I WISH I COULD DRAW!

How many times have we heard this or 'I wish I could draw as well as you'. Many people can't draw or it should be said believe this to be the case but lets look at those statements again; the first one begs the question 'Draw what?' and the second 'How well?'. Most people who can hold a pencil can draw even if it is a very rough interpretation of what they were trying to produce. The problem arises when they see some well executed work by somebody else and just say to themselves 'I would never be able to draw like that'. It is this belief that ultimately defeats them. Now lets look at reality, most artists like to specialise, while there are a very lucky few who can turn their skills to anything, most specialise because they have found that they prefer a certain subject/style they are good at and can produce while leaving alone those that they don't like or more simply can't do. So if one artist produces great drawings of buildings they just might not be any good at drawing figures and vice versa. So the next time you catch yourself saying 'I just can't draw' rephrase it to something like 'I can't draw people but maybe I could draw flowers' or 'I can't draw animals very well but I think I could draw landscapes quite well' If after all said an done you still say 'It's no good, I simply can't draw anything, I just wish I could'. Then don't despair because there is still a way you can enjoy creating great pictures without any drawing skills. One way is of course utilizing the colouring in pictures that you can find on the withinthelines.co.uk website. Just print off your chosen colouring in picture be it one of an animal or perhaps a landscape or seascape, what about colouring in flowers, or maybe your choice might be for colouring in a dance picture, you just may prefer to colour in a pattern or a mandala, all of which can be very therapeutic. What ever you choose from the many different subjects available all the hard work has been done for you, you only need to select your picture, print it, grab yourself some colouring pencils, sit down and loose yourself for a little while remembering to try to stay within the lines.

TAKING IT FURTHER

If you feel adventurous how about taking it one step further. Instead of colouring in the picture you have just printed off from the withinthelines.co.uk website this site allows you to do the following.

Tracing pictures

Get some tracing paper, if you don't have any you can use baking paper from the kitchen. Then make a tracing of the colouring in picture and transfer it onto some watercolour paper or even a small canvas board and then you will be able to create a watercolour or oil/acrylic version and who knows it may even be good enough to show other people or have it framed and put on your wall.
Important WARNING:( Do not do this with colouring pictures from other sites unless they have given you permission to do so.)
The withinthelines.co.uk website does allow you to do this.