Understanding the Demon Drawing Exercise
Lynda Barry developed a drawing exercise that asks participants to identify and illustrate their anxieties as cartoon characters. The exercise comes from her broader practice of using comics as a tool for self-reflection and creativity. Most people encounter it through her book Linda Barry One Hundred Demons or through her workshops and teaching materials. The basic process takes about 20 minutes on a first attempt. You list ten personal demons on a piece of paper, pick three, and draw each one as a creature or character. There's no right or wrong way to do it. The rough sketches are supposed to be fast and unpolished. Barry's point is that externalizing these worries through drawing changes how you relate to them.
How to Work Through Lynda Barry One Hundred Demons
Grab blank paper, a pen or pencil, and set a timer for twenty minutes per demon. That last part matters more than people realize. The timer forces you to stop overthinking and just draw. I used to skip the timer and spend forty-five minutes on one illustration, which completely defeated the purpose. Here's how the exercise actually unfolds. First, make a list of ten things that bother you. They can be anything from social anxiety to a fear of failure to something specific like being caught in traffic. Don't overthink the list. Write quickly. Then circle three. Draw each one as a demon figure. Give it a body, a face, whatever comes to mind. Label each drawing with the anxiety it represents. One thing beginners get wrong is trying to make the drawings look professional. They don't need to. The exercise works because of the act of creation, not the quality of the output. I saw people in a workshop once spend the entire session wrestling with shading and perspective on their demons. They ended up frustrated and didn't finish. Step away from the eraser.
The Practical Outcome
After you've drawn your three demons, look at them together. Notice what's changed. Usually the anxieties feel slightly less overwhelming simply because they're now outside your head on paper. This isn't therapy replaced by drawing. It's a supplementary tool. Some people find it helpful before a creative project. Others use it during periods of stress. There's also a longer version where you draw all ten. That can take two or three hours depending on your pace. I found the three-demon version more useful for quick check-ins. The ten-demon version works better for deeper sessions where you have time to sit with each one.
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Common Pitfalls
People tend to pick demons that are too vague. "Sadness" or "fear" won't work well because they're abstract. You need specifics. "Being ignored in meetings" or "worrying I'll run out of money" gives you something concrete to draw. The vaguer the demon, the harder it is to turn into a character. Another issue is rushing through the drawing part. If you spend two minutes per demon and then complain it didn't work, you probably didn't engage with the exercise properly. The point is to sit with the anxiety long enough to give it shape. That takes time even on a timer.
Where to Find Resources
You can find instructions for the exercise in Barry's books, particularly The Greatest Comic Book You'll Ever Make and One Hundred Demons. There are also video tutorials and workshop recordings available online. Search for Lynda Barry drawing exercises on YouTube or her official website for supplementary material. Her classroom approach is documented in several educational resources. If you want to go deeper, Barry's teaching methods are featured in the documentary It's So Easy and Other Lies. It shows her working with students and explains the reasoning behind the exercise in more detail.
