This past week has reinforced something I probably always knew but had until now dismissed flippantly.
You need patience.
I bought a tablet a couple of weeks ago. The argument as I presented it to my wife (I had to get her to buy off on the idea first just for my own piece of mind) was that I had been trying to sketch the kids going about their day but they would move around a lot or even get up and do something else, leaving me with either a half finished image, a weird looking hodge-podge nightmare of cobbled together details from slightly different view points (half the time I wasn’t aware that they had moved slightly until I tried to work out why this drawing was looking so out of whack) or a panic rushed image because I was desperate to knock it out before they moved or I got called out to attend some crisis, like my son mirroring Pro Hart on the pantry floor with a bottle of honey.
My argument was that with a tablet, I could snap a photo and then sketch directly from the captured image. This way I could take all the time I needed, leave to clean up the honey masterpiece and not be affected by changing movement or lighting conditions.
There is of course an argument that being able to draw quickly, capturing everything you need in a short space of time is an important skill to have and develop and I don’t disagree with this, but I didn’t want that to be the sum and total of all the sketching I was able to achieve (I’m hoping to build up to that).
The tablet has been great in this regard and brings a fantastic level of patience and focus to my development – one that admittedly was quite unexpected as rushing to get things done has been part of my psyche for as long as I can remember.
That’s not to say I still don’t fall back into cutting the odd corner in a bid to try to get things done quicker, generally with frustrating results. Last night for instance, I was erasing a section of a charcoal image I had spent most of the evening creating and fell back into the ‘just get it done!’ mode of thinking. The eraser latched onto the paper and buckled the image badly right through the centre of the image. Was not impressed but I only had myself to blame. It made completing the rest of the piece that much harder because to smooth flowing strokes I was attempting to make were now adversely effected by the buckle and ridge through the middle of the sheet.
Never fails, rush what you are doing, and it’ll end up taking more time with less desirable results.
Patience – take the opportunity to fully appreciate every action you are completing, be there in the moment for each moment and the process will be a much more enjoyable and satisfying experience.
