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Why You Own an iPad and Still Can't Draw

   The failure of drawing materials without mediums and meat
     * [5]How to Illustrate

   Planted almost 3 years agoLast tended almost 3 years ago

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   Assumed Audience

   Anyone who thinks they can't draw, but would like to learn

   They message me a lot.

     Which iPad should I buy? What app do you use? What brush is that?
     What size should my canvas be?

   These questions aren't wrong. In fact they're perfectly reasonable.

   I'm vocal about the fact many of my illustrations are made on in an app
   called . I have a full post about my drawing equipment and workflows
   over at
   [6]What App is That?

   How are you supposed to draw if you don't also have these fancy tools?

   This is the tricky bit.

   If you go out and buy yourself these same things, you'll have all the
   right materials to draw. But that's only the dressing on the drawing
   dish.
   [7]

What you have is Material without the Medium or the Meat

   What on earth do I mean by material, medium, and meat?
     __________________________________________________________________

   [8]

Moving past materials

   Worrying about the materials should take up - at most - 10% of your
   attention and concern. Focus 70% of your attention on learning the
   medium while you're just starting out.

   You can keep 20% of your focus on the Meat. But I wouldn't worry too
   much about communicating original, profound ideas at first. Doing so in
   addition to learning a whole new language is going to be overwhelming.

   In the same way it's a bad idea to learn Spanish while simultaneously
   trying to write a philosophy dissertation in it.

   Once you get more comfortable “speaking" in visual language, you'll be
   able to shift a much higher percentage of your attention onto the Meat.
   You'll get to focus on The Thing You Want to Say, and know enough
   visual language to say it well.

   That's the ideal I'm currently striving for. To reach a point where the
   Material is irrelevant, the Medium is a baked into my subconscious, and
   I'm all about the Meat.

   That's the goal. Don't let the shiny iPad reflection blind you.

   Get past picking the Material. Focus on the Medium. Aim for the Meat.

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The Best Illustration Books and Courses

   My favourite resources for learning to draw and developing your visual
   thinking skills

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   Maggie Appleton - indieweb.social/@maggie
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