#I CANT FIND A SINGLE TUTORIAL ON THIS ITS DRIVING ME UP THE WALL | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

chipper-smol · 4 years

Note

how did you learn to draw so well? I'm 19 and I feel like I'm way behind everyone else my age with my art, and it's really discouraging.

*rubs my hands* this is a complex question so you guys should prepare for another long wall of text cause here we go

So everyone is different. Everyone has a different drive and collection of feelings in their gut when they draw. We all have different backgrounds about why or how we started drawing. What works for me might not work for everyone else, but hopefully I can help guide you in the right direction.

That being said, i’ve always been an artist like it wasn’t even a decision I made when I was younger I just was. I had big ideas I needed to just GET OUT and so I drew massive stories of stick figures and horses and dragons on towering piles of printer paper. That hasn’t changed, but I can go for weeks without drawing a single thing because I have nothing sparking in my brain but im rambling here lemme get to my points

Everyone is an imposter: No one is ever 100% comfortable with their artistic ability and if they are they’re very likely to be an ass. Go look at the Dunning-Kruger Effect which is a pretty interesting psychological mindset. In a nutshell, the Dunning-Kruger Effect is where a person who has very little knowledge in a skill thinks they are a master at that skill, whereas a person who has is a master in that skill thinks that they aren’t good at all. I still recommend watching the whole thing when you get the chance, its only 10 minutes long.

So where you are right now is the most difficult part of the art process, lemme show you one of my favorite graphs which helped me when I was in spots like you are.

You have two parts to your artistic skill. One is the ability to draw itself and the other is the ability to perceive how good that drawing is! You know whats happening?

You’re growing! You’ve started the next step! You see your art and think it could be better because your brain is more skilled than your hand. So how do you get better?

I could say something like “look up tutorials” “challenge yourself” “do studies” but if i’m honest that advice never helped me, it just made me struggle more, so we’re going to go back to your mindset.

Accept your achievements!

It’s! Very! EasY! To compare yourselves to others! It’s! Very! Hard! To recognize how far you’ve come! Give yourself some credit! Praise yourself! Look at your art and point out what you like about it. We all have a little puppy inside our hearts that just wants to be called good boys/girls. If you don’t take care of that puppy and only give it negative feedback then you’re going to definitely struggle to get started.

When someone compliments you, take it! Don’t try to be polite or say “ah but my lines aren’t that great” or “my colors could be better,” accept it! Some stranger or friend saw how good you are and actually took the time to verbalize it because it meant so much to them! If some stranger on the internet thinks i’m good, then why can’t I feel the same way towards my own art? Trust me, you’ll start feeling more confident. You’ll go from “am I good? :(?” to “I AM good! >:D!”

Get good at what you want to get good at!

I love expressions, subtle moments that speak a thousand words, character flaws and drives, dynamic movement and DRAGONS!! So I drew and draw those things! They make my brain go brrrr

I used to hate drawing backgrounds, but recently I had an epiphany. I can make a background be its own character. It doesn’t make sense typed out but in my brain that association is key. I’ve connected the joy I have with drawing characters to a thing I normally avoid and now I feel a bit more inclined to put in the extra effort. Let the feelings you get when you draw the stuff you like leak into the stuff you don’t like to draw as much and you’ll find yourself growing even more.

What do you if you don’t want to do something in the process of drawing a picture? Say like, lineart?

Simple.

Don’t do it. Skip it. Do what you want instead. Many of my hollow knight art is just sketches, but you guys have seen my fully completed pieces. I cant make that shit every day hell no. I do what I want. I also discovered a new way of shading and lighting that is SOOO much easier than what I was doing before because I WANTED TO BE LAZY!! (put your colors down, select from opaque, new layer, make new layer a multiply layer, gradient tool, use the gradient tool to make one big shadow, erase where you want the light to come from, BAM! SHADING!)

Which leads me into my next point.

Just say Fuck it.

Do you want to draw Grimm in a dress? Fuck it. Do it. If someone has a problem with that then its their problem. They can unfollow you or block you but fuck ‘em. This is your life and damnit you are going to enjoy it. Remember when you were a kid and you just drew? Just draw. Have fun. It doesn’t matter if the hand doesn’t come out right, it’s there and it looks good enough.

Once you give yourself that much needed break, your interest in seeking ways to improve will come naturally. After drawing hands without caring, you might just want to know out of curiosity instead of frustration about how you can draw the knuckles right. It’s a very important mental shift from “I want to be good at art because I have to be” to “I want to be good at art because I want to be.”

Make your art about you and not because of someone else. Be selfish. Be careless. Do what you want and have fun again.

TL;DR Accept that you are better than you give yourself credit for. Your mental mindset is extremely important for your artistic growth. Make your art someone else’s problem and enjoy yourself.

#G muses #long post #ramble bamble #hopefully this helps <:)#Anonymous

235 notes · View notes