Draw Your Path: Discovering Your Personal Motivation to Learn How to Draw
When you opened this article, you probably already have a few reasons for wanting to learn how to draw. Why should you look for them then?
Well, let’s be honest, most of the time when people decide to do something (me included), it lives in their head rent-free, but they don't take any kind of action. Also, as Ali Abdaal and all other productivity masters say: Screw Motivation, all you need is discipline (there’s also part 2).
I want you to find the true reasons why do you want to draw, use these reasons to form a goal and then make it a plan. To take action, to feel your fingers tingling until you pick up the pencil and start drawing those first wobbly lines.
But this will be covered in another blog post. Grab some pen and paper continue reading:
Why do you want to draw?
You should be honest with yourself. Nobody is gonna judge you (I am sure I won't). If you want to learn how to draw to make money, say it. If you want to learn to draw because you want to amaze your crush, say it (although I think it can work without the drawing also).
Action Item:
Think about your “why” for a while and then fill in this sentence:
I want to learn how to draw illustrations so that I can ____________________.
My example: "I want to learn how to draw illustrations so that I can express my thoughts with my drawings"
If you feel uninspired or just not sure what to choose, try to pick one or two from the following list:
amaze my crush
money making
pure joy
it is fun and cool
self-expression
a way to ventilate emotions
making gifts
making things nice (presentations, your own phone wallpaper)
accompanying school notes with drawings
becoming famous on Instagram (we all kinda want it, don’t we?)
becoming more employable (e.g., you are a web designer and want to add illustration to your skillset)
wanting to learn to draw - to draw with your kids
sketching your surroundings and your friends or memories
communication
problem-solving
personal development
a bucket list thing
thinking on paper
keeping your fine motor skills alive
Why should you draw for the pure joy of it and why honesty pays off in here
As Austin Kleon says in this podcast, “We are culture right now in which if you don’t have anything you are obsessed with or interested in or pay attention to, the world will provide it to you. And it might not be the thing that makes you tick.”
And even though this 'love what you do, do what you love' is kinda cheesy, there is also a real side to it. You are choosing your problems - the house you buy is the house you repair, the person you marry is the person you argue with. You are choosing to draw—to feel the pain of drawing regularly uninspired, the physical pain in your wrist after hours spent with the paper. But in my opinion, it is better pain than feeling that undone mess, the unheard calling inside of you.
Why do I draw?
I have been drawing since I was able to hold the pencil in my tiny hand. And the simplest explanation for me is that I can’t imagine not to. I just love it (yes, my heart deserves a medal).
One of my favourite authors Ray Bradbury put it this way: 'Not to write, for many of us, is to die.' and also 'We have our Arts so we won't die of Truth' (both quotes from this awesome book). And he has a point here because art and drawing has always been my way of understanding the reality, looking at the world, at myself. It is not only for the sake of others to look at my drawings, or to "make the space around prettier". It is for me to understand how am I thinking, what am I thinking. I usually think on the paper with pencil in my hand. I draw when I am ill, bored, tired, excited and when I can’t get something out of my head.
It doesn’t mean that my drawing is effortless. When I am trying to make a nice final piece it takes time and energy. But I don’t always do the nice pieces. I am using the drawing as an extension of my mind. And as you know, not all thoughts are nice.
Final thoughts
Keep searching and thinking about your "whys". Better write them down and put them somewhere where you’ll see them regularly. In the next blog post, we will transform your "whys" to actionable items so you can start drawing!
Love,
- 🐝
