{"id":2352,"date":"2016-04-14T04:32:09","date_gmt":"2016-04-14T04:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dd.salgoodsam.com\/?p=2352"},"modified":"2020-01-14T21:14:07","modified_gmt":"2020-01-14T21:14:07","slug":"dont-fear-failure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salgoodsam.com\/dd\/dont-fear-failure\/","title":{"rendered":"Don’t Fear Failure: learning from mistakes!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"miltononfailingWB\"<\/a><\/p>\n

You will never get better, unless you make mistakes.<\/h1>\n

So this comes up often in my class, it’s a universal obstacle to learning, and improving rapidly. <\/strong><\/h3>\n

This often\u00a0leads to a lot of cautious, stiff, even scratchy lines when we draw too. The hesitation, not trusting your hand to do the thing, worry. It\u00a0doesn’t\u00a0really help does it?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In class I talk a lot about learning to be a bit fearless, and to help that, compartmentalizing Doing from Study<\/a>, so that even more so when studying, we de-prioritize outcomes, or even better shift them during study, to welcoming messing up and making mistakes!<\/p>\n

We can learn from those, and I think like many we never get better if we only do what we already know how to or feels comfortable. Maybe you’ve already come to similar conclusions but for many it’s a new approach.<\/p>\n

But don’t take my word for it!<\/strong> First, I’ve posted\u00a0Peter Han’s\u00a0“Pardon My Dust”<\/a><\/strong>, on the class site here<\/strong><\/a>. Embedded along with a few much longer more detailed instructional clips he’s generously shared on Youtube and my notes on how those ideas intersect in places with my course plan well.<\/p>\n

The first<\/strong> main short,\u00a0directed by\u00a0Adriel de la Torre, is\u00a0a very nicely made 3:44min doc\u00a0of him talking about his process. Including addressing a\u00a0philosophy of\u00a0fearlessness. If you’ve never seen it watch that for sure. I think the course he founded<\/a>? –\u00a0Dynamic Sketching<\/a>\u00a0–\u00a0has aspects close to what I talk about in\u00a0Dynamic Drawing. Analytical Sketching<\/a> at Syn gets into the structural things he does more though.<\/p>\n

And on this page, I want to share with you a group of videos created by students of the\u00a0Berghs School of Communication in Sweden<\/a>, all of designers and thinkers, talking each for about 2 minutes about their opinions on,\u00a0and approach to the questions of “Fear of Failure”.<\/p>\n

I’ve always liked this first one by\u00a0Milton Glaser<\/a>. It’s the first I saw, and I’m an admitted fan. Often very slick in this one he looks like he got banged on the forehead in it a bit, bad lighting really brings out the great shapes in his expressive face. I didn’t find one when I googled\u00a0but I wish Al Hirschfeld<\/a> had drawn Milton, he must have at some time. He’s made for Hirshfeld.\u00a0It made me chuckle to think of\u00a0him as\u00a0nursing a black eye in it, like he’d just confirmed this life philosophy during a visit to fight club or something. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

That resulted in the fun sketch here<\/a>, and this post! So again I recomend you think in iterations<\/a>, and give yourself a limit. I drew pages for Dream Life<\/a>, 5 times tops each: thumbnails for layout, pencils, cleanups, then inks. For Therefore, Repent!<\/a> Just three, it had a very fixed deadline, so just three times. Layout, pencils, inks. You have to have a red line, the deadline.<\/p>\n

When you’re learning, set a similar kind of structure, finite focused period of practice<\/a>, designed to maximize learning from our mistakes!<\/p>\n

Now watch this, Jake Parker’s great clip expressing his take on this kind of thing<\/a>. It really is better to be finished rather than perfect. That does not mean give up on the first draft. You still want to work towards making each thing you do a bit better than the last.<\/p>\n