"I Can't Draw"

How to make comics when you're afraid of drawing.

Author

Crucial Comix
October 29, 2024

 Read new comics!

» Leathery Little Saints: Raising children amid the climate crisis makes a father reflect on all the little lives around him.

» Symmetry in Physics: A scientific look at why there’s so much symmetry in nature. 

» Why did I think I was straight? Reflections on coming to identify as queer and nonbinary in your thirties.

News

A Comics Series Takes Aim at Project 2025 

A group of cartoonists has put their anxious election energy into creating a series of free comics about the policies outlined in Project 2025. If you’ve missed the news about this, Project 2025 is a document prepared by the right-wing Heritage Foundation that outlines a roadmap for a second Donald Trump presidency. Among the policy plans are abolishing the Department of Education, terminating the legal status of 500,000 “Dreamer” immigrants,  and dismantling the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (which tracks hurricanes and other weather) because it is “one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry.” The comics explain the proposed policies on the climate crisis, healthcare, and many other issues. Check out the Stop Project 2025 Comics here.

 Upcoming classes

All of our classes are sliding-scale and offered online, so they’re affordable and you can join from anywhere. We also have free spots available in every class for people who can’t afford the price—get in touch if you’d like to request a free spot!

Multi-week classes

• Facing the Blank Page: Drawing Comics When You’re Afraid of Drawing with Ali Holmes // Are you interested in comics but think you could never draw your own? Join the club! This extremely encouraging, low-stakes class starts with drawing blobs to help you face anxiety around drawing. Saturdays from 10am - noon PST (1pm-3pm EST), November 9 – December 14

• Comics Editing with Shay Mirk and Whit Taylor // Two cartoonists who each have over a decade of comics-editing experience will guide you through this hands-on class that focuses on editing other peoples’ nonfiction work while also improving your own.  Tuesdays from 4pm-5:30pm PST (7pm-8:30pm EST), November 12 – December 3rd

One-off Workshops 

• Cooking up Comics: Make a Recipe Zine! // Make a mini-comic of your favorite recipe with Cook Like Your Ancestors author Mariah-Rose Marie! Participants will be shown how to draw juicy dishes, cook up accessible and easy-to-follow recipes, and preserve the stories that made them. Sunday, November 10th, 11am-1pm PST (1pm-3pm EST)

• Introduction to Digital Drawing with Procreate // Just picked up a new iPad? Want to get into drawing digitally? This beginner-friendly workshop led by tech savvy youth and Crucial Comix editor Audra McNamee will go over a basic comics-making workflow in Procreate. Thursday, November 21, 5pm-7pm PST (8pm-10pm EST)

Artist Spotlight

Ali Holmes is a teacher and artist in Bellingham, Washington, who’s teaching the upcoming six-week class Facing the Blank Page: Creating Comics When You’re Afraid of Drawing. A former middle school art teacher, Ali is now an adjunct art professor at Western Washington University.

Have you ever been afraid to draw? 

I got my BA in visual art in 2016. In 2019, I went back to graduate school to get my Masters in Teaching to teach visual art. BUT, I had a major concern about teaching art and that was: drawing. I was terrified. I had taken one drawing class and it was taught by the college's ceramics professor. We mostly focused on "abstract drawing." I didn't know how to start, what was good, or how people drew "realistically" at all. I had also convinced myself that I wasn't good at drawing and that I couldn't be good at it. This was a mantra I repeated over and over while getting my degree in art and I really believed it.

In 2020 after graduating, I started reading a ton of graphic novels. Through this process, I learned how many different ways people draw. Some people draw really realistically. Some make some squiggles. But all of them were good at communicating and storytelling. For my class through Crucial Comix, our focus will be how we can express the emotion of a story. Because that is really what comics is all about.

How do you respond when people say “I can’t draw?” 

When working with kids I would always say, "You can’t draw the way you want to, yet." I also love to compare drawing to writing and invite you to think about how many hours you were taught "how to write" in school versus "how to draw." When we don't emphasize access to arts education, our skills remain underdeveloped but this class will help you develop them. Sometimes, I still trace images because it is way easier and can further help me develop my ideas. I also don't worry if my perspective is a little off as long as I am communicating what I want to! This class will help you get started when you are afraid to start. Instead of asking the question "What is good drawing?" we’ll explore "What is good storytelling?"

What we’re reading

New nonfiction comics we recommend. 

🌿 Plant-based eating isn’t all or nothing. Hannah Good delves into having a flexible vegan diet as a way to reduce her own impact on the climate. [Washington Post] 

📦 The Shortbox comics fair is an annual online festival where artists around the world release original short comics. There are two nonfiction comics available for download this year, both of which are visually interesting and emotionally rich: Felicity by Joyce Y. Ng and autobiography has become a stone in my shoe by Peony Gent.

🏆 Congrats to artist and author Tessa Hulls, whose deeply moving graphic memoir Feeding Ghosts made the longlist for the 2025 Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. 

😭 Goodbye to the Scratch column! The New York Times’ Scratch column, a weekly dispatch reported by Shaina Feinberg and illustrated by Julia Rothman, recently ended. For their final column, the duo asked people to reflect on how to move on after years on a job.

 Opportunities for artists

• How to Touch Grass is a new comics anthology from Power & Magic Press that’s looking for submissions of comics about connection, isolation, and accessibility. Accepted artists are paid $125/page. Submissions are open until January 12th. 

• An Asexual and Aromantic comics anthology published by Lifeline Comics is accepting submissions from artists for comics across all genres with ace and aro identities. Work samples due by November 24th. 

• Dandelion Comics Residency in Milwaukee, Wisconsin is open for applications. This is a mentorship program where the comics artist-in-residence will produce an original mini comic. If you live near Milwaukee, check it out. Applications close November 6th.

One more exciting thing…

We have the perfect sticker for election week.

This newsletter is written by Shay Mirk. If you have comics or opportunities you think we should feature, email Shay at [email protected]. 💌