Masterpiece syndrome

a terrible disease that almost everyone has

You see something cool. You think about drawing it. Maybe you even open the sketchbook. But a little voice in your brain tells you the drawing needs to be amazing. So you don’t draw the cool thing.

I’ve done that. Have you?

This near-universal experience is a result of Masterpiece Syndrome: a terrible disease of epidemic proportions.

The kind of drawing that masterpiece syndrome sufferers do the most.

Masterpiece Syndrome is the belief that every single drawing needs to be the best drawing ever.

Symptoms include:

• Staring at a blank page

• Saving art supplies for when you’re “good enough”

• Wanting to draw more but never doing it

The disease does not exist in small children. Little kids draw with reckless abandon. Confident marks, bold colour choices and in total flow. They’re unprecious about the outcome.

As we grow, uncertainty and self-doubt creep in. An offhand remark from an art teacher discourages us. Or we just become a little bit self-conscious.

The internet, with its infinite scroll of inspiration, makes the whole art-making endeavour more intimidating. There are all these other artists posting work that looks perfect.

Masterpiece Syndrome makes us expect to make perfect work, too.

But the perfect work you see online is only possible because it’s stacked on a heap of ok work.

And the ok work is standing on top of an even bigger pile. A pile of junk.

All work is like this

Great drawings are a result of lots of crummy ones. You’ve gotta get those out.

But HOW?

Ways out of masterpiece syndrome

There is no cure for this terrible disease, but we can manage the symptoms. It is simple enough, but not easy.

To quit staring at a blank page, you need to start quickly. One way to do that is to grab the biggest, lightest marker you have and scribble your subject as fast as you can. Then you’ve started, and all you have to do is keep going.

To quit saving art supplies, you need to use them up. Just go for it - they’re still making the fancy paper, and the paints do nothing if you leave them in the tube.

To quit just wanting to draw more and never doing it, get a cheap sketchbook and leave it somewhere you spend time. Do crappy drawings in it. Often.

These methods of symptom management are about embracing the “good-enough drawing. Do the bare minimum.

I realise all this advice is basically “just do the thing”, which isn’t that helpful, but it works.

I’m pretty sure that action is the enemy of Masterpiece Syndrome; take each drawing less seriously and get some momentum.

Looking back at drawings in sketchbooks, the ones I am happiest with are not the “best.” They’re drawings of little moments that I would have otherwise forgotten.

Little drawings from the endpapers of a travel sketchbook - learning German and Czech words for fruit from my friend’s kids. These kinds of sketchbook pages usually make me happier than big efforts.

Sometimes, eggs on toast is an adequate dinner. How can you do an “eggs on toast for dinner” drawing today?

Happy drawing,
Andrew

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PS. If you want to stop staring at blank pages, join us in Sketchbook Club, the paid section of this newsletter. Once a month, we get together online. I share a new way to draw, then we get busy drawing. It’s coming up soon, and it’s fun and easy.