Mrs. Customer (of the indoor murals) said to Mr. Customer, “I think you should sign up for Jana’s drawing lessons”. Mr. Customer said, “I would be too embarrassed”. 

I said, “Many people have that worry; the reason for lessons is to learn to draw. No one knows how before they take lessons; everyone starts out the same. My students are all very kind and encouraging.”

Every bit of that is totally true. 

One day a drawing student said she didn’t know what to draw next. She was wearing her normal black high-top sneakers, and the late afternoon sunlight was coming in the doors of the gallery. We put her shoes in the light and photographed them with her phone from many angles. Now she is drawing her shoes, and we are wishing we had stuffed the laces inside rather than having to sort out all the loops and droops.

The first step is to figure out what to draw; the second step is to get a printed photo. Yes, you can draw off your phone, but it is easier to work from paper, which is a fixed size. You can see that she is enlarging the shoes on the drawing, which is an important way to learn to see proportionally.

Do you want to learn to draw? You can. The only people who don’t learn are the ones who quit too soon. Not everyone enjoys the process, not everyone enjoys everything. (I can’t stand sports.)