If you are beginning, steer clear of iconic characters.

Why? If you start copying pictures of your favorite characters, you get stuck with some bad habits. We will go over that in Lesson 3 some more.

Another big reason, which is this lesson's point, is that it is very easy to tell what's off about your drawing because it's being compared to a flawless finished character that people are familiar with.

I'll show you what I mean... I drew this in middle school, making that very mistake.

Yikes. You can tell that isn't a masterpiece, and it's easy to tell what's wrong with it. You will stand back afterwards and see your weird picture and discourage yourself from ever drawing again.

Unless, you draw from your imagination! There's no reference picture to compare that to! Your own unique characters and scenes will look infinitely better to your eye! It will boost creativity and your motivation to draw!

Look at my baby Cave Drawing...

100% from my own mind, no reference pictures or anything. I was pretty happy how this turned out..