The real question is: does the act of using the art supplies bring you joy? If so, then you are not wasting them, because their purpose is to bring you joy, not to result in something amazing.
You clearly are not interested in dedicating a huge amount of energy into becoming a grand master, and that’s okay! So instead, try playing around, and seeing for yourself what works and what doesn’t. When you run into something that you can’t quite figure out, like “Hmm, I would really like to make this face look a bit more realistic, but I am stuck on how to do so,” then at that point you can seek out a learning resource and it will not feel forced because you are answering a question of interest.
And of course, if using your art supplies does not bring you joy, then that is okay too! There is absolutely no shame in coming to the realization that you thought you would like doing something, and it turned out you did not.
I played the trumped for about a decade, starting in elementary school, and got pretty good but not great at it. At some point, I realized that I actually did not enjoy it that much despite all of the time I had invested, so I stopped. Instead, I started social dancing, which was really fun to practice and was not nearly as stressful to do because it is not a big of a deal if you make a mistake, and I am much happier as a result!
So if you intrinsically enjoy using your art supplies because they simply are fun to play with, then do that and don’t worry about whether you are creating masterpieces or not. And if you do not enjoy using them but are keeping them around anyway because you feel like you “should” be using them, then free yourself by admitting that they are not for you and consider giving them away in order to lighten a burden on yourself.
The real question is: does the act of using the art supplies bring you joy? If so, then you are not wasting them, because their purpose is to bring you joy, not to result in something amazing.
You clearly are not interested in dedicating a huge amount of energy into becoming a grand master, and that’s okay! So instead, try playing around, and seeing for yourself what works and what doesn’t. When you run into something that you can’t quite figure out, like “Hmm, I would really like to make this face look a bit more realistic, but I am stuck on how to do so,” then at that point you can seek out a learning resource and it will not feel forced because you are answering a question of interest.
And of course, if using your art supplies does not bring you joy, then that is okay too! There is absolutely no shame in coming to the realization that you thought you would like doing something, and it turned out you did not.
I played the trumped for about a decade, starting in elementary school, and got pretty good but not great at it. At some point, I realized that I actually did not enjoy it that much despite all of the time I had invested, so I stopped. Instead, I started social dancing, which was really fun to practice and was not nearly as stressful to do because it is not a big of a deal if you make a mistake, and I am much happier as a result!
So if you intrinsically enjoy using your art supplies because they simply are fun to play with, then do that and don’t worry about whether you are creating masterpieces or not. And if you do not enjoy using them but are keeping them around anyway because you feel like you “should” be using them, then free yourself by admitting that they are not for you and consider giving them away in order to lighten a burden on yourself.
This is very insightful, thank you!
I don’t have a definitive answer, though it certainly helps to broaden the perspective.