Learn the fundamentals As an artist, you have to learn the fundamentals of anatomy, composition, lighting and perspectives. You can’t skip these fundamentals. However, once you learn the fundamentals you can break the ‘rules’ quite confidently and still produce a pleasing image. Don’t skip on the fundamentals of plot, pacing and characterisation. It might seem boring right now but once you master it you’ll be more confident in your story and you’ll produce better work. Perfection is boring We all heard the story about someone who wanted to produce a perfect piece of work and never finished it. Perfection is not achievable. It’s only through attempting something and producing failures can we produce great work. Besides, none of the great works of art or literature is perfect. Start small by sketching and then work up to produce a bigger image This is going to be controversial as I know each artist is different. However, before starting a large work we usually sketch the scen