From the first email, we talked about how I have given up on drawing, and then I shared with you the how Waylon gave up drawing and came back stronger than ever.

There was only one problem with the last email… yeah, we got everything that happened, but we didn’t answer:

How did he come back stronger than ever?

Well, without knowing, he used a “3-punch combo” that I am going to share with you in this email.

Before I start, please notice something super important from his story:
(If you haven’t read his story, you can read it here)

He found inspiration again when Mangas became available in South Africa. Remember that?

But just getting excited was not enough.

Lots of students get excited and then… they do nothing.

So – For the TACTICAL ADVICE of today, I am now going to share with you the simple
3-Punch Combo to use if you ever get a small spark of inspiration.

If you take these 3 actions TODAY, you will start becoming stronger and stronger every day.

If you’ve ever felt that you’ve never really been good at drawing, and you always wished to have your own style, then these 3 simple actions can empower you to move forward.

I promise you, if you do those 3 actions today, you will be on your way to one day be able to draw the super cool fan art you see in your head.

Giving up won’t be an option (unless you want it to) – The thing is: IT WILL BE YOUR CHOICE.

LET’S START!!

You can literally change your life if you start something small and you repeat it every day.

Seriously… If I told you that my plan to get a six pack and get fit was working out 2 mins a day, I bet you would’ve said something nice, but inside your head you would’ve probably thought something like:

“Good luck with that sh*t! LOL”

This is a true story. In 2014 I decided to do 2 mins of exercises every day, and people thought “That’s nice” but didn’t really see the potential.

Here is what most people didn’t know:
I was not trying to get fit then, I was only trying to “get the foot in the door” and start building a LONG-LASTING HABIT.

This was me in 2014

That’s when I started with a small tiny change to repeat daily (I highly recommend BJ Fogg’s book, Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything)

And look – from just 2 mins of workout every day, I eventually expanded it to 10 mins, then 20-mins and today, and so on.

Last year, because working out became part of who I am, now I workout 2 hrs every day (been doing it it for a year).

This is me today:

(You can see in my eyes the excitement because this was an impossible dream for me years ago)

I am not kidding!

I mean, yes, it took years to have workouts become part of who I am today, but it was worth it.

Honestly, I didn’t have the time to workout, that is why 2 mins a day were perfect for me at the time.

And I know some of you are quitting drawing because you don’t have the time for it.

Well, here is the thing – you can always find 2 mins every day to drop in a couple of circles and lines on a sheet of paper.

“But Mark, how is some random circles going to help me here?”

I don’t know! How do you think 2 damn minutes of random workouts can get anyone from...

“The great thing in this world is not so much where we are but in what direction we are moving” -Oliver Wendell Holmes

I truly believe this to be true.

Look! I still don’t have time to draw! (Seriously, I have tons of emails, comments and meetings to attend to with my team)

So, what do I do? Well, I found out that when I am eating, while I am chewing food, I can be doing something else with my hands… so what about some drawing then?!!

Well, I made it easier for myself and now I am following the book by Precia, drawing some of her exercises during my lunch breaks!

Even if some days I had no notebook to draw on, I would open my smartphone and just draw some lines or random squares for 2 minutes.

Here is how I know this is a solid habit...

I can’t eat without drawing something! Just eating is SO BORING! I need to be drawing something!

MY NEW BELIEF IS: Eating without drawing is boring!

This punch is so powerful that anyone can use it to fight laziness!

Shanta Majumder, one of our students wrote:
“I want to practice everyday and fullfil my daydream, but I dont know how to beat my lazyness.”

These are some of the drawings submitted:

How can Shanta fight laziness? This student mentioned that because there was no clear understanding of what to do, or how to do it, laziness took over.

Well, I didn’t know what workouts to do, and was so lazy to do any physical exercise, but I could always convince myself to just do 2 mins.

IT WAS JUST 2 MINUTES!

So Shanta, if you read this, do this: just draw 2 minutes a day! (STARTING TODAY!)

You can draw anything you want. Remember, you are not building a skill yet, you are building a habit.

Once it becomes a habit, you can be lazy!

Seriously, because when it’s a habit, you will do it automatically without thinking or without using much energy, you will just do it.

Habits are things we do as second nature, we don't think about it or put any effort into it, the body just moves automatically and does it.

I promise you Shanta, do this, and with time, those 2 mins will easily extend to 10 mins a day, then 20, then 30, then you will easily be able to follow any book or course out there.

Why? Because drawing will become second nature and following the direction from any instruction will be super fun.

Now, ready for your first punch?

I personally struggled a bit with this one, I tried to do it before going to sleep, but that didn’t work for me.

My best time was during my breakfast and my lunch.

I draw for at least 30 mins every day when I don’t have time.

And in a good day, when I have time, I usually draw or paint for 1-2 hrs.

Even when it’s a short meal, I sometimes just manage to draw a head (4-7 min drawing) but that is great!

For this, you need to be clear about what you want to be able to draw (specific artist, specific style, topic, genre, etc)

Now, you are probably thinking...

“but Mark! If I copy others work I won’t develop my own style!”

Don’t worry, right now, your “own style” will come later.

For now, we are on the HABIT BUILDING phase.

After that, you will be able to move to the SKILL BUILDING phase.

And after that, you will start STYLE BUILDING.

In Waylon’s case, what do you notice in all his drawings?

Well, I can tell you something I notice:
There are no dinosaurs, no dogs, no mountains, no backgrounds, no forests, no plants, no dragons.

Why? Because right now he is only focused on characters. That’s how you keep it fun!

Wesley Lawler, another of our students wrote to us:
“Drawing seems to be more like work instead of me doing it because I enjoy it. The reason why it feels like work is because I'm not drawing things that I think would be fun to draw.”

These are some of his drawings:

Well, when you are the one who picks what to work on, and you pick fun things to draw, then, DRAWING BECOMES FUN!

For example, Wesley, if you focus on just anatomy and mastering the different Batman versions (different gloves, gadgets, etc), you will have tons of fun doing it.

And little by little, when you transition to something else, everything you mastered from drawing Batman will translate easily to something else (like human anatomy translates easily to drawing animals – you just need a time of adjustment, but trust me, the transition is fairly easy when you are already a master).

Define clearly what you want to learn, and then break it down to the things you need to master.

For example, for Waylon, drawing characters involved Anatomy and understanding 3D shapes in any angle.

For you it might be something else, maybe backgrounds, or maybe animals. Whatever it is, break it down to a list of “ingredients” you will need to master.

(Along this email, Aditya helped a lot by putting together a PDF to help you in this breakdown, you can download it by clicking here)

And finally, the third thing Waylon did to become unstoppable was very simple…

In this case, he had me as his mentor and coach.

Saddly, I have my hands full and I already have multiple students as my mentees.

And also, mentoring can be expensive for some (I have paid more than $1,500 for advanced mentoring in my business).

But, here is the GREAT NEWS…

Waylon will be giving mentorship for the next 30 days entirely FOR FREE.

Yep!

This is because he wants to support the community.

Waylon is one of our Certified Instructors in 2DAnimation101 and right now he is helping students for free.

NOTE: He is only helping whenever he has the time.

Right now, you have to be lucky to have him find your drawing and drop some cool personalized tips.

The GOOD NEWS are that if you want to not depend on luck, and get his feedback whenever you need it, you can hire Waylon to have 1on1 live sessions.

This has been probably the fastest way we have found for students to learn fast because he sees you drawing and gives you instant live feedback on the spot.

Kehyr, another of our students wrote:
“Whenever I see amazing artists drawing, I always feel my art isn't good enough or not up to professional standards. (…) some of my drawings are drawn so badly because the anatomy is just bad.”

These are some of the drawings submitted:

(this is his Instagram, if you want to follow. Who knows? Maybe he will be the next success story in a couple of years!)

So Kahyr, one of the best things about having a mentor is that he can guide you technically and also emotionally, because he understands exactly what you are going through.

Really!

Mentors have gone through the same too!

So my recommendation for you Kahyr is to get some free mentorship from Waylon and you will see how your skills will start growing day in and day out.

You can even reach out to him if you are feeling demotivated when you try drawing something that doesn’t look like you wanted to, and seeing how easy that same thing is for others (yeah, this feels like crap, like we are falling behind).

Waylon can share similar experiences and you will see that you are not alone.

Get FREE mentorship from Waylon for the next 30-days.

1. Follow Waylon on Instagram here
2. Join our Free Discord Community here
3. Send a Message to Waylon in our Discord Server with a screenshot of you following him on IG. (You find him as way_10 )

After this, you can send him a drawing, and he will be able to give you some direction on the things you need to focus on to improve.

Here are some examples of him helping in the community:

Make this 3-Punch Combo count!
Now that you read this far, I want you to take each of the action steps right now, and you will see how results will start showing up day by day.

And to really have each punch performed as a combo, do each one right after the other TODAY.

Here they are again for your convenience:

• PUNCH 1: Plan a non-negotiable point of the day where you are going to be spending only 2 mins drawing.
  (This might require some testing, trial and error, but don’t give up until you find a perfect match for your 2-min of non-negotiable drawing)
  
  
• PUNCH 2: Define clearly what you want to learn, and break it down to the things you need to master.
  (You can use the PDF by Aditya for this)
  
  
• PUNCH 3: Get FREE mentorship from Waylon for the next 30 days.
  (Follow 3 steps for these mentioned above)

Again, for a lot of you, I know this is all you needed, but again, DON’T JUST READ IT! DO IT!

I enjoyed writing this email a lot alongside with Aditya, we had such a blast :D

Take care,
Mark

PS: We are launching something special next week to get you a HUGE BOOST in your skills. I am super excited!