Total inability to draw
1mo
@redraven
(Not sure where else to post this.) I should probably preface this by saying I'm a beginner. I tried Drawabox back in 2019/2020, but I dropped out around perspective (https://drawabox.com/lesson/1/7), when I tried and failed to apply the 50% rule for the first time. I'd consider jumping back into it from the start if not for this intense mental and physical freeze I'm experiencing. Whenever I try to put anything down on paper, even something as simple as a line, I'm just too frozen to actually follow through. Trying to push through makes it worse, obviously, but trying to wait the issue out doesn't make it better. It's like I'm just stuck with this problem. And before anyone says anything, I've tried therapy multiple times. My therapists haven't been able to help - in fact, my last one made things worse - and I can't afford to go back. What do I even do about this issue?
Dan Blodgett
Hey, that's a super tough situation. Can't imagine your frustration. I don't mean to sound harsh or discouraging or anything, but if even drawing a single line gives you that kind of reaction; is it worth putting yourself through that? Is learning to draw really something you want to pursue? Be honest with yourself, my friend. How important is it to you? Art should be fun, not torture. Sure, it can be frustrating a lot of times, but if it's so painful for you that you literally need therapy because of it, then... well... maybe reconsider hobbies. That's all. If it is important to you to learn how to draw despite this, then I don't think there's any way to avoid massive initial discomfort. "Pushing through" as you described it. Although, of course, you shouldn't try to push through all at once and dive into a course. That would for sure make it worse. But you need to be okay with being uncomfortable, too, for a while anyway, until you can learn to relax a little. I don't know what techniques your therapist tried, but it sounds almost like a phobic reaction? Which I know from experience is a bitch to get over. I had a phobia of dogs as a child, which I eventually got over through exposure therapy, similar to what I'm about to suggest. But I don't know if this is something you've already tried, or if it would do any good anyway. I don't think it always works for people... I'm no psychologist. This is just something that's worked for me in the past. Maybe start with some zero-expectation moments every day for a week or two... just one or two minutes... 30 seconds even to start... where you try to scribble a little, doodle, make some lines, whatever, then walk away. Whatever you put down is great. Again, no expectations. Just like you might doodle while talking on the phone, if people still do that, haha. Don't try to make anything "good." Just relax and let your hand go loose and draw anything or nothing. The point is to gradually increase the time with a pencil in your hand every day until it's not so scary anymore. Only when you can approach a page without that debilitating reaction you describe would I consider attempting to learn again or push yourself in any meaningful way to get better as an artist. Don't get stagnant in this phase either, though. It would be easy to think you're never going to be ready. Again, ask yourself how uncomfortable you're willing to be to learn how to draw. You're going to have to dive in at some point if you want it. And it will not always feel great. This is a hard one. I wish you all the luck and perseverance you'll need.
@redraven
29d
To be honest, this problem's affecting me in many other areas of my life beyond drawing - things I know how to do, and things where there was never any question of skill to begin with. It feels like the only thing I can do is just stagnate and do nothing all day; that's how bad it is. The only reason I'm bringing it up here with drawing is because it feels like one of the easier options, somehow. I've also tried the "put down whatever within a very small time frame" strategy many times in the past, and it doesn't work. It might even reinforce the problem. I'll just sit there the whole time trying and failing to push through whatever this block is. And again, taking time off doesn't bring me any closer to resolving the problem, either; it's just as strong the moment I come back.
Yashwardhan Singh
Fear of the blank paper has struck everyone at one point, and the only solution is to just start somewhere. Think about it this way, making a bad drawing and learning even a little from the experience is far better than not even trying. After all that's what practice is all about, learning by doing it again and again.
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