And thus it begins

A week or so ago in Psychology class we learned about memory. Research or studies or whatever suggest that it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at any one thing. Just imagine. Anything you could ever desire to do, you can learn to do provided you spend about an hour a day on it for 27 years. Spend eight hours on eight different things, and in 27 years you're an expert at eight things. Perhaps it sounds like a long time, but of course over those years it becomes so ingrained in your personality that you cannot help to do the thing anyway.

Another quote that I found inspiring in this Psychology class was this one from Thomas Edison. "If I find 10,000 ways something won't work, I haven't failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward." Essentially this means even after "failing" over and over again, he didn't see it as such. He just saw it as one step toward an even bigger goal.

So what does any of this have to do with this blog? For several years I've wanted to learn how to draw. I have a couple of books: "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" by Betty Edwards (pictured above) and "Keys to Drawing" by Bert Dodson. Using these books and perseverance, I will attempt to take my near non-existent ability to draw and take it to the expert level. I will, hopefully, spend 10,000 hours drawing, treating failures as steps to success and see how true this 10,000 hour rule is. I will use this blog as a journal of my progress, so several years from now when I have (hopefully) progressed in my drawing skill I can compare it to how it used to be.

Here's some background info about me. I am mostly a left-brained person. I'm right handed. I've taken a class in "Beginning Life Drawing" and found it to be quite difficult (I didn't pass). I like to write, but I have always thought being able to combine the two would be pretty neat. I'm subject to fits of depression and have found failure to be damning to a lot of my interests. I definitely have an issue with always seeing the negatives in things. This brings us to my goal.

Goal: To learn how to draw, and to learn how to do it well. More importantly, to learn to overcome failure and use it as a stepping stone to success. In doing so, I hope to become an expert not only in drawing, but in overcoming failure.

Inventory: "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" by Betty Edwards*, "Keys to Drawing" by Bert Dodson, paper, a pencil, a scanner**

*I looked for the book this morning and I couldn't find it. It's supposed to be a really good book too. A shame.
**I'm not sure if it works. I hope it does. Note: It does not have a USB cable. This could prove to be a problem.

Rules:
1. I will work on drawing, at minimum, one hour a day.
2. I will post the results of my endeavors on here.
3. I will not make a value judgment of anything I draw. Nothing I draw will be considered a "failure." I will replace the word "failure" with "step."
4. If for some reason I cannot draw one day, I will post anyway, hopefully giving a very good reason why I didn't. However, doing so will simply be considered a step in this learning process.

And there we have it. I hope to post something exemplifying my current drawing skills soon, at which point I will get this blog kickin.