Practice



Sketched on 9/24/11, Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pen on watercolor paper

When I was a child, I took piano lessons for several years, but I never learned to play well, nor did I enjoy it. Why? Because I hardly ever practiced. If I had, my playing probably would have improved, and maybe I would have enjoyed it more. This is kind of a big duh, but if you don’t practice, it’s hard to get good at something, anything, that requires skill.

Drawing well requires skill, but I don’t believe people are born drawing well any more than they are born playing the piano well. People who draw well practice a lot, and I would bet they practice because they enjoy it (maybe they enjoy it so much, it doesn’t seem like “practice” the way my piano practice did).

I decided to test this theory. During my previous failed attempts at drawing, I usually set myself up for failure by resolving to “learn to draw.” This time, instead of making a resolution, I simply made a commitment to draw every day. Guess what? I’m getting better! More important, I’m enjoying it! So much so that it doesn’t feel like “practice” at all.

This glass mug was drawn on the third day of my commitment.

Edited 7/9/14: This interesting article was just brought to my attention: "Why Are Some People Better at Drawing Than Others?" The article's concluding comment: "There are few human skills which don't improve with practice."