Drawing for Fun

When I was younger I used to sit down and draw aimlessly. I remember  I would sit at school and just draw my time away. Back then I never understood any principles or elements of design. I had no clue about perspective, harmony or color. No one ever explained drawing from observation or how to properly hold a pencil. When I was a kid all I knew is that drawing was fun.

We could talk about art theory forever, but if you are not enjoying what you are doing then you're just wasting money on art material and time on a frustrating pursuit. I've met many artist; some it seems,  have raw talent from birth and others have taken time to develop their skills, but I have noticed that the most successful ones are those that have a passion for drawing. For them drawing is their life.

Unfortunately there's also the other spectrum of "artists". I was invited once to share my portfolio in a design foundations class. There was one person in particular who kept saying he wanted to be a better artist, he wanted to be able to draw and paint and create anything he could imagine. He kept hoping and wishing that he could be better. I asked the instructor about him and their response was that he was never in class, never handed in homework and never finished his projects. I felt disappointed in him. How can a person expect to be better and not put in the hard work?

This type of attitude from aspiring artist reminds me of a quote attributed to Michelangelo,

"If people knew how hard I had to work to gain my mastery, it would not seem so wonderful at all."

https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/182763.Michelangelo_Buonarroti

So why should we have fun and enjoy what we do? The answer is simple. For me at least, it's the pure enjoyment of the artform. There is a feeling of satisfaction in being able to create something from nothing. Drawing truly is a craft and honing your skills to become a professional in that field is not only satisfying, but rewarding.



Take for example this creature drawing I created in illustrator. It's still not finished. Little by little I work on it in-between projects, but it's relaxing and fun figuring out where everything goes. So enjoy drawing for drawing's sake. If you are going to do this for a living then you might as well have a blast while doing it.