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| 10/22/21 This sketch made through a rain-spattered window was motivated by wanting to use two pencils I hadn't used in a long time that I had found while looking for something else. As good a reason as any to make a sketch. The pencils were a Cretacolor Nero pencil and a Derwent tinted charcoal pencil. |
As a process-oriented sketcher, I think a lot about what
motivates me to continue drawing, day after day. By extension, I also wonder
what motivates other sketchers. I’ve talked about the question frequently, most
recently earlier this year and last year.
For myself, motivation usually breaks down into three categories: subject matter (like all the colorful trees I’ve been sketching lately); materials (we all know what this is about 😉); and practice. I haven’t talked as much about the third category, practice, because it’s always the central motivator behind the other two. In this latter category, I would put anything like the Inktober challenge, my pandemic hand project, and maybe even sketchwaiting.
I use the term practice with all of its meanings: a regular activity in an effort to improve, like practicing the piano; and also a regular activity not necessarily to improve but to simply keep doing because it is part of one’s larger lifestyle, like yoga.
The one motivator that I don’t talk about much is always there behind the other three: Fun. If it ain’t fun, why do it? Yet this is more complicated than it seems. When I’m working hard to draw complex architecture or think about drawing in a new way, it’s challenging and maybe even frustrating – and yet also fun. Many people would not use “fun” and “frustrating” in the same sentence, and I admit that I didn’t always feel this way. In my early sketching years, I was often frustrated, and it didn’t feel “fun” in the sense of entertainment. Eventually, though, this changed, and maybe that’s because I’ve had enough experience with my own process to know that if I just keep going, it’s always enjoyable overall.
What motivates you to keep sketching?
Great question Tina! I think for me it’s that nothing else will fulfill that need for expression. I have given up many times, but seem to always come back to drawing and adding color. Somehow the act of drawing is very meditative for me (when I don’t think I should be accomplishing something, lol!)
ReplyDeleteYES!! That's always a motivator behind all others!
DeleteI think sketching somehow gives me a sense of connecting with what is around me. If a day goes by and I don't sketch I feel like something is missing. There is such a sense of accomplishment when I see a scene and find that it has spoken to me and I have captured it in my own way.
ReplyDeleteYes, absolutely! I think there's really no better motivator than an internal connection... a dialog with whatever is around us that is asking to be sketched.
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