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Finding the right subjects

They say, when you start drawing you start to see the world differently. And you feel the urge to draw everything. The first part of this claim is true for me to a certain degree. I do sometimes look at things with the eyes of an artist, wondering how I would draw this. The second part not so much. I am still quite selective when it comes to choosing subjects to draw.

They also say that everything is interesting when you draw it. And when I see other people's drawings of supposedly banal stuff, I like them. But I can't get myself to drawing just anything. It has to be something special or something that spontaneously attracts me or has some other motivation behind it, except that it's in front of me and I want to draw.

So one could think that the moment I do find something visually interesting somehow, I would want to draw it. And there is sometimes the thought in my mind that I would have to want to draw at least everything I do find interesting. As if I was not allowed anymore to find something interesting without wanting to draw it. But there is a difference between me finding something visually interesting and me wanting to draw it.

Why is that? Am I just not daring to draw something interesting, because I believe it's too difficult? Or do I think it's not interesting enough to draw it? Or is it that my brain - the part that is in charge of drawing - says: I can't do anything with this right now? I often find myself browsing a photo site and getting attracted to a photo, but then I imagine drawing it and finally decide against it, because I don't see how I could approach a drawing of it.

You somehow have to broaden your artistic 'vocabulary' in a useful way. On the one hand, you have to challenge yourself in order to make progress. On the other hand, if the challenge is too big you get frustrated. And you certainly don't want drawing to frustrate you. Probably, all you can do is trust your intuition. If a subject totally scares you, allow yourself to reject it. If you think, it won't be easy to draw, but you have an idea, how to approach it, give it a try.

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