If you read Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, you'll remember that he said that the top achievers in any field have practiced their craft for at least 10,000 hours.
When I look at my amateurish drawings and compare them to the graphic designs, illustrations, and paintings of artists whose work is stunning, I think: "Okay, give yourself a break! You haven't even come close to 10,000 hours in practicing this new skill."
I have about 9, 943 hours to go. And that's okay. At this point, I'm just stepping out of my comfort zone (words) and stepping into something new, hoping to loosen up, get out of my head, and see what I can do for the pure enjoyment of it.
I can't tell you how many times I was tempted to abandon the difficult drawing and just tell the story in words! Or how many times, I would have loved to tell the story with a camera! (In those domains, I have more hours of practice logged in than I can even begin to estimate.
If you want to read more about Gladwell's theory, you can check out this website: http://www.wisdomgroup.com/blog/10000-hours-of-practice/
Or read his book, Outliers.
If you want to "master" (his word, not mine) anything, you can't just keep reading about it and going to Michaels for supplies or watching tutorials on You Tube; at some point, you have to just start, and start again, and keep going, and see if what you're doing is so engrossing that you can't stop?
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