I’m a painter. I love the swish of my brush in the water and picking up pigment. I LOVE mixing colors and applying washes. The details in the process of painting is what truly gets me excited.
But when it comes to drawing… I have a lot to learn.
But I had an epiphany the other day… and now I don’t need to stress out about learning to draw.
I can draw to learn…
Yes, it sounds pretty much the same thing but stick with me. Drawing is something that will develop with practice. It’s a function in the brain, a matter of hand-eye coordination. If you draw consistently, you will get better at it.
For me, that means time in the sketchbook. A safe place for me to learn… but I have found I want to learn much more than just putting lines on a page.
I want to learn the shape of Hippopotamus ears.
I want to learn the way bones are structured in the hind legs of animals like frogs, horses, and rabbits.
I want to learn how to have characters look at each other and pose them to interact.
All these things can be learned through drawing.
In my sketchbook, I have a place to experiment. To find what works… and what doesn’t.
In my sketchbook, I find a character… who keeps popping and asking for me to write his story.
I draw to learn… which in the process is helping me to better learn how to draw.
And in the end, it’s a win-win 🙂
