How to Draw: Part 1

At some point in your life, you’ve probably wished you could draw, but been underwhelmed by your lack of ‘artistic talent’. In this two part blog post I’m going to teach you how to draw, guaranteed. While that seems like a lofty goal, especially for something considered to be a talent you either have or don’t have, if you follow along you’ll be drawing in no time.

*Drawing in this post refers to basically any kind of visual artistic medium*

This might seem like an odd topic for a blog mainly about the writing and publishing process, and you might even be tempted to turn away because of that, however, I urge you to continue on because drawing is a valuable skill, and the lessons you learn from it, just might apply to more things.

Now you probably think you can’t draw- and if you’re a writer- unless you plan on doing your own cover art or picture book illustrations, this probably isn’t of the highest importance to you. It might be hard to believe, but before illustrating Princess Pretend and The Not Knight that’s how I was too. I was convinced that it was better for the world if I didn’t draw and instead stuck to writing. I had no need to draw and so if there was a group project I pointed at someone else to do the artwork, if there was an art class, I took anything else.

Naturally, when I came up with the idea for Princess Pretend and The Not Knight I didn’t even consider illustrating it, I fully planned on hiring a professional illustrator, after all I had no talent for drawing. But, after doing more research, I realized I had no budget for an illustrator and so I took on the challenge myself.

I should stress again that I strongly disliked drawing at the time. I would do basically anything to avoid it and so the fact that I decided to take on illustrating a whole book at that stage is almost laughable. And yet, nearly two years later here I am. It’s not an easy path, but if you really want to learn how to draw but don’t know how, this story might help.

Picture me, in New York with a bowl of ramen sitting in front of me, chopsticks in hand. I’m part Vietnamese and I’ve grown up with a lot of that culture, and yet at 14 I still couldn’t use chopsticks. And I had tried. There were a lot of times when I would read the instructions on a pack of chopsticks or a Wikihow article and still be incapable of using them by the end. But on that day I decided to change that, partly because I felt I needed to and partly because there were no forks. I told my mom proudly “I’m gonna learn to use chopsticks, right here, right now.” I was expecting here to show some sort of enthusiasm or support, but instead she said “What are you talking about? You already know how to use chopsticks, you’ve been using them since you were a toddler.”

I thought this was crazy, and also highly unlikely. Doubtingly, I picked up the chopsticks to try and eat the noodles, and surprisingly I was using them like an old pro. This blew my mind. I had a skill but because of a mental block I inflicted on myself I had been totally inept at it.

Aside from being a near miracle, this is a perfect analogy for how it is with drawing.

It’s all in your head.

So here’s that tip. When it comes to drawing (though this can be applied to almost anything) you aren’t doing yourself any favors by saying things along the lines of “I can’t draw.” or “I’m a terrible artist.” In fact, saying that perpetuates your negative thoughts about drawing and actually makes you worse. Here’s what I recommend, stop saying those things all together, or if that’s not possible, try turning the phrases around to suggest improvement like “I can’t draw, yet.” or “I’m a terrible artist, but I’m working on it.” Half the battle of learning something new is overcoming your initial resistance to it, or learning to not be so hard on yourself when you’re just starting out, and you’ll find by making this one change, you can improve much faster.

Now I’m not saying believing in your artistic abilities will make you a Monet overnight, but it’s certainly the first step in improving. And if you’re really set on learning to draw and are willing to put in the effort and mindset required, remember that before you can practice drawing, you need to practice believing you can.

Next post, we’ll be going over how to physically draw once you get over the initial mental hurdle. So if you are ready to learn, stick around!

Tried this method? Have something to add? Leave it in the comments below!