Sketching - My New Endeavour, and What It Can Do for your Mental Health

Drawn by me in a day, now used as my online avatar.

“The whole culture is telling you to hurry, while the art tells you to take your time. Always listen to the art.” - Junot Diaz

At 23 years old, and after a life devoid of creating any art since year 7 and 8 art classes (unless you count a few pieces of music I’ve created here and there), it took a little nudging from my supportive partner to give it a go.

Once I overcame that hurdle, though, I quickly discovered a new passion.

Within this article is both an account of how I got started, what it felt like to push past that mental block and finish my first sketch in oh-so-long, and the beneficial health effects of sketching (including better memory, concentration, and a generally healthier and more efficient brain).

Starting can be the hardest part

For most of my life, I haven’t drawn purely for art. This is largely due to my attempts to draw for art early on in my life and, well, sucking at it. I stank so much at drawing despite my efforts, it had an effect on my self-confidence for almost anything visual-art related. Because of this, except when I had to do art in my early college (or “high school”) years, I simply stopped creating physical or drawn art.

Unknowingly, it swiftly became a mental block. I truly didn’t even realise it was there, until just under a month ago when my partner drew my face, and then asked if I could draw her.

I froze.

I wanted to, to re-pay the favour. And I knew she wouldn’t care if it was terrible, because it was the thought that mattered in the act for her. But I could barely move – my breathing even became shallower. The reaction of mine felt weird and overly strong at the time and in retrospect. But how strange it was didn’t make it any easier to push past.

We both knew what was happening, though. And faces are hard to draw until you know what you’re doing, so we just settled on me drawing her back (from shoulders down to the hips), a much easier target to draw for a novice. We got all settled in, I took a good few minutes before I even let the pencil touch the page… and then it began. After I started, I enjoyed it immensely, and after drawing her back, I went on to drawing her crossed arms and hands, before moving on to drawing from nature (once I’m confident, I’ll have a go at sketching her face to pay her back in full). But for me to have broken through that mental block, it needed a lot of patience, and gentle coaxing. Having someone who knew me as well as I knew myself to help me through this definitely helped.

It’s funny, really, the strange mental blocks we can place on ourselves sometimes. For me, it was creating any kind of physical art, drawn or moulded or otherwise brought into this world to be enjoyed by being seen. But in case anyone’s in this same position that I was in, I urge you to just try. Start with something very simple, and take it as slowly as you need to. You might just find you enjoy it after all, as I did, regardless of the end result.

One of my first sketches, a two-dimensional tree drawn purely from the mind's eye. Like most first sketches, it’s nothing to write home about, but it was very fun to create.

“Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Don’t bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.” ~William Faulkner

Health Benefits of Sketching

Sketching (and creating art in general) can come with a slew of mental health benefits. Not inconsequential either, but benefits which (if we create art regularly) may help push back many of the mental degenerative effects that commonly come with aging. These include (but by far are not limited to):

• Creating art delays or negates age-related decline in normal brain function and psychological resilience (i.e. stress resistance). ^[1]
• Drawing develops the brain in the cerebellum and medial frontal gyrus (i.e. areas associated with fine motor control). ^[2]
• Drawing develops the brain in the precuneus in the parietal lobe (i.e. an area associated with creativity, visuo-spatial imagery, and other tasks). ^[2]
• Finally, drawing gives you a happier brain, as drawing releases dopamine. ^[3]

Sources: [1-Study] [1-Article on the study] [2-Study] [3-Study] [2,3-Article on the studies]

Art Therapy session.

So sketching can help you to become a calmer person, more easily able to deal with the stresses of the world. It can help you remember more, and in more detail. It helps you to really take note of what’s around you. And in a more general sense, it can dramatically slow the natural mental decline commonly caused by aging.

Finally, it can be downright fun, as there’s no limit as to what you “have” to sketch. Feel like sketching a peaceful landscape? Cool. Feel like sketching an animal, either real or a new which no one’s seen before? Awesome. Feel like sketching a space-marine decked out in full power-armour, chainsaw-sword at the ready? Go for it. Whatever you decide on, there’s nothing to stop you, and you’ll feel good throughout and at the end of the process for having created something of your own.

So, sketching is fun, it’s highly individual, and you’ll be mentally healthier for doing it. What’s not to love?

Another one of my first sketches, a scarred bay leaf from our garden. Again, it’s certainly not about to win any awards any time soon, but it was fun to sketch, and I look forward to improving.

Something for everyone

Sketching is, quite simply, good for you. And unlike some forms of art, all you need is a sketch pad, and a pencil/pen as an absolute minimum. Both of the above pieces of mine were done, ten minutes at a time, to and from work while I was on the bus with just an A4 sketch pad, HB pencil, sharpener, and eraser. You can absolutely add more pencils, pens, or other tools, to add more shading ability, more depth, more colour, etc. (though I personally am going to get better at the basics before I move on to the more advanced stuff), but that’s also the beauty of it. You can work with everything at your disposal and create something majestic, or use the bare minimum and still create something amazing. Unless you have less than 5 minutes a day free, there’s no reason you can’t take up sketching for yourself.

And it doesn’t matter about your skill level. If you’re worried about what your art looks like, this isn’t school (where you’re graded on your work), and there’s no need for you to have to show anyone. Just make sure you’re enjoying it, regardless of the end result – skill will come in time, with enough practice, just the same as any talent.

All you have to do is get started.

“There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something. You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after.” ~J.R.R. Tolkien

(Quotes sourced from here: 150 Amazing Quotes to Feed your Creative Soul)

(Originally published, by me, on HubPages.com - 14/03/2015)

d.light S20 Solar Lantern - Two Years In Review

A while ago I decided I needed a solar lantern, or otherwise some kind of solar light. Why? I was doing well in my final year of University, had a relatively-well-paying part-time job (for a Uni student), and this is the kind of stuff I would "treat" myself to.

Something else I bought around the same time was the PowerPlus Spider mini window solar light. This was under $10 AUD at the time I bought it, and ended up being a poor choice. The light output wasn't great, it didn't produce light for more than about 90 minutes, and it died recently (about 2 years after purchase). Perhaps if it hadn't decided to quit on me, it would've found a position in a future home at the end of a hallway, attached to a window which faces the sun, to beam along the hallway when the lights went out... But for now, I'm not rushing to get another one of those.

Back to d.light

d.light is one of the many companies out there selling very affordable solar lighting solutions to be used by those who don't have access to a mains power grid (or have access to a very unreliable power grid), as well as selling their items to people like me (i.e. perfectly well-off people living in first-world countries who also want very affordable solar lighting solutions).

At the time of purchase, three of the main products offered by the company were the S2 (a small solar light for doing homework by, or other such small tasks), the S20, and the S300 (a solar panel and lantern/floodlight solution to light up large rooms or areas, as well as offering mobile phone charging from the battery). For homework and preparing for my job, I used my computer, so there wasn't much need for the S2 in my situation. And there certainly wasn't much need for a solution such as the S300 when I was, at the time, living in big-city suburbia, in a granny flat behind the main household. So, the S20 it was!

Once I got it, I immediately put it on the window sill to charge. The instructions that came with it told me that it needs up to 8 hours to fully charge, for up to 8 hours of use. One of the best things I remember about the solar panels is that they charge in daylight, not just direct sunlight. So on overcast days, it would still charge, which is great to know.

As for the light itself, it's incredibly simple to use. A small button just below the solar panels turns it from off, to on (low brightness), to on (high brightness), and then back to off. Using the lantern on high reduces the time to discharge the battery from 8 hours to 4 hours, but I haven't yet felt the need to use the high setting. That's not to say that having a high setting won't be useful in future, it's just that the low setting puts out easily enough light for almost any task a lantern is required for.

Its metal swivel-handle and slightly oddly shaped head means that this lantern can be held or placed in almost any way, allowing it to be used in most situations.

To test it out in that first year, I had many nights of keeping the house lights off to see how useful it was. I had it hanging off the shower pipe to use in the shower (where it got wet on several occasions), I've used it to make my way around the darkened rooms as well as outside, and I've dropped it (albeit accidentally) on all sorts of materials, including (but not limited to) carpet, wood, tiles, and concrete. Each time I dropped it, the S20 bounced aggressively, but to this day there is still not a crack on it. A few light scratches here and there, sure, but no cracks, and the functionality was not impaired in the slightest.

Since then I've used it in a variety of situations. Most commonly just for going outside at night to get something I had forgotten, or to do something in the garden. But I've also used it, for example, in the first winter at my wife's and my new property, where during the lead up to winter (and during winter itself), I had my pant-belt threaded through the metal handle so that the S20 was hanging off my belt, and as such I had light to chop more wood for our fireplace.

Other Features

The S20 has a small red LED light on the back of its head, which lights up when it's charging in sufficient light. It's a small but (in my opinion) very appreciated touch, as there is no way to know if the solar panel(s) are actually working on a lot of smaller, cheaper solar devices. This way, right out of the box, you can tell if everything is in order by simply placing the S20 in daylight.

It also comes with a small port to be able to charge the device with one of the old Nokia phone chargers. An odd feature perhaps, but remember that not the whole world has been swept along with the smartphone revolution yet, so it makes sense when thought about in this context.

d.light Product Warranty

d.light has a standard warranty on all their solar lighting products, too. So if you buy it from them, or from an otherwise legit supplier, then you get that warranty on your S20.

It's a pretty standard warranty that covers failure from normal use during the first two years after purchase, so assuming you haven't been abusing your product (or have been unlucky enough to be in a flood etc.), there's not much need to worry about wasting money on a faulty product.

The d.light warranty is covered here.

Final Thoughts

So, I've owned one for a little while now, used it in all sorts of circumstances, and I plan to use it for quite some time to come.

There are possibly better solar lighting solutions out there at higher prices. But for its very low price range, reliability, ruggedness, and two-year warranty, this product definitely rates very high for handheld solar lighting in my books.

(d.light S20 website)

Buy S20 on Amazon

(Originally published, by me, on HubPages.com - 18/01/2015)