Letting the Learning Get in the Way

From the Drawn Blog today:

I’ve spent my entire career obsessively trying to “learn how to draw” when I should’ve just been drawing. Always thinking “I just need to get a little better… and then I’ll start working on (insert any of a hundred personal projects)”... The fact is that I’ve been good enough since my teens- and would’ve improved so much more rapidly had my study been in the service of any of those projects- and not in the dozens of sketchbooks pilled in my closet.

Lesson: Don’t use "learning" as an excuse to avoid "doing".
- Shane Glines

I had this exact realization last week when I had to do my 'How To' project for class. I was so scared of actually doing it, knowing it wouldn't come out as great as it looked in my head... thinking, "I'd be so psyched to draw this if I was just a little better and knew I could nail it." But then I did it, and it didn't actually look terrible, and I realized that if I just go ahead and draw all the things I want to draw without worrying about getting better first, I'll improve so much faster than I would if I just muck about doing exercises in my sketchbook without really finishing anything.

I'll be posting some of my own work tomorrow!! GET EXCITED, the 5 people who read this.