Background: 16 years old. this was my first time ever cold approaching. I have numerous female friends but have never had a girlfriend. My goal this year was to get better at all social interactions. I'm not aiming for hookups/a girlfriend. However, I have been reading a lot about seduction since January, so I thought I would give a try at cold approaches.

Location: an outdoor art event/festival.

My motivation: I did the old 5 numbers or $20 bet with a friend who was supposed to be a wingman, but never showed up.

Strategy: For a few years I have been drawing side profiles of people I see. The thing is though, I can't draw for shit. I suck so much at drawing people (especially noses) that i have to keep my drawings a secret from the people I draw so because I would totally offend them. However, this ended up being a great help. I decided that I would go up to girls and introduce myself, and ask them if I could draw them.

Girl #1 (early 20s, slightly emo, smoking a cig by herself): I introduced myself and asked her if I could draw her. She's thrilled by this and says of course. I sit down next to her, ask her for her name, and start drawing. While drawing I ask her the classic askreddit question, "If you had to give a TED talk in front of 1000 people about any topic and you only had 10 minutes to prepare, what would you talk about?" I think this is a really great question because it allows them to talk about their passions and it's a fun hypothetical. She replies that she would talk about feminism and white privilege. While drawing, I keep the convo going and ask more about her topic. At this point, I'm kinda having an adrenaline rush, but I stay cool and she seems relaxed and comfortable. Eventually she gets a call and has to leave and when i give her the drawing (pure shit) she laughs and thanks me. I never actually asked for her number. She was probably 10 years older anyway so no loss.

Girl #2 (senior in HS, short hair, HB 8.5): she was sitting on and bench with a few friends and I just walked up and sat down really close to her and was like "hey." She looked pretty confused. I introduced myself and told her I go around and draw people that I think are really pretty. I do my same spiel as before (drawing, hypothetical question). I get the slightly cocky attitude going and tell her I do photo realistic drawings and that I'm pretty much a pro. She starts digging this and we start talking to the point where I almost forget about the drawing. She's asking me a lot of questions and i got the conversation relatively flirty. I mention my IG and she immediately looks me up and starts following me. Her friends are just staring and are amazed. I get to know her interests and turns out we have a few mutual friends. When i'm done drawing, I make a huge deal about how good it is and ask her for a drumroll. I unveil my masterwork and she starts laughing, which is actually what I want. I then tell her that for "legal reasons" I will need proof that I had her permission to draw her so I will need her number (with a joking expression). She starts laughing and gives me her number. I shake her hand and say bye.

Girls #3 and #4: (HB 7 and 6. Both 16/17): These were two different approaches, but they were pretty much the same as the second approach, so I'll summarize. Both were really nice and friendly. Both times I gave the impression that I was really skilled at drawing. HB 7 said she would talk about feminism (what is it with teenage girls and feminism?) And HB 6 said she would talk about 13 Reasons Why (I kinda lost interest softer she said that). HB 7's drawing was so bad I was almost scared to give it to her. When I asked for a number, both times they were a tad hesitant, but pulled through after a few seconds.

Girl #4 (HB 7.5, 15/16 years old): Everything went as planned until I asked for her number. I could already tell she was more closed than the others but she still was friendly enough. I got a little too invested in the drawing, so there were some silences and she went on her phone, which was a bad sign. When I asked for her number she said "ughhh....I'm not really comfortable with giving that out." I kinda panicked at that and just said that was fine and closed the conversation. Looking back I should have kept the conversation going and then asked for her snap or IG.

Girl #5 (HB 8, 16/17): She was with a friend sitting on a bench, so i walked up and asked them if i could sit down. I introduced myself and asked them if i could draw her. She was really nice, but more shy so I had to try harder with conversation making. When I asked the question, she had no idea and thought for a while and eventually said Harry Potter which was kinda hard to talk about since I don't know anything about HP. Right before I finish the drawing, her dad walks up and starts talking with her which makes things way harder. I was thinking it's probably not a great idea to ask for her number in front of her dad, so I give her the drawing and ended the conversation. It was getting late and people were leaving so that was my last approach for the night.

What I learned through this:

-Confidence: As everyone already knows, this was key. If I had gone up and acted nervous/unsure the whole thing would have turned into a cringe fest. By having the bet with a friend, I was thinking about not losing 20 bucks and not about what the girls would think of me. By telling them I was a pro artist, I got their attention and increased my value. You also need to not take yourself seriously. I knew that my drawings were shit and they knew they were shit, but by joking about how good they were it made me seem very confident.

-Laughter: When I showed them the picture, they all luckily laughed, which was really important in making them comfortable. When I went for the number, I pulled out my slide phone (which turned out to be more useful than a smartphone) and joked that if that phone doesn't work I can also give them my fax number or address for smoke signals, which brought out a couple more laughs.

What I want to work on

-Talking to the whole group: This is one that i'm curious to know what you guys think. Besides the first one (which was more a warm up), all of the girls had friends with them. When I walked up to a group, I just started talking to the one closest and basically ignored the rest of the group. Looking back I think I should have acknowledged the rest of the girls and flirted with them. For some reason, many times the friends would slowly back away from me and the HB. They were generally giggling and watching.

-Kino: Since I'm not aiming for hookups, I'm not worrying about this too much. Can't remember exactly, but I shook almost every girl's hand. At this stage I think that's enough, but I do want to get better at touching in a non sexual way.

-Conclusion: I'm not really planning on contacting any of the girls. My goal was just to get out of comfort zone and talk to girls. Through that evening my confidence has definitely been boosted. I definitely will have the confidence to approach pretty much any girl.