Artist Doubts

     If you're like me, you get discouraged very very easily. It might not be over the same things, but we get discouraged in a way that makes us get angry, and then we want to quit. 

    I can't tell you how many times I've been there. Recently I've been trying to draw more humans, and to be completely honest, without a reference, I am absolutely terrible. I want to quit after redrawing the same messy sketch about ten to twenty times. Sometimes I try so hard that when I get upset, it's about an hour after I started, and then, after erasing for what feels like the hundredth time, I still have a blank, somewhat smudged, piece of paper in front of me. 

    So you might be wondering, how on earth is that an easy give up? You tried twenty times before getting frustrated! Well, the truth is, I've been practicing, a lot. When you practice drawing a lot and sketch so much that you know how to draw certain things without a reference at all, you know that you're pretty good at what you do. But along with that comes the learning process. I love how Thomas Edison puts failure into perspective. 

    When we get frustrated, and yet keep going, and keep trying, even thousands of hundreds of times, we keep getting better! You might not see it right away, but for some people, it takes years to learn how to sketch and draw properly, before they become some renowned artist who is extremely successful. No one gets great overnight, it takes time, and with that time, practice and perseverance. 

    God tells us this in Colossians 3:23 "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters," This shows us that when we give up, and when we don't try as hard as we can, we aren't truly working at it for God or we would do it with all of our hearts!

    So the next time you can't get a sketch to go your way, or you can't get something to look the way you want it to, just pause, take a step back, and look at your drawing from a different angle. I'd recommend even walking away from your sketch and doing something else for a little. Get outside, walk, read, go play a game with your family, and when you're ready to try again, come back to your drawing and fix it. I'd also recommend looking up references for your sketch and pulling some inspiration from other artists to help you out. 

    Keep up God's work and God bless.