somniloquence

I just want to encourage you in every possible way, and I'm sorry to hear about your wrists! I have some RSI issues myself, and I sympathize A LOT. I wish I could just give you a hug and pour you some tea and sit down to doodle big-eyed alien blobs or something else that wouldn't be frustrating.

And hey, maybe this class is not for you, I don't know if it is or not, but that doesn't mean you can't go ahead and draw. I never took classes; I am a hopeless perfectionist, as well as an introvert, and I think I would get so many issues from watching other people and having to interact and feeling like I had to please the teacher. And on top of that I like to do things my own way, heh.

I did read a couple books, but I don't think that's a necessary step, particularly, it's just good for prompts if you're stuck about what to draw. (Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain - all the left/right side of brain stuff is outmoded bullshit, but there are some fun exercises like drawing from an upside down photo, and Danny Gregory´s `The Creative License´ is quirky encouraging fun).

I started drawing by picking up a pack of permanent-ink fineliners on a really crappy day in december 2017, because I like pens and paper and I wanted to cheer myself up. I had been coloring in adult coloring books for a couple years, because I never could draw worth a bean myself, but since then I've realized that doesn't matter. If you keep at it, you're going to get better. Not perfect, but better. It's impossible not to.

I think that when you start drawing, it's like starting to learn how to write - the letters come out wonky, despite the examples in your textbook, the shapes will look weird, etc - and partly it's just learning muscle memory, and partly it's learning how to see those angles etc. And like I said, I still suck at angles! I just don't want to be stopped by the "I suck" feeling. I don't think I can draw a recognizable likeness of a person, for example, and I'm not about to offer my fanart in any exchanges yet, BUT I can have fun drawing whatever I want to on my own terms. (I just sat in a tram and drew half a dog's face before its owner got out, and that was fun, even if it's not a great or even a finished portrait of a dog.)