Chapter 3. Building Your Confidence

OKAY, SO NOW YOU know that sketching is not someone else’s job, it’s your job, too. At this point, you might be raring to go, marker in hand, singing “Climb Every Mountain.” Go you! Or, if you’re like most people, you’re somewhere further down the confidence scale, wondering how to begin, or frustrated that you’re not able to sketch to the standard you want.

Help is here! We need to pull this confidence thing apart first, to become more self-assured. This chapter will help to connect you back to when you drew like you didn’t care what others thought about you. It will help you to understand the way you think when you sketch so that you can tackle that process of getting what’s in your head out onto paper and into the world.

We’ll also look at ways in which you can prevent your body and your mind—that inner critic—from betraying you and holding you back. And then you’ll be singing “Climb Every Mountain,” just like those sketching show-offs.

Rightio! Let’s awaken the Picasso within.

Rediscover Your Pony

I like asking people what they used to draw when they were young. What’s always interesting is not only the things that they used to draw, but the way people talk to me about it. You can probably imagine the vast spectrum of responses: everything from blank stares, polite smiles, and slowly backing away to a half hour of nostalgic enthusiasm.1

I actually ...

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