It seems that no matter how much I want to establish a daily sketching habit to improve my skills, the actual act of doing so continues to elude me.
It shouldn’t be hard to pick up a pen and just draw but it seems my life has a continual parade of distractions that divert me but I suspect the reality is that my own mind providing these diversions to evade disappointment.
The point about establishing a daily practice is to build the confidence to draw without fear and that statement implies that until one has built that confidence, there will always be a fear of drawing. I certainly feel it – that subconscious nagging doubt that whenever I put pen to paper, it won’t turn out the way I intend.
As a result, the gaps between drawings get longer and longer unless I discipline myself and grab a pen.
Then I have to force myself to just draw something!
Even then, my mind is trying to waste my time rejecting out of hand whatever I choose as a reference. The lighting’s not clear enough, there’s not enough contrast, maybe it’s not the right subject for the day… just about every excuse you can thing of pops up in my head as I’m trying to just do it!
My plan is to get over that and just accept what I draw. I’m starting to question my motivations as an artist. Perhaps I’m too much of a perfectionist and need to accept that what I create is my natural interpretation of a subject, inexpertly but uniquely captured in my own style. A style that will no doubt develop and improve over time.
Exercise Portrait Using Open Hatching, February 21st 2022
This time I was trying to achieve a more open hatching affect, with less emphasis on shading and more on depicting form with less lines. In some ways, I think I achieved what I set out to do but the result was weakened by careless foundation lines that failed to capture the full facial structure.
Direct to ink sketch using a Lamy Al-Star fountain pen (fine nib) and Lamy black ink cartridge on plain copier paper.