you should try to draw childish pictures again but imagine, if you can find that glimmer of the enthusiasm you had as a child… and if you can be as free with your lines, arcs, curves, outlines and shading…
“You can learn to draw like a child”
And with the freedom that you gain learning to draw will come easy.
Do you still want to be a perfectionist, or do you want to have some fun?
See you soon
Michael
p.s. Also, as a child you had imagination. Your imagination was massive… it was as big as the universe. Your imagination was unlimited.
What advantages do you think you’d gain now with such imagination?
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