-You don’t get better at drawing by avoiding drawing until you are better at drawing.
- You don’t have to make a new masterpiece every day it’s okay if all you drew is a doodle of a bug. You are now +1 bug doodle better at doodling bugs.
- Also it’s okay if the thing you drew didn’t turn out very good. Everything you draw makes you one step closer to being able to draw good. You are still +1 step better at drawing whatever you drew no take backsies.
- You are the only person who knows if your art didn’t turn out as good as you wanted it to. You are the only person who can see the things in your art that weren’t what you imagined in your head. No one else will know unless you tell them.
- Comparing yourself to other artists just isn’t fair. You get to see all of your art, the best stuff and the worst stuff. You usually only get to see the best stuff other artists make. You don’t get to see that half drawn badly propotioned face they drew at 2 am and immediately scrapped. So don’t compare your badly drawn 2 am face to their best work.
- Just keep making art. The only way you can really fail is if you give up.
Very wise advice, peeps.
It seems counterintuitive but while I don’t think you can necessarily get better at drawing by avoiding it, I do think that you can grow more enthusiastic about drawing and more creative as a result of taking a break from drawing and switching to a different creative medium like say, writing or graphic design. I know this works for me at least.
I’m Poe lurking 47 weeks deep in someone’s social media and not liking what I’m finding
i’m padmé who told her best friend she was going to wear the chanel boots tonight and is real pissed that she got copied
i’m anakin who just walked into the kitchen to discover that he forgot about the apple pie he was baking and now it’s burnt so he’s extremely upset about the waste of time and energy
I’m finn who just missed a step down into the next room
i’m rey who just knocked a full plate of food off the counter and is trying to catch it before it falls
I don’t know that I have a foolproof method for developing character personalities, but here are some tips:
- Make sure each character has a purpose, something they can contribute to the story as a whole. I see a lot of stories jam-packed with characters and none of them have enough to do so the whole thing feels thin.
- Create contrast and variety within the cast. Give characters different approaches to life, relationships, and conflict that exemplify their personalities.
- In the same vein, try not to write characters that all have the same voice! Even if two characters relayed the same information, they should do it in a way that feels true to them. I see a lot of stories where I could switch every line of dialogue and it wouldn’t matter because everyone has the same cadence.
- Don’t think of character personalities as static and unchanging. It can be helpful to create a starting position and a possible end goal for each character when you’re story building. Your plans may change as you go (and that’s okay), but it’s still good to have a possible route mapped out at the start.
- Put your characters through the wringer. Test their moral or emotional approach throughout the story the same way we build our own ideas/assumptions. Give them hard choices to make, take away the things they rely on, push them into unfamiliar and/or difficult scenarios and ‘play through’ how they’d react and possibly change from those experiences. That’s where you’ll find opportunities for drama and build empathy with your audience.
Hi, I'm Tim Lai! I'm a cartoonist living in Ontario, Canada. I like drawing cute and colourful things. This blog is a hub where you can find all of my Tumblr, DeviantArt, Flickr, Blogspot, and other posts in one place.
About My Work
I write and draw Lemon Inc., a comic about a seven-year-old who wants to be a business tycoon when he grows up. Until then, he runs a lemonade stand. You can read it at www.lemon-inc.com.
I have done some professional web and graphic design work, including designing the website for the webcomic, Just Joel. I'm also a member of the webcomic collective, Ink Bomb Comics.
February 28, 2016 23:36
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