I (don’t) know how to draw!

When people tell you they don’t know how to draw, show them this article.

Let’s face it: how many times have we thought to ourselves that we are not good at drawing, even the most basic thing? Lots of times, I’m sure.
I’ve had this thought countless times too, and I use drawing as a way of communicating for every single project I do.

I have been drawing for as long as I can remember. When I was about 5 years old, I remember asking my mom if I could make a small drawing on the wall of our previous flat. Lucky me, she reluctantly agreed. Many years later, that little drawing turned into something that had much bigger impact on my life: graffiti.

For the next 10 years I found myself surrounded with spray paints and markers. Looking back, I realize how much I’ve learned with graffiti. From meeting all kinds of people, to paying fines, to spot a place and drawing a sketch purposely for that wall.

However, the one thing that took me some years to learn was that everyone had their own style. Some with more rounded shapes, colorful, and others rather aggressive, with sharp edges and darker tones. In a certain way, I came to realize that style is for drawing as personality is for people.

Know your style

When it comes to drawing, I usually say that “style is everything”. If we think of all the famous designers, architects, painters, etc, the first things that comes to our minds are their masterpieces, and rarely their biography or portrait. Just like when we think of someone, we do so by identifying and remembering some key elements of their character (and physical look too, obviously, but lets not be so mundane).

Likewise, style is something that takes years in the making, and what people often forget is that their way of drawing will never be the same as someone else’s. This is the first step for understanding that everyone is capable of drawing, just not the way as we see in the works of other artists.

I couldn’t let this go without mentioning the famous story from Pablo Picasso, which many of you must be familiar with.

Picasso is sitting in a café in Paris, when a woman approaches him and asks for a quick sketch on a paper napkin. Picasso takes the challenge, draws his dove and gives it back to the woman, while asking for large sum of money for his creation. The fan, perplexed, fights back: “How can you ask for so much? It took you a minute to draw this!”, to which Picasso replies: “No, it took me 40 years.”

Fear of failure

Complementary to the misunderstanding of styles, is the fear of drawing things our own way. We allow society to judge us so heavily, that little by little we “accept” the fact that we don’t know how to draw. Well, this is nothing more but lack of self-confidence and fear of our own creative side.

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” — Pablo Picasso

Realizing that drawing is a reflection of our own personality, state of mind and emotions, is key to set us free from both external and self-judgment in order to unfold the artist within us all.
After all, who has never felt inspired to draw when in love?

Think less, draw more

Drawing is pure meditation. I’m sure many of you will agree with this statement if you have ever let your mind go while drawing.

During my academic years as an architecture student, I had a colleague that once asked me: “What are you thinking of?”, which I replied: “I’m thinking how to draw this idea that I have…”, to which he said: “Don’t. Just draw”.
Since that day, I no longer care if my first drawings are able to transmit what I have in my mind, because by trying over and over again I’m working towards its improvement.

To sum up and demystify the reason(s) why so many people claim that they are not able to draw, I’d like to highlight two things:

1 — Everyone can draw, but on their own way and with their own style.

2 — People who say they can not draw, do so because they are not capable of drawing something as “perfect” as they’ve seen elsewhere.

So next time you have someone telling you this, remember the following: