As an art major, I took several drawing classes.
Basic drawing, life drawing, architectural drawing, etc.
So did 99% of other art majors. Whether they were going to focus on printmaking, sculpture, or painting it didn’t matter.
Learn to draw.
Why?
It teaches you the basics of visual art.
You learn how to take something from your mind & turn it into something visible. You develop a knack for understanding the relationship of one element with all the others.
Your ability to draw directly translates to everything.
You can take a small notebook everywhere and get some practice done in the few minutes you have between classes.
And what are you drawing?
Everything. Anything!
A can of coke on the table. A tree. A building on campus.
Eventually the subject doesn’t matter.
You’re always doing the same thing: paying attention to shapes, line quality, and how one element transitions into another.
Then, you take this foundation and build something on top of it.
Your drawing becomes a life-size full-color painting. It becomes a 3-D sculpture made out of fiberglass & resin. It becomes an intaglio print.
But the drawing comes first.
And that’s the powerful lesson that I want to share with anyone who wants to be a creator.
Whether you want to make long form videos, audio-only podcasts, or be a performer there’s one skill that can improve the final product.
That skill?
Writing.
Writing helps your ideas take shape regardless of what they look like in their final form.
And it feels weird to tell you to learn to write.
As an art major I remember saying
“If I could say it with words, I wouldn’t need to paint it.”
While I might have been right, I was focusing on the wrong thing.
Writing gets me paid nowadays.
That’s why I strongly suggest that you learn to be more persuasive in the verbal dimension.
Even if you’re a visual artist. ESPECIALLY if you’re a visual artist.
So, whatever your preferred medium, learn to write.
Do you see why now?
If so, how about you reply to this email with a short note sharing your own thoughts about the idea.
I’d love to have your voice added to the conversation.
Best thoughts,
~Jonathan “writing & drawing” Pritchard