Drawing Block

Last night we had our regular life drawing session in my studio, and I discovered that I have a drawing block. It's due to my recent stint as a courtroom artist. When I was drawing in the courtroom, I used a mechanical pencil. It worked great there: I could be loose and quick, erase any grievous errors, it worked well with watercolors, and it looked pretty good when the cameraman zoomed in on it. The problem? I got too used to working on small drawings with a mechanical pencil.

At our last two drawing sessions, I've tried to break away from the pencil and use charcoal and Conte crayons. But they need a different way of thinking, and I just can't get the ol' "charcoal brain" going. It's like trying to draw with my left hand: all that comes out is crap and there's no connection between my brain and the paper. I switched back to mechanical pencil and did some pretty decent drawings.

Guess I just have to bite the bullet, get out the big newsprint pad, and just keep drawing until it works again. It's frustrating, y'know? I figure I should be able to switch back and forth pretty quickly, but it isn't happening. To quote Charlie Brown: "Aaaarrrrggghhhh!!"