Justyna Dorsz

Show Your Work

Every image is a sum of its parts

You guys know that my brother and I have been working on our cat book. Each page takes a while.

You start with a rough sketch:

On top of it you create a cleaner sketch:

And then you keep adding details. Some things you can draw from memory. But if you are unsure how something looks you find references and take photos of things that you want to add. Here I took a photo of a plant spray bottle and then drew it:

I googled strawberries and then sketched them too using photos as references:

I searched for various plants and flowers for inspiration:

And I even used one of my designs with two cats and added them to the image:

From my design “Winter Cats”

And that’s how the whole drawing is made 🙂

“Show Your Work” – Book Notes

Today, I’ve read “Show Your Work” by Austin Kleon.

I wish I had read it years ago. If I did, maybe I would have started my blog earlier than I did.

The core message in the book is to not work in secrecy, to instead share ideas, bits and pieces of work, what you are learning.

Here are a few highlights:

  • “The best way to get started on the path to sharing your work is to think about what you want to learn, and make a commitment to learning it in front of others.
  • “Become a documentarian of what you do.”
  • “Being open and honest about what you like is the best way to connect with people who like those things, too.”
  • “The minute you learn something, turn around and teach it to others”

I recommend this book to anyone who creates things but is afraid of showing them to people. Or who would like to write a blog or post on Instagram but think they don’t have anything worth sharing.

Related articles that I’ve read recently: