I’m having a hard time getting my drawing homework done. I can blame it on a busy life — making the time is tough right now — but I know it’s because I find it so hard to do. I have to overcome a huge amount of inertia just to sit down with my sketch pad at all. I know that inertia is mostly fear of failure. I’m afraid that I’m wasting my time because I am not as good at this as I want to be. The irony is that in order to get better at drawing, I need to be willing to draw badly.
My inspiration for today is this quote:
Use the talents you possess, for the woods would be a very silent place if no birds sang except the best. —Henry van Dyke
It gives me permission to draw poorly, and I need that right now.
I can get over that inertia bump if I set a timer.. This way I know I am allowing myself to stop when it goes off.. Even 5 minutes per day sees results. Save your drawings and compare after a month of just the 5 minute drawing. You may be surprised. Good luck.
What a great suggestion. I do that with writing but it never occurred to me to apply it to drawing. Thanks!
I feel your pain! I actually wrote a very similar post about my writing several months ago. It is easy for me to make excuses for not writing but it usually boils down to fear.
I’ve realized that nearly all procrastination is fear-based: I am afraid of making a mistake, or complete failure, or looking like a fool or… you name it! I have the same fight with writing that I do with drawing, but I’ve made much more progress and developed the discipline to write anyway. I guess I need to apply the same techniques to drawing.
Very true. Not to do work is the same as being dead for an artist.
Jane
Good point! This is something I need to remember when my inner critic is asking “Why bother?”