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LIFE
DRAWING
SUCCESS
Avoid the 1 big mistake
that led to all my other
mistakes
 INTRO

My name is Kenzo, and I love to do life

drawing. My mum Mayko is a professional
artist who also loves life drawing. We
started Love Life Drawing to help people
through the struggles described in this
guide.
This guide is based on our own experiences
as well as the many beginners we chat
to through Love Life Drawing and at
life drawing classes in London. Your
experiences may differ, but I think most
people will identify with many (if not most!)
of these things.
That word in the title - ‘mistake’ - is a
dangerous one. It’s the sort of language that
makes life drawing intimidating and it’s the
sort of language I used when beating myself
up as a beginner - ‘why do I make so many
mistakes!’ And the truth is I still beat myself
up this way, and so does Mayko, even when
her drawings look beautiful, like the one on
the left. She actually told me not to put this
drawing on Instagram because it has too
many ‘mistakes’.

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 What are life drawing mistakes?
There isn’t a correct way to draw. There isn’t some absolute
list of correct and incorrect techniques carved into stone
somewhere by the art gods.

But there are such things as mistakes. You want to draw

TECHNICAL
differently to how you draw now. Some of you will want the
ability to draw realistically, some more stylised and so on. B EAUTY > LEA R N ING
Wherever you want to get to, there are ways of practising
MISTAKES CAN that will get you to that destination and there are ways that THE BIG MISTAKE
won’t.
BE FIXED AFTER
When you think of drawing mistakes, you probably think of
MINDSET MISTAKES some technical problem with how you’re drawing, like getting WHEN YOU VALUE YOUR DRAWINGS’
ARE FIXED proportions wrong or something like that. But technical
CURRENT BEAUTY (OR LACK THEREOF)
‘mistakes’ are inevitable as a beginner; there’s no way to
progress without making them first. So it’s not damaging to OVER WHAT YOUR DRAWINGS TEACH YOU,
make lots of technical mistakes. In fact, it’s a necessity.
YOU START TO MAKE FURTHER MISTAKES
There is another type of mistake which actually can be
damaging. These are not part of the journey; they are just
roadblocks. These are ways of approaching practice which
cause you to get trapped in a cycle that you can’t escape from.

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 BUMPY
PROGRESS
The quality of your drawings won’t
go up in a nice straight line, where
each drawing is a little better than
the last.

Sometimes you will have whole

drawing sessions where every
drawing looks worse than something
you did six months ago. Sometimes
you won’t feel progress for what
feels like forever.

These are not failed practice

sessions; they are part
of the process. If you
practise consistently
and deliberately
on a specific
skillset, you will
eventually arrive at
breakthroughs. They
will be exciting and
well earned.

GOOD, UGLY LEARNING

Your drawings now are not supposed to be beautiful, because you are still learning
to draw. Your drawings are supposed to be learning experiences so that in the
future, you will do beautiful drawings. Those learning drawings are ugly ducklings
that will one day become swans - love those ducklings. Unfortunately, I can’t say that
I have mastered this mindset yet, but I’m working on it.

I’ve been practising landscape sketches with watercolour when I take my dog
Maggie to the park. It’s totally new to me and I’m not good at it. I told myself, if I can
fit in 3 thirty-minute sketches a week, sometime next year I might be happy with one
of them. I told myself I’ll need to do a few hundred that I don’t like before I get one
I do like. But then each time I see the actual sketch, I still get annoyed that I’m not
‘good’! I have to remind myself of the same things we’ve laid out in this guide. The
problem isn’t the bad sketch itself; the problem is me getting annoyed by it.

Further mistakes happen when you value the current beauty of your drawing over
the learning you got from the drawing. We’ll look at some of those later. Again, these
are often mindset mistakes rather than technical mistakes. But the worst part is that
mindset mistakes lead to further technical problems.

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 T H E D E M O RA LI SATI ON CYCLE THE LEARNING CYCLE
I want it to look respectable. i need to keep learning it’s not pretty but
it looks a bit silly... so i’ll be able to draw I’m learning...
ugh, i give up... beautifully one day...

i do still want to i better practise more...

my skill draw though...
level isn’t
shooting up... my skill level isn’t
shooting up...

then one
day...
ok, i’ll try again,
and force it to hey wait a minute...
look good... that isn’t bad!

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 M Y D E M O RALI SATI ON STORY
WE ALL HAVE ONE...
I GOT TRAPPED IN THE DEMORALISATION CYCLE
FOR ABOUT 15 YEARS
When I was a kid, I thought I was making
good progress with drawing. I loved
drawing and drew everyday. My mum
Mayko encouraged me. My brother
Gez (now an art director at a big games
studio) was also drawing constantly.
I mostly made comic books and new
superheroes that I thought would make
good members of the X-Men. It was a lot
of work, but I loved it.
Then we got a new art teacher at
school, and she told me my drawings
were no good. She said that I needed to
study real art, pointing me to highbrow
contemporary galleries. Those paintings
always looked awful to me. I remember
she used to draw on top of my drawings
with a crayon to show me what ‘real art’
was like. So I got it into my head that
I didn’t understand art and that it wasn’t
for me. I stopped drawing completely.
But as the years went on and I became
an adult, I unconsciously floated back
to drawing all the time. At university, I
filled every margin in every book with
doodles. My notes were 30% words and
70% imaginary figure drawings.
I realised that I simply had to draw and
began going to a figure drawing class.
But the drawings didn’t look great, which
made sense since I’d not been doing any
proper practise. I’d remember that I was
‘no good’ at art, and I’d stop again. I’d go
through this cycle a few times a year for
most of my 20s.
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12 YEARS OLD WORRIED ADULT IMPATIENT
HAVING A LOT OF FUN FULL OF SELF-DOUBT I WANT TO BE GOOD NOW!
When I hit about 30, life was going well
in terms of career and family, but I still I remember thinking my Having not drawn much Once I accepted that I would
had this incredible desire to draw. My creation, XTRAORDINARY for a long time, I’d go to life always have a deep desire
mum has been amazing at figure drawing X-MEN, was as good as anything drawing, quickly convince to draw, I started to practise
for as long as I can remember, so I asked you could buy in the shops, and myself I didn’t have talent, regularly, but beat myself up
her to come along with me to some I was only going to get better. and give up until next time. for not being amazing at it.
figure drawing classes.
After each class, we’d walk to the tube
station together and she’d give me a few
simple tips. She also told me that she
wondered why I didn’t draw as much
anymore, because she used to love my LOVE THE UGLY DUC KLIN G S
old drawings. Here was a supportive art
teacher with simple but useful tips - my
own mum! It turned out to be just what
I needed and I started to gain a little bit
of my confidence back.
Learning is not a smooth upward path
though. Some weeks I’d feel like I was
back at square one. But I was going to
class every week and even if I couldn’t
see improvement week to week, I could
see big changes from the previous
year. I realised that if I could accept
some ‘bad drawings’, I’d be able to make
progress. I started to think that although
my drawings might not be beautiful,
they were definitely good learning
experiences.
It hasn’t been a fast transition, and I STARTING TO LEARN OPTIMISTIC HAVING FUN AGAIN
often find myself getting annoyed with SLOWING DOWN THAT’S... NOT BAD EXCITED TO TRY MORE
‘bad drawings’. But the more I shift to
the learning mindset, the more I want to
As lessons about drawing This drawing was a turning Finally, it became clear
practise, the more I try new things and
slowly started to sink in, point for me. I saw the power that mistakes are part of a
the quicker my progress becomes.
I realised this was no sprint. of practise. For the first time powerful cycle of learning
It wasn’t even a marathon; this since my home-made comics, and that this journey is only
was going to be a journey. I thought ‘that’s ... not bad’. going to get better.
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 T H E COM FORT ZONE THE L EARNING ZONE

my drawings should teach

all my drawings me something, and they d0!
should look good, now!
but they don’t...

i’ll work on new skills,

even though they’re so
i’ll make it as good unfamiliar...
as possible by doing
my skill level isn’t what I know...
shooting up...
my skill level isn’t
shooting up...

ugh... I’m getting

nowhere. I give up.
it’s not perfect, but
it’s evolving!

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T HE COM FO RTA BLE PLATE AU
WE ALL HAVE ONE...
STRUGGLING WITH CHARCOAL HELPED ME LOVE DRAWING
BEYOND MY COMFORT ZONE
When I was in my negative ‘I can’t draw
well and that’s a problem’ mode, I would
use an A4 pad and a pencil. I wondered
why my lines always looked furry or
hairy, instead of smooth and clean like
good artists. I decided that I was simply
a messy person. At the same time, I was
very worried about doing a drawing that
looked really bad. I wanted to reduce
the ‘badness’ as much as I could. That
was my goal: do a drawing that’s not too
awful. So my best chance was by using
an approach where I felt more control.
In other words, making small, controlled
marks like I was writing.
The very first thing my mum said to me
after our first class together was ‘draw
bigger’. That was the only advice. In fact,
it was the main thing she emphasised
for a few months. I was resistant. I
wasn’t comfortable with drawing bigger.
Eventually, I gave in and tried it. It was
awkward. I couldn’t really figure out the
sense of scale. My proportions became
worse. I was still doing the tentative little
marks but I was trying to get them to
cover more of the paper.
I complained about all of this and wanted
to go back to drawing small. My mum
said: “Now use a stick of willow charcoal
instead of a graphite pencil.” I thought
she was mad. How could adding another
challenge help with the first challenge
that I was already failing at?
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I hated the charcoal. It was messy and
the lines were heavy and gloomy. I really
wanted to get back to a graphite pencil in
a nice little A4 sketchbook, where I had
some control.
Next up, Mayko said I should use large
sweeping arm movements to draw, and
I should just ‘go for it’. I tried it, and the
drawing was wrong in many ways. But
I saw something in the drawing I hadn’t
before. It was all horribly wrong, but
there was something nice in the line
quality. I thought: “Maybe charcoal isn’t
so bad.”
That was the tipping point. I’d seen a
little progress. I realised that moving
outside of my comfort zone means
initial discomfort, but is the only path to
eventual progress. I also realised that:
a) my mum knew what she was talking
about;
b) that progress means taking baby
steps;
c) you need to have faith in the learning
process.
This experience is basically the main
reason we started Love Life Drawing - to
help people in a similar position to the
one I was in.
COMFORT ZONE MISTAKES
These come from those earlier mindset mistakes. We’ll describe them here,
but remember the mindset problems need fixing before these do.
DRAWING SMALL
WITH TRIPOD GRIP
Drawing to a small scale can feel
easier because you can control
little precise movements of your
fingers to create little marks.
STRAIGHTENING
REDUCING MOVEMENT
If the pose has dynamic
big curves and wild angles,
beginners get nervous and
straighten everything out.
LEARNING IS UNCOMFORTA B L E
LEARNING ZONE ACTIVITIES
The learning zone is a scary place at first. But staying in this zone is how you
get to truly beautiful drawings in the future.
WHOLE ARM
BIG SWEEPING LINES
Drawing bigger and making
sweeping arm movements is
unfamiliar and takes time to learn.
Do it and persevere!
EXAGGERATING
ADDING WILDNESS
Since you’re likely to reduce the
movement and straighten angles,
fight this by exaggerating them.
Make the drawing extra dynamic.
PENCIL & RUBBER
FALSE SENSE OF CONTROL
Again, this is about having a
sense of control. A graphite
pencil can be very precise,
and mistakes can be erased.
The marks are also a sort of
shiny grey - not the deep tones
of charcoal or rich colour of
pastel, watercolour, or stark
marks of pen. So a pencil feeds
into a cautious approach. We
love graphite pencils, but not
the effect they can have on a
beginner’s mindset.
CHARCOAL , PEN
PASTEL ETC
Charcoal creates expressive
marks and will teach you so much.
Pen requires committed lines
and acceptance of risk. We are
not saying one material is better
than another, but they each teach
you something different. When
you overcome the challenges
each one presents, you become a
better artist. So if you’re stuck on
something familiar, break out into
the learning zone with
a new material.
CAUTIOUS LINES
FEARFUL DRAWING
Beginners feel less confident
and are afraid to do a drawing
that looks silly, so their lines
are tentative.
SMALL HANDS
AND FEET
Not really a comfort zone thing,
but I wanted to squeeze this in
somewhere. Beginners often draw
hands and feet way too small!
RISKY LINES
‘GO FOR IT’ DRAWING
Lines that could go very wrong -
loose and uncontrolled - also stand
the best chance of being beautiful.
BIGGER HANDS
AND FEET
Draw hands and feet bigger than
you feel you should. Come back a
few days later and see. Was it too
big? Or just right?
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01
GOING TUTORIAL
AND BOOK CRAZY
Sometimes after a learning
drawing that looks bad, my
brain tries to stop me from
drawing more. It wants to
protect me from this ‘failure’.
But I still want to learn to draw,
so it offers a compromise:
watch tons of tutorial videos
and read books on drawing.
This way, I can tell myself I’m
learning while not actually
having to practise, which is the
only way to truly learn.
I’m not saying don’t watch
tutorials (especially ours, of
course), but I am saying that
the learning happens in the
practise. You can enhance
practise by basing it on
tutorials, but do way more
practise than tutorial watching!
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Further mistakes, described here,
are born when you make those earlier
mindset mistakes. Fixing these begins
with shifting to the learning mindset.
02
BELIEVING
PRECONCEPTIONS
I’m not sure where our
preconceived ideas of how
figures and faces should be
drawn come from. They might
be drilled into us when we are
young. An eye is a circle inside
an oval. Arms and legs are long
lines, heads always go above
shoulders and so on.
Those ideas are wildly wrong
and somehow override the
information our wonderful eyes
are telling us. That’s because
our minds want to avoid a ‘silly
looking’ drawing, and it thinks
it knows how to make sure the
drawing looks like a person.
It’s great if you can start to
unravel those preconceptions,
and replace them with some
better ideas. Start to trust your
eyes and get your brain to do
something useful.
03
OVERVALUING
PROPORTIONS
When starting to draw, a
major aim is often to not draw
something that looks ‘wrong’ -
a term often used for a figure
that’s out of proportion.
When a figure drawing is in
proportion, but has lost all its
movement and everything that
makes it interesting, it is not
thought of as ‘wrong’ for some
reason. If it retains all that
energy, but the head is too big
or something, it’s ‘wrong’.
Proportions are important
to some drawing styles, and
personally I do want my
proportions to be right. But
don’t forget to give yourself
credit for the other things in
the drawing that are working,
or to strive for other things
than just proportionate figures.
04
PRIORITISING
DETAIL OVER SHAPE
Often when starting out, we
think that a drawing can be
made to look good, or at least
look more ‘right’, if it’s got lots
of detail. We get caught up
in unimportant little bits of
information before we have the
big shapes in place.
The truth is that a figure
drawing can look good with just
a few lines, if the big important
shapes are captured. Adding
detail is more about your style.
It’s not necessary for capturing
the pose or making things look
natural.
It’s hard to resist the urge to
add details early, because it
all seems important and like it
would help explain things to the
viewer’s eyes.
If you are doing any of these, don’t
beat yourself up. All of this is part of
the learning process, and being kind to
yourself helps make that process more
fun and more successful.
05
VALUING EVERY
CONTRAST
Our eyes are drawn to contrast.
That’s something you can use
to your advantage in a drawing.
Guide the viewer’s eyes using
contrast.
But the problem is that when
observing the figure, your eyes
will go to every contrast in tone,
and then you’ll fill the drawing
with all of them.
For example, you might
strongly draw the tones
between every rib, because
your eyes are drawn to those
changes in value. But these
variations don’t explain the big
important shapes of the figure;
they are just little undulations.
Emphasising them creates a
skeleton look.
06
DRAWING MORE
THAN OBSERVING
The information you need is
in the figure. But as we have
seen, your brain thinks it knows
better and uses preconceptions
more than observing the reality.
It tries to control the outcome
of the drawing more than being
fascinated by the figure itself.
So you might spend more
time pouring over the drawing
than observing the figure.
With time, you’ll learn to build
your understanding of the
pose starting from important
landmarks, and draw from
there.
That’s why we love the blind
drawing exercise - you cannot
try to control the drawing by
staring at it and tinkering with
details the whole time.
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 IN-DEPTH LESSONS

TO GUIDE YOUR LEARNING, TRY OUR FREE TUTORIALS AND

LESSONS THROUGH THE FOLLOWING LINKS:

Learning and Mindset
In this series, we learn about
the mindset needed to succeed
learning life drawing and
cover various topics about the
learning process itself.
Gesture Series
A short series of tutorials
designed to help you achieve
loose and expressive gestural
drawings, including technique,
mindset and exercises.
Areas of the Figure
In this series, we go in-depth
on how to draw specific parts
of the body. You’ll learn how to
draw shoulders, necks and so
on.
Beginner Course
A 10 lesson series designed to
help beginners get to grips with
the most important life drawing
skills, keeping it all simple and
doable.
Artist Eye Training
Learn ways to see the world
with an artist’s eye. We look at
principles of perspective and
light during daily life.
Artist Analysis Series
Here we analyse great artwork
from our favourite artists to
understand why the drawings
and paintings work so well.

Figuary Challenge
2019
Figuary is a month of figure
drawing lessons and practice
sessions. Take the challenge
and transform your life
drawings!
Foreshortening
Foreshortening is tricky at first,
this 3-part series will help make
it simpler for you. We cover
the techniques, exercises and
principles.
Draw Along Practise
In these we show reference
photos and draw them, and
narrate the process and you
can draw along with us.
Drawing Faces
This short series of tutorials is
about drawing faces.
Podcasts
We used to do podcasts and
you can still hear them here.
We talk about all sorts of life
drawing topics.
Hatching Technique
These posts are about hatching
technique, crosshatching,
contour hatching, parallel
hatching and other forms of
hatched shading.

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