Start Small: The Easiest Way to Build Confidence in Art
There’s an old joke: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. It’s silly, but it’s also pretty good advice for art. A big creative project can feel overwhelming when you look at the whole thing at once. A full pet portrait means eyes, nose, fur, ears, proportions, color, expression — all of it. Before you even pick up the pencil or brush, your brain can already be thinking, I don’t know if I can do this. But maybe you don’t have to solve the whole thing at once. Maybe you just need to figure out the first bite. The Drawing Method That Never Worked for Me When I was learning to draw portraits, I was taught a very traditional method. First, lightly sketch the overall shape of the head. Then add guidelines showing where the eyes, nose, mouth, and other features should go. Once everything is mapped out, you begin drawing the actual portrait inside those guides. It makes perfect sense. And for me, it was a disaster. I could draw the head the right size. I could put the guides where t...
