There's this gap. There is a point in your art journey (why do we all call it that?) when you are frustrated that you cannot draw what you want, and when you go out to try and learn what you don't know everyone is saying "study the fundamentals." Well, the fundamentals are boring! Who wants to draw still life! Who wants to do value studies! Who cares about perspective and composition and lighting! I want to draw cool mechs fighting in outer space! And somewhere along the line something will click and you will go "Oh that problem I am having, the thing where nothing looks right in my pictures, that's perspective. Hol' up this picture doesn't look right because composition. Ohhhhhh shading is about understanding lighting and lighting is best understood through value studies of still life. MECHS ARE MADE OF BLOCKS." You can make that click happen sooner by shutting up and doing what better artists tell you to do. We all say still life and value studies because ON GOD that is absolutely the most helpful shit. Whatever it is you are trying to learn, you will learn it by drawing whatever stuff you have sitting around nearby. You may not know what it is you need to learn, but when you start drawing that box of tissues next to the bottle of lotion, you will recognise that you have the same problem you are struggling with in whatever else you are drawing. And because you're not emotionally attached to this subject, you have no real passion for it, so you can analyse it more objectively. You're better at understanding why you aren't getting it right precisely BECAUSE it is boring and you don't care. And once you get it right HERE, you can go back to what you care about and get it right THERE.
YESSS! This was PERFECTLY put! That 'click' you mentioned I think comes differently for different artist, but as you said, there has to be the self realization of the 'WHY' this is RELEVANT to ME inside of an artist, before the mind is open enough to the idea of doing the 'boring stuff'. Thanks for commenting as always :D
Anime artist here. I started out by learning how to draw heads using the conventional (Circle, line in center horiz and vert, draw details, done) method. Over time, I was able to draw more angles, but it felt like I never truly knew how to draw an anime head no matter how the amount of times I would draw one. After doing a week long realism study, I finally understood everything. I can now draw anime faces and understand why the features go there or look like that from real life.
Really solid advice man, bridging gaps and finding the correct guides for improvement (even beyond art as you said) are both extremely essential skills to have
Yes to everything you said. I also understand that it can be overwhelming for beginners to find a starting point for their art journey. I also noticed, after years and years of watching art tutorials, some work for me and some not and that's normal. Just watching you draw is super inspiring for me and the experiences you make on your art journey are ones I can relate to, as well. The skill, to know where to improve and then work on that area specifically, is a very important skill. I often find it difficult to invest enough time for practicing, next to my regular drawing sessions. Days often seem too short xD Keep up the good work ❤
I fully agree! I also think there is a component of making 'improving at art' more important than 'having fun at art' which I think both need to be at play in order to effectively improve consistently. Thanks again for the comment as always!! You keep up the good work too! :D
@@ChrisMason_01 Theres also the social media aspect. Young artists are drawn to the top dogs of each platform who just repeat what you showcased in your video but since the newbies dont know any better or crave validation from the community around the popular person they will try to stick with this less than stellar advice.
this is EXACTLY why i made SO much more progress with my art as a teenager when i STOPPED desperately trying to force myself to study anatomy, and dumbed shit right back to highly stylised cartoony stuff. sure, anatomy would be helpful to know in more detail. but at that point in time, focusing it was holding me back more than anything, when what i REALLY wanted to learn was "how to draw things quickly in a way that i enjoy the look of". my style has drastically changed since then. but copying eddsworld style rather than anatomy and anime styles was the first step in me learning how to have /fun/ with creating. and once i had that foundation of love, my skills in things like shape and line art grew too. which THEN let me move on to pushing my anatomy knowledge to somthing a little less stylised. theres gaps in my knowledge even now to be sure, but focusing on what was /fun/ for me, on what was pushing my art in ways i wanted it to go helped so much more than any of those general art tips ever did. so yeah, find what you want to add to your art, or what you want to change it to completely, and work towards that. general advice can only give you a general idea, it wont ever let you know what YOU love to create. look at other artists you love, do studies of their work, take what you love from that process and keep it, and smush it into what you already do. if you see a specific thing you want to improve, study various ways to do that, and take what works for you. becuase thats the thing; when you look at other artists - particularly ones whose styles are wildly different to your own - youll realise there isnt just One Way to do the things you want to do. you need to create your OWN bridges to get the most out of art.
Perfectly put! I fully agree. It's all about how YOU feel about the art! There is so much about the process that are affected by the individual that general advice can only go so far. And yes, having fun is the secret to improving fast haha. Thanks for the comment :D
Yeah motivation is a big one. There are strategies to practice even while being unmotivated but you'll have to find the one that works for you! Wish you the best!
I'll watch the video later, nrn but at least in my opinion the fundamentals are very necessary to study but not definitive, they're just a big guide for where you need to go, but the most important thing is try to find your own path to learn how to draw or even improve yourself, at least to me i noticed recently that i need to draw more because i already cosumed a loooootttt of theory and now i just need to practice
Yeah I pretty much FULLY agree with this haha XD I actually mentioned your point specifically in the video. But as you said, there's only so much you can grasp without just putting your head down and getting some drawing done! Wish you the best on your art journey :D
I struggled in art college because I wasn’t prepared for anything when I went. The common occurring issue was the none existent teaching of the alleged art instructor. You are required to have high school art 10-30 to qualify for the program, yet high school art doesn’t teach any fundamentals. It was pretty much kindergarten art for teens. I was extremely unprepared for college, and ended up disappointed as the instructors had no interest in teaching at all. The reoccurring attitude from those paid to teach was figure it out on your own, which is unhelpful for someone like me. I am on the spectrum and I cannot learn from vague instruction or from materials that is just words and no visuals. Whenever I asked for an explanation, I would just receive this blank stare back. What was the point of paying all that money just to be told to figure it out on my own? I grew up in the 90’s and attended college in 2004, there were no anatomy tutorials online. And because of the poor attitudes of those paid to not teach, and with my neurological issues causing learning to be more difficult and stressful, I didn’t improve. I’m late thirties now and learning on my own time and have noticed huge improvement just from watching these sorts of videos online than I ever did from actual school.
I'm glad you're still finding the time to improve! That is very inspiring. I think art education(or art college specifically) is tricky because they'll force you to learn art in a particular way that only the teacher of the class subscribes to. The teacher's teaching style and a students learning style may be fundamentally incompatible(as what it sounds like in your case) which I think is why it's great that we have more resources by a WIDE variety of artists online! There's bound to be someone on here that has experienced similar frustrations as you have and will have resources and guides that may be tailored to your specific learning style. Thanks for sharing your experience with us. I'm glad you're still working on it and I wish ya the best with your art journey! :D
Oh my gosh, this resonated with me a lot! Figuring out or just picking something you want to create...YESSS! T_T I have been struggling with this a lot! I also 100% agree with learning one body part at a time. 🥲 It's all about showing up for yourself. Btw, I absolutely love your illustrations and sketches. I have seen the growth and improvement in your art. ♥
There's this gap. There is a point in your art journey (why do we all call it that?) when you are frustrated that you cannot draw what you want, and when you go out to try and learn what you don't know everyone is saying "study the fundamentals." Well, the fundamentals are boring! Who wants to draw still life! Who wants to do value studies! Who cares about perspective and composition and lighting! I want to draw cool mechs fighting in outer space!
And somewhere along the line something will click and you will go "Oh that problem I am having, the thing where nothing looks right in my pictures, that's perspective. Hol' up this picture doesn't look right because composition. Ohhhhhh shading is about understanding lighting and lighting is best understood through value studies of still life. MECHS ARE MADE OF BLOCKS."
You can make that click happen sooner by shutting up and doing what better artists tell you to do. We all say still life and value studies because ON GOD that is absolutely the most helpful shit. Whatever it is you are trying to learn, you will learn it by drawing whatever stuff you have sitting around nearby.
You may not know what it is you need to learn, but when you start drawing that box of tissues next to the bottle of lotion, you will recognise that you have the same problem you are struggling with in whatever else you are drawing. And because you're not emotionally attached to this subject, you have no real passion for it, so you can analyse it more objectively. You're better at understanding why you aren't getting it right precisely BECAUSE it is boring and you don't care. And once you get it right HERE, you can go back to what you care about and get it right THERE.
YESSS! This was PERFECTLY put! That 'click' you mentioned I think comes differently for different artist, but as you said, there has to be the self realization of the 'WHY' this is RELEVANT to ME inside of an artist, before the mind is open enough to the idea of doing the 'boring stuff'. Thanks for commenting as always :D
Anime artist here. I started out by learning how to draw heads using the conventional (Circle, line in center horiz and vert, draw details, done) method. Over time, I was able to draw more angles, but it felt like I never truly knew how to draw an anime head no matter how the amount of times I would draw one. After doing a week long realism study, I finally understood everything. I can now draw anime faces and understand why the features go there or look like that from real life.
this applies to general life advice too, the best advice comes from those close to you and those who know you vs generic cheesy online quotes
EXACTLY, my dude! Im always learning from my friends, fam, and mentors!
Really solid advice man, bridging gaps and finding the correct guides for improvement (even beyond art as you said) are both extremely essential skills to have
Yeah man! Because everyone is different, ultimately, it is up to the individual to find the advice that works for them! Thanks for commenting :D
Yes to everything you said. I also understand that it can be overwhelming for beginners to find a starting point for their art journey. I also noticed, after years and years of watching art tutorials, some work for me and some not and that's normal. Just watching you draw is super inspiring for me and the experiences you make on your art journey are ones I can relate to, as well. The skill, to know where to improve and then work on that area specifically, is a very important skill. I often find it difficult to invest enough time for practicing, next to my regular drawing sessions. Days often seem too short xD Keep up the good work ❤
I fully agree! I also think there is a component of making 'improving at art' more important than 'having fun at art' which I think both need to be at play in order to effectively improve consistently. Thanks again for the comment as always!! You keep up the good work too! :D
@@ChrisMason_01 you are right. And also how to stay motivated! I'm currently working on 4 WIPs. I hope I can finish one tomorrow :3
I feel a lot of it comes down to the fact that a lot of good artists are not good teachers.
That is ALSO a problem lol. Sometimes finding an artist who's teaching style works for you is half the battle
@@ChrisMason_01 Theres also the social media aspect. Young artists are drawn to the top dogs of each platform who just repeat what you showcased in your video but since the newbies dont know any better or crave validation from the community around the popular person they will try to stick with this less than stellar advice.
this is EXACTLY why i made SO much more progress with my art as a teenager when i STOPPED desperately trying to force myself to study anatomy, and dumbed shit right back to highly stylised cartoony stuff. sure, anatomy would be helpful to know in more detail. but at that point in time, focusing it was holding me back more than anything, when what i REALLY wanted to learn was "how to draw things quickly in a way that i enjoy the look of". my style has drastically changed since then. but copying eddsworld style rather than anatomy and anime styles was the first step in me learning how to have /fun/ with creating. and once i had that foundation of love, my skills in things like shape and line art grew too. which THEN let me move on to pushing my anatomy knowledge to somthing a little less stylised. theres gaps in my knowledge even now to be sure, but focusing on what was /fun/ for me, on what was pushing my art in ways i wanted it to go helped so much more than any of those general art tips ever did.
so yeah, find what you want to add to your art, or what you want to change it to completely, and work towards that. general advice can only give you a general idea, it wont ever let you know what YOU love to create. look at other artists you love, do studies of their work, take what you love from that process and keep it, and smush it into what you already do. if you see a specific thing you want to improve, study various ways to do that, and take what works for you. becuase thats the thing; when you look at other artists - particularly ones whose styles are wildly different to your own - youll realise there isnt just One Way to do the things you want to do. you need to create your OWN bridges to get the most out of art.
Perfectly put! I fully agree. It's all about how YOU feel about the art! There is so much about the process that are affected by the individual that general advice can only go so far. And yes, having fun is the secret to improving fast haha. Thanks for the comment :D
The way you consistently pump out high quality videos is insane 🔥
Thank you sm!! Seriously! XD
congrats on the sponsorship!!!
Thank you!! Yeah they're great :D
I live for these timelapses man, thanks for another great video!
Thanks man!! I love making em XD
6:45 That self plug was *Diabolical* 😅
LMAO! had to XD
TBF most of the time ik what to practice and how to I'm just to lazy too sometimes art is hard 😭
This is so real 😭
Yeah motivation is a big one. There are strategies to practice even while being unmotivated but you'll have to find the one that works for you! Wish you the best!
Thanks this advice was so helpful
Of course! Glad you found it helpful :D
I'll watch the video later, nrn but at least in my opinion the fundamentals are very necessary to study but not definitive, they're just a big guide for where you need to go, but the most important thing is try to find your own path to learn how to draw or even improve yourself, at least to me i noticed recently that i need to draw more because i already cosumed a loooootttt of theory and now i just need to practice
Yeah I pretty much FULLY agree with this haha XD I actually mentioned your point specifically in the video. But as you said, there's only so much you can grasp without just putting your head down and getting some drawing done! Wish you the best on your art journey :D
I struggled in art college because I wasn’t prepared for anything when I went. The common occurring issue was the none existent teaching of the alleged art instructor.
You are required to have high school art 10-30 to qualify for the program, yet high school art doesn’t teach any fundamentals. It was pretty much kindergarten art for teens.
I was extremely unprepared for college, and ended up disappointed as the instructors had no interest in teaching at all. The reoccurring attitude from those paid to teach was figure it out on your own, which is unhelpful for someone like me. I am on the spectrum and I cannot learn from vague instruction or from materials that is just words and no visuals.
Whenever I asked for an explanation, I would just receive this blank stare back. What was the point of paying all that money just to be told to figure it out on my own?
I grew up in the 90’s and attended college in 2004, there were no anatomy tutorials online. And because of the poor attitudes of those paid to not teach, and with my neurological issues causing learning to be more difficult and stressful, I didn’t improve. I’m late thirties now and learning on my own time and have noticed huge improvement just from watching these sorts of videos online than I ever did from actual school.
I'm glad you're still finding the time to improve! That is very inspiring. I think art education(or art college specifically) is tricky because they'll force you to learn art in a particular way that only the teacher of the class subscribes to. The teacher's teaching style and a students learning style may be fundamentally incompatible(as what it sounds like in your case) which I think is why it's great that we have more resources by a WIDE variety of artists online! There's bound to be someone on here that has experienced similar frustrations as you have and will have resources and guides that may be tailored to your specific learning style. Thanks for sharing your experience with us. I'm glad you're still working on it and I wish ya the best with your art journey! :D
@@ChrisMason_01 Thank you.
Yo! Man what brush are you using @7:17? I love that brush! I'm using Procreate.
Thanks man! It is the lasso tool primarily, with touch ups from the technical pen! It is in the 'inking' brushes folder
@ Got it! Thank you!
4:55 😭😭😭
Don't snipe that part bro LMAO!
Hey! I really enjoyed this video!!! I like that you helped me view learning new skills in another way! :0 DEFINETLY SUBBING
Thanks so much!! Checked out your channel too and you have a really cool artstyle! Keep it up as well :D
@@ChrisMason_01 Awww Thank youuu!! I’m trying to improve my skills and your videos have been a big help!! 💙
Because you get more specific with the $500 course
Definitely agree!!
discord ?
I used to have one but I didn't keep up with it well. Maybe in the future!
Oh my gosh, this resonated with me a lot! Figuring out or just picking something you want to create...YESSS! T_T I have been struggling with this a lot! I also 100% agree with learning one body part at a time. 🥲 It's all about showing up for yourself.
Btw, I absolutely love your illustrations and sketches. I have seen the growth and improvement in your art. ♥
Im glad this helped!! And thank you sm strawberrik! Im trying to get myself ready for my next project haha!