How I Learned to Enjoy Drawing (After Hating It in School)

I’ll start with a confession: the thing I liked least about studying landscape architecture was drawing.

In my second year, I took a landscape drawing course. Every week, we were assigned something new to draw—still objects, torsos, outdoor landscapes, and even a nude model. Each week, we submitted our drawings, and each week, I got the lowest score in the class.

I knew my drawings were bad, but I had no idea what I was doing wrong or how to improve. Frustrated, I stopped putting in effort. I avoided asking the professor for feedback or looking for resources. I just hated the class—and the professor. By the end of the term, I had the lowest grade and started to doubt whether I belonged in the program at all.

Then came my military service, a mandatory two-year enlistment for Korean men. Without access to phones or computers, I had a lot of free time. I decided to spend it reading. One day, I had an idea: Why not try reading a book about drawing?

Drawing had always felt like the one puzzle I could never solve. I blamed my professor and my lack of natural talent, but deep down, I knew I hadn’t really tried to improve. So I ordered a book called Keys to Drawing, along with a sketchpad and pencils.

Reading that book was enlightening. Here are two lessons that stood out to me:

First, draw what you see, not what you think. I realized I’d been drawing objects based on what I thought they looked like rather than what I actually saw. For example, when drawing an apple, I focused on making it round because that’s what I thought an apple should look like. But not all apples are round. The apple in front of you is unique—draw that one, not an idealized version.

Second, drawing is just a tool. For designers, it’s not about creating something beautiful—it’s about communicating ideas. A good drawing doesn’t have to be artistic or perfect. It just needs to get your message across.

After practicing these lessons, I became more comfortable with drawing. That’s the key word: comfortable. My skills improved, but only to the point where I could comfortably use drawing as a tool to express my ideas.

Looking back, I think my professor had a fixed mindset. He seemed to divide students into two groups: those who could draw and those who couldn’t. I belonged to the second group. But the truth is, I had the same mindset about myself. I thought, I’m bad at drawing, so there’s no point in trying. I was wrong.

Almost any skill is improvable if you’re willing to put in the effort—drawing, design, writing, storytelling, and even teaching. I’ve prepared this story to share with my students, many of whom have said they’re scared of drawing, in my Urban Forest Design class. With practice and persistence, you’ll find yourself improving in ways you never thought possible.

Disclaimer:

I used ChatGPT for writing assistance, but the story is entirely genuine.