Cut out a good bit of the drawing and stick it to another sheet of paper (this could be tiny) and use it as the starting point for tomorrow's drawing........makes me feel hopeful.
A bad drawing day for me usually means I’m not engaged with the subject matter and “bad” is when I can’t be bothered to see it through, rather than a judgement about the end result. If I do have a bad drawing day I draw my dog. He always makes me smile.
I think it is when I have expectations. When I expect too much and don’t enjoy the process. If I let go of my expectations I can enjoy the process. Whatever I create is good if I enjoy making it.
YES, Teri! Expectations and pressure can suck the joy out of it for me too. I just worked through a series of drawing that I hope to add to my portfolio. I worked equally as hard on controlling my mindset (to avoid that pressure) as I did on the actual artmaking! 😬 Stay tuned to see how it goes haha. I did film in case it's helpful!
This is crucial for me as a newbie (who just turned 57!) who believed all their life that they weren’t “good at art”. At this stage I try to celebrate everything I create, even if it’s ugly as helll!
Bad drawing days for me are usually either a lack of motivation or our good friend despair trying to creep in, “you’re not good enough, why keep trying?”, etc. And I do personify it as something outside of me because it truly doesn’t feel like me. I don’t believe those things! I know those feelings aren’t true or valid but it feels like something from the outside is trying to find the cracks and seep in. Kind of like a dementor from Harry Potter.
When it’s motivation, I’ll usually push through and draw something small, anything really and I don’t have to love it, I just have to do something. After I’ve at least made the effort I can go so something else if it’s just not working right now.
When it’s a dementor, I find aggressively scribbling to be very satisfying and then I walk away and do something restorative like reading a book or playing a non-stressful video game or going for a walk outside.
I can tell I have a bad drawing day if I just do not feel inspired by the things I normally find beautiful and fascinating. I don't feel the urge to create and I don't want to dedicate time and energy to it, I am not paying enough attention. My last bad drawing day was yesterday, my three kids and husband are really sick, I don't sleep and my health also is not 100 %. I want to distract myself with drawing but then the result disappoints me and that does not feel relaxing at all. 😆
Sometimes a bad drawing day is just a day when I'm a bit disconnected from my body - like, my brain and hand aren't really in sync. Even great runners have days when it just feels slow and hard and gravity extra strong. I try not to overthink it and just take a step away for a bit, do other things and come back to it later.
Not at all creepy! Love you for loving it. I used to teach drawing and this trick of mine helped so many students out of a hole. It still helps me......!
Last night I drew something that was so bad that I had to not just shake my head in a grrrrrr but also laugh at how awful it was. However, I learned a number of things - that base volor was not good for what I painted on top as watercolors do not look good on a strong base color & the paper was rubbish blahblahblah. This morning I looked at it and it wasn't so bad! Not the best effort but certainly not the worst either. My remedy with bad art is to give it at least a day and maybe even a week or more as ones eye evolves to appreciation more often than we might initially think.
My comment is not about bad drawings, but how much I love your cat and skull drawings…. Drawings are just marks, some are simply more pleasing than others!
Bad drawing days happen to me if I have any caffeine at all. My hand-eye coordination and my perception of proportion disappears. Also, if I haven't done any drawing in a while, I lose some of my chops.
Bad drawings always lead me to swatch colors/materials just to rise my mood 😄 which ends not being so bad at all and the bad drawings also start feeling not so wrong too!
I love the post and all of the comments ❤️ I think all the bad drawing days are better than no drawing days (like today I took my brush and after staring the page I put it back since I didn't feel like it 🙈) but of course this is ok too, there are all kind of days 🍀
I completely agree! Days like that are a nice sign to do something else. It always comes back. We’re human and our brains need to rest sometimes, just like all our other parts, I guess. ❤️✨
I find joining your draw alongs is immersion therapy for me creating bad drawing and sharing them. I still cringe at some of the timed drawing I do but the more I immerse myself in the process the more drawings endup in the mix that are not so bad.
I hadn't really thought of just a bad drawing day before this...I think I was going to ' oh no my drawinv is getting worse'. You really made me think about it just a day , not my drawing going downhill 😃
Aaah yes I probably should reword it because sometimes I take a break, unload the dishwasher, then feel inspired to draw again and have a fine time! It could be fun to dedicate a whole 24 hours to “Bad Drawing Day” and try to make bad drawings! 😬 Maybe I’ll try tomorrow!!!
Cut out a good bit of the drawing and stick it to another sheet of paper (this could be tiny) and use it as the starting point for tomorrow's drawing........makes me feel hopeful.
Sylvia!!! I love you for this comment. I hope that's not creepy. 🤭 Thank you for sharing! It's a brilliant idea!
A bad drawing day for me usually means I’m not engaged with the subject matter and “bad” is when I can’t be bothered to see it through, rather than a judgement about the end result. If I do have a bad drawing day I draw my dog. He always makes me smile.
Nicky, I think drawing your lovely dog would instantly cure a bad drawing day for me too! ❤️🐾
I think it is when I have expectations. When I expect too much and don’t enjoy the process. If I let go of my expectations I can enjoy the process. Whatever I create is good if I enjoy making it.
YES, Teri! Expectations and pressure can suck the joy out of it for me too. I just worked through a series of drawing that I hope to add to my portfolio. I worked equally as hard on controlling my mindset (to avoid that pressure) as I did on the actual artmaking! 😬 Stay tuned to see how it goes haha. I did film in case it's helpful!
This is crucial for me as a newbie (who just turned 57!) who believed all their life that they weren’t “good at art”. At this stage I try to celebrate everything I create, even if it’s ugly as helll!
Bad drawing days for me are usually either a lack of motivation or our good friend despair trying to creep in, “you’re not good enough, why keep trying?”, etc. And I do personify it as something outside of me because it truly doesn’t feel like me. I don’t believe those things! I know those feelings aren’t true or valid but it feels like something from the outside is trying to find the cracks and seep in. Kind of like a dementor from Harry Potter.
When it’s motivation, I’ll usually push through and draw something small, anything really and I don’t have to love it, I just have to do something. After I’ve at least made the effort I can go so something else if it’s just not working right now.
When it’s a dementor, I find aggressively scribbling to be very satisfying and then I walk away and do something restorative like reading a book or playing a non-stressful video game or going for a walk outside.
I can tell I have a bad drawing day if I just do not feel inspired by the things I normally find beautiful and fascinating. I don't feel the urge to create and I don't want to dedicate time and energy to it, I am not paying enough attention. My last bad drawing day was yesterday, my three kids and husband are really sick, I don't sleep and my health also is not 100 %. I want to distract myself with drawing but then the result disappoints me and that does not feel relaxing at all. 😆
Yes, this. The "bad days" usually START with a "this is a slog" mentality and only go downhill from there.
Sometimes a bad drawing day is just a day when I'm a bit disconnected from my body - like, my brain and hand aren't really in sync. Even great runners have days when it just feels slow and hard and gravity extra strong. I try not to overthink it and just take a step away for a bit, do other things and come back to it later.
Omg these are fantastic answers!
Not at all creepy! Love you for loving it. I used to teach drawing and this trick of mine helped so many students out of a hole. It still helps me......!
Last night I drew something that was so bad that I had to not just shake my head in a grrrrrr but also laugh at how awful it was. However, I learned a number of things - that base volor was not good for what I painted on top as watercolors do not look good on a strong base color & the paper was rubbish blahblahblah. This morning I looked at it and it wasn't so bad! Not the best effort but certainly not the worst either. My remedy with bad art is to give it at least a day and maybe even a week or more as ones eye evolves to appreciation more often than we might initially think.
My comment is not about bad drawings, but how much I love your cat and skull drawings…. Drawings are just marks, some are simply more pleasing than others!
Aaah thank you soooo much, Elaine! That’s such a nice way to look at it — just marks!
Bad drawing days happen to me if I have any caffeine at all. My hand-eye coordination and my perception of proportion disappears. Also, if I haven't done any drawing in a while, I lose some of my chops.
Bad drawings always lead me to swatch colors/materials just to rise my mood 😄 which ends not being so bad at all and the bad drawings also start feeling not so wrong too!
Ooooo, these are so good! Thanks for posting this.
I love the post and all of the comments ❤️ I think all the bad drawing days are better than no drawing days (like today I took my brush and after staring the page I put it back since I didn't feel like it 🙈) but of course this is ok too, there are all kind of days 🍀
I completely agree! Days like that are a nice sign to do something else. It always comes back. We’re human and our brains need to rest sometimes, just like all our other parts, I guess. ❤️✨
Pet a goat. haha perfect.
I find joining your draw alongs is immersion therapy for me creating bad drawing and sharing them. I still cringe at some of the timed drawing I do but the more I immerse myself in the process the more drawings endup in the mix that are not so bad.
I hadn't really thought of just a bad drawing day before this...I think I was going to ' oh no my drawinv is getting worse'. You really made me think about it just a day , not my drawing going downhill 😃
Aaah yes I probably should reword it because sometimes I take a break, unload the dishwasher, then feel inspired to draw again and have a fine time! It could be fun to dedicate a whole 24 hours to “Bad Drawing Day” and try to make bad drawings! 😬 Maybe I’ll try tomorrow!!!