Why I Draw
September 13th, 2022
I began drawing in November of 2021. Saying that now, I realize that it has been almost a year since I began drawing, yet I feel as if I am no more knowledgeable about it than I was before because I learned how little I knew the further I got along.
Drawing is a skill that I have always wanted to acquire. Hobbies aid self expression, which I was never too good at, but drawing specifically forced me to expand multiple skills that I hadn’t even known were involved in drawing.
The first time I wanted to actually start consistently drawing was a full year before I committed to it. In October of 2020, after having watched one instructional video on shading objects, I tried my hand at it. Unsurprisingly, I wasn’t good at it.
I drew sporadically for two more months before the minimal motivation I had tapered off into nothing. It wasn’t until I watched two specific videos that I resumed my goal to have a semblance of a skill that wasn’t playing video games or sports.
This animator on Twitter named Telepurte regularly uploaded short animations created entirely by himself, almost daily. His animations, though admittedly indecent at times, were of a consistent quality and he went a step further to challenge himself with new skills in each clip.
I came across this YouTube video (Credit: DaftPina) in which the creator of the video went into depth about why Telepurte drew everyday, including an interview from the animator himself. I decided, from watching that video, if someone could create full fledged animated clips everyday, then I could spend 30 minutes everyday chipping away at improving my drawing skills. So, I resolved to draw almost everyday, or at the very least, multiple times per week.
It was difficult. It was hard to keep working at something when I didn’t necessarily know what I was doing, even with the help of online tutorials. The difference this time around was that I had set a specific end goal for myself. I wanted to be able to draw well enough to have a consistent artstyle, and to be able to replicate exactly what I imagined in my mind onto a piece of paper. With this goal in mind, I could persevere.
Another video (Credit: Sycra) that I watched spoke of iterative drawing. I saw this and thought, “This is something that even I could do.” Iterative drawing is the concept of drawing something once, without too much time put into it, and then doing it again, and again, and again. It doesn’t require any kind of technical skill, just a high degree of motivation and willingness to leave behind drawings that I grew attached to. That detachment from my drawings allowed me to see a good amount of improvement in a short period of time.
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