Stuttery whales in design class

Okay, so I'm in design class and trying not to sound like a kindergarten student; "Scott, the tail of my whale is all messed up...again..."
We're trying to make a book cover (a duplicate of the teacher's), for practice. We're supposed to be learning graphic design, but I (and I'm not alone here), kind of, well, suck at it.
It helps that what we're doing actually takes, like, years of study, but that only helps us feel better, not do any better. My whale keeps going all stuttery.
At least he still has fins, though, unlike those of some of my classmates.
We're an odd pod.
And on that jabberwockian note, I'm going to sign off...I don't think I'm terribly interresting today.