
How to Draw An Owl - Dramatize
http://ben.casnocha.com/2010/11/how-to-draw-an-owl.html
======
ghurlman
The blog post is nice enough, but make sure you catch the comment from
"onjibonrenat" - I got more out of that than the post itself.

~~~
rookie
agreed, here's a direct link

[http://ben.casnocha.com/2010/11/how-to-draw-an-
owl.html#comm...](http://ben.casnocha.com/2010/11/how-to-draw-an-
owl.html#comment-6a00d8341c85c753ef0134898be993970c)

~~~
InclinedPlane
The funny thing is that the better you become the more critical you will be,
because you will have mastery and you will be able to detail all of the
imperfections that before you couldn't even notice. And you will have the
weight of all that training and all that anticipation on your back and you
will be all the more hesitant to declare anything short of absolute perfect to
be good.

------
praptak
Side note: if you really want to draw that _fucking owl_ I recommend "Drawing
on the Right Side of the Brain" by Betty Edwards. It's a book about drawing
(no surprise) that goes deeper than just the mechanics of drawing, so it's
also fun to read.

~~~
electromagnetic
I recommend a pencil, it's more useful than trying to etch out a drawing with
a book... however I do like that people aren't suggesting art classes to learn
drawing.

I'm a self-taught writer and I think my biggest selling point is my personal
voice in my work. I don't think you'd learn a personal style in artistry
without brute forcing. I also think brute forcing your way to being talented
is going to give you the ability to brute force your way through a block.

------
smackay
It looks like a Great Horned Owl,
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Horned_Owl>. They usually just sit and
stare at you so drawing them should not be too much of a problem.

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hartror
Something I have to remind myself often when starting a new hobby. I have a
taste for RL projects but lack the experience in most areas so often the
initial iterations suck.

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cantbecool
This blog post reminds of an article I read a few years back, 2007 I think, in
the Harvard Business Review called, The Making of an Expert. The article
stipulates that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert in a
particular field. It also stated that having a mentor increased the probably
of actually becoming an expert significantly.

~~~
ryan-allen
An essay written by Kathy Sierra a couple of years ago cites some research
along those lines:

[http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2006/0...](http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2006/03/how_to_be_an_ex.html)

Every time I get despondent about new skills (which obviously are long term
plans) I re-read that and say, yes, time to practice, and time to practice
deliberately! Sometimes I wonder that if you can't enjoy the work to get to
the end goal then what's the point, so I try to find ways to enjoy the
practice, and usually do.

------
Mithrandir
I, unfortunately, often fall into the first category. :(

~~~
nsfmc
no, there is no category. this might as well be "how to build a python app"

    
    
        1. print "hello, world!"  
        2. finish your program
    

the point is that there's a lot missing between the two, but we often present
the progression between the two stages as monotonic (even/especially in
documentation or instruction manuals or coursework!), but it's usually much
more nuanced (even for 'experts')

------
aneth
How to make a rails app (back when scaffolding was wiz-bang):

1)

rails blog

script/generate scaffold Post

script/server

<http://localhost:3000>

Look at your pretty blogging engine

2)

Delete all the generated code and write an actual blog engine.

