How Learning the Fundamentals Changed Everything

There was a point when drawing stopped feeling creative.

I'd relied on the grid method for years. It gave me accurate results, but over time every drawing began to feel the same controlled, predictable and lifeless. I wasn't creating anymore. I was copying.

Slowly, I became disconnected from the thing I'd loved for over 20 years. Drawing had always been my escape, but eventually it felt like a chore. I stopped picking up the charcoal altogether, and when I did try to draw, it felt as though I'd lost the part of me that made me an artist.

So I made a decision to do something I wasn't good at.

I stripped everything back and started again. No grid. No shortcuts. Just me, my hand and the paper.

At first, my work actually looked worse.

Without the grid to rely on, every mistake was exposed. But what I didn't realise was that I wasn't just learning to draw freehand I was finally learning the fundamentals of portrait drawing.

I understood proportions instead of guessing them. I could capture a stronger likeness without depending on a grid. And because I truly understood what I was drawing, I naturally developed my own style instead of producing the same portrait over and over again.

Most importantly, I fell back in love with drawing.

The process became exciting again. Every portrait taught me something new, and for the first time in years I felt inspired to create, experiment and push myself as an artist.

That journey changed the way I draw and it's the foundation of everything I teach inside this mentorship.