Don't learn to draw, learn to see.

Whenever someone finds out that I’m an artist, there are always a few things that come up. Oftentimes, they’ll tell me about a family member who can draw or paint, they’ll ask how I learned, but the most popular is, “I can’t even draw a stick figure”.

I may be wrong about this but it’s my opinion that anyone can learn to draw or paint. I can’t speak Russian but I also haven’t practiced it. So when I hear someone say, “I wish I could do that” I usually tell them that they can. Now some people are probably going to be naturally better than others but that’s true in all in things.

Like anything worthwhile, learning to make quality art takes time, patience, and practice. When I’ve taught people in the past, I always tell them about the skill of seeing. We have to learn how to see in order to draw. Oftentimes for someone new to drawing, you can put an object in front of a them and tell them to draw it. It’s a common thing to see them spend 95% of their time looking at their paper. They know in their head what the object looks like so they draw their “idea” of that object. Don’t learn to draw, learn to see.

I’ve come to believe that my ability to draw or paint comes from my ability to see and is supplemented by a lifetime of practice. I don’t know if artistic people are born with something that helps perceive space and lines differently than others or if we develop it because we were interested in art from a young age but I believe it to be a major factor.

I get a lot of value out of drawing and painting so when someone expresses a desire to make art, I genuinely want them to know that they can. I say value instead of joy because it is not always a happy experience. Sometimes it is a difficult puzzle to solve. Sometimes I’m lost. Sometimes an experiment that you put so much into doesn’t work. So whether it’s fun, frustrating, exciting, or messy, in the end it’s a valuable experience.