When I was really young, Bob Ross was an amazing inspiration to me. I used to watch him paint all the time on public television. His demeanor and confidence in how he approached painting would always leave me feeling as if I could paint as easily as him.

Another artist I’ve followed for a long time is Alex Niño. He’s

comic book artist I discovered when I was still in high school. I got the chance to hear a lecture by him that left an impression on me ever since.

What has stood out the most about these two artist was that they both let go of the notion of making art that pleased others and only thought of what pleased them. They didn’t care whether or not anyone else thought it looked cool. It was cool because they liked it.

While I was in college learning how to be all I could be. I would totally stress out about my art and especially about my drawing. After I graduated, it took me a while before I remembered that making art used to be fun for me. It relaxed me. It inspired me. It made me feel productive and challenged me.

When you’re starting out , it’s good to remember why you wanted to learn in the first place. I seriously doubt it was because you wanted to be an industry professional and make 100k a year. We all started because we were inspired by the imaginations of other artists, by the movies we watched, the books we read, or games we played.

Learning to create art is really hard. It takes a really long time and you only ever see the reward of satisfaction when you feel like you’re making the kind of art that you want to make. So, it’s important to remember to have fun while learning. If you can relax more in the making you will learn faster. If you can feel joy in every creative act you’ll never feel frustrated, bored, or burned out.

Well here’s my tips and advice.

1. Stop trying to make great art. The harder you try, the more self conscious and analytical you become which means that you’re not playing.

2. Get out for a walk or a drive and don’t worry about where you’re going. Turn left instead of turning right. The point here is to get some fresh air and maybe see something that inspires you.

3. Meet up with friends and try out drawing collaborations. Where each of you adds something to the drawing. This can be really fun and eye opening because nobody knows where the drawing is going and the results will be surprising.

4. Join an art community and hangout. Live stream yourself.

5. A personal favorite of mine is to throw away my drawings. WTF! It’s true. Because I’m not precious about what I’m drawing and I’m just learning, it frees me up from the pressure of making something “great”. I can focus on just the thing I’m trying to learn. Whether it’s line quality, tone, shape language ( aka design ) or any one of the many drawing fundamentals.

These are just a few off the top of my head of things that have helped me in the past. I hope it helps you as well.

Drawing is the basis of all 2D art making. That’s a bold statement but I believe that if you know how to draw then painting and sculpture become easier. Mind you I said “easier” not easy! Cause both those things are still very hard.

So below are some steps to learning how to draw and get good at it.

• Step 1 — Find a blank piece of paper and something to draw with.

• Step 2 — Think of something you want to draw.

• Step 3 — Draw it.

• Step 4 — Repeat all the above steps everyday for the rest of your life.

It’s that simple. Right about now you’re thinking that I’m full of it. But ask yourself this, when you were a kid and you drew your hero’s, was it any more complicated than that? In all likelihood it really wasn’t. You just drew whatever you wanted and you probably didn’t care what other people thought. You just knew it was cool. So, let’s stop stressing about what you want to draw and draw the cool shit you loved as a kid and the things you love now.

I know what you’re thinking though. You’re saying to yourself that you want to draw really well. Enough so that it’ll look like the artists that you admire. You want to make art that is as cool as those artist. Right? That’s where the hard work comes in because it might take a long time to get as good as you think you want to be.

Then again maybe you’re in love with a simple art style and it won’t take you that long. But one thing is certain, if you don’t draw or practice you’ll never be any good.

But if you don’t like drawing then you should just stop now and find another hobby or career like sculpture, poetry, music or photography. I have to say this because I’ve known a lot of people that think drawing isn’t really that important. And you know what? They all struggle getting better and getting work.

So, how do we learn to draw? The first two steps are true. Then there are few other steps we can put between step 2 and 3. Step 2a… You should find some reference. Your reference can be in the form of a coffee mug, a pillow, a flower, an actors head shot, an action figure— grown ups call them collectibles. The idea is to draw your reference.

There’s no shame in copying. We learn by copying. As we grow up we copy other people whenever we need to do something we’ve never done before. We even learn how to be adults by copying other adults. As long as our species has been around we’ve copied each other to survive in this crazy world.

When I was a kid and I did copies of my favorite comics. Professional artist and teachers call those “Master Studies”. I bet you did master studies as well.

Draw often and never stop drawing. Although that can sound tedious, the better you get at it the more amazing and awesome you’ll be! Draw something you love or you’re interested in. Draw what’s in your imagination. Draw everything and everywhere. Draw when you’re having a good day and when you’re having a bad day. Mostly, have fun drawing.

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