A reader recently asked a question that included a comment about waiting for that Ah-Ha moment. The main question has been answered in a previous post on this blog.
But I also want to respond to this comment. It seems like a lot of artists spend a lot of time waiting for that elusive Ah-Ha moment. I base that statement on personal experience, as well as on observation.
Mostly, I’m afraid, personal experience.
Waiting for that Ah-Ha Moment
There’s nothing wrong with looking for those moments when everything seems to come together. They do happen in all parts of life. The fact is that most of us have experienced those wonderful “ah-ha!” moments at some point.
The problem comes when we stop doing things and start waiting. Don’t wait.
Keep drawing.
All of my important break-throughs in gaining colored pencil skills came from drawing. The more I drew, the better I got. The more I learned, the more ready I was to learn more.
Yes, there have been a couple of times when I completed a piece and could see I’d taken a huge step forward. There was something about that piece that far excelled everything I’d done before. The piece shown here is one of those. As soon as I finished it, I knew my skills in drawing landscapes had taken a big step forward.
But behind every one of those break-through pieces were dozens of so-so pieces, or pieces in which I advanced just a little bit.
There were even a lot of bad pieces; artwork I thought was a failure of one kind or another.
Stop Waiting for those Moments
The more you practice the skills you already have, the more you’ll improve. For most of us, improvement comes one step at a time. Some day, you’ll look back at those older pieces and see just how much you have improved.
Embrace the Ah-Ha moments and celebrate them when they happen.
But put in the hard work between break-through moments. And yes, even after the Ah-Ha moments happen. You have to work hard to make those advances, and you have to continue working to repeat them.
That’s really the best way to make sure you have break-through moments, and have them more often.
