I find it irksome when people say things like: "Drawing for me is like breathing; If you were to take away my ability to draw... I'd die!"

I wish it were that easy for me.

I think for a lot of people it's too easy to look at someone's gallery and take for granted the amount of time and effort that has gone into each and every drawing on that user's account; Drawing isn't a walk in the park for everyone - for some people, each and every drawing is like running a twenty-mile marathon (and it doesn't necessarily get easier over time).

I wonder if people realise that when they're asking an artist to do a request or a trade, that they might be in effect asking them to run a twenty-mile marathon on their behalf; I use this metaphor because now I can turn it back to you...

Now imagine I'm a stranger, or someone you hardly know - and I ask you this - completely out of the blue:

"If it's not too much trouble, would you mind running a twenty-mile marathon for me?"

How does that make you feel? I'm pretty sure that it drains the enthusiasm right out of you, doesn't it?

Now it's not that I can't run a twenty mile marathon (running with the metaphor) - it's just that it's going to take a lot of mental effort, time, patience - and you can be pretty sure that I'm going to be exhausted at the end of it.

This is what it's like for me to draw a picture - it hurts - I get headaches - I suffer anguish when something doesn't work out as I had hoped or planned - sometimes I can't finish a picture until a few weeks later because I needed to figure something out.

Drawing for me isn't like breathing - it's like hard work! - and I'm still learning how to get the best out of my craft.

So please, don't assume that drawing is a cake-walk for every artist.


Note: This is just a vent journal; It's not necessarily targeted at anyone.