Embracing imperfection in our drawings

I’ve been struggling recently to pick up a pen or pencil and make a drawing in my sketchbook. Every day for the past couple of weeks I’ve made lists of ideas for things I want to draw or paint but the motivation comes just as I’m about to go to bed and when I wake up in the morning I spend the day avoiding my sketchbook again.

Perfectionism as procrastination

But then I realised my subscribers on Patreon and Substack were due a sketchbook prompt and a drawing demo video so I decided to just get on with it and pick up my sketchbook. I looked at the prompt I’d chosen and thought ‘I don’t want to draw that’. I found something to draw from observation that fit the prompt perfectly and thought ‘Nope, I don’t want to. I can’t.’

I gave myself a talking to, sat down, and did it anyway. I kept things simple - a basic, not-too-big sketchbook, no paints, and a pencil before adding black ink on top. I found myself looking intently at the jar I was drawing, getting the basic shape down lightly in pencil, and adding a fine black line over the top.

It all went reasonably well. And then, just as I was finishing the drawing, I realised I’d drawn the checked pattern on the lid wrong. It had started so well and although it was tricky to draw with just a black pen, I was managing pretty well but halfway through I lost concentration and the pattern wasn’t quite right anymore. I fudged it to do the best job I could and finished the drawing.

Be OK with the mistakes

Walking away from my desk I felt disappointed and thought that maybe I could ditch the video I’d made and start afresh tomorrow. Choose another subject, and pretend this one didn’t happen. In other words, procrastinate some more and only share the ‘perfect’ work. But no doubt that drawing wouldn’t be perfect either so where do we draw the line?

Why do we draw in the first place? I know for me, the reason I got back into drawing was all about the process of drawing, not so much the outcome. The feel of the pen against the paper, getting lost in the moment, and being comfortable enough to look at the final drawing without judgement before turning the page and carrying on.

So yes, maybe I will make another drawing tomorrow. But, if I want to share the reality of what it’s like to make art with my Patreon and Substack communities, then sharing the wobbly mistakes is important. It’s genuine.

No matter how long we’ve been drawing, we’ll keep making mistakes here and there, and not everything is going to be perfect - maybe nothing will be and that’s OK too. The thing about drawing, especially in your sketchbook is that it’s a drawing. It’s come from your hand and your eye so it’s always going to have something about it that isn’t, exactly, like the real-life object/scene you were drawing from. And to be honest, most people looking at the drawing won’t notice the bit that went wrong, or if they do they won’t care, so why should you?

Enjoy the process, turn the page, and keep going

It’s one drawing, from one moment in your life and when you look back at it you’ll remember that moment, maybe even more so because of the imperfection. If you want it to be exact, then just take a photograph and move on but something tells me that you’ll open your sketchbook again soon and make another drawing and another and another.

If you want to feel more at ease about your imperfect drawings, join me over on Patreon or Substack where you’ll get to see me making all kinds of drawings - the good, the bad, the ‘what was I thinking’. Just keep drawing.