I can't draw and so can you!

The story of how I almost got kicked out of art school

Learning to draw is like riding a bike

I sold some art this week. Feels good but it forces me to wrestle with an old demon that I still haven’t defeated. How do you reconcile your “day job” with your creative practice? This is the story of my struggles to get paid to draw pictures…

I almost got kicked out of art school.

It’s a story I’ve never told before because it hurts too much. Graphic design really was a dream job for a kid who wanted to grow up to be an artist. And when it looked like that dream was ending it crushed me.

A sketch… no an “Illustration” by Ade

One day coming up the stairs in the art building I overheard two professors talking. It was after hours and they reasonably assumed they were alone. But I practically lived in the art building so I got to hear them arguing. I quickly realized they were talking about ME. I listened to one of them run me down. The other defended me. At some point I broke down in tears and revealed myself. I thought my dream of becoming a graphic designer was dead.

College was mostly easy, especially the art classes, except for one. Illustration. My problem wasn’t lack of artistic skill. I could draw. No, it was something else. Back then illustration was the primary skill of a graphic designer, if you couldn’t do it you might be in the wrong program. I think my professor took it personally when I struggled in her class. She knew I could draw, too, and misunderstood my struggle as rebellion. And truth be told, I was rebellious. I was constantly breaking the rules of the assignments to try and find a creative angle to boring problems. My professor told me that in the business world this would get me fired. So she “fired” me by giving my assignments low grades. She would have kicked me out of the program if she had her way.

But why? Why did I struggle to draw in a commercial setting? There was something inside me that resisted illustration. I loved to draw, but put it in an assignment that mimicked a commercial requirement checklist and it felt like my fur was being rubbed in the wrong direction. I froze up. I still do.

Luckily, the other professor was the head of the design program and he saw potential in me. He created an alternative path, volunteering to teach me in an independent study situation where I could focus on photography and digital illustration to get the credits I needed to get my degree in design. It’s not an exaggeration to say that I wouldn’t have a design career if this professor hadn’t helped me.

Despite my struggles with illustration, I actually do find myself drawing at work. The images in this post are sketches that I used in storyboards that help my teams align around the people and the problems our products helped solve. Without the rest of the storyboard they feel empty, like a cartoon without a punchline. And if you look carefully you might sense my hesitation to commit to the format completely. It’s as if a rebellious student is trying to spend as little time as possible on the assignment.

The irony is that my day job has fizzled to a halt. I could blame AI and its ability to draw pictures better than I can. But just as most corporate careers are spiraling into irrelevance, the people who are doing something different are on the rise. It’s almost as if my rebellious graphic design instincts were right all along. It’s not about following the rules, it’s about finding creative ways to work around systems.

Perhaps I buried the lead here, but I am looking at ways that I can unify my creative practice with something that resembles a career. This Substack is part of that puzzle. You will see me experimenting soon. I want to deliver handmade art and unexpected ideas to paid subscribers in a way that doesn’t feel like a commercial exchange. I can’t announce anything yet, other than to say that I will make it worthwhile to be an early supporter if you want to get ahead of the game. Stay creative.

Your friend,
Ade