i signed up for a online creative drawing class, and so far it’s been really fun!

last year, i barely did any personal art. there would be an occasional doodle or sketch session here and there, but honestly, i don’t know if i can say i drew anything that challenged me or that i was proud of … going into 2026 i am planning to change that!! 😤

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in the animation pipeline, story art is the lowest stakes part of the entire production. this is by design. drawings are fast and easy to throw away, so you can easily adjust the story, the layout, the acting—anything you want.

storyboard panels never end up in the final animation. in many ways, this is very liberating. my designated role as an artist is to be loose and to explore freely without the pressure of getting it right on the first go.

strangely, when it comes to my personal art, i don’t feel the same. my brain somehow perceives this as a lot more precious—so creating a bad drawing that gets thrown out feels especially bad.

i’m not sure how this emotional block built up, but i guess i kept beating myself down for bad drawings and that started translating into general nervousness whenever i held a pen.. like i wasn’t sure if my fundamentals would just bail on me. i would loosely thumbnail sketch out tons of comic ideas, but never ink/finish any of them … always afraid to commit to polished lines. even if i was drawing from life or doing a study, all i could see was mistake after mistake.

that wasn’t so good! it’s impossible to feel creatively free when you have that kind of constant disparagement looming over you.

«SMASH CUT TO»

the class i’m taking is called “sketching from imagination”! every sunday, i dial into zoom for 3 hours with about 20 other students. the lectures have been really fun and the instructor has a super enthusiastic, positive attitude about drawing.

here’s an exciting incident that happened right after i closed the call for today’s session:

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back to the class though—it’s a really well thought out curriculum. i think it’s hard to come up with creative ways to teach the fundamentals, but i find myself learning plenty of new things through her demos. the homework assignments are delightful and interesting.

aside from technical stuff, the most valuable thing i’ve been getting out of this is the reminder that drawing is low stakes. sketching from imagination is very low stakes. this is by design.

the instructor often reminds us that there is nothing stopping us from drawing anything we want. it might seem obvious, but i found it deeply profound. it is exactly what i need to be reminded of.

whatever drawing you make, well, no one can argue with you on whatever it is you wanted that drawing to be! and if it’s not what you wanted it to be, then by god, just draw it again!!

for homework, we’re only supposed to work with pen on paper. mistakes happen but that’s the point. i’m leaning into mistakes and thinking of everything as a puzzle to be solved. it might take a couple tries to get to the solution, but when i finally crack it, there is all the more satisfaction to be waiting.

i always thought i kind of sucked at drawing from imagination, but it’s just pushing and pulling elements of reality in the hopes of finding something interesting (to you). there’s no such thing as being bad, only how far you’re willing to push.

it’s very fun! it’s just a drawing! i’m having fun imagining things and being silly and sketching with low stakes!!