New Year’s Resolutions

by thisnorthernboy

2013 was the year a drew a lot, maybe not enough, but a lot. It was the first time in at least 20 years that I’ve drawn that often. Sometime in 2012 I started to do a few doodles in a Moleskine notebook, by the beginning of 2013 I was happy enough with my progress – and excited enough by drawing again – that I decided to start this blog. My aim then…

Hopefully it’ll act as a catalyst for me to draw an awful lot more, and by drawing more I hope to get better at it.

I feel the blog has been reasonably successful in making me draw more, although my decision in August to start a ‘drawing a day’ project has obviously had much more impact in that regard.

What I can see from both the posts on this blog, and my posts on tumblr, is that although I’ve produced some illustrations I’m really happy with, there are an awful lot that I’m not proud of at all. My consistency is entirely lacking. That’s one thing I really need to tackle in 2014 – which brings me to my New Year’s resolutions.

  • Take life drawing classes – this is something I really enjoyed at college, but I haven’t done any since. Figure work is completely lacking on this blog and that has to change.
  • Push myself – I’m lazy, I find it way to easy to just draw the things I know (I hope) I can draw. Part of that is fear of failure too…
  • Fail often, fail better* – I need to stop worrying about failing. The only way to improve is to try stuff, and if it’s rubbish then to learn from it.
  • Paint – Droids seem to work fine coloured using photoshop, but if I want to improve as an illustrator I need to be more comfortable with using colour from the outset. So I need to paint. Watercolour or acrylic probably, though I may use inks too.
  • Research & inspiration – I’ve recently started using Pinterest to collect images, either as reference for specific projects or simply as a place to gather together work by artists whose work inspires me. I’d like to take this further and look into the work of some artists more.
  • Sell some work – It’s over fifteen years since I sold any illustrations. I have, since then, produced illustrations as part of other projects, but no outright illustration commissions. I think if I’m to call myself an illustrator, rather than just someone who draws – then I need to sell my work. This year I plan to produce some prints and postcards to sell online, and perhaps a book collecting some of my robot drawings.
  • Keep at it – draw more, draw better, never stop.

 

*Samuel Beckett, Worstward Ho.