On each Monday over the last five weeks, I’ve posted an article about how believing you can be more creative will allow you to become more creative. This is simple human psychology. People who believe they can do something will at least make the attempt. Those, who believe they can’t, won’t try or worse, will sabotage their own efforts. While many people believe many things without any proof of those things, it’s much harder to believe something about yourself, especially if you’ve been programmed from a young age with certain beliefs about creativity. Regain your creative confidence and you’ll become more creative.

One Wrong Belief about Creativity

Creative people are born with it. False – Michael Jordan wasn’t born with a basketball. Beethoven wasn’t born with a piano. Shakespeare wasn’t born with a quill. They all had to work at their creativity. They may have been born with their talent, and they may have been able to find where their true talent was at an earlier age, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t work at it. You can play basketball even if you have two left feet. You can compose music, even if you’re tone-deaf. (Beethoven went deaf in his lifetime and still composed.) You can write, even if you’re dyslexic. It will take you more work, and you may never achieve the levels of the best of the best, but you’ll become happier and more empowered to learn new things.

Regain Your Creative Confidence

How can you regain your creative confidence? It all starts with learning that one of your core beliefs is wrong. At our Patreon page, I started with drawing. Everyone drew as a child. Often, these drawings were placed on the fridge by our loving parents. At some point, we stopped being rewarded for our drawing; we may have even been ridiculed for it, and then we stopped. If this sounds like your drawing journey, it’s time to unlearn that BS and get back to basics. You can draw. You just need to be reminded that you can.

Six Basic Shapes

You really only need to learn six basic shapes to draw anything. I’m not saying you’re going to become Ub Iwerks or Charles Schulz, at least not in six lessons, but I am saying that you can remember your drawing skills from when you were young and build on them if you decide you want to draw more. Honestly, if you look at Peanuts or Mickey Mouse, especially the early years, they aren’t that complicated, but we are just going for functional drawing that you can use to enhance your memory. It will also empower you to harness your creative self.

On Drawing

So, if you think you can’t draw, join our Patreon today and learn the six shapes you need to draw anything. Do some practice this week and we’ll put it all together next week. Still not sure you want to join? Check out the first lesson below. And watch for a new set of lessons in September. (As a Patreon member, you can even tell us what creative endeavor you’d like to see next.)

What Is Patreon?

Patreon allows you to support your favorite creators to do more of the work they (and you) love. There are tiers for support levels that come with different benefits. For a monthly subscription you get access to special items, like the “So, You Think You Can’t Draw” series and “Paper Penguin Dolls.” Come draw and create with us.