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50 percent rule: Should I push myself to do my best?

4:24 PM, Tuesday March 19th 2024

Hello everyone!

I have a question about the 50 percent rule. Here's a little bit about my background: I have a job in art (by the grace of God!), but there are definitely some fundamentals I need to work on, so I'm doing Drawabox. To be honest, I've neglected the 50 percent rule until now, when I'm partway through the 250 box challenge...but I'm trying to follow the rule from here on out.

So here's my question: I've always wanted to draw realistic scenes out of my head, but this takes patience. I have more fun drawing quick cartoons. In Lesson 0, under the heading "The control muscle," Uncomfortable writes:

"Starting small can be as simple as doodling abstract and arbitrary shapes or patterns on the page. From there, you can start drawing simple representational things — silly little cartoons, nothing serious, nothing ambitious. And from there, you can start pushing into subject matter that may be a little daunting, because as you put time and effort into this, the barriers you put in front of yourself will get smaller, and they'll even start to move when you push on them.

Do not be complacent, however — always push against those boundaries. If doodling is easy, then try to push yourself up to the next stage, always keeping in mind and aiming for the things you want your future self to produce." (emphasis added)

I totally want to aim for those realistic scenes; and to a limited degree, I can draw semi-realistic art from my head. But the thing is that it takes so much time, and I get bored. It's not so much that I get frustrated with myself when my art doesn't turn out exactly how I want it to (though that definitely happens)...it's more that I get midway through a drawing or painting and know that I could do more on it to make it look realistic...but I'm burned out on that particular image I'm making, and I'm no longer having fun. And I know that the 50 percent rule is not about fun...but should I keep pushing myself to make my 50 percent rule drawings as best as I think I can make them, even when I don't want to work on them anymore? Or should I let myself move on when I get that burnout and do something that's more enjoyable for me?

If you can help answer my question, then many thanks!

Sincerely,

Grace

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2 users agree
9:15 PM, Tuesday March 19th 2024

When it comes to the 50% rule, the focus is never going to be on the results you produce - so for our purposes in the play section of this rule, worrying about the actual quality you achieve is immediately going to suggest that you may not be applying the rule entirely as intended.

What the rule does talk about is aiming for the things you want your future self to produce. That speaks to what it is we attempt to draw, not how we attempt to draw it. If you recall from the "Changing your Mindset" video, I tore up my drawing when I was done. In doing that, I wasn't asking students to destroy their own work, but rather to remember that what we do for the 50% rule is all about what's happening while you're drawing. What you end up with outside of that - what skills you may have improved, what fancy end products you may end up with - none of that matters as far as the 50% rule is concerned.

Setting the 50% rule aside, it's pretty normal to have a limit in terms of how long you're willing to work on a single piece, especially if we're talking about in a single sitting. Lots of students don't even realize that you can always come back to a piece the next day, the next week, etc. - so setting something aside is not inherently the same as calling it done. But there are also going to be plenty of pieces that will just end up feeling stale, that will no longer speak to you as they once did.

There is value in training yourself to push past that (again - we're not talking about in the context of the 50% rule, but more generally), to shift your motivation from coming from that sense of inspiration to having it come more from discipline (this is especially useful if you intend to pursue a career using these skills), but that develops with small steps.

Regardless, your capacity for patience will expand. When I started out, I couldn't take a drawing past 15 minutes. Then 30 minutes. Then an hour. I believe the longest I've worked on an illustration was upwards of 40 hours (across many sessions, of course). These days it's largely irrelevant - my deadlines tend to come up much sooner than the end of my patience.

But again, that's not what the 50% rule is about. So if you get bored of a particular drawing when playing, feel free to jump to another. You can always revisit those sketches and consider whether they're worth exploring further later on - but not as part of the "play" portion of your time.

5:17 PM, Wednesday March 20th 2024

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my question, Uncomfortable. Remembering that what we do for the 50% rule is about what's happening while you're drawing is especially helpful to me. The painting I was working on for my 50% rule was starting to feel like just another school assignment.

I also really appreciate the encouragement about expanding your capacity for patience (as well as the reminders that this does not have to do with the 50% rule, because I would definitely have tried to apply it to that!). That's another skill I hope to work on.

I may try exploring the sketches as part of the portfolio time, but I will gladly save the play time for play!

Gratefully,

Grace

PS: I am feeling very starstruck and honored that you replied to my question. Many, many thanks!

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