Is Drawing A Gift? - Why Everyone Is Able To Learn Drawing
Updated: May 27, 2020
For a very long time in my life, I thought, being able to draw is a gift or a talent you are born with. Do you think so, too? Over the last two years, I was able to learn a lot about drawing and about if it is able to learn this skill at all.
Is drawing a gift?
Drawing is not a gift. Drawing is a skill that can be learned from anyone in the world disregarding age, gender, race or other specifications. The desire to draw and to create something is natural, whereas the ability to correctly do so is the result of practice and a lot of effort.
Well, but is really every single human being able to draw? How do you start when you have no idea at all right now? Why is drawing such a great desire many humans feel? I have the answers for you here.
I. Who Exactly Is Able To Learn How To Draw?
As already said in the bolded paragraph it has already been proven a lot of times that drawing is a skill that can be learned from anyone in the world. As Babies we often already start scribbling our first artworks.
Already when we're merely a few months old the first lines are drawn and the first pencils get bit on and chewed. We are born with the desire to create something, not with the ability to draw. That is a skill we have to learn by doing so ourselves.
Where is the catch now? Aren't there any caveats?
Well, let me be very clear about this for a second. Are you the owner of two working hands, arms and two brains that can work together? As you know, there are people who are not able to answer this question with "yes".
Nevertheless, to clear that up once and for all, if you answered the question above with "yes", you are without any doubt able to draw. You have to put in hard work, watch online lessons, practice every day and when you are being serious and perseverant about your hobby that it becomes an obsession, you are very likely to be satisfied with your artworks sooner than you might expect.
Seeing the first results of progress is a great feeling no matter what stage on the learning curve you are on.
However, if you couldn't answer the question of whether you have two arms and two brains with a "yes" for whatever reason, let me tell you a little story about my private life...
As you maybe know, one of my hobbies besides drawing is gaming and getting to know new people from all over the world to play games with. Anyway, I've met a girl in a game called "Dead by Daylight" one day. We've been playing for a few hours while talking.
As we connected more and more over time, she told me a story about her that has shocked me and inspired me at the same time. She told me, that one day she dislocated her shoulder joint just by putting on a jacket.
The doctor told her, she had an illness that has been slowly destroying her bones in that region of her body. She signed up for an operation to receive a mechanical joint instead of her broken one.
Unfortunately—however something like this is even able to happen—the surgeons have cut a crucial nerve in her arm or something similar (I'm not a medical specialist) and from this day she was merely able to feel and move her left arm.
Despite all of that disaster, the incident wasn't able to stop her from exerting her hobby as a gamer. She has trained a lot to be able to play games with just one hand and by now after approximately one year, she says, it doesn't even bother her anymore.
If you have experienced the same or a similar fate, you don't have to give up. You can't allow yourself to. When one door closes, another opens. Keep going!
As you can see in the video I've inserted for you below there are many artists who don't even have one arm. Nevertheless, they are happy and passionate and really good artists! The final answer to the question of who is capable of drawing is everyone.
II. Different Kinds Of Drawing Suited For Beginners And How To Learn Them 1. Still-Life Drawing
Drawing actual objects from your surroundings is a great way to start off a drawing journey. I talk a lot about drawing from life in another post here on Mac H. - Creative, an article about exercises for beginners. One possibility to start still-life drawing is Conour Drawing. Read about it here: mac-h-creative.com/first-exercises-for-beginners
2. Analytic Drawing
Just as still-life drawing this type of drawing is also based on the observations of the artist. An exercise or rather a tip for you to easily start with this drawing style is to divide whatever you're watching closely into minor smaller parts. This procedure will enable you to perceive things better, which is important because having certain perception skills are crucial for every artist.
3. Emotive Drawing
This one is rather advanced but also very possible to learn after the first realistic drawing classes and experiences. It is about putting your or other emotions into your drawing to connect to the viewer on a very intimate level. Mastering this skill takes a ton of effort and practice and most of all empathy. It is the number one goal for many different artists. Definitely relatable considering the fact that emotional communication through art is one of the greatest things you can experience, in my opinion.
Found this emotive drawing here: https://iwantthatpainting.com/Fear.html
4. Perspective Drawing
This style is number two of my 5 favorite opportunities to get into drawing in general. Perspective Drawing is the first step every professional architect or engineering drafter has taken in their career. You are creating three-dimensional objects, such as houses, office buildings or a whole neighborhood.
Watch this video to see a professional using perspective drawing to create a really impressive piece of art depicting a city. Throughout the video, he gives valuable information about what you should know before starting to draw.
5. Zentangle
Finally, we've reached my absolute favorite beginner drawing style that almost nobody talks about. Zentangle is a method to draw, that combines relaxation/meditation with the joy of creating impressive artworks.
What makes this technique so special to me is the fact that Zentangle teaches you general drawing basics while you're drawing. You don't have to study a lot of shading theory most of all because you learn how to simulate depth and three-dimensional looks while drawing.
I've created a 3 Day Online Course directed at Beginners you can get completely for free by joining my mailing list for free: mac-h-creative.com/free-course-opt-in
III. What Are Natural Gifts Supporting The Ability To Draw?
As I already said at the beginning we can see first attempts to draw something in very early stages of our lives, even after having lived for just a few couple of months. Creating art is a completely natural act and a desire that can be found inside our genes since the very beginning of mankind.
Drawing isn't a natural gift, we have gone through that statement more than enough now. However, I've discovered that there definitely are some things everyone is being born with that support the ability to learn drawing.
Comparison Of Horizontal And Vertical Lines
Size Comparison
Arranging Objects
Comparison Of Light And Dark Values
All of these four things are natural gifts every human is born with. Due to our sense of balance through different organs, we are able to differentiate between horizontal and vertical quite easily.
Comparing sizes is also no problem at all for the human brain. You are always able to approximately detect sizes and certain relationships. When you were about to draw an apple you wouldn't draw one half twice as big as the other side, right?
The human brain is naturally gifted with the ability to arrange objects in a pleasing and comfortable way. Not only artists are able to immediately detect inconsistencies in art. Everybody, including you, is able to see when something just doesn't fit right.
To compare light and dark values is the last of the overall four natural gifts you have that support your plan to start drawing. Thanks to our eyes and the immediate processing in our brains we can easily differentiate between and recreate dark and light values.
I've read about these phenomenons in another article on a very interesting Blog. Check it out if you want to learn more about these natural gifts: drawpj.com/natural-gifts
IV. Related Questions
1. What Is Natural Drawing?
When you go outside, observe natural objects such as trees, rivers, bushes or leaves and draw these objects on a piece of paper you create natural drawings or nature drawings.
2. What Is The Benefit Of Drawing?
There is more than one benefit that comes along with the act of drawing. The possibility to express yourself freely, build creativity or relax your stressed mind are possible benefits of drawing.
3. What Do You Call A Person Who Can Draw?
A person who creates artworks with graphite or charcoal tools is often referred to as drawing artist, drawer or in special cases drafters, draftsmen/-women or draughtsmen/-women.