2025-12-05
Lecture Friday: Just Draw!
This is exactly what I've been talking about when I say you need to practice more. This! This isn't just about drawing. It's about practicing your craft. Its about how you become great at anything. Programming, music, art, speaking Spanish, playing basketball, whatever. You just need to do it. The more you practice, the better you'll become.
The interenet has made measuring yourself, of getting bogged down in the meta, and endlessly distracting yourself with theories and critique, far too easy and fun. Stop sharpening your axe and just start cutting shit. Sure it'll be rough and ugly. That's how you get better. You cannot just think yourself better. You have to practice.
He's right on the money complaining that technology has held many people back. Too many people who decide they really want to learn a skill get distracted until they give up because the internet talks about all the technology they supposedly need. It creates this artificial impediment to actually doing the thing. They need a stylus hooked up to Photoshop with the right set of brushes, or need a MIDI keyboard hooked up to a DAW with the right set of VSTs, instead of things as cheap and easily obtainable as a pencil and some paper or a used guitar or keyboard. Heck a stick and some mud or a drum-able surface is all you need.
For programmers it's getting all wrapped up trying to download and use VSCode or trying to install Linux or whatever instead of opening a simple text editor and just hacking out a script to automate something or make a little webpage or game.
The best part about a pencil or an instrument is that the moment you start interacting with it, you start to create something. Something ugly and raw, your first time doing anything is going to be awful, but you quickly see the possibilities. It's real. You aren't faffing, you're failing, and failing is the first step to improving.
Sure, after you're practicing all the time, you can start to improve on the process. Use resources to learn new things to try. But I often tell people considering a gym membership to start by going for a walk every day. If you can't commit to a walk, be honest, you're not really going to commit to the gym. Same goes for practice. If you just start by watching lots of videos or buying some fancy gear or whatever, you're not likely to stick with it. You spent a bunch of time and money but you're still right where you started. You'll know how to talk the talk, even look the part, but you still can't walk. You won't be able to create anything of your own worth celebrating until you're regularly practicing.
So please, just start practicing. It's a much better use of your limited time on earth compared to spending it consuming things other people make. The things you've made will outlive you. The things you've consumed or only thought about die with you. Change only happens when we physically do things, create and build things. Not for others, but ourselves. Create things you enjoy. Share them if you like. But do it first and foremost for yourself because making things makes us happy.
I'm some goober typing words in a text editor and you're now reading them. That's the power of creation. And very rarely, someone like you might really enjoy that but we can't enjoy anything if you don't create something. Draw the pictures you want to see. Play the notes you want to hear. Make the videos you want to watch. Build the furniture you want to use. Write the works you want to read. Fabricate the cloths and accessories you want to wear. But start small, make it a habit, and create things because nobody can stop you.