step 1: diagnose why you find yourself getting frustrated. are you putting a lot of clean up and effort into your sketch to put off inking? does your lineart feel stiff compared to the sketch? do you not like the feel of your ink brush? figure out where your pain point is. when does the drawing stop being fun?

step 2: reevaluate your artistic goals. what do you want your art to look like? what kind of art do you like to look at? is there an artist whose work gets close that you can study? figuring out where you’re trying to go is an important step in figuring out how to get there.

step 3: change what you’re doing. if you’re doing a lot of cleanup to the sketch and don’t enjoy the lineart process, consider whether you even need to ink it. cleaned sketch lines with nice colors or shading can look perfectly good. or maybe you could consider a lineless style, and try to work with the lasso tool. basically, if what you’re doing right now isn’t working, just try something else. i’m a little bored with my personal style, so i’ve been trying new brushes and taught myself pixel animation, and it’s been very exciting and fresh to do something new. and there’s always the “well i’ve only tried this a couple times, i don’t expect to be great at it” excuse you can tell yourself if you don’t master it immediately.

actual homework exercises you can do

you’re going to draw goblins. what “goblin” means is up to you, i don’t mean my goblins, i mean whatever funny little idiots come into your mind. you’re going to do it three ways.

• set a timer for 45 minutes. how far into the drawing can you get in 45 minutes, working at your usual pace and with your usual methods? it’s important you don’t try to go fast. you’re diagnosing what you can do.
• set a timer for 45 minutes. you Have to finish the drawing in 45 minutes. now you’re allowed to try to go fast. what is the best way for you to accomplish this? drawing it straight with a pen and committing to your lines? making a really nice sketch? “finished” means a full body, but it doesn’t have to mean inked or colored. do your best, but also don’t be discouraged if the final product isn’t perfect. we don’t want perfect, we want done.
• you have unlimited time. if you have an artist whose work you want to look like, sit down and figure out how they would draw a goblin, and try to execute on it. what brushes would they use? what textures? what color palette? what stylistic symbols? again, we aren’t looking for a perfect imitation, but to think about what you like and how to achieve it. figuring out what you like about the process is how you find the fun.

think on those three steps and draw those three goblins and see where you’re at. if nothing else you’ll now have three funny goblins.