Help!! About to lose an artist here!

[B-Plant]

So, tonight I was talking with one of my friends,
and he said he hated drawing...
I dunno why he has started to dislike it, he is a pretty decent artist and all that.
He said it didn't feel right when he was drawing and that it never seemed to come out right.
So, how can I convince him that he really doesn't hate drawing and its just his self-confidence talking?
Advice greatly appreciated

[Seedling]

Oh, don’t panic; it’s not like the guy has a gun to his head.

Every artist feels down about their work sometime. The trick is to see it as an occupation, and not just as something to do for fun. That way you learn to muscle on ahead when the feeling of fun recedes periodically. The feeling of fun will always come back, and this way improvement doesn’t rely on that fun feeling in order to happen.

[Puck]

I dunno, if you have to convince him not to give it up maybe he won't learn to force himself through the doubt himself. It always reminds me of that story where the young eager artist goes and asks the master if he's got any talent; the master takes a quick glance at his work and says "no, nothing good here, give up art now and follow some other career". The artist is dejected and leaves. 10 years later their paths cross again and the young boy is now a happy and successful banker and thanks the master for his honesty 10 years ago - the master smiles and tells the banker "I tell everybody that their work is rubbish, it's the ones that don't listen to me that become masters".

I like that story. It's ok to doubt yourself, but you need the inner strength to soldier on - if you rely on others to help you through confidence crises then you won't develop your own thick skin. Maybe if you showed him some of the sketchbooks on CA where people have clearly made significant progress with their work over years it would show him that nobody is born with talent and that the journey is the best part of being an artist. You gotta appreciate the growth - it would be no fun if everything was easy and you were born good at everything.

[DavePalumbo]

I say offer encouragement, but don't feel like it's your call if he quits or not. If he's not feeling it, maybe he needs to try some new things and find his true passion. Or maybe he'll decide a year or two down the road that he misses drawing and return with a new appriciation.

[chaosrocks]

if art is in his soul, and in his blood, he'll be back. Artists make art because they have to. maybe not now...but someday

[Abigail the Strong]

Sometimes you have to accept that a person doesn't want to draw anymore. If they miss it, they will come back. But an artistic soul is one that is built in. Some people just don't care, and don't want to. You have to let them decide. Convincing the soul is a hard thing to do.

[Elwell]

Why are you so determined to get him to continue something he has told you he hates? What's in it for you?

[Costau D]

Elwell makes a good point in this case.

[tomwaits4noman]

1. if he wants to quit that is your friend's choice you can't force them.
2. if everything turns out wrong for him he needs to identify the problem whether it be perspective shading and find a way to fix it.
3. If he is really talented and he wants to quit then maybe he is just burned out.

happened to me after college... final year working on a film I hated every day was a strauggled all hand animated scanned and coloured by myself by the end i was so burned out I did not touch a pencil for a few months then life happened and 3 years went by before I decided I was miserable and missed art.

It is your friend's call to make not yours you pressure him you could ruin a friendship just give him time as chaosrocks "Artists make art because they have to. maybe not now...but someday"

[painedadj]

I think your friend wont quit art anyway, just wants his drawings to have some attention.

I may be wrong.

[dose]

I once met a woman who was a very talented musician- she was trained in Russia (very rigorous) and went on to do very well. Around 40 she realized she never really liked it- she was just good at it so that's what she assumed she should do. Now she's a translator and loves it.

[Seedling]

And art isn't the road to happiness for everyone.

[Coinpurse]

I once met a woman who was a very talented musician- she was trained in Russia (very rigorous) and went on to do very well. Around 40 she realized she never really liked it- she was just good at it so that's what she assumed she should do. Now she's a translator and loves it.

heard many situations similar. Turns out you really don't know what you want until you've experienced what you don't want. Than when you finally understand what you don't want, that's when you know what you need

[Volchiha]

I once met a woman who was a very talented musician- she was trained in Russia (very rigorous) and went on to do very well. Around 40 she realized she never really liked it- she was just good at it so that's what she assumed she should do. Now she's a translator and loves it.

Bwahahaha, I was in the same situation, being russian and being taught piano by a russian teacher. I was good at it, but luckily I managed to realize its not for me, and followed a new path.
If your friend truly hates it then he is free to do something else, regardless of how good he was. If he's just seeking attention then get used to it, lots of people go through the bouts of "I suck" or "I hate this".

[Lohan]

It might be better he quits. Why force somebody to do something they hate? Maybe they're meant to play the trumpet.. or dance.. or who knows.

[jcsketch]

He said it didn't feel right when he was drawing and that it never seemed to come out right.

Sounds like me a couple years ago.

Encourage him to go back to the basics. Work with basic shapes, do perspective exercises, practice gradients... that sort of thing.

Everyone would tell me that my artwork was fine but I was never happy with it. My problem was that because I was able to duplicate whatever I had a reference for I never learned the basics of how to properly construct an image, or draw from my imagination. When I got older and decided I wanted to create my own stuff, rather than just draw superheroes or cartoons, I found I was completely incapable of doing so and very nearly gave up.

Going back and actually learning (or relearning) those basics would probably help his art immensely, based on what you're saying about his complaints. So long as he's willing to make a serious effort it could help his art confidence enough to keep him going.

[Ashkitty]

I've felt this way, too. I thought I could never make a career in art, could never get any better and just wanted to give up because there was no future in it. I even went as far as to go to school for nursing assistant -- something I never had passion for, but was more "realistic" and "safe" to do. I finished that, which turned out to be an absolutely terrible experience. That gave me the confidence to make a plan for art school and convince my parents. Now I'm attending an art university, have never been happier with my (admittedly imperfect, but growing) art, and more importantly I'm looking forward to building my future.

Like Chaosrocks and others said, you can't force him... he probably does need a break to try something new. If it's really in him, he will go back.

Odds are, if you don't bug him about it, he may just come up with a new piece of work to show you.

[Grief]

if your friend says he hates drawing, then don't pressure him to continue. you'd be a lousy friend to put your own desires onto him instead of supporting his own descisions.

encourage him to find something he can be passionate about.

be more cautious with labeling people as 'artists', i tend to not give that title to those who give up easily.