Skip to main content
Ed. Magazine

Drawing Rules to Get the Drawing Mind Launched

1. You can’t say you can’t DRAW. If you can make a mark on the paper, you can draw. It may be new or scary but everyone can do it. The first comment many people say is “I can’t draw.” This first rule is to counter that voice. Everyone has the ability to draw.

2. Trust yourself. Believe in YOU. Trust your own line. This is true for drawing and for everything else you embark on in your life. Inside, there is a part of you that knows what to do and you have to learn to trust that knowledge. Find your own visual voice — trust the way you make marks or lines on a page. Trust your innate Drawing Mind.

3. There is NO right or wrong way to draw. You cannot make a “wrong” drawing. We all draw differently and that is something to celebrate. If 100 people drew a tree, all the drawings would look completely different and that is the power of drawing. We have our own visions and ways of expressing that vision. There is no “right” way to explore the world around you visually and we all do that in different ways.

4. Follow through and try. Come on this drawing adventure and try out different ways to draw.  It may feel funny at first, but the only way you’ll learn is to try.

5. There are no mistakes (and no erasers). Don’t worry about making “mistakes” because in drawing there are NO MISTAKES. See what you can turn a “mistake” into. Discover something new. For many scientists and artists, their “mistakes” become new discoveries and unexpected paths to follow. Think of a “mistake” as a possible new journey, one that you didn’t intend to travel but once you went it was better than expected.

6. Don’t be critical of your own or someone else’s drawing. It takes courage to draw and put your ideas on paper. Be respectful of other people’s process and work. Respect your own work, too. It is easy to be self-critical and make fun of your own drawing, but let the judgment go and see this drawing adventure as a process of discovery and unfolding.

7. Take risks and experiment. Drawing is a process that is always unfolding with each new mark on the page. Like a scientist, an artist has to take risks, follow unusual leads, and experiment with what the materials and your hands and eyes can do. Hold your pencil in a new way, use a material that you don’t often use, crumple your paper and then draw on it.  Don’t be scared to see where your line and process will lead.

Drawing is bigger than just an expressive tool for the artist it is a tool that is used in many professions and for many reasons every day by a range of different people. If we think about drawing as an act that has utilization beyond the studio walls, then we can see the potential the drawing practice has once you re-discover your drawing mind.

Ed. Magazine

The magazine of the Harvard Graduate School of Education

Related Articles