I'm sure you probably can. People are very flexible and determination is more important than nearly anything. Why anyone would _choose_ to do it this way is a

I'm sure you probably can. People are very flexible and determination is more important than nearly anything. Why anyone would _choose_ to do it this way is a mystery to me. But a lot of people stumble into graphic design from other disciplines. You can certainly learn graphic design by studying patterns and previous work. But that's a very limiting way to learn it. When the styles change, or worse, when the technology changes, you will have a harder time adapting than someone who has a more foundational knowledge. One of the side effects of being an old fart, whose been in the business for too many years, is that I've seen the world change many, many times. And I've seen people get seriously left behind by change. But if you love the designing, and not the tools and the previous patterns, then the change is much smoother. And the change is generally led by those artists. I've also seen potential artists and designers become frustrated with observational drawing; and it _can_ be a frustrating process. You are basically reprogramming your visual system. Sometimes these artists think that going into graphic design is a path of lessor resistance. It's not. It's a demanding discipline to do well. It's not something you can pick up by following a few simple design patterns.