Want to Draw? Start Small.

Drawing in tiny boxes can unlock your hidden talent

30 years ago, someone “important” told me I couldn’t draw.

My mistake? I believed him.

I was fresh out of college, and I wanted a job making maps and graphics for newspapers. I interviewed for an internship at the Associated Press, a major news organization in New York City. Despite my Journalism degree and plenty of examples of relevant work, I didn’t get the job.

The reason?

In the editor’s exact words: “You can’t draw.”

I had no idea how much those three words would impact my life. Years later, with some perspective, I can look back and realize that what he probably meant was, “you can’t draw the way I need you to,” but at the time, the damage was done.

I gave up. I stopped designing infographics. I stopped pursuing jobs that I didn’t feel 100% qualified to do. I changed my focus to typography and design, and I spent the next decade as a page designer for newspapers, with no illustration work involved.

10 years went by…

I worked my way up to a design role at the Daily News in New York, and I was pretty stressed out. I needed a good distraction.