Wisdom Wednesday: Benefits of Drawing

I never really felt I was any good at drawing, maybe because I have a slight perfectionist streak which made me throw away anything that didn’t exactly resemble what I was picturing in my head. Since early high school (when I got to select my own classes and dropped Art) I hadn’t really done much drawing at all.

(c) Megan S, December 2013
(c) Megan S, December 2013

That all changed early this year when I realised I couldn’t afford the price of the illustrator I wanted to illustrate the Foggy Frog and the Pain Gang picture book. My husband suggested I try doing the illustrations myself, and Lynn (the illustrator I had been working with) encouraged me by saying I might be surprised by what I can achieve.

So for the past few months I’ve been drawing, and I’ve got to say I’m actually really enjoying it!

Tree_01

I may not be the best at it but I seem to have gotten over my perfectionist tendancies, 0r at least I no longer have the energy necessary to worry over it, and I’ve recognised some of the other benefits drawing has to offer me.flowers at mums

  1. Distraction: When focused on drawing I can distract my mind from what is going on in my body. Although the pain doesn’t go away completely I find I can block most of it out to focus on what I’m doing.
    Birdie_01
  2. Relaxation: I find that if I’m able to focus my mind purely on my drawing I’m able to relax muscles that generally stay tensed all the time. This helps again with reducing pain and can allow me to rest easier after drawing.
    girl
  3. Self-confidence: I’m finding the more I’m drawing the better my drawings are getting. This has helped me feel more confident in my ability to achieve this incredible goal of illustrating the Foggy Frog and the Pain Gang picture book myself. I also feel more confident in undertaking other tasks I felt were too difficult or out of reach for me.

These are three of the benefits I’ve found from taking up drawing. I’m setting myself a goal to try and draw for at least 30 minutes a day during the week. This is for the benefits above and also in the hope of completing the picture book ahead of schedule.

Let’s finish this post off with one of the initial sketches for the Foggy Frog picture book. Those of you who are backers of the project have already seen this one.

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* All pictures in this post are copyright Megan S., 2013-2014

Have you taken up a new hobby since falling ill?

What are the benefits you’ve found from taking up this hobby?