Last week I had my 2nd drawing lesson. I have read/looked at many books and articles on perspective, but never really understood it. But on my way home from the lesson I was seeing the countryside with new eyes. I could now see how everything could be drawn. To me, that is amazing!
But I’m finding out that just because I now know how to draw things, I have only started to learn to draw. I need so much of the old ‘practice makes perfect’. But I am trying not to get discouraged. Even if I can’t make things look exactly like I want, they are certainly better than I have ever drawn before and I UNDERSTAND what I’m doing now.
I am also learning how to shade objects to give them a 3D look. We touched on the direction of light. I realized I that I am better at the 3d than the light aspect.
I have been interested in art-drawing, painting, etc- for a long time. At one time I took a Bob Ross wet on wet oil painting class at Hobby Lobby. I enjoyed it and did a few other paintings at the time, before becoming discouraged because I couldn’t make things look ‘right’. More recently I attended two pastel painting classes. I really enjoyed that. However I realized that if I ever wanted to be any good I needed to learn to draw. That is what painting is based on, at least it seems so to me.
However I am finding that I love drawing for itself, not just as a step to painting. There are three things that I’m yearning to draw well–rocks, shadows, and water. I hope to consentrate on them later. For now I am practising with still life, shapes and perspective.
Hey, all you beginning artists (and also the experts) let me know what you are doing, ok?
learning2leftovers 
Something to keep in mind:
“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”
― Ira Glass
Here’s the video where he said it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI23U7U2aUY
I really liked the video. Good advise in whatever we do. Thabks for sending it.