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The 10,000 hour expert – picture books

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by

Jax Blunt
in
the nowhere box Sam Zuppardi

I’m reading a lot of picture books at the moment. I’ve started thinking about drawing. I’m inspired by things like The Nowhere Box(Amazon link) which is very simplistic in terms of drawing, but every picture is full of life. You can still see the sketch lines, and the colour is roughly added, but that adds to the energy and movement of the story. I also love the way that some of the pictures are collaged with cardboard.

In the back it says that Sam Zuppardi, the artist is self taught. I guess that means that he drew stuff, lots. I’ve been talking to Sarah McIntyre (jabberworks on twitter) and she sent me this fab link to an article all about how to get into picture books. (She’s great on twitter, you should check out the #PicturesMeanBusiness tag.) One of the things she talks about is how long it takes to build up the skills to become an illustrator

I’ve also found Sam Zuppardi’s blog – I love what he’s written about the types of pictures he likes.

Pictures like that made me think ‘Hey, I’ve got crayons like that in my drawer! I could have a go.’

(Read the whole article here)

10,000 hours is a timeframe often batted about for becoming an expert. At 10 minutes a day, I’m never going to get there. But I spend way more than 10 minutes a day at the moment playing wordament. If, instead of playing, I carried a sketch book, and in very spare couple of minutes, I sketched, how quickly could I become a little proficient?

10,000 hours to be an expert. So would a 1000 hours be a beginner, 5000 an apprentice? And how many hours a day can you put in to get there?

Maybe I haven’t got enough time left to become an expert in something new. But it’s got to be worth a try. I’ve signed up to a drawing class from Craftsy, and read a couple of books on anime. I’m not sure what style of drawing I have in mind, but I have a germ of an idea.

All I need is time 😉

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Comments

5 responses to “The 10,000 hour expert – picture books”

  1. Midlife Singlemum avatar
    Midlife Singlemum

    Go for it. I also read the 10,000 hours (I wrote a log post about it) in Malcolm Gladwell – I can’t remember the title of that particular book. You need to make sure you’re learning though not just doiong 10,000 hours of repetition. The class sounds like a great idea. Looking forward to seeing some of your results.

    Reply
    1. Jax Blunt avatar
      Jax Blunt

      There’s a couple on instagram/twitter already 🙂

      Reply
    2. Jax Blunt avatar
      Jax Blunt

      And yes, the learning is a very relevant point. Will pop by and hunt out your blog post

      Reply
  2. peter bangs avatar
    peter bangs

    The original al use of 10,000 hours referred to how long somebody had to work to get to the top of their game in sports I believe. With drawing it’s more “the rest of your life after you first pick up a pencil”. You never stop learning and you never stop striving. Unlike running or football or basket ball there is no measurement of quality be use its all subjective. If running is your thing and you can run a mile in under 4 minutes, you’re pretty much at the top of your game. Art is about expression and that’s much harder to quantify.
    Carrying a pocket sketchpad with you and drawing everything is one of the best ways to start. Beyond that, any book or course that teaches you to really look at the world is generally the most valuable thing once you’ve got a good hold on the basics of line, tone, perspective an composition. Mostly though it should be fun.

    Reply
    1. Jax Blunt avatar
      Jax Blunt

      Thanks Peter, that’s a good way of looking at it. And I’ve had great fun with it today so at least I’ve got one thing right!

      Reply

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