“I Want To Be An Artist, But I’m Scared”

Sound familiar?

Many artists have the fear of drawing whether at the beginning of their journey or later on.

You get better by practicing, and if you are afraid to draw, then it will take you longer to become a pro at what you do.

Let’s not let fear control our success!

We will begin by talking about the 10 things that can help you avoid the fear of failure.

Note: I have received quite a few requests to talk on the topic, and decided to talk about it in this article. If you have a struggles you want me to write about, make sure to subscribe to my email list and send me an email! (you will also get some awesome freebies when you subscribe!)

1. Think: WHY are you afraid?

When you go to a doctor they don’t just prescribe pills to cure you, right? They first have to figure out what the issue is.

Just like there is no pill that cures all, there is no one way to help you fight the fear of drawing.

  • Are you afraid that you are not good enough?

Maybe you are a perfectionist, yet you never created a masterpiece of your lifetime yet. Guess what? When you create THE WORK OF YOUR LIFE you can quit creating art entirely. Afterall, why would you continue knowing that you can’t create anything better?

So, try not to worry about it (unless you want to quit).

  • And if you are simply scared that your skills are not good enough yet, then do this:

Draw 10 different things one after the other. Set a timer for 10 minutes for each. Do it every day.

Every artist must get all of their bad drawings out of the system to start creating decent ones. Then, they need to get all of the decent once out of the system to start drawing good ones. Repeating this process, again and again, you will get to amazing art soon!

There are always going to be “bad” artworks. It’s OK. You can’t skip over them. Create them and move on!

how to draw better | i want to draw but i'm scared

2. STOP comparing yourself to others

Fear of drawing also has a way of showing through lack of confidence. And we usually doubt ourselves because we compare our art to the art of other artists.

I’m sure it happened to you before: you followed a lot of stunning artists on Instagram and scroll through your feed seeing all of this gorgeous art. It’s a way for you to get inspired to draw, but you feel stuck.

You then look at our art and feel bad for yourself because you are nowhere close to the skillset you want.

That’s the problem with social media, artists don’t post the 50 “bad” drawing they did over the week, they choose the 2 they like the most. It makes us feel like failures sometimes, but practice is key – so try not to feel stuck.

Also, it’s just not reasonable to compare the beginning of your journey to someone’s middle. Don’t do that.

3. Take on a Challenge

Maybe you are too much into your comfort zone and so your learning is stuck in one spot. To be better artists and people we need to break out of the cozy usual known place and jump into the unknown.

In the art world – the unknown is usually a challenge!

They will not only help you improve your art skill, but help you get started on building a habit of drawing every day!

There are many awesome ones out there you can start with, here are some of my favorite:

  • Inktober. Every October artists dedicate the month to drawing solely in inks, one drawing each day. It’s a super fun way to experiment and learn new skills even if you are not a big fan of inks. (Note: here is an Inktober supplie list to get you started.)
  • #Mermay. A drawing challenge where you draw mermaids every day for the whole month of May! I love swiping through my feed that month!
  • 7 Day Drawing Challenge: Let’s Fight Art Block Together. This is an email drawing challenge I host for my YourArtPath readers!

Every day I sent out a prompt PDF with what drawing you should do on that day, plus some examples of my personal work. Currently, there are over 500+ artists who went through it, and the feedback is amazing!

If you want to join my challenge, just type in your email in the form below and you can get started within minutes 🙂

4. Afraid to Draw? Learn instead!

Sometimes we are afraid to draw because we lack ideas, or don’t think we can pull it off, or feel pressured to post the final result on social media.

So, instead of feeling intimidated, dedicate that day to learning.

Think about what it is you don’t feel confident in, or would like to master the most, and get to work! This way you are still practicing and getting better, but the fear disappears since it’s just practice.

Here are some popular articles to get you started:

5. Draw Every Day

As we talked about before, we fear drawing usually because we are scared of failure, or think we lack skills, or compare ourselves too much to other artists.

All of these objections can be cured with a simple solution – draw every day.

Life is busy, so I understand that it can be hard sometimes to find the time. Honestly though, I know you can.

Sometimes you will have a free day for drawing, and sometimes (instead of checking your social media) you will only have 15 minutes. Either way, that’s OK. As long as you do it consistently!

Here are some artists for your inspiration that took on the challenge and posted their results every day:

And if you are now wondering how will you find 365 ideas for the drawing challenge? Don’t worry, I got you.

I created “365 Drawing Ideas to Fill Your Sketchbook” specifically for those of you who would rather have prompts pre-written for you, instead of having to choose them yourself.

Otherwise, you can look online for some drawing prompts and begin combining them for yourself!

6. Use a 5 Second Rule

Sometimes, the hardest thing is not to draw. In fact, the hardest thing is to sit down to draw.

Fear is just one of the ways your brain tries to protect you from danger (in this case, danger to fail). We need to trick it into stopping to think.

There is a great way of doing it (which I use many times every day) – The 5 Second Rule.

I first learned about it by reading “The 5 Second Rule: Transform your life, work and courage with everyday confidence” by Mel Robins.

It’s a fantastic book (or audio-book) that is definitely on my list of top books everyone must read!

Pretty much, before your brain has the time to come up with a million excuses for you not to do something, you start counting…

5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

…and then you physically move, sit down at a desk, pick your favorite medium and start drawing.

It seems like a silly thing to do, but I’m telling you – this is powerful!

This rule helped me change my sleeping schedule completely. Now, instead of sleeping from about 3-5 a.m. to 12-2 p.m. I go to sleep at 12:00 a.m. at night and wake up at 8 a.m. every morning.

It’s a big deal for me.

And now I can do it.

So, read the book, or listen to the audio and give it a shot! Don’t disregard something you haven’t tried yet 🙂


7. Take a Break and Reflect

via GIPHY

Sometimes, no matter what you do it just seems like you can’t draw. At all. You can’t bring yourself to creating art again. You feel stuck.

I had a period like that at the end of 2018. I tried taking on challenges, I only learned for a month or so. Still, nothing helped.

So I decided to take a break.

I haven’t been drawing for 2 months. I allowed myself not to draw.

2 months after I missed it so much that I couldn’t stop drawing and painting! It felt amazing!!

You might want to take a break as well, and it can be shorter, but hopefully, not longer than mine.

There are still some things to keep in mind while taking a break:

  • Find a reason why you are scared or stuck;
  • Try challenges or building a habit of drawing every day first;
  • During the break, try to think about “Why” you are creating art;
  • When you are ready – come back to drawing!!

I hope these few tips will help you fight your fear of drawing. I know, it takes time.

I’ve been there, and something tells me I’ll be there again. But with these simple tips you can fight it.

Take your life in your own hands! And don’t forget to grab some artsy freebies I prepared for you.

Stay creative,

Anna.