Expensive tools make for cheap work

This kinda skanky looking fox was one of the first things I did with my expensive Prismacolor Pencils. I've been working like mad with them lately.

I feel that while the picture doesn't need explaining that I should talk about the pencils themselves.

I used them a few times prior to this picture, but I didn't use them well. I would lightly color in a few areas on a picture, but they ended up looking like any picture that I had used cheap colored pencils on. The reason was that I wasn't using them correctly.

Now, my intention is not to explain how to use them correctly, but to tell you why I was using them wrong. I was using them wrong because they were expensive. What a waste, huh? It's true though. The sheer cost of the pencils made me a little afraid to use them, and so when I did, I was timid with them. I don't know how common this is with artists, but it's a problem I'm constantly facing.

I used sculpey improperly at first, because I didn't want to waste any, I used acrylics too thinly because I didn't want to waste it...this goes on and on like this, but the truth is, it doesn't help me. The pencils are just the latest in this line of thought.

I know why too, and I still can't get past it! I grew up in a very very rural area where art supplies were not easy to get, and I grew up poor, so it feels kind of wrong to just play with something that costs a lot (which is subjective), but there's no other way to learn, really.

I'm writing this as a reminder to myself to not be intimidated by the cost of my materials, and so hopefully some other artist will read this and get over the same problem, because I imagine that it's not just limited to me. Good luck with whatever it is you do, and if you have any prismacolor pencils collecting dust, dust them off and get to it. They are awesome.