FREEING THE HAND
If you are just beginning to learn how to draw, try not to
grip your pen worrying about the technical terms you might
have heard. Ignore these at first and allow yourself the
freedom to play. Start by choosing a material you like the
look of and cover a piece of paper with different marks.
Enjoy discovering what your hand and the material can
do. Choose other materials and do the same. Much will be
learned on these test sheets and in your first drawings, just
through the act of making. With no help and advice at all,
you will naturally make progress on your own in response
to concentration and the decision to look and draw. As you
follow lessons in this book, take your time and don't worry
if you need to make several attempts to grasp a concept.
Drawing is exploratory, and mistakes are a valuable process
of learning. Try to keep all of your first drawings, even those
you dislike. Put them away and look at them later, at a point
when you feel you are not making progress; you will be
surprised and encouraged to see how far you have come.
One of the advantages of a drawing book is that you can
shut it. Pages do not have to lie open for other people to
inspect and comment on. It is yours. Such books are
personal: the territory of new exploration and experiment;
potential ideas still forming; diary-like observations; and
miscellaneous items of inspiration.
FREEING
THE
HAND