Tips:
• You learn to draw by drawing.
• People that are better than you are just better than you because they’ve had more practice.
• Draw VERBS, not nouns. – Walt Stanchfield
• Turn everything you paint to greyscale (digitally). If it looks like a grey soup, you f*cked up.
• If you’re not sure what good values look like, look at screen stills from B/W movies, like Citizen Kane.
• You learn to draw by drawing.
• 50 bad illustrations might yield one good one. You learn to draw by drawing.
• Sometimes you gotta draw it 6 or 7 times.
• Use sharp edges for only important things, practice hierarchy and contrast. Have a focal point.
• If you’re going to give someone a jewel, don’t surround it with shiny things. – Paul Hudson
• Saturate your eyes and brain with work that is better than what you can do. Then put it all away
and start working.
• Progress, not Perfection.
• Schedule time to utterly fail. – Iain McCaig
• Take reference, it’s easier that way. Don’t make stuff up if you don’t have to. If it doesn’t exist,
figure out how to take a picture of it anyway. Use cardboard, clay, macaroni… doesn’t matter.
• Doubt can only be removed by ACTION. – Goethe
• Use the best materials you can possibly afford. You’re already fighting a battle. Don’t fight the materials.
Find pencils/brushes/paper that feel good.
• Does it work in greyscale? Does it work at postage-stamp size? Does it work reversed? Upside down?
• Do what you love, other people will love it too. – Z