Drawing when you don't feel like it.

[BoomSamson]

Hey guys,

I'm new here and started drawing again after not drawing since I was a kid.
I've started drawing again and I really enjoy the act of drawing immensely. I enjoy the movement of the pencil on paper and the zone that I get into once I begin.

At the same time , I often see a large resistance to actually starting a session. I often don't feel like drawing but enjoy it once I do.
I feel like sometimes I have to just begin and "push" my way through that sticking point and just begin.

I was just wondering if other people go through the same thing and if it is often, or if they just always feel like drawing :p

Any insight or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!

[themegagod]

IDK about anyone else, but it is often the strangest dichotomy of sensations I've felt, and I feel it regularly.
Often I find I am happiest while drawing or while creating, yet I cannot bring myself to do it.
Sometimes it has to do with set-up, I need to bring out the easel, or plug in my tablet, get my reference, prep the paper, what ever it is, I just have issue bringing myself to do it. not to mention there is a lot of prep that goes into creating a piece (at least for myself, dealing with concept, drafting, etc.)all of this would be like having to wash a sink full of dishes before being intimate with someone. by the time you are done washing the dishes the mood has passed, and in order to get back into the mood is now work rather than fluid passion. I find this is best alleviated by having everything organized before hand (easier said than done especially when you have ADHD).

another thing that also makes it hard to start is simply not feeling right. I have certain patterns I find I need to do before getting to work. Like I need a cup of coffe with me. No matter what time. I just feel better. Then I need to find the right music. and so on.

What I find is best to get into the art though, is just do it. Just say "i'm going to do it" and do it. take the plunge. It's hard to get passed that initial feeling of I don't wanna' but once you do it's worth it.
The hard part after that is stopping. Maybe it's the laws of inertia? lol.

As I write this I should be doing some sketching exercises. You are not alone.

[Kolbenito]

Look for excuses to draw, even if it's just 10 minutes here and there. I struggle with this myself, so I have a drawing board and some copier paper and pencils at my work desk - and have everything out and ready to use in my home studio area (a.k.a. bedroom ). If you are learning and getting back your dexterity like I am and it involves a lot of study it can be daunting. When I feel like this I just start filling some pages with the best circles, elipses and lines that I can and move to peanut shapes, work on light to dark and thick to thin lines. I use really cheap paper (newsprint and copier) so I can literally draw for the trash can if that's what happens. If that's all I get done I think it was still a good use of my time, most of the time though I feel good and get back to anatomy and head studies. Now I just need to get in the habit of scanning stuff and updating my sketchbook CA .

This post http://www.learning-to-see.co.uk/regular-practice might help you too. I am using my lunch break now for drawing and I think his ideas about habit forming are very spot on. Hopefully at some point you'll just whip out the pad and pencils and not even think about it, what a nice goal!

[BoomSamson]

Wow , its great that I'm not the only one that has this "Resistance".

I guess the true test is whether you actually enjoy the process or just the end result of whatever your doing.
In this case, I'm glad that drawing is the former and the end-result is just an extra treat for the hard work work and patience put in.

[themegagod]

This post http://www.learning-to-see.co.uk/regular-practice might help you too. I am using my lunch break now for drawing and I think his ideas about habit forming are very spot on. Hopefully at some point you'll just whip out the pad and pencils and not even think about it, what a nice goal!

Great link. i'm going to try using dontbreakthechain.com in conjunction with the advice from your link and see if it combined can work. I hope so.

[Chronos]

Set a scheduled routine and stick with it. It should be at the same time everyday. It'll become habit and stick, and becomes hard NOT to draw.

[JFierce]

Don't do that in the middle of the night. I always urge to draw late at night.

[Angel Intheuk]

Lol..yeah I tried to get into the habit of getting home from work, eat etc and then sit down to paint, but that doesn't always work out and I'll end up sitting down at 9-10pm to start drawing then wondering why I don't get warmed up til midnight and end up going to bed at 2-3am. Not good when I've got to get up for work the next day I am in the habit now of drawing in my lunch break, I think it takes practice to not feel too self-conscious when you think people are watching you draw

The best analogy I heard was that the brain is a muscle that needs warming up just like everything else and just like going to the gym you have to concentrate on the goal and how good it'll feel when the adrenaline kicks in.

[[email protected]]

Learning is about changing: it hurts, it is not always fun, and it does not always produce good results...

Read 'Art & Fear'!

[Maidith]

Make it a job, then you'll have no choice.

Until you get clients: be your own client, set schedules and deadlines.
Sketch delivery on day so-and so.
Final work delivery on day so-and-so.

[AndreasM]

Get up early and just draw. Go to bed early. Good for your psyche. If your decitions on wether to draw or not are based on emotions, remember that what you want is mileage. Success depends on the time invested. It's very easy to let the ego do the thinking (i'm this, I'm not that, I'm not that guy, I'm not as skilled as other people, I have no talent) and the truth is that most of the stuff that your ego comes up with is pure moot. Time goes on no matter what you think or do, and if you want to sit around and think about drawing, how much it sucks that you don't 'feel' like drawing and how much you envy that other guy who just continually pulls it all off, one has to remember that the only thing the other guy is doing different, is that he/she works and you don't. At some point you'll have to pay bills, your student loan and you have to eat and live and if you haven't been drawing all that much up untill that point, it's way easier to just do something else. You live NOW.

[Mudpuppy]

I used to do the same thing. For me I was scared that nothing would come out good enough and I would rather not start than fail. But that's a really dumb way to think Try doing simple warm ups before draw, like just making random ellipses or quick gestures.

[creeptool]

its hard to get myself to pick up a sketch book and just draw but when i do i enjoy drawing..funny thing is if i haven't been drawing in a long time and i start sketching the first 4 or 5 sketches will be great after that every thing will suck lol.

[BoomSamson]

Wow Andreas, thats exactly it. I always have those thoughts in my head that tell me that "im not an artist" "you can't make it a career" "you'll end up homeless". even though they are thoughts they are just ego projections of your fear of failing. Thanks for pointing that out because sometimes you get caught in that loop and then not end up drawing or commiting 100%.

And the emotional thing is the main reason why I made this topic. I think I had the belief that I should be spurned to action and that the creative force will pull me out of my chair and ill end up drawing. But more and more from these comments it seems like that creative force IS there , and does spurn you to action occaisionally, but it is up to YOU to be open and ready for it. It may not always come in the beginning of the session, but if your drawing daily then there is more oppertunity for it to come through at a different time, even if it is in the middle of a session at 3 in the morning

[Stormslegacy]

I did have a similar problem for the longest time--for me, if the situation wasn't PERFECT (IE the right media, the right reference material, the right sitting position, lighting etc) my brain would come up with excuse after excuse because I felt I was going to destroy the paper. The way I solved this was...I started forcing myself to purposely work in non-perfect conditions--scrap paper from work with printouts on the back, poorly-sharpened pencils or even *gasp* ball point pens. I also stopped letting ANYONE look at my sketchbook unless I was specifically showing them something. Once I found that I still improved even when things weren't this vague idea of "perfect" I found I can take out my sketchbook (a glorified pile of poor-quality scrap paper attached to a clipboard) and a ball point pen and produce something I can learn from. Now that I've gained confidence with that I've found I'm OK with taking out a nice home-made Bristol sketchbook for watercolor studies without the idea that I'm "ruining" it which solved my problem.

[Saraiva]

What solved it for was make it as informal and fun as possible, while still being serious about it. I usually put my favorite music on, get reasonably comfortable and draw what ever it is that is on my mind. This is a great way to warm up and get confident. Maybe you have a favorite character or you might like drawing airplanes/cars/flying penises/etc. Whatever it may be, have fun with it.

Then you will probably be excited and ready for more . I personally dislike fixed schedules (1 hour of anatomy, 2 hours of color, -.-), but that is probably just because of my ADHD. What I usually do is look at my work and focus on what is missing the most. I keep a list of things that need improvement and I pick one or two to work on that day. This makes drawing less of a hassle and it helps me not feel tied down.


My biggest tip is this: Draw if you enjoy drawing, its not for everyone. Try to find things that interest you. Once you do you will want to work on the things that interest you less because they are usually fundamentals to what interests you more (i.e. Liking environments but not enjoying studying perspective).

[wardrum]

The longer you wait the easier it becomes to blow it off. It's like waking up early on your day off - you just have to roll out of bed soon as that alarm goes off, because as soon as you hit snooze the easier it becomes to hit it a second time, a third time and then just off.


This is a mobile alarm clock, the top flies off and you have to return it to the base to turn it off. Once you're out of bed, it's a lot easier to stay up than just laying in your bed and slamming the snooze. If you get the analogy here.

[vineris]

Wow Andreas, thats exactly it. I always have those thoughts in my head that tell me that "im not an artist" "you can't make it a career" "you'll end up homeless". even though they are thoughts they are just ego projections of your fear of failing. Thanks for pointing that out because sometimes you get caught in that loop and then not end up drawing or commiting 100%.

This seems like a silly way to go about learning something. Do you also have trouble exercising because you keep thinking "I'm not an Olympic athlete... I can't make it a career... I'll end up homeless..."? I bet not. So why put all this pressure onto learning to draw? Perhaps you should make plans for your future that don't involve you developing a chancy and difficult skill and then you'll be able to evaluate drawing on its own terms.

[Anthonycarey]

what works for me is to keep a sketchbook of just super loose life drawings and just sketch anything around you even if its terrible because this will get you started and the fact that your not worried about how good it will come out or if you even finish it will make it easier because believe it or not its the fear of failure that keeps people from drawing most of the time not laziness... when failure doesnt matter its super easy

[MalevolentMask]

I always find starting on a project for school or doing some sort of work that I need to get done but I don't want to work on is hard. Maybe because I'm nervous or don't have a clear idea or an idea that I like enough? Typically I have to force myself into getting started and then I actually start to have fun with it.

When you first start out on a project it feels like shit at first and you just want to drop it while its still in the awkward faze but in the end you'll end up finishing it and liking atleast one little thing about it, but you'll always have those little nit-picky things in your mind that makes you not quite like the work. XD

But yes I agree the first step is always the hardest. But its ALWAYS worth it even if you look back and hate the work in the future.

[QueenGwenevere]

Sometimes it helps if you always have some work-in-progress where you can just drop in and continue working on it where you left off... Starting any project is always harder than continuing something, I always find.

I always have so many ongoing projects going at once that there's always something in progress I need to finish. (Ongoing comic projects are great for this.) If I'm off to a slow start on something, I generally warm up by working on one of my in-progress projects for a while. Usually this puts me in the mood to work on more things. And the more I do, the more I want to do!

I remember some famous writer (I forget who) saying they always ended each writing session right in the middle of a scene or paragraph. That way they'd have something they needed to finish as soon as they sat down to write the next day, so they could start right away, and that would get the session rolling. That's kind of how I handle my projects too. It seems to work.

[Vinicam]

The longer you wait the easier it becomes to blow it off. It's like waking up early on your day off - you just have to roll out of bed soon as that alarm goes off, because as soon as you hit snooze the easier it becomes to hit it a second time, a third time and then just off.


This is a mobile alarm clock, the top flies off and you have to return it to the base to turn it off. Once you're out of bed, it's a lot easier to stay up than just laying in your bed and slamming the snooze. If you get the analogy here.

My cats would love these.

Lol..yeah I tried to get into the habit of getting home from work, eat etc and then sit down to paint, but that doesn't always work out and I'll end up sitting down at 9-10pm to start drawing then wondering why I don't get warmed up til midnight and end up going to bed at 2-3am. Not good when I've got to get up for work the next day I am in the habit now of drawing in my lunch break, I think it takes practice to not feel too self-conscious when you think people are watching you draw

The best analogy I heard was that the brain is a muscle that needs warming up just like everything else and just like going to the gym you have to concentrate on the goal and how good it'll feel when the adrenaline kicks in.

I was doing great drawing almost everyday, and them I started being lazy again and doing the same thing, with the same results and consequences, with another problem that is getting interrupted every once in a while. ¬¬

[Kolbenito]

Adding to my comment above, if you can be strict with yourself for about 3-4 weeks that is approximately the time it takes to form or break a habit - or so I hear. You don't want to burn out, but you have to be a little disciplined sometimes and get back to work - the hardest thing to do for most people.