Every artist has their Achilles heel but if we are to grow as an artist, we have to address our shortcomings even if they frustrate us. In the long run, such diligence pays off and we’ll have more weapons at our disposal when it comes time to create. I have several such antagonists. One of them, happens to be the 3/4 profile of an automobile. I use an automobile as an example but I guess my real problem is with still life and perspective. I find them incredibly boring but they’re indispensable for honing your skills and once you master them, they’ll enhance the things you love to draw.
Drawing an automobile has been quite the frustrating experience I’d imagined it would be. My initial sketch was mediocre at best but I was fairly confident that I could spruce it up in Illustrator. I’ve been using Illustrator for about 2 months now and I’m beginning to feel a little bit more confident using it. The model for this experiment is a VW Rabbit, a cute little car. Well, after working on it for a few hours, I began to feel agitated as it was not going well. I tried to use the 3D tool for the tires but they ended up looking a bit wide and flat. The rest of it didn’t look quite right either. I was worried that I had become a cubist. I was on the verge of giving up but I decided to take a break instead and fix it later. After much tweaking and multiple redoes of certain elements, it started to look decent and I’m glad I stuck with it! It’s still a work in progress but the experience has no doubt improved my game. I guess the message here is to abandon your comfort zone every once in awhile and explore other avenues of invention. What seems to be a chore at first will ultimately make you a better artist and isn’t that the whole idea?