7 ways to protect your wonky lines

I’ve been doing some quick figure drawings lately. Just pen and ink in a dinky sketchbook. Drawn with very little time. My wonky lines wander across the white page. Proportions misbehave. A shoulder heads off in an entirely unexpected direction.

I kinda like my lines that way.

Drawing in ink means there’s no endless erasing or correcting. Once the line is there, I have to work with it. I adapt and continue. Which is rather like life these days.

In life, we all make plans for our careers, relationships, families and futures, assuming the line will continue roughly where we intended. Then something changes. The shape of life shifts and there’s no bloody eraser.

But, perhaps we’re not meant to get back to our original ‘life’ drawings? Perhaps we’re meant to ask ourselves: What can we make from here?

I’m trying to bring that philosophy into my art. Yes, technical skill matters, but polish can remove the quirks that make our work interesting or recognisably ours. In a world of perfect AI-

generated imagery, isn’t there something wonderfully charming in human imperfection?

So, my fellow creatives, here are a few ways to protect your wonky lines at a time when there’s more pressure than ever before to be perfect:

1. Draw from memory. Notice what your brain exaggerates, simplifies or forgets.

2. Draw from imagination. Let anatomy and proportion become slightly peculiar.

3. Try blind contour drawing. Look only at your subject, not the paper.

4. Use your non-dominant hand. Losing control can create wonderfully expressive marks.

5. Don’t lift your pen. Draw the whole subject as one continuous line.

6. Set a 60-second timer. Speed forces you to capture gesture rather than perfection.

7. Ban the eraser. Draw through mistakes instead of removing them.

In life and art, a wonky line is evidence that we looked, hesitated, adjusted and continued. Maybe we don’t need to fix our paths. Maybe we just need to protect our perfect imperfections.

x Victoria

About Victoria Hall

Victoria Hall is an English-born, Australian-based writer and illustrator. She is the creator of three picture books for children, Penny Prickles at Coogee Beach, Eggy Peggy Has Lost Her Leggy and The Fairy Beasts. For more information, check out her really outdated bio here.