# Can some people just not draw?



## Harbinger (Jan 28, 2014)

I've been drawing occasionall on and off all my life, never noticed a single bit of change in quality. I never find the time to and im always panicking when i do that someones gonna see me. All throughout school my notebooks are consistently filled with scribbles where i scribbled out every doodle soon after starting it, half the time because i hated the quality the other time because i thought someone would take the piss. I keep getting sweaty hands at the worst possible times frequently, nothing can stop it, and of course it happens every single time i draw, the frustration of constantly rubbing out drawings which make me feel like a retard combined with sweaty hands is insufferable. As much as i wish i could draw i doubt i'll ever have the patience or peace to constantly sketch for years before i can draw something not retarded.
I've been told time and time again practice makes perfect and stuff, but can some people just not draw?


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## Alexxx-Returns (Jan 28, 2014)

Reading through that kinda reminds me of me sometimes, especially about erasing drawings because they feel shameful.

Reading this made me pick up one of my old sketchbooks from when I was 12, and I looked back at the anthros I drew back then for my movie script. They are GOD AWFUL compared to my drawings now (and I still think my drawings have a lot to be improved on). I can scan/upload them if you want to show you what I mean. But I'm sure that if you looked back on your stuff from 9 years ago, you'd see at least some improvement. It only comes with practice.

Also I would suggest relaxing more about it all because that certainly won't help.


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## PastryOfApathy (Jan 28, 2014)

Anyone can draw at a decent level but it takes persistence and the right mindset. I mean, practice does indeed makes perfect but if you're not practicing the right things you're just wasting your time. Best thing you can do is post some of your stuff no matter how shitty so we can diagnose what you need to work on, and how you can fix it. Once you have that knowledgeyou can start practicing and more importantly actively attempting to practice the things that are wrong as opposed to just drawing over an over again unguided hoping to magically get better.


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## Aleu (Jan 28, 2014)

The thing is, drawing occasionally is what's getting you. It's like learning another language. If you do it seldom, you won't get anywhere. You can remember a few things but it's like starting over and over again.


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## Zydala (Jan 28, 2014)

it's not just practice, it's persistence, like aleu was saying. If you want to see improvement you have to be drawing all the time. It's taken me three times as long to get to a decent level of progress compared to my wifey. The difference? She draws every day. Like almost every darn day. I'm lucky if I get a good drawing session in twice a week! And because of that I've always lagged behind her. Of course that's frustrating but I only have myself to blame.

Art is about concepts and repetition, and because of that I think anyone can learn to draw. Just like how even someone who has a horrible time with math or language will eventually get proficient. Can everyone be geniuses? Probably not. But proficient sure.

It sounds like drawing is causing you a lot of anxiety. To properly get somewhere with it you have to learn to throw away that anxiousness and go to town on your drawings and not care if they suck. It's different for everyone on how to conquer it; I read _Art and Fear_ and just kind of had to learn to let go. It's getting better.


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## Centradragon (Jan 30, 2014)

I completely agree with Zydala. If you paint/draw 2-8 hours a day, there's really no way you can *not* improve.

Even "worst" case, I can't imagine someone being less than proficient if they genuinely put a lot of work/time into practicing. Most of the people I've known to complain about their art-skill-to-practice ratio just don't put in enough practice (nor do they try to learn anything new), pure and simple. Just depends on how bad you want it! If you don't have the time, don't worry about not improving at an exponential rate â€” it'll happen, just at a slower, almost unnoticeable pace. 

One thing I found useful: don't erase every little thing you don't like. If you're unhappy with a drawing, just move on and try something else. If drawing makes you really nervous (I assume that's what the sweaty hands thing is), try to find a more comfortable location to do your drawing, where no one can peek in or bother you. I have issues drawing when someone is staring at the same thing behind me (usually I'll just turn around and talk with them until they leave, haha).

I have a friend who just draws penises everywhere when people bother her while she's painting. Who knows, maybe it'd help you? They certainly went away with a laugh when they knew they were caught!


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## Harbinger (Feb 1, 2014)

Thanks all, i still dont know if i can draw more often. But when i do i'll try and resist erasing it so early and see if i can get one of those progress threads going on.
But yeah it makes me feel really bad because i really, really want to be an artsy type, i've been a huge fan of artwork all my life and i've always had my own scenes and characters in my head that i wanted to see realized that never happened. I cant find many drawings from years ago but the few i have arent much different in quality, they still suck. But almost all of them are damn traces of other images. Thats all i was told to do in school and i never knew any better to stay clear of it at the time.

I have no idea about the sweat thing, my hands are just twats, they seem to do it at the worst of times regardless of how i think i feel, gets in the way of doing other stuff aswell, think its nearly non stop. But there's no privacy here so i'll always feel slightly paranoid, i cant shut the door or anything because they'll just keep asking why im shut in my room -_-
But i dont think i'll start drawing wangs whenever someones looking though 
I was just really worried that im 21 now and have never consistantly drawn or drawn whatever i wanted when a lot of awesome or even just decent artists i've seen have all seemed to be the types that were constantly doodling when young and never stopped. Was just worried its one of those things that you need to start young to be able to do.

I'll see if i can draw something tonight, i guess if i can stop just erasing all evidence of even the crappiest of doodles that's a start right?


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## rjbartrop (Feb 2, 2014)

Sounds like a certain amount of performance anxiety.   As was said before, don't keep redrawing and erasing.  In fact, forget you even have an eraser.   Don't get caught up in worrying about trying to create something for the ages.  Sketches are about working out ideas.   They're what fingering exercises are to music, and blueprints are to architecture.   They're not art, they're things you do in preparing to make art.  If you get a good one, you can always trace a clean version to transfer onto a decent surface, or just pop it in the scanner and draw over it.  If it's a bad one, then try again.  There's no law that says you have to share every single mark on paper that you make.   Save the fancy hardcover sketchbook for conventions, and get a big block of printer paper.   If you don't know what to draw, then draw the first thing that comes to your mind, regardless of how cliched, trite, or just plain stupid you think it is.   It may be a cliche that you have 10,000 bad drawings in you, so get them out as quickly as you can, but that doesn't mean it isn't true.


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## Kyzarius (Feb 22, 2014)

I draw too, though with the spotty schedules and the inconsistent working hours I've gradually spent less time on anything anymore, at least up until recently.

It didn't diminish my love for art though; I guess it takes for people left and right to see it in some kinda light to get that right feeling when it comes to drawing or even appreciating what's so great about art in general. I had friends my age or even older than I am telling me they hadn't lifted a pen/pencil/brush when it came to drawing, but as I got to know them and they me, it might have been something or the other that rubbed off on them when they suddenly told me they wanted to try drawing.

Time to time, they'd have told me they suck, but still show me their drawings anyway. When they met me they see me as a guy who just loves things and expression in general, not as a professional or someone skilled(I remind them all the time I'm not good, and I see myself in that light). 

I didn't criticize their art, not even by a bit. I just find the good parts and point them that way. Sooner or later they lift themselves out from their art-despair and carried on, whether they wished to continue drawing or not, and if they did they'd have kept at it and went on and on until I see some remarkable improvements in a span of months. 

All it takes is a few steps. We can choose to erase our drawings if we so please, and forget about all we've ever done previously. I erase what I don't like, too, and soon I found myself erasing less every time because I wanted to give my art a chance even if there are artists younger/older than I am who can do 1209381209382109381 times better in terms of technique, color sense, anatomy or any combination of the aforementioned 3.

Progress exists, all we needed is a single stroke.

Art isn't just limited to just drawing though lol we make friends all the time to talk about the things in life that make art great too. Talk more, draw more, get exposure, see more things then stop to wonder what makes them so beautiful/ugly/plain and don't take non-constructive criticism for an answer; ask them why do they think it sucks, then move right on with the next drawing.

I'm currently jobless so I'm looking about for ideas to make things work and possibly a living lol. Let's talk when we get the chance.


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## Picea (Mar 5, 2014)

I couldn't draw a dot on paper and I've tried millions of times! My lower case "i"'s are ugly.  They do make good semicolins, though.

 I think the fact you are so concerned about this shows you care enough to practice and learn what you want to do,  and you know what?  If I mess up a song in front of a bunch of folks when I'm playing some music, I'm the only one who notices.  I'm playing for myself really.   And damn right, I spend the next week obsessing over what-and how-I played to make myself more comfortable with the material.

If you are out to impress someone, you wont.  If you are working for yourself, you will.


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