My old art teacher told me to never use a ruler for my journal spreads.

She said it would make things feel stiff and kill the creative flow, so for years I freehanded everything and got really frustrated. After my lines kept looking messy, I finally tried a ruler last week and my weekly layouts are so much cleaner and faster to set up. Did anyone else get bad advice that held them back for a while?

2 comments

2 Comments

piperwhite22h ago

That advice always bugged me. Tools exist for a reason, and a ruler is just a tool. My own stuff looked sloppy for ages because I was trying to be "organic." Using a straight edge for the basic structure lets me be messy and creative in the actual content, which is the whole point. It's like being told you have to build a house without a level. Some rules are meant to be broken, especially the bad ones.

valw3621h ago

My son's kindergarten teacher banned coloring books for the same silly reason.