Overcoming the Fear of Drawing by Hand

Today I want to confess something to you: even though drawing is my favorite hobby, I’ve noticed that it’s getting harder and harder for me to draw. Even a simple idea becomes a real challenge when I try to create a digital drawing, and I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. I remembered that when I didn’t have a tablet or technology in general, I had more imagination—or at least more inspiration—which I no longer feel when I draw on the tablet. I don’t know if it’s because sitting at the computer for two or three hours no longer inspires me, and the screen’s glare gives me a headache—even though I’ve set it to a dim brightness to keep my eyes from burning. I don’t know if maybe it’s the ease of having all the tools I need that makes the challenges not as fun anymore. I really don’t know what’s going on, but I felt a huge desire to draw on paper, but I was afraid because the last few times I’ve done it, it didn’t turn out as I expected… I’ve lost a lot of practice with hand-drawn art, but today I feel pretty happy, excited, and eager to create more things. I’m dying to paint a landscape. I’ll tell you that when I was little, painting landscapes was my second favorite thing to do, and I’d really love to let my imagination run wild again and capture it on paper.

Even though I don’t have many supplies, I wanted to try drawing a face in grayscale using just a single graphite pencil—the only one left from a box of drawing pencils I bought over 10 years ago, haha. It’s a 7B pencil; it’s pretty good and, above all, very dark, but it blends quite well. I started by sketching with guide lines so the face wouldn’t end up too distorted, then I modified it and added more details to the sketch before starting to add details with the pencil. I began with the eyes, adding shadows and blending, and worked my way across until I’d drawn the entire face. The shadows were a bit rough, but I’m still practicing, so please don’t judge me. By the way, I’m using some paper that I have no idea what it’s called, but it has some texture and really gives an even more impressive effect when blending the shadows. I think this type of paper is wonderful for this kind of drawing, especially if you’re working with pastels.

After finishing the face, I painted the hair—I think that was the hardest part. Painting hair digitally now seems like such a simple task compared to doing it by hand on paper. Basically, I filled in all the hair with a pencil, smudged it, and used a small eraser to add highlights. To make it look much more realistic and beautiful, I added highlights to the face, especially around the eyes, using white paint.


I loved the result—it really made me happy, and I finished my drawing without getting a headache. Of course, it’s not perfect; there are details that need improvement, and it’s not entirely clean, but so far it’s the best portrait I’ve ever drawn by hand. Obviously, I also like digital painting, but it’s much more stressful—at least for me… and as I mentioned, sometimes digital drawing really blocks my creativity.




Hola @alexa.art! Qué valiente de tu parte compartir este sentimiento. A veces la tecnología nos facilita tanto las cosas que perdemos esa "magia" del papel o del instrumento real. Tu dibujo a mano quedó espectacular, especialmente el brillo de los ojos. No pierdas esa inspiración, el arte tradicional tiene un alma que lo digital difícilmente iguala. ¡Mucho éxito
Hello @alexa.art! How brave of you to share this feeling. Sometimes technology makes things so easy for us that we lose that "magic" of paper or the actual instrument. Your hand-drawn art looks spectacular, especially the brightness in the eyes. Don't lose that inspiration; traditional art has a soul that digital art can hardly match. Much success
So pretty! You captured a lot of expression in the eyes. Don't despair, and don't give up! Keep your flame alive 🔥 ✨️
Her eyes are so beautiful. Love what you did with the highlights there.
Muy hermoso tu trabajo, excelente.
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