Liz Clayton Fuller
Forum Replies Created
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Hi Patricia! You should use whatever materials you feel comfortable with to complete this first drawing. Some folks are using watercolor because they want to try it out or they already have painting experience, but it is up to you how to create this first drawing. You are more than welcome to draw the warbler and wait to use watercolor until the watercolor section of this course. This is a self guided exercise so do what feels right to you!
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Hi Mike! Blind-contour drawing is a notoriously difficult exercise, it is admirable that you have done eight so far! With persistence will come progress, in my personal career I'm certain that I've done hundreds of blind-contour drawings and I'm even more certain that my first ones were not good! I encourage you to be patient with yourself and keep trying. Many of the sketches that folks have shared here are quite exceptional, blind contour drawings are often very goofy! I suggest you try varying your speed, maybe slow down if you feel like you might be going too fast (this is a common occurrence), or vice versa if you feel like it is going far too slowly. It is all too easy to let your hand and your eye get out of sync, so try to focus on drawing the exact part of your subject that your eye is focusing on. As with any exercise - this will come easier to some than others. Remember that learning to draw is a process and every drawing you create is contributing to your growth as an artist!
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@Alice Hi Alice! I'm thrilled to hear you are enjoying the course and this is a great question that many people struggle with. The best advice I can offer is to be gentle with yourself. Art is a unique field where you create something and have to stare at it for a long period of time, it can often be frustrating if it doesn't turn out the way that you would have liked. I would try to think of each drawing as a stepping stone to becoming a more confident artist. Focus on the process of growing and learning instead of the drawing as a product. Art comes with a strange mythology that you're either good at it or you're not and that is simply not true - it is just like any other skill! The more you practice, the better you will get. I wish we could train our brains to revert back to the confidence we had when we were children and would just draw and create with reckless abandon! We've got to work a little harder to tell ourselves that each drawing is a learning experience and we should be proud that we had the courage to create something. I hope this helps!
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Hey y’all! I am so pleased to see all of your wonderful preliminary drawings and paintings posted here, I want to thank each of you for being so willing to share your work! Some of the folks posting their drawings here are not quite beginners, which is absolutely fantastic, but I want to say to the beginners - don’t be afraid! Every artist was once a complete beginner at some point, and this course is as much for the new artists as it is for those who already have experience. I hope more of you newcomers to art will share your work to inspire others that they are not alone! I would encourage you all to support each other in this process - sharing your artwork can often be very personal and I love to see y’all lifting one another up! Always remember to be gentle with yourselves and to focus on the process of learning and growing. Thank you all for being here, it fills me with joy to see all of the wonderful things you are creating for this course!