Make Your Tiger Your Tiger

I don’t know where this came from, but the other day my son asked to watch a video tutorial on how to draw a tiger. Using it as a time to practice reading, I said no to the video and found a tutorial that he had to read that was a step-by-step process on how to draw a great striped feline. Here it is. It is hard and meant for adults, something I didn’t even think about when I absently turned over my computer and continued making dinner.

Both kids were hunched over their drawing pads, waiting somewhat patiently for each other as they completed circles and lines. All leading to a tiger. Or so they hoped. Many minutes passed; my kids can be quite absorbed when they want to be. But soon the complaints started coming. The cries that their tigers weren’t right, that they looked wrong, that it was hard. All statements that send warning signals through my body when I hear them from anyone.

Truth be told, I have an apprehension to step-by-step how to draw lessons. Not because drawing is unimportant (it highly is and I want to start doing more of it). Or learning from an outside source is wrong (art teachers and teachings are highly beneficial for artistry). But because of what these lessons can suck away. One’s inner guidance and decision making gets dimmed or shut off completely. One’s impulses and creative flavor can get stunted under the “right” way to do something. Ones fear of looking different starts to rear its not-very-helpful head. It is one of my greatest fears that my kids won’t trust their unique voices, in creativity and in day-to-day life.

So I said to them, stumbling along, this is a tutorial for adults. Look at your tigers. Look at how they are different from one another and the one on the screen. Look how Phoebe’s is drawn looking like it is about to pounce and how Sam’s is practically slinking off the page. Look at how uniquely YOU they are. They are not supposed to look like the tiger on the computer. They are meant to look like your tiger and your tiger alone.

I say this to adults in my painting workshops too. I’m saying it to YOU! You are not here on this planet to make art that looks like someone else’s. You are not here to make something look like an exact replica of what might be in front of you. You are meant to find your own creative voice through experimentation, curiosity, playfulness and an openness that listens to the whispers within. You are meant to make your tiger look like your tiger.

Personally, and it’s not just because I am their mom, but I find my kiddos tigers so much more interesting and full of personality then the one they were desperately trying to render.

Make your tiger your tiger. Always.