#128 - You Get Better At The Things You Repeat, Keep Practicing

I admire how Kim Jung-Gi could seemingly draw from imagination. He didn’t—he drew from memory, was analyzing what things looked around him all day, and also drawing a lot.

Right now, I am practicing drawing from observation and memory in the front end of my sketchbook and drawing from imagination in the back end. And I can see myself getting better even in this sketchbook! The pages ten pages down are much better than the ones before it.

I have become a lot better at drawing over the years. I remember starting to draw directly in pen; it was scary. What if I made a mistake? Drawing with a pen is second nature; the lines land precisely where I want. I see lots of things that could be improved. That stays. But drawings are just drawings. I can do it better in the next drawing. But I get proportions about right just by sight, and even if I don’t, I know how to make it look good anyway.

I am happy with where I am with my art now! I realized this recently when browsing my latest sketchbook, which made me feel like drawing. It used to be so that I had to look at the art of my favorite artists to find that motivation, but now, looking at my drawings can do the trick, too.

It took me a lot of time and a lot of hard practice.

You shouldn’t do exactly what I do—you most likely have other creative goals—but instead, focus on what you want to become good at and practice that a lot.

Don’t overdo practicing fundamentals. It doesn’t work that way. You get bored and demotivated.

Just start doing what you want and then do that repeatedly, hundreds or thousands of times. Look at it, analyze it, figure out what needs to improve, design a plan, and try it next time.

For example, if you want to make comics, then start by making one-page comics and look at them to figure out what you want to improve upon: do you need better stories, better dialogue, better character designs to become better at staying on-model, better at page design, better at inking, lettering, coloring? Look at how artists you admire solved these problems. Decide how you want to improve and try it on your next page.

Just keep repeating the process, and you get better over time, and there will be a moment when you still see the flaws but are with the results.

It’s that simple. You get better at what you practice, so don’t do fundamentals as much, but instead, immediately dive into making the art you want to make and figure things out along the way.