Tonight starts my drawing sessions. Wish me luck.
The good thing about my drawing is that, well, I’m so *bad* at it that any little improvement is like a giant leap forward. If I draw a head and it winds up looking even slightly human, everybody’s like, “Wow! Look at that! It’s almost a person!” Almost. If you squint and twist your head a lot.
Another funny thing about my drawing is that, well, everybody thinks I can draw-everybody except for me. I talk to people, sometimes people I don’t even know and they wind up telling me, “oh, you can draw.” I’m thinking, “who are these people? And how do they know I can draw?” I guess I talk like I know how to draw and people just make assumptions. Or maybe they look at my pictures and they just think I can draw.
I was talking with my mother on the phone the other day. She told me that, from when I was little, “I was always drawing things. And we could recognize what they were.” Oh, now there’s a ringing endorsement if I ever heard one. “Look! You drew a head and it looks almost human! Why, Picasso himself had better watch out.” Somebody help me. Now.
So, I got these cute little “art bins” to hold all of my drawing supplies, and I have my big, giant pad, and I’m going to march right in there and be like, “excuse me. I’m an absolute beginner. I can’t draw worth a lick, though I’ve been told that, once, a long time ago, a drew a head and it look, um, er, human. Sorta.”
Move over you people, I’m an ARTIST!
Oh right. I can paint. Really I can. And take pictures. I’ve done that before. There’s even *proof* of that. But draw? Ha! Nope. (Had you fooled.) It’s kind of funny because, even historically, everybody thought Leonardo couldn’t draw. And just look where that got him! I wish I “couldn’t” draw half as well as he “couldn’t” draw. And now, here I sit with the opposite problem. Everybody thinks I can do it. For some reason I’ve got the “oh she looks like she can draw” look about me. And I can’t, but that doesn’t stop people from thinking that.
I guess it’s sort of like handwriting. Everybody thinks that there’s is messy and no good. The grass is always green on the other side…yada yada. Still, I’m telling you now: I can’t draw worth a lick. No matter how impressive my little art bins looks. No matter how I sound like I know what I’m doing. No matter how many museums hang up my crap-on-a-stick-I can’t do it very well. I’m just not good at this whole drawing thing. Really, I’m not.
Which brings me to my next point. I’m so bad at it, and I have such low expectations, that it’s going to be FUN! Yay! I can hardly wait! Bring on the fingerpaints! I’ve got almost-human-like heads to draw! Out of my way! I’ve got smudges to smear on giant over-sized pads. There are charcoal sticks that must be crumbled and laughing that must ensue. “That’s an ear?!? Good grief! Maybe I should make it a nose instead?!? I know, it could be somebody’s chest if you turn it around this way.” Oh what fun this is going to be. I’ll be like a kid again.
Ha! Take that! I can’t draw! (And yet, somehow, nobody believes me when I say that.)
Until next line…
Author
I've never been good at realism when it comes to drawing. In fact, I have never been good at realism in general. Unreality is where it's at!
Author
Good luck! Maybe you just visualize things on a different level than everybody else and are having difficulty getting it down on paper. Like a genius who cannot speak in layman's terms. You go girl!
Author
Mythopolis, I can almost do un-real. In fact, last night I drew a little turtle. It looks almost un-real, in a turtle-y kind of way. :~)
Peruby, thanks for the kind words. Instead of a "genius who cannot speak in layman's terms" I'm more like a layman who draws square circles. But, hey, I'm trying and that's all I can do really. Just keep practicing and, eventually, I'll get to "round" (somehow!)