Have you ever been in a situation where you know exactly what you want to do and how you want it to look but just completely lack the skills to make it? If so how do you work around it? I’m finding with illustration i know how something should look but cant physically make it happen (am a design student).

kolofon

Have you ever been in a situation where you know exactly what you want to do and how you want it to look but just completely lack the skills to make it? If so how do you work around it? I'm finding with illustration i know how something should look but cant physically make it happen (am a design student).

Answer

I’ve found that this happens a lot more when you’re still developing your overall style. Back in my college days when my illustration lacked any style whatsoever, I found that accomplishing certain ideas was next to impossible. A lot of my drawings would suffer from “want” — that is, I’d want it to look like someone else’s illustration style but in reality, it just wasn’t me. Plain and simple.

I started off as a pure designer (I have been drawing since day one, though I never thought of myself as an illustrator until recently) and found myself stuck in this same position. The good news is that you will find your way around this frustration. The bad news is that it’s probably going to take some time before you start seeing results you’re happy with. Until you really develop your own style, there’s going to be a lot of tough, long nights drawing something that’s decent but not really what you set out to create. The best thing I can say is to learn from those nights and eventually figure out how you’re supposed to be drawing.