Motivational Monday Blog #2: I CANT DRAW!!!

The truth is... Yes you can.

Anyone can learn to do ANYTHING as long as they have the patience, and the mindset to do so. I wanted to do a post like this for my Motivational Monday blog post today because this is something that I hear far too often. And when I hear it, people generally say that they either can't draw at all because they don't have the skill, or if they are drawing already, they are comparing themselves to another established artist, or an artist they look up to.

The key to learning to draw, is to have a reason to do so. In a book that I am currently writing relating to this subject, I make the statement that 'drawing can be used for a variety of reasons'. Personally, I use art and drawing as sort of an escapism. When I was younger, that escapism also included playing video games, and reading tons of comic books. But as I have gotten older, video games left that equation, and comics and drawing have been more of that norm for me. Using art and drawing as a form of escape and an outlet to keep my sanity in this crazy life, it has been shown that during these times is when I create my best work.

If you have a reason to learn to do something, it is human nature for us to put our all into it and do the best that we can do. Remember, when learning to draw, start slow, start small, just crawl. DO NOT commit to trying to create some kind of masterpiece. If you do that, it's not going to work. Just find something you want to draw that is simple, and let it all go on the paper. Don't worry about perfection or anything like that. If it starts as an outlet of something, let it be that, and let your hand and paper interpret that for you.

If drawing becomes something more than just an outlet of some kind for you, then it is important that you take the time and patience to learn the basics and the fundamentals. That means learning the never ending basics of light and shadow, size of heads in a full body, the correct positioning of the features on the human face, learning how to draw the features of the face, and so forth and so on. Without those fundamentals, mastering and studying them the best you can, then you cannot progress. If you want to progress, then practice & patience is the key.

If you all have any questions or comments, please leave them in the comments below. Talk to you all tomorrow for Tutorial Tuesday blog post!

Ian Walker

Motivational Monday Blog #1: Do you... in your artwork.

I am one of the biggest fans of constructive criticism. I believe it is something that will make us all better artists. However, we still need to be careful of where this comes from and take it with a grain of salt. When there are people that throw out unfounded, unproven or untested criticisms based on their limited knowledge of art simply because they believe "they have an 'eye' for art or what looks right' but have never created it or have had the experience going through the process, that is the criticism you need to ignore.

Run back to your studio and continue to make more of what you love to do. I have run into so many people that forget so often that art in and of itself is subjective. Not everyone is going to like it, and not everyone is going to appreciate it or understand it. One of the biggest mistakes I made as an artist was to NOT tell people what I loved to do. And that was create art. I think doing that stifled my creativity in a way, and it hasn't been until recently that I have embraced what I love to do and tell people that I draw without regard as to their thoughts or opinions on the matter.

As artists, what you need to remember is this. Create what you love to create. When you take constructive criticism, be sure to listen to your fellow peers, not armchair opinionated ignorant people who think they know what they are talking about. Even when it comes to taking advice from other artists, take it with a grain of salt, and whatever you think you can use, take it and apply that to your craft. If you walk away from advice and can take only one sentence of that information to make yourself a better artist, then understand that you got advice from a good source.

With that said my fellow artists, I hope this will motivate you and keep you going on your path to create for yourself and others that enjoy what you do. Talk to you all again soon. Have a wonderful day/night!


- Ian W.