What I’ve Learned so Far
March 12, 2010
There’s a huge bevy of illustrations I’d love to share, but I’m just not allowed to yet. In the mean time,
I’d like to celebrate 4 years of having Teetering Bulb, by sharing some of the things I have learned:
• You learn to draw by drawing – there’s no magic button, secret pass words or
snake oil you can take. It’s just all hard work.
• It takes about 3-5 years to see a tipping point.
• Doesn’t really matter at what level you are when you begin, this is all learnable information -
anyone can learn it, that’s the beautiful part. But it might take 3-5 years.
• To succeed at this is very hard, and it’ll continue to be hard, the most enjoyable thing ever,
but still very hard. If it’s easy for you, can I buy you a muffin and an hour of your time?
• You learn to draw by drawing.
• Get to know the best in the business. Write them emails, visit their studios, become their
best friend. They know stuff. They’ll give you information if you’re nice and ready to listen,
and buy them muffins.
• The 10,000 hour rule is imperative. It’s all a game of numbers. The more you practice,
the better you’ll be, the more you’ll enjoy it, the more you’ll want to practice.
It’s a self feeding loop.
• Your hand skills will almost never match your cognitive skills. Your head will always be a few
steps ahead of what you can do with your pencil. Be okay with that. Again, if you disagree,
I’ve got muffins for you.
• The eye craves hierarchy.
• The eye craves values and big shapes. The eye doesn’t like gray soups too much.
• Getting the big shapes right is more important than getting the details right.
• Love your studio. You’re gonna be there a lot.
• There’s something called FLOW. It’s a magic period where everything aligns and you know
exactly what to do next. Learn to recognize it and achieve it. Flow happens when the greatest
amount of challenge is met with the most amount of skill. The state of FLOW is the best drug
in the world.
• You learn to draw by drawing.
Please tell me what you’ve learned. -Z
Really helpful information. When you say draw, do you mean draw everything? ei master copies, cartoons, life drawing, everyday items, etc? Or do you recommend focusing on a specific thing and concentrating on that?
I’m still waiting for the flow moment, I think I’m about 3000 hours
Comment by sketchguy — March 12, 2010 @ 10:57 pm
Yes! Draw everything. It doesn’t really matter what you draw, as long as your pencil connects with the paper, or your stylus connects with your Wacom. You want to hone your muscle memory. The more you draw, the better you’ll get, the more you’ll want to draw.
Comment by Kurt and Zelda — March 12, 2010 @ 11:13 pm
Zelda! I was inspired to do a post of my own. You totally hit so many truths on your post and I can’t wait to see this work that you aren’t allowed to post yet!
Loved the post. I hope you don’t mind, but I added you and Kurt to my links section on my blog! Thanks for the great idea, I’m in a similar situation, I have a bunch of work that I can’t show yet but wanted to do a post, this was perfect! Hope all is going well your way!
Comment by Eric Braddock — March 12, 2010 @ 11:24 pm
Thank you for yours. Here are Some of mine:
• Tools can be talismans.
• Remove people from your life who are making it more difficult to do your work. The creative life is hard enough.
• An artist is Not marooned on an island, throwing bottled-notes into the ocean. An artist is an emissary, an ambassador to this world from an undiscovered country.
• The power of a work comes from something deeply felt and simply stated. It’s the quality of your attention that influences how you see and how deeply you feel. Your first power is in your choice as to where and how you focus your attention.
• Tolerance for uncertainty is a prerequisite for succeeding.
• Never hope more than you work.
Comment by Leland Purvis — March 12, 2010 @ 11:53 pm
Can I have a muffin anyways? How about we trade muffins? Oh. That sounded…well. YOU know.
Can’t wait to see you both Monday!
Comment by Kristina — March 12, 2010 @ 11:53 pm
Leland, thank you for yours. Very much appreciated. I read them in 2 minutes. It might take the next 20 years to implement. Kristina, I’ll trade you a muffin for a piece of personal knowledge.
Comment by Kurt and Zelda — March 12, 2010 @ 11:58 pm
“All the business knowledge in the world won’t help if you are not addicted to your own picture-making process.” -Marshall Arisman
Comment by Leland Purvis — March 13, 2010 @ 10:33 am
draw…draw…and more drawing; no one will give a damn if you don’t give damn; keep on drawing and you will see the true meaning of living; you’ll bypass procrastination when the pencil make contact with the papers. Pass on the inspiration my good man.
Comment by Steve — March 19, 2010 @ 10:18 pm
I love this post. Thanks for writing it. I’m printing it out now to hang near my drawing table. I like it that much.
Comment by Dana — March 22, 2010 @ 9:38 am
Thanks for the reminders, Z. Dusting off my sketchbook now.
Comment by Scott T — March 25, 2010 @ 1:31 pm
Loved this, I need to read this everyday. I just might print it. Then the next time I see you I’ll buy you a muffin.
Thanks Z!
Comment by Corina — March 25, 2010 @ 10:53 pm
Some questions for students by sculptor David Smith (1906-1965) that are some good food for thought.
http://www.davidsmithestate.org/statements.html#questions
Comment by Leland Purvis — March 29, 2010 @ 2:03 pm
I keep running across more. How about Milton Glaser’s – 10 Things I Have Learned:
http://www.artprintissues.com/2008/02/milton-glaser-.html
Comment by Leland Purvis — March 31, 2010 @ 9:02 am
Can we ask you to share some of your earliest works, that you may today feel are not very good, but that you thought were good 3-5 years ago. Perhaps juxtapose them with recent works, so we see the difference?
Saying something will take 3-5 years, and showing us the before and afters, would really make the statement more powerful, and fill us beginners with hope for the future.
A.
Comment by Amir — April 2, 2010 @ 2:10 pm
Hi Amir, if you click through the blog back to when it first started, in March 2006, you’ll definitely be able to see the progression. If you draw every day, you should see a progression regardless. You learn to draw by drawing. It may be a slow progression, but I promise you, you will get better.
Comment by Kurt and Zelda — April 2, 2010 @ 2:26 pm
Hi there, I just found your work through Molly Crabapple’s website. I’m about to trawl your blog from beginning to end to try and trace your progression – I went to art school 5 years ago and then kind of gave up, and am making a massive effort to get back into drawing in particular. Great bit of serendipity! Best wishes.
Comment by Becky Hunter — April 5, 2010 @ 6:34 am
OK, So as per your suggestion, I went back to 2006 and saw what you’d posted back then.
I’m wondering about stuff even earlier then that, as early back as you keep stuff, stuff that’s really bad.
At my current level, I could not easily produce, if at all, and over a long period of time, what you were making (looks consistently good) back in 2006 when you started posting.
I’m asking more about when you started drawing, not just when you started posting.
Also, I was hoping you’d post some juxtaposing images, to show the improvements you’ve made, and maybe even pinpoint where you had difficulties.
Not saying you have to do this, just that I think it’d make a great post.
A.
Comment by Amir — April 6, 2010 @ 12:52 am
Thank you for this insightful list. I hope you don’t mind that I’ve saved it and printed it off to put in my treasure notebook. Keep sharing and drawing.
Comment by KKincaid — April 10, 2010 @ 2:12 am
Z -
I learned that same vital lesson and I try and tell students this little tidbit in every lecture: you learn to draw by drawing! And yes, it takes a long time, but when you do reach that tipping point, it’s a great thing.
Thanks for this lovely post and thanks for doing such wonderful work!
Kyle
Comment by Kyle T Webster — April 22, 2010 @ 1:01 pm
what a great post!thanks Kurt,thanks Zelda and thanks also to the others comentators who posted their own list of advices…I found thoughts that I also have and things which will for sure help me to deal with my own biiig doubts:)))
as someone said before:deserve a print!(and a muffin!)
best of wishes:)
Comment by Raluca — May 9, 2010 @ 4:02 pm
Hi there, I just found your work through Molly Crabapple’s website. I’m about to trawl your blog from beginning to end to try and trace your progression – I went to art school 5 years ago and then kind of gave up, and am making a massive effort to get back into drawing in particular. Great bit of serendipity! Best wishes.
Comment by Bruce — May 19, 2010 @ 10:51 am
So true. It never gets easy and still you always want to do it. There are this tiny moments when you are in the flow and you just feel that it’s going to work and in the end it’s going to be good and that it’s going to be worth all the not-easy parts.
^_____^
Comment by jfml — June 29, 2010 @ 5:02 pm
Really enjoying your site…this is very interesting and useful information.
Thanks for posting and keep up the awesome work!
<3 g
Comment by Grace — July 9, 2010 @ 8:51 pm
Hi, I’ve just discover your website. Amazing works here and great advices in this post!
And the thing about the FLOW is so right (if I understood you well)! When all is easy and you don’t ask yourself how to do your drawing, you just do it and it works.
Best drug on earth as you said !:-)
Thanks for sharing!
Comment by NoStyle — July 19, 2010 @ 5:40 am