Learning to draw.

I did a fair bit of illustration in my design course. I picked illo electives because I fancied myself as a drawer. I actually haven't done a lot of drawing at all in the 5 years since I left uni. I don't make art for fun; since design is my job I prefer to sew or play piano or other things. I've drawn things like tractors and gas bottles for some jobs.

Now, the only way to be a really good drawer is to draw a lot. Like getting better at tennis or knitting. Practise makes perfect. So I did a few pretty bad drawings, then a lot of mediocre drawings, and finally a presentable set of illustrations. I think there is a real difference between my stuff and stuff done by people who draw for a living and draw all the time—their ease of drawing something beautiful. Being so good that you can be simple and eloquent at the same time. I'm not there, but maybe by the time I've done 20 books…

So anyway, there was a lot of work to get good at drawing before I published a picture.

Seriously ugly:

Anything I outline with black pen looks dreadful. I've never been able to do it.

Next one has potential. Simple, but too cartoony:

Too real:

The next page is also too real… but getting there. Sister, brother, mother actually look very similar in physical appearance to the finished versions, but haven't worked out a painting style yet. There are... encouraging signs. I realised that watercolour with a light pencil outline was the best: black outlines still don't work.

Everything comes down to practice! Boring yet true.