LonEricCraven.com

Advice from Thomas B. Allen, a wonderful illustrator and teacher who would become a guiding force during my time at the University of Kansas — and far beyond that. His advice went something like, "Draw every day. Draw from life. If a day goes by and you haven't drawn something, draw before you brush your teeth and go to bed."

 The everyday busyness of life has greatly multiplied since those days, and it is something of a challenge to just sit down and draw or paint something for the fun and wonder of it. The "tyranny of the urgent" tends to lend my thoughts and hands to the matters that must be done before that day is out.

 Yet I hear his challenge afresh these days, and I'm striving to follow it. He knew from experience that it would drive him toward the excellence he sought.  – lec