When I give people my sketchbook to draw in, they sometimes seem conscious that they might 'ruin' something or damage the other work. Sometimes it's like they, as non-art students, are more careful about my drawings than the other non-art students' drawings. Sometimes they're just being careful because they don't want to ruin someone's sketchbook. That seems fair, although personally I don't ever worry that a friend will manage to 'ruin' my work. I think it's sort of the opposite. I'm not too careful about my sketchbooks until a friend draws in them. Then all of a sudden they have to be kept either with me or at home at all times... they become sentimental. So sometimes they see more value in my work, possibly because I may have spent some time or effort on it, but generally I see more value in their work because I'm interested in them as humans and I see them as intelligent, fascinating beings and I couldn't care less whether they "can" or "can't" draw, or how much time or thought they did or didn't spend on the drawing. Sometimes the quick, effortless things are the things I find most valuable as I feel that they came naturally, and thus they say more about the person.
I should maybe eat so that I can think straight and type less gibberishly. Never mind.
So essentially I don't think my drawings matter any more than theirs. That seems obvious when I put it that way, but I mean that even if I put a lot of time and effort into something, I still don't find it more worth the paper it's on than a friend's crayon doodle. I want to know what they'd draw if I gave them something I spent time on, and told them to draw over it. I think I also want to take some things I put effort into and put them with people's crayon doodles, or shred or destroy them in the same way, or mix them together.
I think something I want to do is get some instructions for an art piece from a "non-artist." I want to follow those instructions and treat them as important, and put effort and care into whatever it is. So maybe I'll get someone to tell me something to draw, or something to carve into stone. Just a random, quick idea from a person who doesn't consider themselves an artist, to treat with as much care as an idea I carefully thought out.
