Is it harder to learn to draw with autism?

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I know it's pretty common for people with autism, myself included, to have messy handwriting, and my drawing is the same. I'd like to learn to draw, but I'm worried that autism means I'll never be able to draw "well" no matter how much I practice, because I just don't have the fine motor skills, so I'd just be wasting my time. How much of this is true?

I don’t think autism puts a limit on your abilities like that, it just makes it harder to get to the level you want to achieve. Don’t get discouraged when you see other people learning to draw rather quickly (I wouldn’t know how long it takes for an NT to learn to draw) just keep practicing. Autism will only hold you back if you feel like it does, you can learn to draw like everyone else, it may just take more work. Don’t give up even when it seems like you’re getting nowhere. Wish you luck on your endeavor to broaden your skill set!

Edit: yes most of us do have messy handwriting. Those pesky fine motor skills are so difficult.

I suck at drawing.

There are actually people with autism who are great artists.

Ever since I was really young, I've been told that I'm really good at drawing and that I was a future artist. I was never really taught how or anything, I just seemed to have been born with a natural desire to draw. It's likely the main reason I managed to cope with life for so long.

^^ s a m e!! !!

i don't think drawing and writing are correlated like that. lots of people have excellent handwriting but can't draw to save their life, others are the opposite. i can draw well but my writing is average at best and only gets worse when i'm taking notes in class or in similar situations...which is where i do the bulk of my writing.

i know it sounds like a platitude, but the best way of getting better at drawing, that i have found, is to just NOT STOP. drawing different things helps too, familiarize yourself with various shapes and patterns.

My handwriting is fine and I am naturally good with most art styles. I think that you can learn to draw if you want to. I've had two years of college in art and I've seen people increase their skills from nothing. You have to start somewhere

Problems with fine motor skills are common for autistics.

I suck at drawing, but I have good handwriting since I always write in cursive.

I really wish I could improve my drawing skills, but school really kills a lot of my mood for creativity, since I obviously have to do class work, and it also really pisses me off too whenever I can't draw much during school.

I don't really draw at home since I am usually on my phone, but I eventually want to try to start drawing more at my house in the near future.

-LegoMaster2149 (Written on February 15, 2018)

Interesting. I've thought that it's my autism that has made me good at drawing, because I see things as they really look like, and my drawings are not compromised by a predetermined idea of what I think it should look like - which is what often ruins many people's drawings, that they think too much about the object they are drawing, and not about what they're actually seeing.
I'm good at seeing patterns and understanding shapes, and the logical thinking helps me understand how lights and shadows falls, which is one of the most important parts of drawing.

Sure, the fine motor skills is a problem, and it's really annoying that my hand does not always fully cooperate with me. But that can pretty much be solved by just drawing bigger. Using a much larger paper, the small mistakes caused by bad fine motor skills are almost invisible.

Not if it is your preferred subject matter!! !

my handwriting is illegible even to myself.

I draw for a living. I do a lot of loose sketching to make few inked lines. but it gets better with practice.
buy some of burne hogarth's books on how to draw things, and become a conscious learner. and then learn.

My handwriting can be messy or tidy depending on the mood I'm in. I don't think my motor skills are bad. Here's a photo of me writing my name with an ordinary pencil.




Can you read it...?

Not sure how common this kind of precision is on the spectrum.

Free-hand drawing is a weakness. Despite such limitations, photography esp. images that are mix of both Abstract, and representational styles are fun to create.

Digital image tools are helpful, yet I'm told that drawing more representational (and less abstract images) the "old fashioned way" e.g., pens, brushes can offer important experiences, and perspectives.