Learning a new skill is never easy and if it
is, I'm sure many people would dislike your natural talent. Nowadays, we have so many resources available to learn a new skill, you can literally do it on your fag break. Watch YouTube, subscribe to Skillshare or go to niche and unique classes. When I was young, and living in Grimsby, there would be one expert in the town for any hobby, and it would usually be fairly expensive. We didn't have YouTube, so had to rely on just one opinion to help you with your new hobby.
I guess that becomes quite challenging now too. Which influencer do we trust? This vlogger says this, and this clogger says that. It's overbearing! So what do I want to do to help that? Well, becomes another version of opinions. Only this time, I think my tips are fairly well decided and I hope they resonate with you too. Let's get into them...
1. You Don't Need Fancy Equipment - Don't stress about the materials that you haven't got. Learning how to draw requires 2 things - A pencil, & a piece of paper. One student of mine didn't even use that, he used old envelopes to get started! The wonderful thing about drawings is you don't need anything expensive to begin and you can usually blag yourself a free pencil at events.
2. Don't Start With Portraits - Please for the love of god, don't start with drawing portraits. If you can't draw a ball, there's no way in hell you're gonna be able to draw a face. Master the basics first. Understand how to shade, how to measure and then by all means - give it a go! But if you start with something so challenging, you'll only feel bad that you can't do it yet so let's take it back a few notches.
3. Keep Your First Ever Drawing - Now this might seem counterintuitive - but I'd like you to keep your first-ever drawing. If you're a perfectionist and you don't want to keep anything that looks bad, then look, I get it. However, if you're serious about art and want to see progression, you have to keep your first drawing! Seeing the first to the last picture is so rewarding, so trust me, give yourself permission to keep it and watch the progress.
4. Practice, Practice, Practice - Art is like any skill, you can't really just do it once a month and think you'll progress. Art needs muscle memory, learning from your mistakes previously so you can apply them in your current work. The more frequently we draw, the more we remember and if you're anything like me with a. smartphone, my memory is shot nowadays! So, practice practice practice.
5. Don't Be A Perfectionist - Err hello? Pot-Kettle-Black. Yes, I'm a nightmare student. I want my work to be perfect, especially for a new hobby. So sometimes I have to tell myself that it's ok to be a beginner, and I need to remind myself that in sports even more. That's when I really get a sense of what my students go through. Everything is a journey and a process, so don't overthink it, see what happens and just try to improve bit-by-bit. You'll enjoy it so much more.
And if you wan't to just skip to the end, here are the 5 lessons in a snapshot:
You Don't Need Fancy Equipment
Don't Start With Portraits
Keep Your First Ever Drawing
Practice, Practice, Practice
Don't Be A Perfectionist
So there it is. My top 5 things I wish I knew before I started learning how to draw. I hope these can sit in your thoughts somewhat and if you're questioning when or how to start, you just do it with ease and confidence and don't worry about the results. the most important lesson is to enjoy it. You're giving yourself the time to be creative and you're looking after your brain. Well done you!
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