Progress here comes from consistency, not intensity. Structure it like this:

• Two sessions of 45–90 minutes a week (or one longer weekend block plus small doodling on the side).
• Split every session roughly 50/50 — structured exercise from your current phase, then free “play”: doodle your own characters, copy cartoons you love, sketch from shows.
• Don’t chase finished pieces early. The reps are the point, not the polish.
• Expect each phase to take months. That’s normal, and it’s what makes this sustainable for five years instead of five weeks.

Supplies — keep it cheap

Three books worth buying (~$70 total, one-time)

Everything else in this course is free, but three real, proven, expert-designed texts are worth paying for instead of us improvising an equivalent from YouTube:

You won’t open any of them right away — Brunetti’s escalating drills, Barry’s teaching approach, and Mateu-Mestre’s panel-staging system all come into play starting at the comics module — but all three are real, classroom-tested courses in book form, worth ordering now.

Start this now: the 4-minute diary

Before any fundamentals, start a habit you’ll keep for the whole course — Lynda Barry’s 4-minute diary. Split a page into four boxes: 7 things you did (2 min), 7 things you saw (2 min), one thing you overheard (30 sec), and one quick sketch from the day (30 sec).