You Fear Missing Out
My wife and I met before online dating became the norm.
Back then, dating worked like this: you met someone in real life, fell in love with them, and started courting them. You stayed together and began to get to know each other. There is something special about sharing your life with someone you love.
I have never used a dating app, but I understand that when you find someone you think is a match, you are tempted to keep scrolling, swiping left and right to see “if there is a better option.”
I create photos for my website to be used for the flashcards, timed drawing sessions, and the memory drawing game. For that, I have a nice camera. It’s perfect; it serves all my needs, and as I spend more time with it, I get to know it better.
I enjoy listening to YouTube videos while drawing. In the last few months, while drawing, I have fallen into the rabbit hole of camera reviews on YouTube, trying to see “if there is something better.”
I’ve decided to stop. The camera I have is absolutely perfect, and as I spend more time with it, I get to know it better. I know all its controls and can change them without thinking. I have become familiar with the lens and understand what will be captured in a photo when I stand somewhere and look at the scene. I’m getting better and better at taking pictures as I become more familiar with the camera.
Long ago, I discovered that drawing tutorials perform well on Instagram, as they did back then. People liked the tutorials, bookmarked them, and forwarded them to others.
And then they went on scrolling to see “if there is a better tutorial.”
I stopped posting tutorials because of that; I didn’t want to feed that unhealthy behavior.
Find one drawing resource, and then stop searching and spend time with that resource. Get to know the material better. Re-read it to see if you now pick up new things from it. Redo the exercises regularly, and you’ll become more familiar with and understand the material better.
Are there better drawing tutorials out there? No. Not if you just bookmark them and move on. Then they’re not better.
The internet sparks our Fear Of Missing Out. It tempts us to keep searching for better, never satisfied. We’d be a lot happier if we stopped searching and started enjoying what we already had.
You get far more from spending your life with one person, using only one camera, doing only one drawing tutorial, or having only one type of pen or one type of sketchbook than if you’re constantly hopping around looking for something better while life passes you by.
This Week
And speaking of staying with just one educational resource, I’ve been using my own flashcards a lot, and I’m using what I learn to improve the experience. On a typical day, I’ll draw for 3.5 hours using the flashcards.
It’s becoming a pretty cool system!
The thing is, no one sees it. And so I’ve been toying with ideas around how to bring the Practice Drawing This resources to the attention of the right audience. YouTube could be a natural place for it. I’m considering showing myself doing the exercises while you see the 3D model demoed on screen. The 3D models in particular are pretty sexy, I think.
You’re not exactly the target audience, as you hopefully already found the cool 3D models, but here is a video I made.
Yours sincerely,
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