​Hi Reader, -- David here from SketchLikeAnArchitect.com​

When talking with people in my audience about making progress, I've learned that many struggle with and are held back by

• lack of confidence
• sketching fears or blocks
• believing they need "talent"
• inconsistency in practice
• not knowing what to improve or how
• lack of external feedback and accountability

Nod if you can relate!

The first thing I want you to know and realize that overcoming these obstacles and making actual, feel-good progress is 100% possible for you!

Now, what does it actually take to make progress and become more confident in your drawing skills?

Here’s my simple take:

(Smart) Practice » Competence » Confidence » Progress w/o plateaus

Let’s break it down:

1. Practice - is a deliberate system to follow on a consistent basis (knowing what to draw, why & how) with the goal to incrementally improve over time

2. Competence - reaching a certain level of skill because of (smart) practice.

Competence is tied to feeling proud of yourself for your efforts and making progress; feeling motivated & inspired to do it again - it’s the positive feeling that leads you to take next action.

3. Confidence - state of mind achieved by repeating the first two steps. We get gradually more confident (in a real & healthy way; not faking it or being cocky) in our drawing skills by achieving repeated great result in the past.

Where’s usually the problem?

No, not in talent.

Have you noticed that talent is not even part of the equation?

Once we take action and practice - what happens?

That's right, we make mistakes. And that's good!

After that is the crucial step...

What do we do about the mistakes? Do we even notice them? Can we tell what's not working and what can be improved?

Usually no - not ourselves.

The key differentiator in this scenario is feedback. External feedback.

Good, constructive, external feedback helps us acknowledge our mistakes and points us in the direction to improve on them next time.

What if we don't get (good) feedback?

Usually, we hit plateau (= we're stuck, no progress)

So if you're feeling stuck, maybe a little frustrated because of the lack of progress in your drawing skills, unsure what to improve and how...

Maybe it's time to seek out good external feedback :)

I wouldn't necessarily recommend to ask your friends or family as they like you too much for your own good.

What we need is honest and critical feedback, not just positive encouragement (which is great, too!).

Your local artist community would be a good place to start, maybe a college tutor, fellow urban sketchers or similar.

I know how important good feedback is from my own experience as a student as well as teacher and I had a privilege to work with some amazing artists, architects, and designers over the years.

Here's what they said about working with me 👇

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Reader - would YOU like the idea of working with me to make some serious progress in 2025?

Currently, I'm at my full capacity until the end of January, but if you're interested in the idea of working together in 2025,

​you can ​let me know here!​

To your progress,

David Drazil​
​Architect | Content Creator | Author
​Start Here | ​YouTube | Order My Books | For Beginners | For Advanced​

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PS. If you're already ahead of me and buying your Christmas gifts, have you considered gifting one my books? :)