I've been drawing on and off digitally for many a year, probably for at least 4-5 years, but I'm still struggling and haven't progressed much at all, to the point that I still struggle drawing simple torso artwork, so I mainly limit myself to head shots.
Why have I not progressed? Well, for some reason it's really hard to get motivated for me. Drawing can easily frustrate me on many days and I tend to look at tutorials, try to replicate them a few times, fail miserably and want to throw my tablet at my monitor and choke myself. >_>
Due to this frustration / lack of motivation, although I've wanted to get better at art I've been slacking / having trouble ._.
Have any of you got the same problem? Or had the same problem and overcome it? I would love some tips. I've started going through some tutorials again and I'm going to see if I can stick to learning and not give up.
Discussion Questions: (For those who want to answer these, go ahead biggrin)
Do you struggle with motivation? Have you beat the struggle (if you struggled?) How do you normally get motivated? What tutorials have you found out to be helpful? Do you have any tips for me and others on how to get motivated?
:3
Posted: Fri Jul 19, 2013 10:05 am
I go through plenty of periods where I won’t draw due to lack of motivation, it's normal. I find I get really pumped up to draw when I convince myself that there's competition, such as having friends that also draw.
Tutorials are awesome for it, though I rarely get anything from them myself, other than an "huh, maybe I'll attempt to incorporate that into my work."
If you want some good tutorials, I've posted a bunch of links in the help subforum. I started it as others had been asking for help. I'll be updating it more next week with more types.
I also have a list of movies/books/comics that when I watch/read I get motivated to do something. I'm honestly on an animation high. Though that might go down a bit soon since I've already hit the "I suck at writing and gosh darn it animating takes forever when working on it alone" issue.
If you ever aspire to be say... an animator or game developer, I would suggest watching what other students or amature animators/developers do. It's definitely gotten me to the.. "they did that and it got attention?! I can do better!" mind set. biggrin
I go through plenty of periods where I won’t draw due to lack of motivation, it's normal. I find I get really pumped up to draw when I convince myself that there's competition, such as having friends that also draw.
Tutorials are awesome for it, though I rarely get anything from them myself, other than an "huh, maybe I'll attempt to incorporate that into my work."
If you want some good tutorials, I've posted a bunch of links in the help subforum. I started it as others had been asking for help. I'll be updating it more next week with more types.
I also have a list of movies/books/comics that when I watch/read I get motivated to do something. I'm honestly on an animation high. Though that might go down a bit soon since I've already hit the "I suck at writing and gosh darn it animating takes forever when working on it alone" issue.
If you ever aspire to be say... an animator or game developer, I would suggest watching what other students or amature animators/developers do. It's definitely gotten me to the.. "they did that and it got attention?! I can do better!" mind set. biggrin
Yeah, I kind of find it hard to follow art tutorials. (Anatomy? ;_; Shading... a bit easier (if they actually give the brush information))
Hmm, I don't really aspire to be an animator, artist or game developer - being in those jobs would be nice but I just want art as a hobby really.
I'm aiming to be a Website Developer / Designer or Software programmer, and having an artistic hobby will help in designing (plus if I get good enough to make my own graphics for websites - such as art - i'd be very happy.)
I'm not really competitive, and I have no friends to compete with. razz ~Loner~
I'll check out the tutorials you posted. ^^
Posted: Fri Jul 19, 2013 10:52 am
I have that problem all the time. I'm a procrastinator by nature, and I have another problem - I often take on too many projects at once and burn myself out, after which I can't be arsed to make so much as a stick figure foreeeeever.
When I was younger, I used to get frustrated ALL the time with how many issues I saw with my work - poor anatomy, bad faces, too flat, no style, you name it! It used to drive me crazy, and I'd get discouraged and stop drawing.
What helped me was going to college, where they taught be the fundamentals of figure drawing. Now, most people don't want to do that because they just want to draw x style (like anime or comics or something) and I was one of them. I just wanted to draw anime. BUT I found out that by learning how to correctly draw, I could figure out how to do the other styles, because they're all just variants on real human anatomy.
My advice, if you want to improve, is to forget the tutorials for now and go straight to anatomy studies. Starting doing gesture drawing and figure studies. Just by staring at yourself in a mirror, or going out to a busy place and staring at people moving and trying to capture that, you'll begin to see how the anatomy of a human works - and once you see it, you can't unsee it.
The above was really how I managed to pin point all the actually, specific issues with my art (because I always knew the general area of wrongness, but never EXACTLY what was wrong) and how to begin to fix it. With art and anatomy and those sorts of errors, it's all about learning how to see people and break them down into their disparate parts (movement, form, anatomy...)
I'll include some links at the bottom of the post that you can check out that will explain a bit more, but I definitely suggest looking into online resources on how to do gesture drawing and how to do figure drawing and anatomy.
As for motivation in general? I find that once you eliminate the frustration, it's just about finding what really interests you. Drawing something you're excited about is always easier to do than something you aren't excited about. That's how I do it, anyways. Unless its a commission, then the money or gold motivates me. XD
One thing I can suggest for anatomy is finding a pose or a body shape you really like, bringing it into photoshop (or another program that uses layers) and doing a rough reference sketch of the body shape. It helps build muscle memory and helps you learn anatomy a little better. It's one thing I've known people to do. I know when I'm having serious issues getting a pose perfect, I'll do a side picture referencing another image just to properly figure it out. I'm also slightly obsessive with porportions... Never trace a picture and claim it as your own though, that`s not good.
When it comes to brushes, I pretty much only use the standard soft circle and just adjust sizing. On occasion if I want to do a specific texture, I download a similarly textured brush and alter it.
Art is best as a hobby. Honestly, going to school for game development (doing the art side of it) ruined a lot of things for me. I'm now overly critical of art, animations, movies and games. Takes some of the fun out, but also helps others since I'm now spotting a lot of mistakes.
If you have friends online, it also helps. Try out for art contests, check out the competition and aim to be better. biggrin
Edit: Also, I agree with Nyx. Sit on a train, bus, park, and sketch people as they move. Don`t try and grab much detail, just a rough gesture drawing. Or if there is something specific you want to learn to draw on a person, such as expression, just watch people around and try and quickly rough out their face.
Posted: Fri Jul 19, 2013 11:03 am
The Pie Ninja
Counting Dracula
One thing I can suggest for anatomy is finding a pose or a body shape you really like, bringing it into photoshop (or another program that uses layers) and doing a rough reference sketch of the body shape. It helps build muscle memory and helps you learn anatomy a little better. It's one thing I've known people to do. I know when I'm having serious issues getting a pose perfect, I'll do a side picture referencing another image just to properly figure it out. I'm also slightly obsessive with porportions... Never trace a picture and claim it as your own though, that`s not good.
When it comes to brushes, I pretty much only use the standard soft circle and just adjust sizing. On occasion if I want to do a specific texture, I download a similarly textured brush and alter it.
Art is best as a hobby. Honestly, going to school for game development (doing the art side of it) ruined a lot of things for me. I'm now overly critical of art, animations, movies and games. Takes some of the fun out, but also helps others since I'm now spotting a lot of mistakes.
If you have friends online, it also helps. Try out for art contests, check out the competition and aim to be better. biggrin
Edit: Also, I agree with Nyx. Sit on a train, bus, park, and sketch people as they move. Don`t try and grab much detail, just a rough gesture drawing. Or if there is something specific you want to learn to draw on a person, such as expression, just watch people around and try and quickly rough out their face.
Agreed and well put. xD
And yeah, the key is to do it fast. You have to sort of unlearn what you know about drawing to do it, because you have to stop caring if it looks good or even right - which seems like the opposite of what it's meant to do. What it does is it teaches you to recognize and see movement and expression and form, and like Pie said - it helps you build muscle memory for it. Once you have a feel for it, you can start to see yourself becoming faster and more acurate. biggrin
I have that problem all the time. I'm a procrastinator by nature, and I have another problem - I often take on too many projects at once and burn myself out, after which I can't be arsed to make so much as a stick figure foreeeeever.
When I was younger, I used to get frustrated ALL the time with how many issues I saw with my work - poor anatomy, bad faces, too flat, no style, you name it! It used to drive me crazy, and I'd get discouraged and stop drawing.
What helped me was going to college, where they taught be the fundamentals of figure drawing. Now, most people don't want to do that because they just want to draw x style (like anime or comics or something) and I was one of them. I just wanted to draw anime. BUT I found out that by learning how to correctly draw, I could figure out how to do the other styles, because they're all just variants on real human anatomy.
My advice, if you want to improve, is to forget the tutorials for now and go straight to anatomy studies. Starting doing gesture drawing and figure studies. Just by staring at yourself in a mirror, or going out to a busy place and staring at people moving and trying to capture that, you'll begin to see how the anatomy of a human works - and once you see it, you can't unsee it.
The above was really how I managed to pin point all the actually, specific issues with my art (because I always knew the general area of wrongness, but never EXACTLY what was wrong) and how to begin to fix it. With art and anatomy and those sorts of errors, it's all about learning how to see people and break them down into their disparate parts (movement, form, anatomy...)
I'll include some links at the bottom of the post that you can check out that will explain a bit more, but I definitely suggest looking into online resources on how to do gesture drawing and how to do figure drawing and anatomy.
As for motivation in general? I find that once you eliminate the frustration, it's just about finding what really interests you. Drawing something you're excited about is always easier to do than something you aren't excited about. That's how I do it, anyways. Unless its a commission, then the money or gold motivates me. XD
Hmm, I'm not really a procrastinator per say, I do have moments but I usually play games / work on my Java skills for minecraft or just watch anime, I rarely get into the mood of art because I get frustrated with it so much, but oh if I get in the mood and do well ... well 2 days ago I burped out like 10 doodles and 2 artworks. lol.
I can completely agree with you on the second paragraph, I'm very *very* critical of my artwork and skills, if I even make a few mistakes I get so frustrated and upset with myself. Poor anatomy, lopsided eyes, slightly wrong nose, and most importantly the fact I end up drawing the same damn thing over and over instead of poses, etc.. and my complete lack of ability to do so. When this happens I REALLY get discouraged like you did. sad
I have no plans on taking up a college course in artwork, as it would require me to leave my current course of Software Development as it is full time, and I will not risk losing out on a chance of a software job since I know with my skills, even if I finish a course I probably wont get a job out if it. So unfortunately I won't be able to get proper lessons out of it (plus the fact I have no money.) I do like to draw in an anime-esque style but I do know that figuring our realistic proportions and doing proper figure art is a very important step, which I've tried to do many occasions and failed miserably, then ragequit. ;_;
The tutorials I mentioned in the original post were mainly anatomy tutorials, actually - I should have specified on that a bit more. However I do bookmark shading tutorials as well for the future. I find/found it hard to find decent anatomy tutorials that I found easy to understand and follow, which was frustrating in itself.
Going out and drawing is something I might do, but I do feel very very uncomfortable in public places (yes, curse my socialphobia) - and borderline on wanting to run home as quickly as possible. I have emotional scars from a shiity childhood, but I will try life drawing, as my mum used to do it when she was older and it helped her quite a bit.
Since it was a major part on how you conquored your issues, I will have to attempt it - and thank you for telling me this. I do need to do such a thing, even if I'm not emotionally ready to sit in a public place. (Sounds stupid but ... ugh ;-wink.
Thank you for the very helpful links! I will definately check them out and research more of figure drawing, anatomy and gesture drawing.
Yeah, I think my main problem is the frustration, motivation is secondary really, if I didn't get frustrated I could draw for hours (which I have done on rare occasions). What would motivate me and interest me... hmm, if I get good enough maybe draw some BL / Yaoi wink Or commission on gaia so I'm not so damn poor. LOL Curse you impossible to get dream avatar!.
Mmmm, dem delicious links. Nomnomnomnom.
Thank you very much for your wise words and resources ^^ It really means a lot to me.
Posted: Fri Jul 19, 2013 1:35 pm
The Pie Ninja
One thing I can suggest for anatomy is finding a pose or a body shape you really like, bringing it into photoshop (or another program that uses layers) and doing a rough reference sketch of the body shape. It helps build muscle memory and helps you learn anatomy a little better. It's one thing I've known people to do. I know when I'm having serious issues getting a pose perfect, I'll do a side picture referencing another image just to properly figure it out. I'm also slightly obsessive with porportions... Never trace a picture and claim it as your own though, that`s not good.
When it comes to brushes, I pretty much only use the standard soft circle and just adjust sizing. On occasion if I want to do a specific texture, I download a similarly textured brush and alter it.
Art is best as a hobby. Honestly, going to school for game development (doing the art side of it) ruined a lot of things for me. I'm now overly critical of art, animations, movies and games. Takes some of the fun out, but also helps others since I'm now spotting a lot of mistakes.
If you have friends online, it also helps. Try out for art contests, check out the competition and aim to be better. biggrin
Edit: Also, I agree with Nyx. Sit on a train, bus, park, and sketch people as they move. Don`t try and grab much detail, just a rough gesture drawing. Or if there is something specific you want to learn to draw on a person, such as expression, just watch people around and try and quickly rough out their face.
The unfortunate thing about my photoshop is that it messes up my tablet to the point I can only draw straight lines (and it causes slight lag too) - but I will do this in Paint Tool SAI - my main program. smile I'm avidly against tracing and claiming art which doesn't belong to you - hence why I've never actually done this tactic on learning poses and anatomy. I've never traced and claimed anything - hell I even dislike using bases. I will give this a go though, since I have two monitors I could have the reference in one monitor and draw in the other (Ugh 2 monitors causes my tablet to go really fast - I have to be twice as slow and precise while using it, I didnt think of that when I got a 2nd one. XD)
Yeah, in SAI however I do mix and match the brush preferences, I love to use the water brush for shading though - I don't know why but I just find it's a really nice tool.
I'm overly critical about my own art anyway, but for others art - unless they ask for constructive criticism, I wouldn't say anything. And even if they did - it's not my place since 99.99999% of artists are 10000% better than me. xD
Nope, no friends online even. I'm a complete loner and have trouble keeping in contact with friends, especially online ones due to the majority being in another time zone.
Yeah, I believe Nyx's suggestion is widely known as life drawing, well - at least that's what my mum referred it too when she used to do it when she was younger. ( She used to sit on a wall and randomly sketch people as they walked by )
Thank you for the advice! It really does mean a lot. ^^
No problem! I love helping others progress artistically. It helps me even by discussing it.
That’s a real shame that photoshop does that. I live on photoshop. Whenever I turn on my cintiq it’s what’s on the screen.
I honestly am not a fan of tracing, but it does help for learning. I was completely against it during high school and would scold people about it. I lightened up after college when I used it for pose referencing for the first time. I am against copying the work, but if you’re just using it as a learning tool, it’s fine. I mean, even exact fan art bothers me…
I’m having the trouble right now with my inner rage as I just finished hosting a big art and wallpaper contest for one of the games I’m the events person for. So many people submitted traced or slightly altered work… -.-
It’s good that you’re critical on your own. I love when people are perfectionists. I’m not a fan of someone who sees their work as perfect and will not accept that there are flaws. I’m always one to give feedback when requested, but I do my best not to as I can be very thorough to the point where I’ve upset a few people. I don’t mean to be super mean; I just am fairly blunt when it comes to finding the small mistakes. I think I drive my coworkers on the design team insane when they send me banners and I send them back with a bunch of small errors highlighted. >_o
Life drawing is wonderful. It’s helped so much. When in doubt, go back to the basics! Drawing people as shapes are always good! I get awkward sitting and sketching people, but then again, at times the weird looks you get can be hilarious. Heh.
Well, I’m always looking for more online friends! I’ve lost most of mine due to one reason or another… that and the whole… growing up and apart thing… I’m good friends with Nyx in real life.
Posted: Fri Jul 19, 2013 3:07 pm
The Pie Ninja
No problem! I love helping others progress artistically. It helps me even by discussing it.
That’s a real shame that photoshop does that. I live on photoshop. Whenever I turn on my cintiq it’s what’s on the screen.
I honestly am not a fan of tracing, but it does help for learning. I was completely against it during high school and would scold people about it. I lightened up after college when I used it for pose referencing for the first time. I am against copying the work, but if you’re just using it as a learning tool, it’s fine. I mean, even exact fan art bothers me…
I’m having the trouble right now with my inner rage as I just finished hosting a big art and wallpaper contest for one of the games I’m the events person for. So many people submitted traced or slightly altered work… -.-
It’s good that you’re critical on your own. I love when people are perfectionists. I’m not a fan of someone who sees their work as perfect and will not accept that there are flaws. I’m always one to give feedback when requested, but I do my best not to as I can be very thorough to the point where I’ve upset a few people. I don’t mean to be super mean; I just am fairly blunt when it comes to finding the small mistakes. I think I drive my coworkers on the design team insane when they send me banners and I send them back with a bunch of small errors highlighted. >_o
Life drawing is wonderful. It’s helped so much. When in doubt, go back to the basics! Drawing people as shapes are always good! I get awkward sitting and sketching people, but then again, at times the weird looks you get can be hilarious. Heh.
Well, I’m always looking for more online friends! I’ve lost most of mine due to one reason or another… that and the whole… growing up and apart thing… I’m good friends with Nyx in real life.
Yeah, when photoshop behaves for me (rarely but sometimes it does) I notice that my artwork is more refined and the shading technique I use turns way more realistic. I do love photoshop, but the issue is annoying. ;_;
Yeah, I agree with you - I'll be using it as a technique to learn - nothing else, as if used for anything else - I don't approve, really. Ouch, traced and slightly altered work need to be disqualified instantly. : Doing that anyway is a big NO and in a contest ... death is too quick for them.
Well, I see it as a bad thing, honestly. I will never view my work as perfect, in fact its the opposite: I view it as terrible and horrific 80% of the time. This makes me frustrated and more likely to quit, I really wish I had some of the mentality of other people - if I actually liked my art a bit more than I do now - I would be more likely to draw daily and practise more and improve. The constant hate towards my own work make me lose motivation and just make me want to quit. :c
I do like thorough critics - without a thorough point of view then how can someone improve? I don't want people telling me "it's amazing! it's so kawaii desu." when it looks like absolute s**t. How am I supposed to improve then? I know harshness comes with criticism - but if you can't take it then don't ask for it! If you ask for it you have to accept the fact someone WILL correct you on possibly many things.
I'm sure that if the banners released with tons of errors the users will complain anyway - it's best to be corrected by someone in the team than 100's of people in the forums, plus any mistake in a companies graphic could harm the companies reputation, "hey - they're so lazy they left X amount of graphic mistakes in their work!". Etc... They should be thankful for your eagle eye!
Hehe - I'll try it. I get weird looks anyway due to my crazy hair. (People even stand - point and laugh, neutral ) So yeah it will be nothing new.
I'd love to be your friend, not sure how well i'll keep in contact though! And yeah, I don't have any irl friends at all. Lol If you wanna add me on Skype, heres mah name:
I have that problem all the time. I'm a procrastinator by nature, and I have another problem - I often take on too many projects at once and burn myself out, after which I can't be arsed to make so much as a stick figure foreeeeever.
When I was younger, I used to get frustrated ALL the time with how many issues I saw with my work - poor anatomy, bad faces, too flat, no style, you name it! It used to drive me crazy, and I'd get discouraged and stop drawing.
What helped me was going to college, where they taught be the fundamentals of figure drawing. Now, most people don't want to do that because they just want to draw x style (like anime or comics or something) and I was one of them. I just wanted to draw anime. BUT I found out that by learning how to correctly draw, I could figure out how to do the other styles, because they're all just variants on real human anatomy.
My advice, if you want to improve, is to forget the tutorials for now and go straight to anatomy studies. Starting doing gesture drawing and figure studies. Just by staring at yourself in a mirror, or going out to a busy place and staring at people moving and trying to capture that, you'll begin to see how the anatomy of a human works - and once you see it, you can't unsee it.
The above was really how I managed to pin point all the actually, specific issues with my art (because I always knew the general area of wrongness, but never EXACTLY what was wrong) and how to begin to fix it. With art and anatomy and those sorts of errors, it's all about learning how to see people and break them down into their disparate parts (movement, form, anatomy...)
I'll include some links at the bottom of the post that you can check out that will explain a bit more, but I definitely suggest looking into online resources on how to do gesture drawing and how to do figure drawing and anatomy.
As for motivation in general? I find that once you eliminate the frustration, it's just about finding what really interests you. Drawing something you're excited about is always easier to do than something you aren't excited about. That's how I do it, anyways. Unless its a commission, then the money or gold motivates me. XD
Hmm, I'm not really a procrastinator per say, I do have moments but I usually play games / work on my Java skills for minecraft or just watch anime, I rarely get into the mood of art because I get frustrated with it so much, but oh if I get in the mood and do well ... well 2 days ago I burped out like 10 doodles and 2 artworks. lol.
I can completely agree with you on the second paragraph, I'm very *very* critical of my artwork and skills, if I even make a few mistakes I get so frustrated and upset with myself. Poor anatomy, lopsided eyes, slightly wrong nose, and most importantly the fact I end up drawing the same damn thing over and over instead of poses, etc.. and my complete lack of ability to do so. When this happens I REALLY get discouraged like you did. sad
I have no plans on taking up a college course in artwork, as it would require me to leave my current course of Software Development as it is full time, and I will not risk losing out on a chance of a software job since I know with my skills, even if I finish a course I probably wont get a job out if it. So unfortunately I won't be able to get proper lessons out of it (plus the fact I have no money.) I do like to draw in an anime-esque style but I do know that figuring our realistic proportions and doing proper figure art is a very important step, which I've tried to do many occasions and failed miserably, then ragequit. ;_;
The tutorials I mentioned in the original post were mainly anatomy tutorials, actually - I should have specified on that a bit more. However I do bookmark shading tutorials as well for the future. I find/found it hard to find decent anatomy tutorials that I found easy to understand and follow, which was frustrating in itself.
Going out and drawing is something I might do, but I do feel very very uncomfortable in public places (yes, curse my socialphobia) - and borderline on wanting to run home as quickly as possible. I have emotional scars from a shiity childhood, but I will try life drawing, as my mum used to do it when she was older and it helped her quite a bit.
Since it was a major part on how you conquored your issues, I will have to attempt it - and thank you for telling me this. I do need to do such a thing, even if I'm not emotionally ready to sit in a public place. (Sounds stupid but ... ugh ;-wink.
Thank you for the very helpful links! I will definately check them out and research more of figure drawing, anatomy and gesture drawing.
Yeah, I think my main problem is the frustration, motivation is secondary really, if I didn't get frustrated I could draw for hours (which I have done on rare occasions). What would motivate me and interest me... hmm, if I get good enough maybe draw some BL / Yaoi wink Or commission on gaia so I'm not so damn poor. LOL Curse you impossible to get dream avatar!.
Mmmm, dem delicious links. Nomnomnomnom.
Thank you very much for your wise words and resources ^^ It really means a lot to me.
I'm glad you found my reply helpful! I used to find it hard to sit and draw people in public too. I'm not especially socially phobic or anything, but even if you aren't it can be a bit unnerving because it's so darned unusual for someone to be staring at people in a public place. I used to find ways to make myself less conspicuous, like sitting in corners or on a higher level, or trying not to stare too long. I ended up doing this thing where I glance up, look to my book and sketch, then back up again.
Eventually I sort of just got used to it, but my suggestion for someone more awkward or uncomfortable would be to work up to it by starting out in smaller places - like inside of a coffee shop drawing the people outside, or even start with learning the technique at home using the TV, since you only really need to be able to watch people who are moving - though I found the TV harder, because everything moves very fast and nothing is on the screen longer than a few seconds...
Anyways, good luck, and I hope to see more of your art over time! biggrin
Mood: | Art Slots:OPEN | Questing:9mil/160mil Help me get my minis, and get cute art! Now with animations! My DAMy Shop
Posted: Wed Jul 24, 2013 10:52 am
Oh gosh. Motivation is my worst enemy. I do not draw unless I feel like it so you could see how that plays out with lack of motivation. I usually get motivation when I see artists I follow on Pixiv submit art and I go in awe. But usually it's the music I listen to. I am only driven by these two things and I need both of them to beat the struggle. :c It also doesn't help that I am picky about art and music. ;u;
Now concerning about actually getting things done when I am motivated. I usually just wing everything. I know that's bad but I don't really see myself doing art for a living. It's just something I am just average at and gets me dat money. I usually have the most trouble with girls. I just can't understand how the top part of the body works. It baffles me because I draw feminine boys all the time. I usually don't tend to rely on tutorials. I think of them like if they were giving me limits to as what I can do. This also plays that I can NEVER color the same after some time. I work very complicated and that can also drive me to hate myself and give up on drawing all together.
This is why I don't think when I draw. Your mind has the power to make you feel bad and that's why I shut it off. Like brain I don't need you to make me feel bad about my art kthnx.
Reply
| 
