Bad Day for Drawing Isn't Really Bad

Drawing is like living life.

• You stumble.
• You fall.
• You fail.

This is not my best drawing I know. I could do even better. But, I really like to make at least one drawing per day. I force myself. Then, you know, I don't get what I really want.

Is it bad to force yourself when you're not in the mood to draw?

My answer is both a NO and more of a YES. But before I lay down the words to explain myself. Let me first show you the not-so-good-yet-a-good-one-drawing-output for today!

Drawing Process

Yes, I am not actually done with the drawing. But, I am posting it now because I have no more plans of completing it. I have so many unfinished drawings... Maybe, I'll show them to you in a separate post :)

So, of course, I started with the shape of this creature. I don't like to name the animal so you won't disagree with me. To do this, I used a B grade graphite pencil, actually it is not the advisable pencil to be used in sketching fine lines because it is really dark and you wouldn't want to let the pencil-marks stay on your drawing at the end. Perhaps, breaking the rules sometimes is fun and absolutely exciting!

Then, I made its two big eyes. I love using inks in my drawings because they are neat. Tidying up after drawing is really tiresome. Sometimes, I even sleep with my art materials on my bed. I don't want to generalize but I need to for this post - Real Artists are Messy and Disorganized. So, back to the eyes of this creature, I intentionally made the shade really dark and black to have a solid look and to get the strict emotion I want to portray in my drawing.

Next, I drew the feathers. Do they look like feathers? Yes, this creature is supposed to be a bird but again it's a bad day for drawing so, I just let my hands moved freely with the ink pen I was holding. I wanted to emphasize depth and good details to really picture out a good birdy look but I wasn't very particular today.

Then, I went down to the structure of the body. Here you can see I started on the left, because the direction of my drawing is to the right since I am a right-handed person. I dont know if that is the standard because I didnt have the chance to enrol in a formal art/painting/drawing school. You don't have to believe my strategies but I really think it is the best because you can see clearly your subject or drawing and you can avoid spreading the ink or paint or the powder. But, this one is different also, I started on the bottom-left up to the top-left so that the overlapping of feather is close to the reality.

Finally, this is my finished yet unfinished work. I still started from the bottom going up. I darken some parts of the body to separate the idea of the structure of this creature. I hope you get what I mean. Hehehe. But then again, it is not so important, anyway, this is not my best drawing.

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Bad Points

Here are some of the bad things that will happen if you force yourself to create something even if your mood is not good:

• YOU WILL WASTE TIME AND MONEY. You will spend time for it, but it doesn't give you a rewarding feeling. Furthermore, you will just waste your art materials that cost a buck or two.

• YOU WILL NOT LIKE THE OUTPUT. There is really a greater tendency that you will not like the output. I am not a psychologist but I certainly know that your mood will affect the drawing process. This will cause mistakes and breaking of important rules and standards in drawing or sketching.

Good Points

• YOU WILL HAVE A GOOD PRACTICE. Drawing, like any other skill needs practice. That means when you let yourself do some drawings everyday, whether bad or good, you are actually training your drawing skills. Remember that it is always good to exercise your beautiful and artistic hands. Do not mind the results, failing and falling are common to anyone.

• YOU WILL HAVE A TIME TO DO WHAT YOU LOVE.
  I know some artist will agree on me with this that there are days that your mood is not good for drawing or creating art but you still would create something because it is what you love doing. Meaning, you are always given time to express your love, your art! Spending time to these things are joys and priceless moments of your life.

• YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO LAUGH ABOUT. Yes, it is our pride to keep good, almost-perfect, excellent, exhibit-worthy art in our galleries, shops or in our rooms because you will be very proud of yourself. It also boosts your confidence as an artist. But, do not underestimate the fun and laughter these under-rated art masterpieces you have awfully made. Sometime in the future, you will giggle when you see them. I promise!

So, yes there are no bad drawing days. Everyday, you can create a Masterpiece!

Art is beautiful. Art is beauty.