Afraid of Pencils

#1

I’m deathly afraid of pencils.

(I’m not talking about the autistic skin-crawling that comes from your average #2, even though that’s present too. It’s easily fixed by choosing the tools wisely.)

I’m talking about a mini-panick and freeze at the mere thought of trying to do something useful with a pencil, like trying to draw with one. The same thing happens just as often with ballpoint-pen sketches.

I’ll happily start making little .5" x 1" blobs of cross-hatching or shading on notebook paper, or even convoluted swirling patterns, just nothing useful.

So what’s wrong with me and how do I fix it?

#2

Sounds pretty crazy man, I guess my only suggestion would be to start doing it. I found the 3D Buzz concept art videos to be a good foothold in climbing over the barrier of drawing. Maybe take a drawing class or pick up a book and just start pushing through it. If drawing with a tablet is less intimidating that might be a good place to start and then transition to a traditional media. You might like working with Charcoal as well, it seems to be a great medium for learning to loosen up and start getting comfortable.

#3

IMO sounds like the root is an anxiety about being judged about what you produce…that it won’t be good enough… you are seizing up with a little mini panic atack …

how do you deal with this ? draw anyways for yourself …let them turn out how they turn out and don’t be so overly self critical… if they suck they suck …iftey are great then that’s cool too …but you can’t improve or overcome this without doing some drawings that may be …“sub-par” it’s the only way any of us improve.

Be proud of yourself for even getting a full page done …even if it’s “not good” by whatever standards…you’ve got to get over that.

take it in small steps …draw on a small pocket pad, you don’t have to show anybody…but whatever you create is nothing to be embarassed about.

what exactly is your goal with pencils? Think about it and take it in increments to achieve that goal

BTW when I saw the post subject…I thought “well they are pointy…”

get lost in the act of drawing not the outcome

#4

An instructor I had in college sat us down with Conte crayons and news print paper…

He would have us pile up blocks and practice drawing them. Blocks would force us to translate angles to the page, get proper scale, and work on our line quality…

We would slowly over a few weeks move up to more complicated setups. First, a kitchen utensil (don’t try an egg beater! -shiver-) and eventually we would move up to still lifes. Drapery with lots of things around it was the final test… wait on the drapery…

News print is cheap, and so is conte crayon… the trick is, don’t be afraid of a blank sheet of paper! throw some crap down quickly, while paying close attention to the overall product…

Don’t start focusing on one part, that is the most important thing. Work all over the composition and stay light with your marks, don’t nail a line until you are confident that is where it belongs…

Go take a drawing fundamentals course! Believe me, you will learn a ton!

Grab one with perspective in the curriculum, that is incredibly useful to know =)

#5

Everyone has at least 1000,000 bad drawings in them, so you’d better start now! :smiley:

#6

I have an autistic reaction to newsprint as well. (About the cheapest paper I can use is envirocopy.) I’m not even willing to try vine charcoal or pastels again; conte crayon is just waxy enough for me to use if I put it into a holder.

I’ve managed not to turn on my tablet when I’m having a mini-freak. Digital sketching gives me slightly less resistance than traditional, but I don’t want the block to spread by trying to force it.

Some of those dry excersizes seem like a good idea. I actually snuck into a life drawing course a couple of months ago, and I was starting to heal, but the teacher kicked me out when he figured out that I didn’t belong there.

#7

Oh yeah, our teacher also took all of our erasers. You need to break the fear of making a bad line. Stay light with your strokes! =)

#8

Yep, getting rid of erasers is key! Another really good exercise is to draw something without looking at your drawing until it’s done. If you do this a couple of times you begin to feel a little bit more comfortable with it and some people eventually got good at drawing completely without looking at certain sections.

#9

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.