For Those Afraid Of Drawing

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Most of the time before I start sketching, I have something in mind that I am interested in learning or achieving.

Either I want to strengthen my drawing skills by practicing, or sharpen the way I look at things, or figure out these watercolors, or simply have fun and play around with my materials.  But to be honest, I haven’t sat down yet with the intention to draw ultra-realistic–or even realistic at that.  That doesn’t mean I won’t some day, but that doesn’t interest me at all.

So lately, many Artists online have expressed to me their fears around sketching and drawing.  I have a sense that they might be putting some pretty lofty expectations on themselves when they sit down with a pen or pencil.

It’s so IMPORTANT to remember that the life of an Artist is a journey.  We ALL have to start somewhere and creating safe little containers for ourselves as we grow our skills and confidence is so important.

What do I mean?

Well, when I sit down with the intention to simply practice drawing I really am granting myself a nice little container to mess up and most especially to use as my time to learn in.  What becomes important is the work I’m doing in the container–rather than the finished product itself.

For example, in the sketch in this post, I was interested in discovering how to sketch something with all these little parts and pieces to it.  As I sketched it more and more I started to learn that I wasn’t really looking at the relationships between things–and that’s what was making my drawing a bit wonky.

Holy schmoly! That was a HUGE lesson to learn for me!

And so, my sketch is far from perfect, but now I’ve gained something that will help me on the next page.  So that’s it.  I move on.  I get better.  I grow.

This goes for all Artists.  No matter if today is the first day you pick up a sketchbook or if you’ve been doing this Art thaaaang all your life–as Artists there is ALWAYS room to grow.

So a great way to face your fear around sketching and drawing is to start simple and easy.

Begin with sketching objects that have simple shapes and lines–such as fruit and vegetables.  Practice really looking at them and sketching their basic shapes. That’s it.  Don’t worry about shading or making it look realistic.  And yes–they of course are going to look simple–that’s the point.  But just allow yourself this time to begin understanding how simple shapes and lines are the foundation of all sketches.

And most especially: practice.  You’ll learn how stronger your Artist eye will become and how sharper your skill will become the more you practice!

Thank you to all the beautiful Souls that shared my free online workshop: FEARLESS® Painting For Art Journaling–and thank you to everyone that has dived right in and started painting FEARLESS®!! My heart is doing cartwheels over all the beauty we are creating together in the world by sharing our light!!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

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