Who would think that to make lines appear on a piece of paper in an orderly fashion so it resembles a thing, shape or an object would be so hard? I did. I had no illusions that getting better at drawing would be easy, happen quickly and that I would become an artist with the pencil over night.
I am still practising my drawing everyday. I am still drawing shapes of various types, and I try to add depths and shadows and such to it. I will admit that I won’t become the next DaVinci in this lifetime. I am getting better at getting my lines a bit straighter and, but I have difficulty with perspective (this is nothing new under the sun) and shadowing. And line work. And how to hold the pencil and what angle to draw from.
My goal was never to actually become an artist in this art form. It was something I decided to try to get better at, and to use as a way to disconnect my brain from thoughts and screens, and to get more and better movement of my fingers and hand. I am not certain if it is actually doing any difference in that regard yet either. But just because I haven’t noticed any progress in my use of hands and fingers doesn’t have to mean it won’t have any effect at all. These types of things take time, and I am aware of that. Several year old nerve damage won’t miraculously get better, using a pencil for 20-30 minutes a day for three weeks. I see the longer perspective in this, and enjoy the journey.
It is a struggle sometimes to keep the focus and keep the interest up as I am drawing squares, circles, triangles and other shapes, so occasionally I will try my skill at an object I can spot from where I sit. I try not to “stage” anything or provide any lighting or perspective to the object, but just picks something random. I realised one thing I enjoyed drawing was the thumb of my left hand as I was holding my sketch book. I figured this could be a thing I could draw that would be an okay point of reference for my self. I hold the sketch book fairly similarly every time I draw, I sit in the same place and have the same lighting every time. It was also fun to draw something that wasn’t just “a shape”, if that makes any sense. I figure my thumb would have all the shapes I have been working on, it was something that wouldn’t be exactly the same every time I drew it, but similar enough. But the tiny variations would make it interesting to observe, study and try to transfer over to paper.
I wouldn’t try to draw it every day, but use it as an exercise when I felt my patience running thin or my focus not being all too present. (Drawing squares and circles can be a bit boring at times.) The first attempts was horrible. my thumb either ended up looking like a bloated hot dog or sea urchin. The worst attempt had it looking like a penis. It was a good laugh, but I wasn’t really going for a “bizarre reality” schtick with my drawings. After a few attempt I managed to draw something that actually looked like a thumb. Or it had the resemblance of one at least. I won’t claim to be proud of it or anything, but I was happy. I felt that I actually made some progress and that the training and practicing was going somewhere.
I will continue to draw and enjoy my time doing so. I will try to upload a picture now and again so I can proudly show off my progress.
