One of the biggest differences between my crafting now and back when I used to blog is that I can draw now.

It’s something I’ve always wanted to be able to do, like a lot of us I suspect. Then in summer 2014 I was talking to an artist friend, and she mentioned an article she’d seen about how drawing is completely a learnt skill – anyone with enough fine motor control to write their name can learn to draw. You just have to practice. She recommended a book to me – You Can Draw in 30 Days by Mark Kistler (amazon link) – and it must have been just the right time because I bought the book and did the exercises, and then I just kept practising. Not every day, or even every week sometimes, but I kept drawing on and off and filled up some sketchbooks.

More recently I took out another book from the library – Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards (amazon link). This one is for complete beginners really but I still found some useful things in it. It talks a lot about how learning to draw is really about learning to see, which is definitely what I’ve noticed. I look at things differently now. I notice more. The world is more interesting, landscapes, faces, plants all have more detail. If you want to learn to draw then this book is probably the best one to start with – it’s very encouraging. She compares learning to draw to learning to drive, in that most people can do it, you just have to learn certain things (steering, changing gear, giving way at roundabouts) and after that you have to practice a lot to increase your skills and your confidence.

I’ve mainly used pencils, colouring pencils and watercolour, and also I draw a lot digitally (I use an app called Procreate on my iPad, originally with a cheap stylus, then for the last year with an Apple Pencil which is incredible). Over the last year I’ve started trying to learn to watercolour Properly, and I’ve painted some portraits and landscapes that I’m really proud of and which I will share in other posts.

As well as being fun in and of itself, learning to draw and paint has made every single thing I make better. I can sketch out ideas that actually look right. I can see how shapes and edges fit together for the best composition, and I can mix and balance colours. I wish I’d done it years earlier, but starting at 32 was also pretty good.