Is there a program that will fix my drawings?

At the end of April I spent a week at Prairie Trace Elementary School. There are over 700 students from K-5th grade. It was a whirlwind working with the art instructor Jason Lumadue. His weeks are intense; he sees every student over the course of 30 classes Monday through Friday.

We did projects connected to Your Body! The Fuel Factory. Jason had read them the book prior to my arrival, so the kids were already primed when I showed up.  They walked into the room, just staring at me to the point of awkwardness. 

They gave me this look like… “Are you real?”

It’s all very endearing. I’m also fully aware it’s due much to the fact that the students are young and I’m a new face for them. They were a joy! We had an awesome time working on projects, and there were so many memorable moments. 

2nd grade group projects creating fuel factories!

But there was one in particular that stuck out to me.

A young boy was among a small group watching me do a quick demo on the iPad. I was showing them a very affordable app that they might try. Perfect for summer exploration for the inevitable moments of boredom. 

When I was finished with the demo, the group departed, and the boy asked:

“Is there a program that will fix my drawings?”

“Sure! Try the one I just showed you,” I responded and wrote down the name of a piece of paper for him to take home.

“No… is there a program that can take my drawings and make them look good? My dad uses a program that makes his images…”

He couldn’t articulate that his dad was using an AI image generator. Of course, I knew what he meant.

I replied, “Maybe.”

“But what you don’t realize yet is that if you keep drawing… you’ll get so much better.”

I’m sure there are programs that will do exactly what he asked, and I’ve seen some neat things over the past couple of years.

But there was something else underneath his question. The question had less to do with AI programs or apps. He was comparing himself.

“Why don’t my drawings look like yours?”

You may be familiar with the research on the ‘U-shaped’ graph in child art development. At the top left of the U, you're very young. You love drawing, and your drawings look just like you want. You don’t care if your dog, cat, or friend looks more like an amoeba or a blob with little appendages than the actual person. That drawing is EXACTLY what you meant to communicate. And you made it yourself. Put it in the fridge, Mom!

These kids did it right, and they know it!

But as you head towards the bottom of the U, something happens. You start to become a bit more critical. Your mechanical ability isn't keeping up with your mental growth. You start to notice your drawings don't look exactly like what you see around you. If you are satisfied, you keep drawing. If you aren't, you stop. That's when we often walk away from art.

My goal wasn't to encourage students to become professional artists. Even though these were art classes at school, most of these students aren’t going to pursue art as a career. Around 1-2% of professionals are working artists out of the labor force, according to a 2022 survey. So statistically, out of 700 kids, I'm speaking to a small group regarding art as a job.

My talk was heavily focused on art as a process. I showed them work that was unfinished to try to reinforce this. I showed them the Fuel Factory in its ugly early stages. Jason and I wanted to remind them that you don’t have to make perfect work. Growth comes through that process.

I showed the very first version of Your Body! The Fuel Factory. Shockingly bad, but a necessary step!

After that conversation with the student, there was a moment when I felt the Spirit lead the direction of the talk—I knew I needed to say something that wasn’t from me:

“Listen… if you only remember one thing from today… If you practice something just a little bit each day, whatever it is, I promise you, you’ll get better. 

And if you do that over a lifetime, it’ll be transformative.”

There’s something wonderful about doing the same thing over and over again. Repetition has incredible value. It seems counterintuitive to say that. It seems like a waste of time. But somehow, repetition matters, and I think it honors the Lord when we keep at something. Even more so, when we stick with something he gifted us with.

One of my professors, Rod Crossman, used to say, “persist without exception.”

It’s nice to get good at something quickly, and it does happen. I’ve seen my students rapidly pick up skills and add them to their toolbox. It's a bit scary to see. But I think the reality for most of us is that getting good at something takes a long, long time. And becoming experienced… that takes even longer.

Am I willing to be bad at something long enough to get good at it? Who likes being bad? I certainly don't.

On my way out of church on Sunday this week, a woman of our congregation rolled down her window and started encouraging me. When these moments happen, the Lord is reminding us he's up to stuff we can't see. One of the verses she shared was Galatians 6:9 (NIV):

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Keep at that thing. Even if it looks bad now, keep at it. You'll get so much better than you can imagine.