An Insightful Comic Encouraging Artists to Embrace Failure as a Necessary Part of Success

Friends With Failure

In 2012, artist Stephen McCranie of Doodle Alley posted an incredibly insightful illustration that encourages artists of any type to “Be Friends With Failure” and to embrace the fact that it’s absolutely necessary to fail a few times before succeeding.

Success is a sign that you’re ready to learn something new, failure is a sign that you’re learning something new. You can’t always succeed your first time, but you can fail less each time you try.

How Will You Grow

McCranie has created other wonderful “comics that nourish” the mind including “Who You Are Determines What You Do“, “The Secret to Being a Great Artist“, “Practice Does Not Make Perfect” and “Is Anybody Listening“. McCranie is also the artist behind the ongoing all-ages graphic novel “Mal and Chad” and the webtoon “Space Boy

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.