When my desire to be an artist first came about, I was in trouble. There were no good local resources for me to learn how to draw comics and other cool stuff. I bought every how-to draw book I could find. I spent ages practicing and trying to get the results I knew I needed. Many of my fellow aspirational artists did not make it.
The thing that really allowed me to turn the corner was watching tutorials by professional artists…. And a lot of hard work.
Along the way I also discovered many secrets to directing my own education and learning. And building a solid ritual as an artist that has served me to this day.
If you are like me you are probably interested in drawing things like:
Comics
Professional Illustration
Concept Art for Video Games and Animation
Personal Art
Fan Art
There are lots of challenges involved in learning to draw and create art. Especially if you are aiming at a career in one of these industries. It’s extremely competitive and everyone expects a high level of quality.
But It doesn’t have to be a frustrating and painful journey.
One of the things I have found over the years is that much of the ‘Artists Angst’ that gets lumped on us, is not related to the process of learning to draw… or being an artist. It’s mostly a result of pass/fail fear (learned in our typical schooling system) clashing with a physical hand eye coordination style skill such as art… where failure is an integral part of learning.
That… and the fact that us artists tend to be a little bit more sensitive than normal…
It’s hard to turn these things off. Because being sensitive is one of the key superpowers that artists possess. And Pass/Fail learning modalities are pretty ingrained.
But over the years I have found that it’s possible to overcome most of these issues. And once the fear of failure is removed. Drawing is a great career and hobby which is both relaxing, enjoyable, and thrilling at the same time.
No artist I have met is 100% happy with their work. And I’m sure you can relate to that. The best seem to always be striving to get better and better. They key is to enjoy the journey. To develop a positive relationship with drawing and the creative process. So that you want to create and draw as much as possible.
When I started out it felt like I had no control over my craft and when things went wrong I had no solutions. I struggled to achieve the most basic level of professional result.
Now… well things still go wrong. All the time! Creating stuff from our imagination and dealing with professional clients is a constant challenge. But now it’s the fun type of challenge.
I’m happy to have ticked off many of the goals I set out to achieve when I was starting out.
I have drawn French Comics (ever since reading Asterix and TinTin when I was a child, I wanted to draw those big books with detailed art in every panel).
I have worked on many Video Games as a concept artist (playing video games on my Super Nintendo and looking at all the awesome art in the old instruction manuals was a key reason I wanted to be an artist).
I have created art for Feature Animation (I watched a VHS copy of Princess Mononoke direct from Japan in the late 90s with no Subs… I had no idea what was going on, but it changed my life).
I have done Illustrations for all sorts of clients (All of my art heroes were Illustrators who carved out fantastical worlds from their home studios).
If this stuff sounds like fun. It is.
If you would like to improve your Drawing and Illustration to help achieve your goals… you have come to the right place.
For the last decade I have dedicated myself to helping other artists learn this craft. It would be a pleasure to help you out.
Check out my free Illustration Mini Workshop to learn how to improve your illustration.
