When I started drawing again after nearly 40 years, I thought the hard part would be drawing animals.
The hardest thing i ever drew was a smooth line.
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▶️ The Hardest Thing I Ever Drew... Was a Smooth Line
Or continue reading below if you prefer the written version.
Eyes.
Fur.
Feathers.
Perspective.
Surely those would be the biggest obstacles.
I was wrong.
The hardest thing I drew...
was a smooth line.
That probably sounds ridiculous.
How hard can a line be?
Harder than I expected.
I'd put my pencil on the paper and try to draw one clean stroke.
Instead, it would wobble.
My hand would shake.
The line would curve where I didn't want it to.
Sometimes it looked like I'd been drawing in the back of a pickup truck going down a gravel road.
I erased.
I tried again.
And again.
And again.
For a while, I wondered if maybe I'd waited too long.
Maybe drawing was something you had to keep doing your whole life.
Maybe after four decades away...
you just couldn't get it back.
But something interesting happened.
Every day I drew another page.
Not because it looked good.
Not because anyone was watching.
Just because I wanted to get a little better than yesterday.
Almost without noticing, those shaky lines began to settle down.
Not perfectly.
Just... better.
One tiny improvement at a time.
I've realized that drawing isn't unique.
Every craft has its own version of the "smooth line."
For a writer, it's finishing the first page.
For a gardener, it's planting the first seed.
For a woodworker, it's making the first cut.
For a photographer, it's pressing the shutter even when they're not sure the picture will turn out.
The details change.
The feeling doesn't.
We all start with something that looks awkward.
It's easy to look at someone who's been creating for years and assume they were naturally talented.
What we usually don't see are the hundreds of crooked lines that came first.
Those shaky beginnings are almost always hidden.
Mine aren't.
I left many of my early drawings on YouTube because I wanted people to see that progress isn't magic.
It's repetition.
People sometimes ask what pencils I use.
Or what paper I recommend.
Those things matter a little.
But they matter far less than people think.
A better pencil won't draw the line for you.
Only practice can do that.
One smooth line won't change your life.
But deciding to draw another one tomorrow...
just might.
If there's something you've been wanting to start, don't wait until you feel ready.
Ready is a moving target.
Start with the shaky line.
Tomorrow, draw another.
One day you'll look back and realize the line wasn't what changed.
You did.
Keep creating.
Mitchell Trumble
If this story encouraged you, you can also:
• Watch the Hand Drawn Project on YouTube
• Browse my hand-drawn Lost & Found Critters collection
• Read the next journal entry