How to Draw a Relationship
Overview:
Are you at a loss for what to put on a blank page? Are you frustrated with your current art style and wish to find a new one? Have you grown tired of dressers filled with empty sketchbooks that you long since received at Christmases and birthdays? Tire no further— This step-by-step tutorial will help refine your skills and guide your hands to find a technique that better suits your soul.
Step One—Begin with a clean slate.
If you are looking to experiment with an unfamiliar art style or technique with which you have little to no experience, find a crisp, new sketchbook — or an old one in your closet whose emptiness you once couldn’t stand. Rearrange your room. Move to a new apartment, a new town, a new state. Become a student at an unfamiliar university, surrounded by faces with unknown histories. You may present yourself however you wish without the weight of preconceived notions; no old acquaintances ask, “Why aren’t you consistent? Why the cartoonish nonsense? Where did the real talent go?”
The freedom may be overwhelming, but it may also bring you peace of mind.
You could be yourself again.
Step two—Begin with an approximate idea of what you wish to draw.
What do you wish to gain from your art, if you wish to gain anything? Is it for monetary pursuits, or for personal enjoyment? Do you feel drawn to realistic works or to animated doodles? Ask yourself these questions, but try to keep from torturing yourself in searching for an answer. After all, you may find that this step is unnecessary — perhaps you would prefer to fill the pages with small, short sketches — with streams of consciousness mapped with pen and ink. If you indeed find peace in spontaneity, then you may enjoy pursuing crushes that could last for two weeks, entering Summer-long relationships, and having one-night stands with handsome strangers, free from obligations. Turn these pages once they are full, and move on to the next.
Step Three—Experiment.
Explore new techniques. Use unfamiliar tools, be they charcoal, ink, or paint. Incorporate eccentric colors and monochrome shadows. Surround yourself with new people — people that make you laugh. Examine the faces in the crowd at your first university event. Notice a short girl with black curls and dark makeup that complements the pink locks peeking through the black as she sits across from you at a small table. Make a mental note to speak with her again.
Step Four—Breathe.
Take things slowly. Try not to overwhelm yourself. Lightly sketch lines you may be unsure about. Take her and your other new friends to street side taco stands, and dance in skate rinks where the neon lights catch the rainbows in her hair and the stars in her eyes. The first time you visit her dorm, notice the posters, vinyl records, and tapestries that span the walls; the crystals and Himalayan salt lamps on her desk may charm you with their casual air of the occult. She may mention that she used to work at a pottery studio in the big city. Notice her looking at you out of the corner of her eye for a few seconds too long while playing board games with your friends, and catch yourself doing the same to her. Make a habit of cracking awful jokes whenever you are in her presence until the air around her is alive with giggles and lovably cheeky comments about how “You’re such an idiot.” Find yourself repeatedly spending hours with her in the car, screaming along to songs that you both have loved for years. You may not be able to help acknowledging that you and she sing the male and female parts of various duets, respectively. You might even say to yourself that trying collaborative art wouldn’t be such a bad idea.
Step Five—Put on a beloved movie or album as you perfect your drawing.
If your atmosphere is filled with compositions you enjoy, inspiration may come more naturally. The lights are out, and you are both in her twin-sized bunk bed, lying side by side on your stomachs. You might show her your favorite movie; it’s the first time she has seen it, and you want to give her a good impression of your tastes.
Step Six—Be willing to take risks.
When taking things slowly becomes stale and you long for spontaneity, continue drawing without hesitation. She might make a lighthearted remark about how cute Al Pacino is as Michael Corleone. Laugh and absent-mindedly agree, but by now, you may have forgotten about the movie. Your heart may pound against your ribs. Decide to make a single, definite line with your ink upon the page; put your arm around her waist and start gently drawing circles with your thumb in the gap between her shirt hem and waistline.
She may speak up, forward as she is. “What’re you doing?”
Your palms might sweat as you realize the mistake you might have made. “I don’t know,” you could say in a shaky voice as you’d pull your hand away from her. Anxiety might begin to pollute your bloodstream. Fuck, you’d think. This is it. Change your name and move away again after this; there’s no coming back from such a blunder.
She may laugh and kiss you, and for a few minutes, nothing else would exist.
Step Seven—Relax.
When you are satisfied with a line, continue the technique that you are applying to the page. Recognize the moments in which she says things that make you feel like you’re at one with the world.
It has been three months since step six. The background shifts and the tints change into the gentle grays and purples of a quiet office building at your university.
Lean against the wall and look into her eyes as you wait for your ride to arrive to take you home. She might make aimless conversation as she selflessly keeps you company while you wait, saying something about eating cheesecake and watching a movie in the blanket fort you’d made together. Break into a smile, and she might blush and ask you why you are looking at her like that.
Answer, “I love you.”
She’d laugh, embarrassed, and look down from your gaze.
Step Eight—Observe your work from a birds-eye perspective.
Stand back. Take a look at how your art style is progressing and decide if you would like to continue. Will you look back on these pages fondly? Will you regret any mistakes you made, but treasure the craftsmanship of the many parts that brought you joy? Will you go to plays and gardens and listening rooms and dance until you are both red-faced and laughing? Will you capture candid photos of her with flowers in her hair while she skips stones and crosses wooden bridges on nature trails awash with pine trees and statuettes? Will you stand by her when she needs it, reapplying color to her cheeks with a warm colored pencil as you crack one of your awful jokes to make her laugh again? Will you steady her when the ground seems to crumble and dissolve beneath her feet?
If the answer is yes, repeat steps four through eight for the foreseeable future.
Beeper Peddle is a writer and healer living on the East Coast. She lives with her partner and their beloved soul puppy. Beeper writes about sorrows, lies, and deep loves. When you read her work, you will dip down into her heart and end up in all manner of body parts. Should you find yourself reflected in these words, it is merely coincidence; however, it does not surprise her you share the same heart. Find her at bethpeddle.com and @beeperpeddle on Twitter and Instagram
J. S. Couch (he/they) is a queer writer from Nacogdoches, Texas. A fan of historical fiction and the British Romantic poets, he is pursuing his master’s degree in English and Creative Writing at Stephen F. Austin State University. His work has appeared in ECHO Review and HUMID Literary Magazine, and when he isn’t writing, he can be found playing Dungeons & Dragons or spending time with his cat, Mary.
***An earlier version of this piece appeared in SFASU’s HUMID.
miniskirt magazine 