I have this old sketchbook lying around from 2001, around the time I started drawing the kind of stuff I do today. Before that, I drew a lot of stuff from reference but found that whenever I started drawing from imagination, it was such a huge struggle. I just didn’t know where to start. I knew how things looked but had no idea how to translate this onto a sheet of paper without the help of solid reference material. And most importantly I had no clue what my style was. I didn’t have a drawing technique that helped me to just put something on paper, so most of what I drew around then was kind of weird, random and fragmented. 

Every now and then I would dig up this sketchbook and draw the picture again, next to the old one, to see how my approach had changed. Although I initially started doing this just to show how much better the drawing would look if I did it again, it’s become more about seeing how comfortable I’ve become with drawing in general. I can now sketch with so much more ease than I did before and I don’t get stuck as often as I used to.

But there are still tons of things that I just don’t know how to draw. I like to stay in my comfort zone and when I challenge myself to draw something totally different, I feel like I’m back to square one on everything. I feel just like I did in 2001 when I was drawing these weird random poses and unfinished faces. So I guess I’m posting this as a reminder to myself and others that if you stick with it, you’ll grow past that phase, even if you feel like you’re not getting anywhere!

December 11 2012 | Comments | 6,327 notes
tagged: art  random