Drawing: How to SUCK LESS?
As a kid, I used to revel in drawing: anything from Ninja Turtles, Star Wars, He-Man etc. I proudly paraded all of my drawings around to anyone that had 5 spare minutes – it wasn’t about the ability to draw well, it was about presenting ideas. It’s similar with most kids. When we’re growing up and start comparing ourselves to others though, a dangerous villain appears: self-judgment. Quite similarly, after I finished my studies in my early twenties (even though they included a lot of drawing), most of my professional journey didn’t include harnessing my drawing and illustration skills further. Over the years, my confidence in my drawing abilities started to dissolve. The light-hearted feeling of childhood drawing disappeared.
It wasn’t until recent years that I started to sketch again as a means to juggle between different ideas. The goal of sketching wasn’t to produce any meaningful breathtaking art, which my subconscious self would accept, but merely to clear my mind of ideas – and to decide which idea sucks less.
Sketches from “VOX x SLACK”
STORYBOARD / lAYOUT SKETCHES FROM “CHILD RESCUE COALITION”
Once again, coming full circle: it was about the ideas – and not about the quality of the drawing. Throughout the years that followed, I managed to lessen the internal impact of judgment simply by re-purposing drawing as a tool to regurgitate as many rough ideas from my mind as possible. Once they’re outside, it’s usually very clear about which ones work and which ones don’t. I can then easily disregard the bad ones and focus my further explorations on the »good« one. This practice can actually be used on anything: from writing, design to physical exercise.
CHARACTER & IDEA EXPLORATION SKETCHES FROM “VIRIA”
STORYBOARD SKETCH FROM “GRAIN: BEHIND THE EYES” + IDEA EXPLORATION SKETCHES FROM a (yet) UNREALIZED PERSONAL PROJECTs
My TAKE-AWAY: Don’t draw to compare to others - pursue the idea instead of the result. Only drawing can make us SUCK LESS at drawing. (How to draw GOOD on the other hand is something that I’ll gladly let someone else write 😂)
We don’t suck, if we don’t get stuck. We don’t get stuck, if we don’t judge. We don’t judge, if we continue doing.