Dragor
2008-07-27, 03:45 PM
Sorry, thought I'd blow off some steam about something I think about a lot, but never more so than now. Bear with me.
Since I've been young, I've loved art of all kinds. Statues, sculpting, paintings- you name it, I like it. I could probably talk at certain length about it. One of my major failings (probably my biggest next to my lack of maths skills) is that I cannot draw to save my life. I've tried since I was around... 4, and have never pulled off a decent picture.
You see, I'm a bit of a perfectionist. If I have done something which is good by my standards, I'll be proud of it for about five minutes. Then I'll notice something which I think is a mistake, rub it out, and try again. That just makes things worse. Then my frustration builds and I angrily screw up the paper and hurl it in the bin.
My Mum is a good artist, however. And I've always wanted to ask her, especially, if she could teach me how to draw people. It always wrenches my heart when I cannot find the words to describe my character, or do not want to seem high and mighty or simply down right strange with how much detail I will go to in an RPG. These characters, to me, are a part of my creativity, and I treasure them. However, my Mum already thinks I'm a bit strange (due in no small part to my quite large geekiness) and if I asked her to teach me how to draw for the benefit of D&D, I'd feel incredibly awkward.
I also have an outrageous temper when it comes to learning things. I don't know why, but it applies to Art more than anything. I guess my inner child is annoyed that I can't take the fast track to being able to draw. I was particuarly put off by my Art teacher when I was... 10, I think. I can't remember what we were doing, but she was going around the class checking everyones work. Pretty much everyone in the class was average or brilliant at Art, except me. Then she came to my desk, pulled down her glasses, and looked at my work.
"Thomas, you haven't even tried."
I'd tried my hardest, I really had. While I hadn't poured my heart and soul into it, by my standards it was a good piece of work.
I stammered out a reply that I'd tried my hardest.
Then she simply uttered, "No."
After that I think I strung together a series of rude words at her and got sent to the headteacher for misbehaving.
After coming back to this again, I'm coming to the conclusion that maybe I'm still scared of my lack of talent; drawing, more than anything, is a skill I'd love to have. Just to be able to put my imagination onto a piece of paper and be proud that that is my minds creation, my representation of a part of creativity. More than anything, it'd be useful to my fellow players to visualise my character.
So... there you have it. What can I do? Should I ask my Mum at risk of embarassing myself, or is there another way?
Thanks for listening,
Tom/Dragor
Since I've been young, I've loved art of all kinds. Statues, sculpting, paintings- you name it, I like it. I could probably talk at certain length about it. One of my major failings (probably my biggest next to my lack of maths skills) is that I cannot draw to save my life. I've tried since I was around... 4, and have never pulled off a decent picture.
You see, I'm a bit of a perfectionist. If I have done something which is good by my standards, I'll be proud of it for about five minutes. Then I'll notice something which I think is a mistake, rub it out, and try again. That just makes things worse. Then my frustration builds and I angrily screw up the paper and hurl it in the bin.
My Mum is a good artist, however. And I've always wanted to ask her, especially, if she could teach me how to draw people. It always wrenches my heart when I cannot find the words to describe my character, or do not want to seem high and mighty or simply down right strange with how much detail I will go to in an RPG. These characters, to me, are a part of my creativity, and I treasure them. However, my Mum already thinks I'm a bit strange (due in no small part to my quite large geekiness) and if I asked her to teach me how to draw for the benefit of D&D, I'd feel incredibly awkward.
I also have an outrageous temper when it comes to learning things. I don't know why, but it applies to Art more than anything. I guess my inner child is annoyed that I can't take the fast track to being able to draw. I was particuarly put off by my Art teacher when I was... 10, I think. I can't remember what we were doing, but she was going around the class checking everyones work. Pretty much everyone in the class was average or brilliant at Art, except me. Then she came to my desk, pulled down her glasses, and looked at my work.
"Thomas, you haven't even tried."
I'd tried my hardest, I really had. While I hadn't poured my heart and soul into it, by my standards it was a good piece of work.
I stammered out a reply that I'd tried my hardest.
Then she simply uttered, "No."
After that I think I strung together a series of rude words at her and got sent to the headteacher for misbehaving.
After coming back to this again, I'm coming to the conclusion that maybe I'm still scared of my lack of talent; drawing, more than anything, is a skill I'd love to have. Just to be able to put my imagination onto a piece of paper and be proud that that is my minds creation, my representation of a part of creativity. More than anything, it'd be useful to my fellow players to visualise my character.
So... there you have it. What can I do? Should I ask my Mum at risk of embarassing myself, or is there another way?
Thanks for listening,
Tom/Dragor