Challenge 2: Learn To Draw

My pre-course drawings.  The bottom one is a bagel, in case you can't tell.

So, what's this challenge all about?

When I was at school (many, many years ago now), there were three things that never came naturally to me and to which I did not apply myself.  They were art, music and foreign languages.  (PE never really came naturally either, beyond a certain degree of competence at catching balls, but I enjoyed it enough to at least try.)  Of those three subjects, I've always quietly regretted not putting the effort into French.  I took it to Standard Grade, but no further.  I dropped it because it was hard and I wasn't great at it.  But this entry isn't about French, it's about art.  Did I regret dropping that even before Standard Grade level?

Well, no.  Because I knew I was bad at art.  I knew I couldn't draw.  How did I know?  Seven years of primary school art classes on a Wednesday afternoon is how.  Seven years of boredom and disappointment as my technicolour imagination turned into brown smears of stale poster paint.  Seven years of being made to do it, but never being taught how to do it.  For a child with no natural flair for art, there was never going to be another outcome.  I was officially Bad At Art.  (Baaa-aaa-aad at art...!  De-deedledede, de-deedlededede...)

Balls.

I must admit that being bad at art has always annoyed me a bit.  Not a lot.  Not enough to do anything about it.  Just a bit.  The odd nagging regret when scribbling out a map for our role-play campaign, the occasional pang of jealousy as others turn strokes of the pen into something recognisable.  Then Andy Law - he of actually getting paid to draw fame - said something that stuck in my head.  The reason he was good at art was that he mum had been an artist before him and had taught him what to do.

This, frankly, was a fucking revelation.

It's not that I didn't think people weren't taught art - obviously they must do something in art colleges - it's that it never really occurred to me that one could be taught the really basic fundamentals.  Because no-one ever did it to me, it always seemed to me that there was a certain level of talent that just... appeared?  A bit like being tall, being bad at art was a predetermined thing for me.  Something I couldn't escape.  But now, here was a man whose artistic ability leaves me in awe, telling me that it wasn't always thus.  I could learn.

Challenge accepted.

How's it going to work?

Lots of balls.

I will admit, this is one of the more nebulous challenges on the list.  I'm not aiming for any sort of qualification and I'm not attending a course.  Instead, I'm just committing to drawing something 6 times a week.  (Sundays are a day of rest for several of my long-term challenges.)  To start with, I'm stumbling my way through You Can Draw In 30 Days by Mark Kistler (instructional books are exempt from the female authors challenge, remember).  So far, I've done spheres, cubes, a couple of random things and am just starting on cylinders.  It is, whisper it, actually surprisingly fun.  I'm capable enough at following instructions - and the book well enough written - that my final drawings look somewhat like they're meant to look.

That said, I'm still finding it hard to see how this is going to translate into something more.  The step from following instructions to seeing the world and being able to translate it into my sketchbook seems pretty giant right now, but that's ok.  I don't need to be Andy Law by the end of this year - let's be honest, one is enough - I just want to be able to make a stab at putting an image down on paper that only existed in my head prior to that moment.  If it's even halfway close to what I intended, I'll take that as a win.

Roses.  These are fun - and surprisingly easy - to draw.  The leaves are the hardest part.

Long-term updates

French words "learned" (according to the memrise app):  115

Daily photos taken as of 22 April: 22 (available on Facebook)

Swordfighting learned: Nothing more - it's only fortnightly

Thank yous written: 3


Surprised phone calls thanking me for the thank yous: 2

I am currently reading: The Red Tent. (Still.  All these challenges are eating into my reading time, but I've finally got my teeth into it and am enjoying it thus far.)

Game design stage: high concept with a dash of mechanical ideas.

"Cheat" days on food since last week: none!

"Cheat" days on exercise: several.  I need to find a source of activity for when the opportunity to take exercise doesn't present itself.

Pull-ups done: 3.  Sort of.  Depending on how you count them.  (I choose to count generously.)

Big, hairy balls.