Let’s assume a Dark Future:
A future where artists don’t get paid. 🤔
AI does most of the commercial works of art –
Illustration, design, concept art, all done by AI. Because it’s faster, cheaper and automated. 🤷♂️
In that world, where creating art is no longer a career path for many, why would one, still learn to draw?
Why pick up the pencil when you can type a prompt? ✏️
I wanted to write a series of Articles on ‘Why‘ and ‘How‘ I learned Drawing and this is the first question that popped in my head..
“Why learn drawing in the age of AI?” 🤔
And here are the answers that came up.
1. To Feel Human Again
There’s something primal, something deeply human, about making something with your own hands.
When you draw, you’re not just thinking. You’re engaging your whole being, your mind, your body, your nervous system into the process. 🧠
Every stroke is a reflection of what’s happening within.
Your breath slows. Your focus sharpens. You forget the world.
Every stroke is exactly how you want it to be. It’s the absolute expression of the self. 🧘
That’s not just creativity. That’s presence.
You don’t get that with AI prompts. It’s not about better or worse. Right or wrong.
It’s just…different.
Drawing is a way of being with yourself. It’s meditative. It’s physical. It’s spiritual.
Everyone understands this, but often struggles to put this into words (like me right now)
2. Because Learning a Hard Skill Builds You
Drawing is hard. And that’s the point.
That’s exactly the POINT.
You don’t just learn to draw lines, you learn to see. You learn to solve problems. 👁️
You learn patience, perseverance, delayed gratification.
You get the kind of growth that happens when you dedicate yourself to a difficult craft that changes who you are.
Sure, you can learn these lessons through other disciplines.
But some of us are drawn (wink wink) to art. It calls to us. 😌
We don’t always know why, but we know the feeling.
And it’s worth answering that call. ☎️
(Interesting side note: Art comes from the Latin word “ars” , which originally meant “skill” or “craft.”)
So even if it doesn’t pay, it still builds something.
It builds you.
3. Because It Sharpens How You See the World
Artists don’t just draw, they See.
“Art is not about drawing, it’s about learning how to see” – Ed catmull
They see how light bounces off a surface, how colors influence emotion, how shapes, form and structure reveal depth in reality.
Drawing trains your eye to drop assumptions and observe reality as it truly is. 👀
This level of visual clarity sharpens perception, not just of art, but of life itself.
You stop sleepwalking through the world and you start noticing beauty in everything. 🍃
And ironically, the more you see the world clearly, the more you see yourself clearly too.
4. Because It Heals
Drawing is therapy.
One of our Drawing Camp students, a counselor working in a criminal psychiatric ward, once shared that the only thing that calmed him down after long, intense shifts was Drawing.
Pencil on paper. No screen. No prompts. Just him and the page. 📝
And not only that, Drawing and painting was one of the main therapeutic tools that was used by the patients, to calm down.
To control their chaos. 😣
There’s a reason art therapy is a field.
There’s a reason why kids pick up paper and crayons over an AI Art generator.
Creating with your hands reduces anxiety, softens depression, and makes space for emotions that words can’t express.
Can prompt-based art offer that same release? Maybe.
But there’s something about direct creation. About your body translating what you feel into form. That just hits deeper.
5. Because It’s an Authentic Extension of You
At its core, art is an extension of the self.
Not of your tool, or your gear, or the latest tech, but you. Your flaws, your rhythm, your story and your life.
Drawing is one of the purest ways to express what’s inside of you without relying on anything else but your senses and your skill. 🧠
Yes, skill is a barrier here. But it can be learned.
In a world where creation becomes increasingly mediated by machines, your hand becomes a statement. ✍️
Something made by you becomes “the art”.
And your art becomes a reminder:
That a real person, with real thoughts, life and experiences, made this. 😌
Best,
Kesh.
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