What to do when you don't like your drawing

Turning frustrations into fuel

You finish a drawing in your sketchbook, and you don’t like it. First of all, don’t panic. Not every drawing will be a home run.

The feeling sucks. But it is a good thing. Dissatisfaction is unmet expectations, which shows that you want to make something good. You’re only unhappy with the drawing because you want to improve.

But first, take a break from feeling bad.

Maybe grab a coffee and take a little break.

Look for the good

Every “failed” drawing is an opportunity to learn. But there is something good in every painting or drawing; seeing the good is vital for sustaining yourself. When a drawing disappoints you, find the good first.

Remember that finishing a drawing is a good thing in itself. It’s easy to talk yourself out of making something, so it’s worth celebrating when you do it.

And then, think about the experience. What parts of that did you enjoy? A satisfying slap of paint, drawing lots of little windows or trying a new pen. Maybe just sitting and looking and slowing down felt good.

Even if the overall picture is a bit off, there will be something within that is pleasing. Here are some aspects that might be useful to look for

• Shape. It might be a shape: a satisfyingly pointy nose or a perfectly circular lamp.

• Colour. Perhaps you mixed the perfect purple. Or you discovered that two colours go nicely together.

• Line. Maybe you like one specific line—a long, smooth and satisfying one. Or the texture that you made with jagged lines.

• One object. Often, there’s one specific feature of the picture that worked. It might just be a car tyre or one figure.

Hunt for that good and work out precisely what it is, and then make sure you write it down. This makes you aware of it, which gives you a bit of a confidence boost for now and goalposts to aim at in the next drawing.

If you really, seriously cannot find anything good about your sketch, send it my way and I’ll tell you what I like about it.

Once you’ve done that, you might want to put the drawing away for a while. Come back a bit later to work out what you didn’t like. You might find that the drawing improves with some time away from it. It’s funny like that.

Find the issues

Often, there’s a feeling something is wrong, but we get waffly and say, “Oh, I don’t know, it’s just flat.” or “It’s a bit boring.” These sentences are not helpful because they don’t give you the next step. I tell my students they are only allowed to dislike a drawing if they can tell me why.

We’ve gotta get specific.