I Did a Thing!

Last week I decided I wanted to learn how to draw. After the rush of adrenaline from visiting the craft store and picking up supplies, I was confronted with the figurative and literal blank page. I did a short YouTube search and got the following advice:

• Draw every day for at least an hour.
• It doesn't matter what you draw initially; you're going to suck at it.
• Drawing is a physical activity that requires practice.
• Drawing anything. Draw everything. Draw what you see around you.

With those helpful bits of advice,  I set myself a goal to draw for at least one hour a day.

I was confronted and confounded by the pile of art supplies that I really don't know how to use.

Another quick YouTube search later:

• Start practicing your shapes.
• Try out all of your pencils. You'll figure out what you like.
• Try different ways of holding the pencils.
• Try to think about what direction the light is coming from for your object.

To stop procrastinating and actually get drawing, I started by drawing simple shapes: circle, square, triangle, rectangle using each pencil in my Prismacolor Premier Turquoise Art Pencils (12) set.

Once shapes started getting boring, I moved on to the "draw everything you see" step. I've been drawing dice as my drawing spot is in the same location as our Dungeons and Dragons equipment.

Yesterday I got adventurous and actually drew my dice tray complete with a d4. 

Emboldened by my success, I decided to plunge in the deep end today and start doing some drawings from pictures I've taken while traveling or hiking.

Here's a picture of a parrot from a park where we had a picnic lunch in Barcelona

Here's my first attempt at incorporating color into my sketches

I am absurdly pleased with the results. We'll see how I feel about him in a month or so, but right now, I did a thing and it didn't suck!