Why do we draw?

I was thinking over the past couple of days about why I draw.

Why do some people start to draw and just keep doing it? What is our need and fascination with drawing? Some draw from life, photographs, imagination, or a mixture of all three. I draw every day... Whenever I'm being idle and not drawing, my fingers are always itching for a scrap of paper and pencil. That comforting weight of a sketchbook on my lap. Half listening/half drawing.

I know why I started to draw. I did it because I really liked making characters with personalities, and lives in an imaginary world. As I drew each character their whole life and world grew with them. It was sort of a way of escapism I think. Kind of like playing with Barbies, only with dragons and faeries. I did it because I needed to tell stories, or create them, and see them at the same time.


That's my story... what's yours?