Morning Sketches

I often find myself reassuring designers that they shouldn’t be intimidated by the command line. Many of them come from different visual arts backgrounds but are eager to expand their web and multimedia skills.

My aim is to break things down and show how learning one new thing can unlock countless possibilities. The first time I used FFMPEG or Imagemagick for batch processing, it felt magical. Learning just a bit of those heiroglyphics could help create awesome visual things. But command line demos can overwhelm skeptical designers, leaving them thinking it’s not worth the effort.

While some people are visual thinkers, that doesn’t mean they can’t use a line of code to create something visually stunning.

Ironically, I struggle with the same mindset when it comes to drawing. For the longest time, I convinced myself I just couldn’t draw. My hand would shake, and I’d erase the same line over and over again and pretty quickly lose patience.

I do think natural talent plays a role. Some people pick up certain skills effortlessly. Drawing hasn’t come naturally to me, but I’m determined to improve at something I’ve always believed I couldn’t do.

So, I’m committing to one sketch every morning. Sometimes I trace, which might feel like cheating, but I see it as practicing “scales” on an instrument. Other times, it’s just abstract shapes or color schemes. My goal is volume and progression, to build a library of work I can analyze and refine.