Everything I draw ends up wearing a bow-tie

Hello! Your friendly neighbourhood storyboarder cartoonist bod here.

I have lots of lovely people asking how I draw and what magical voodoo secrets I have that make me able to draw things without making mistakes. Well, I make mistakes. There is no secret, but if there is one, that is the secret. I draw something, think it’s rubbish, and try again. Or I draw a thing, decide it isn’t right, and then try to draw it another way! Or leave it and do something else I have to do, and come back to it with a new perspective!

Your first drawing is almost never going to be the best one, so don’t expect it to be. The thing is nobody is going to make the best version of something without warming up for it; you wouldn’t run a marathon without stretching, would you? In this case it isn’t a serious picture and I’m not probably going to take it any further, but even so you can see how the second pass is better than the first, even if it’s still not perfect. The random scribble was a warm up, the next was a rehearsal, an attempt at the idea without expecting anything great; the third drawing is what I’d call my first real hack at it. You need groundwork to build off!

Another big thing that I wish more people taught artists is not to bully yourself. If you draw something that isn’t perfect, then berate yourself for making something ‘crappy’ to the point that you don’t want to draw any more, then you’ve just bullied yourself! You’re allowed to be mad at the drawing for while. Think that it’s crappy or wonky or not right, that’s fine, but don’t only think that about it, or yourself! You have to learn to love yourself, and your work; demonstrate that you love it by trying again, by looking at your mistakes and analyzing them. You need to give yourself time to do that.

Treat yourself and your work like you would a friend or an employee- don’t smack it over the head with a ruler and tell it to sit in the corner! Of course you won’t want to draw again if you do that! Who wants to be yelled at for trying? Be a good boss! Be encouraging, be kind, and be patient with yourself. Be critical by all means, but don’t just criticize. Recognize the good points in your work, as well as the bad, then you’ll know which areas to fix and which areas to push even further. Accepting your faults is very important, but you shouldn’t ignore the good areas in order to do that- you’ll be missing half of the information to be gained from the exercise.

You’re a sentient, emotional person! Treat yourself like one.