Day #1: Addressing Fear
Before we get started on our Nature Sketching Challenge, I want to address the elephant in the room: fear. Fear is the #1 reason people give me when I ask what keeps them from putting pencil to paper and drawing something. Fear of being judged on the quality of their drawing, fear that people might laugh at the results. Believe me; I’m not immune to this emotion either. Even after receiving graduate degrees in both biology and scientific illustration, I still face these unreasonable fears on occasion.
Many people have a fear of drawing. My goal for you is to release any fear you may have about needing to draw a “pretty” picture and instead focus on enjoying the process of learning about your subject. When you are first starting out, the process is more important than the product. Even if you think your drawing looks like a piece of dog ‘doo- doo,’ and you throw it in the trash, the time you’ve spent observing your subject will never be lost and will give you a greater appreciation for that which you’ve drawn.
Practice, and enjoy the process. There’s no need to set the bar so high on yourself; you wouldn’t expect to be born able to ballet dance or play the clarinet! For some reason, folks think they should be born artists, and it’s just not true! Be kind to yourself.
Drawing is not a magical ability, it is a teachable, learnable skill.
—Betty Edwards, author of Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain
So, I wanted to share with you today some wise words on creativity from one of my favorite authors, Elizabeth Gilbert. You may be familiar with her book Eat, Pray, Love. Although this became a New York Times best-selling book, she still struggled with being able to put pencil to paper again after its wild success. Her new book, Big Magic, has been a game changer for me in terms of freeing myself from being a procrastinating perfectionist when it comes to my art, and I highly recommend you read or listen to it on Audible as I did (3 times this year!)
So she spent a few years researching how other creative people have conquered their fears and wrote a new book based on her findings called Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear, which has been such an inspiration to me that I’ve listened to the audio version of it three times!
Today’s challenge
- Watch the TED Talk video below to give you the confidence to embrace your creativity before we proceed to the rest of the challenge. If you enjoy this video, you’ll be equally inspired by Liz’s new book on creativity and her podcast called Magic Lessons. Check them out here.
- Visit our Nature Sketching Challenge Facebook page and share your thoughts on the creative process.
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