There wasn’t much difference in skill from August 10, 2001 to three or so months later because I didn’t research any advanced art techniques—I thought I’d work it out as I went.

But instead, it’s a big regret because I can only imagine what my talent would be like today if I studied more.

With this post’s title, I bet you’re wondering if this is anything positive… well, that depends on your initiative and perspective.

You can also choose to ink your pics: That’s where you go over your sketch with the concentration I made you hate earlier.

As you draw and you see your vision coming to life, you’ll get more ideas on how to “improve” it. This is normal, but you have to set limits. Character design should fit with what the character does, even on a daily basis.

Instead of doing that “slow-shaky-unsteady-trying-to-be-precise-but-never-working outline drawing,” how about you just draw stick figures instead? No, really. Grab a bar napkin if necessary, preferably unused.

Is the small blob drawing close enough to what you had in mind? Time to take that and fill the page. But since I’m obligated to block you at every turn, don’t do it yet. First, decide how much it needs to be filled… the page, I mean.

You’re done with constantly sharpening wooden pencils and watching how hard you press against the paper. Mechanical pencils with special leads keep the same point and they’re always light, easily erasable strokes.

I know they don’t tell you this in school, but learning new stuff is HARD. And while you have big dreams, you gotta be sure you actually like what’s in your long-term artistic relationship; the divorce rate with pencils is high these days.

So, you want to start creating some amazing artwork? Good.

The concept of turning an idea in your head into a physical image or tangible object is an amazing feeling. I’m sure you’ve seen or liked something enough to translate that to paper yourself, maybe putting your own spin on it…