Dear Emma,

Dear Emma,

Art is fun! 

But sometimes frustrating.

I think art is usually most frustrating when you're improving. Your brain jumps ahead and it takes your drawing hand a little while to catch up. 

Your drawings can't be wrong, there is no right or wrong answer. 

But I know it's frustrating when they aren't coming out like the picture in your head.

Sometimes my friends and I will make up stories about our drawings that came out weird. Some of the best drawings and stories come out of looking at a weird drawing in a new way. I accidentally drew a huge flat nose and when I sat back and looked at the whole drawing, I realized, the girl kind of looks like a duck with that big flat nose! 

And we started talking about how maybe she was cursed by a witch and now she has to have a duck bill instead of a nose.

Try drawing something else for a little while - sometimes your brain needs to think about something else for bit. Or try drawing the opposite of what you were drawing.

Save your drawings, don't rip them out of your sketchbook. Sometimes you'll look back and like an old drawing, or it'll make you think of a new idea. Or sometimes it's just fun to realize that you've gotten better, and you didn't even realize it.

And if you get really frustrated, take a break from drawing for a little while - 

go play with friends or with something else, and that gives your brain a break and when you come back to drawing, it's usually a lot easier. Plus, you might see something or think of something that makes you think of a cool thing thing to draw.

All artists get frustrated with their drawings sometimes, I know I have days when it seems like my hand has a mind of its own, and doesn't listen to me at all. But artists are the people who keep on drawing anyways, 

because after all that, it's fun and you get to show people all the stories that are in your head.

Sincerely,

Emily