Go me! Hooray!
I completed another of my 19 in 2019 goals today!
Goal #19: "Finish at least one of these courses" ... and I gave 7 possibilities. I worked through The Creative License by Danny Gregory.
At the start of the year, I was gung-ho about taking this course and finally learning to draw. My early efforts were good. But then drawing got hard. It made my head hurt to try. I didn't want to pick up my pencil. So I switched gears and used some online tutorials to draw some of my favorite cartoon characters. I liked that better. But I was finding excuses to do anything except draw. Honestly, I'd rather clean the kitchen or do laundry. Instant satisfaction from a job well done!
So I switched gears again. I decided to carefully read through the book, and absorb some of the concepts offered, then use them to apply to the arts I enjoy more. So here are my final thoughts on this book.
Though there are some basic guides to learn to draw in the beginning of the book, that is not the book's primary thrust. The subtitle to The Creative License is "Giving Yourself Permission to be the Artist You Truly Are."
That means giving yourself permission to try and fail at drawing. Then to try and fail at any other art form you choose to attempt.
Danny Gregory uses drawing as his entry point into a creative life. He annoys me sometimes by presuming it's the best entry point ... mostly because of its convenience, I guess. All you need is a pen and a notebook.
Of course, I take issue with that presumption because the concepts he presents can easily be adapted to any creative medium. After all, with a smartphone in your pocket, I'd say that photography is equally or more convenient than drawing. But that is my bias.
He does get around to talking about other artistic mediums toward the end of the book.
What I learned for sure is what I truly already knew: drawing is not something I really want to do, or I would have been compelled to try it a lot earlier in my 61 years on the planet.
I also learned that I'm capable of learning to draw, and can have some success at it if I put the time and effort into it. But it hurts my head right now. I don't itch to pick up a pencil and draw the way my fingers itch for a needle, floss, crochet hook, yarn, or camera.
Will I ever learn to draw? Maybe. If I find the right teacher at the right time in my life.
So I had to ask myself, "Why did you think you wanted to learn to draw at the start of 2019?" That answer is easy.
Whenever someone asks me, "What do you do?" I find that a tricky question. Being an at-home mom and a homemaker for most of my life has been rewarding, but those occupations are not generally satisfying to questioners who are looking for a profession as an answer.
But if I say, "I'm an artist," the response is usually, "Oh! You draw and paint? I wish I could do that." Then I have to say, "No. I can't draw. I'm a needle artist." That always gets a weird look and I have to explain more. Saying "I'm a photographer" is easier to understand, but then people want me to take photos of people or events, and that's not my preferred subject. To me, taking those kinds of photos can hurt my head as much as drawing does.
I took up The Creative License hoping to learn to draw to simply have an easier, truthful answer to a banal question. Honestly, that's an awfully insubstantial reason to want to learn to draw.
At the end of the book, Danny has a l-o-n-g list of other art forms to try. I counted 50 that I've already done, most with a degree of success. I'll own that achievement and proudly display those gold stars.
So for now, I'll call this goal reached. I'll return to some of my many other more favored art forms. I have a plethora awaiting my attention in my Studio. Tending to some of those will help me mark off more entries from my 19 in 2019 list of goals.
