Why It’s Okay That I Can’t Draw

I had a revelation. You don’t have to be good at drawing to be an artist. All you need is creativity. Hugh Macleod has made a career as a cartoonist, but his visual art could be described as doodles at best. He doesn’t need elaborate artistic depictions to tell his stories.

From “Gaping Void” by Hugh Macleod

David Shrigely, an artist from the UK that has been compared to Matt Groening, can’t draw either. He even keeps his “mistakes” as part of his art. He just crosses stuff out and moves on. He doesn’t draft! He only creates final pieces. The beauty of it is that it adds personality to his humour and storytelling.

From “Evil Thoughts” by David Shrigley

What does this mean?
It means that anyone can create art. No skills are required. All you need is a brain! The only barriers to entry for creativity and art is thinking that you can’t do it.

1. It’s not the presentation, but the content.
2. It’s not how pretty it looks, but what it says.
3. Creativity trumps talent.

So why not try it? Get a piece of paper and draw whatever comes to mind. If you can’t think of anything to draw, focus on telling a story. Draw your favourite childhood memory. Draw the funniest thing that happened to you this weekend. Draw what you wanted to be when you grew up. It will look awful on the first attempt. Who cares? You’re being creative.

- Christian