For those of you who know (or have been told) you have talent, love to draw and get compliments to boot, great! Get ready to improve even beyond your present skill.
But for most of you, I can hear the creak of doubt in your mind right now. Yes, you have sometimes thought about how lovely it would be to paint on a Sunday afternoon but you probably don't think you can draw at all. In fact, most of you are likely to be certain that if you were at the gallows and someone offered to spare your life if you would pencil out some stick figures, you’d end up hanging.
Breathe easy and realize that some adult (a parent or teacher most likely) probably laughed at some drawing or fingerpainting you showed them or uttered the dreaded, “What IS it?†Your handiwork certainly did not adorn the refrigerator that day. Or perhaps that adult made far too big a fuss about "what a wonderful elephant that is, right?" when you were drawing a banana. To a young child overpraise sounds phony and can be as hurtful in its own way as no praise at all. The worst damage is scorn or mockery. Another offender is the commonplace dictum, "Stop fooling around with those crayons! I thought I told you to pick up your toys!" Whatever the reason and even if you don't recall it at all, ever since that seemingly innocent moment long ago, you've decided (YOU'VE decided) that you can't draw.
I have news for you: Throw away that invalidation, rejection, false praise or indifference! Toss the resulting self-doubt out the window! Because you can learn how to draw -- yes, YOU -- and you may be surprised to find you love doing it!
I've designed these tips to take you on a journey from feeling like you'll never be able to draw to feeling confident and creative. Why have I done that? Because there's more to drawing skill than meets the eye. So give yourself a chance to stretch beyond your own limitations. After all, noone can limit you unless you agree to it.
