Practice Supplies

OK, this is something that's going to be hard for some people to hear. DON'T USE PRACTICE SUPPLIES.

Don't draw your faces on copy paper first and then try to draw them in your journal. Don't try to learn how to shade with Crayola colored pencils before trying your nice expensive ones.

Your good paper and your good supplies are NOT going to act like Crayolas on copy paper. I promise. Crack open that good journal, grab a pencil that you paid $2 for, and PRACTICE THAT WAY. Do it. You aren't wasting it if you don't draw a masterpiece. You aren't wasting it if you throw away your first hundred. You are wasting it if it sits on the shelf and gathers dust.

This face is ugly:

It is. It's an ugly face. I draw them all the time. Less than I used to, and lots of times I work at them to make them better. Not this one. She's living right in my journal. One that I paid around $20 for. I mostly used cheap paint, but I also used my Neocolor II's - which are around $2 each. Is whatever this journal spread "cost" me in supplies a waste of money? Of course not. It's what I needed at the moment. It fulfilled whatever need I had right then. I don't think about what I paid for a supply while I'm using it - it's too late. The money is paid. Not using the supply doesn't save the money. It's already gone.

So, please, I'm begging you - grab your Fabriano Artistico paper and your Golden paints and make something ugly.