This is a topic that I’ve been wanting to write about for a while now and before you start asking yourself – what in the name of pajamas is this guy talking about? Let me explain…
As a creator of drawing lessons I receive a lot of feedback from visitors to my site and I am happy to say that most of the feedback is very positive.
I do, however, hear a lot of people expressing disappointment in their results for the reason that their drawings turn out looking ‘nothing like mine!’.
My response to this is – ‘That’s perfect! It’s not supposed to look anything like mine’.
Drawing and – art in general – is an expression of the artist. If we are all individuals – and as you and I both know that we are – there is no reason why any two drawings from two different people should look alike in any way.
I do of course understand the reason for this expectation is that you are here to learn and you are following a lesson. If your result differs from what you see on screen, some of you feel as though you have failed.
Let’s say that you are following a tutorial on ‘How to draw a peacock’ and you get to the end. Depending on your expectations, you will do one of two things…
You look at your drawing – you look at mine – you compare – you see some differences – you think you failed…
You look at your drawing – you disregard mine – you realize that you’re created a drawing of a peacock – you succeeded!
Learn to draw – not replicate…
You see, the goal for you should be to reach a point where you have drawn the subject that you started out to draw and most probably believed that you couldn’t draw. If your drawing clearly looks like a peacock, there is no reason to allow the thought of failure to creep into your mind.
You really must learn to think of drawing tutorials as training wheels on a bicycle. Use them for as long as you need them, draw your peacock once, twice or eleven times. You will notice that the steps will become familiar and you will – at some stage – be able to draw the peacock (or any other subject) without following the steps at all!
This is the point where you will remove your ‘training wheels’. Your drawings will evolve and they will definitely not look anything like mine nor should they. You may even be brave enough to attempt other angles or positions with your subject.
So, now when you hear me saying that you should ‘Learn to draw like YOU!’, you know exactly what I mean. This mentality will allow you to feel a greater sense of success for all of your drawings and this extra confidence will fuel your drive to learn and improve.
You are you, you are unique, you can be just as great as anyone else so don’t strive to be anyone other than yourself in any part of your life.
Happy drawing!