Thank you for the chance to join you on the drawing adventure that day! It was a highlight of my trip to London. I learned so much from you at the workshop and on our sketching excursion.
I've really changed the way I approach art. I've had to give up on the idea of learning how to draw. Now the goal is the process itself. If I can turn off the part of my brain that is telling me I'm doing it wrong, and just focus on shapes like you said, I consider that a successful session of drawing. It doesn't matter if my people look like aliens and every animal I draw looks like a walrus, if I focused on seeing it was a success.
Yeah that’s a great idea to consider doing the practice as the goal, not the drawing outcome. I have filled sketchbooks with walruses and alien people. Every time i sketched it was a win, though I didn’t always feel that way at the time
I’ve found a way to turn off that critical part of the that’s always wondering if what I’m doing is good enough. I give it a distraction, something to listen to. Music, especially songs, or podcasts! If I listen to either of these while I’m painting or drawing, that critic in my head thinks about that instead of criticizing what I’m drawing or painting. It really works.
@21ruevictorhugo This was a great idea. Now, I'm listening to audiobooks, mostly murder mysteries. The critical part of my brain is focused on trying to figure out who did it, instead of telling me what I did wrong.
Even focusing on the fact that drawing / painting is proven to delay brain aging and helps improve neurological connections is already enough motivation to draw and paint regardless of whether the result satisfies us or not😂. It's healthy for our brain so drawing and painting It's good no matter what
Thank you for sharing Kenzo some of your story. The more detailed a picture , the more interesting it can be. Interesting to hear the chat with Mark. Waiting for the right feelings in order to do art is a BIG point. Just do it ! Oh yes….so simple…..so simple…(without all the over analysis …waiting for ….the right energy…the right mindset…the right clarity of thought….the right preparation of art materials…the right sharpened pencil ….the right time of day…..the right light……….the right mood…..) How to get yourself to do stuff?? Turn off the Brain and just Be with the pencil….let the pencil do its thing and turn off the emotions and reactions to what we are drawing…..we all struggle with the same stuff…..it’s comforting to know this. I know that I have improved my attitude to drawing by training myself to not care….and though i still procrastinate daily i am better than before because of this . babbling here….but hey…i don’t care…i know someone will relate out there…maybe only the puppies….or the walruses or aliens….but that’s ok with me.😂
hey Tessa! Yes it's been a struggle for me big time. I can't say what should work for anyone else, but for me it was big to learn to separate a bit from all the thoughts and feelings, and see the brain's products as only occasionally useful. So then i can base my actual actions on what i value (family, art, health etc). And then my brain desperately tries to get back the control! Mark's book was useful, and also another called the Happiness Trap.
12:55 this part resonated with me a lot. I procrastinate so much to the point that starting feels like trying to push off a huge weight that's been dropped on me. I built up such a specific and impossible idea of how I want my art to look that I'm just bound to feel unsatisfied with anything I do. But you need to just do it and tune out the critic in your mind.
Really really one of my favourite videos you've made Kenzo. The frank and open way that you discussed your experiences was really poignant, and I think that your works speaks for itself as testament to how you have overcome things. Also want to echo what someone else commented - giving your attention to the here and now and not the end result is the best approach to all of life, not jusy drawing. Living that takes practice and rewiring of the brain too though! Cannot recommend the lovelifedrawing study group enough, thanks for all that you do 😊
thanks i'm so glad you enjoyed it! Even with this video, i had my brain suggest it was a bad idea to talk about anxiety etc etc. i'm getting more and more used to ignoring it and doing what i like!
❤😂10:34 love it. I was in London last week with my wife and kids. Spent two nights at Holiday Inn near Hammersmith station. Spent the two nights just drawing in the hotel’s foyer/slash dining area. People would walk past and peek. I ignored them and kept going no matter how my art looked. Then one guy stopped and stared a long time and I made the error of looking up. He had this big grin on his face and I just squirmed and stopped. Never look up! 🤣
ugh, I started to learn to draw so many times and soooo many times I failed that I'm tired of even thinking about scribbling again... the interesting fact is that I had some results of my practices that I REALLY liked... And yet it wasn't enough to keep me going for more. but... I have anxiety problems - maybe this is connected to my drawing problems...
more then any other aspect of figure drawing, the issues you talked about in this video have been my biggest barrier to my progress i think. a lot of things to think about here!
I would like to tell you that I exactly relate to this and my anxiety in life and art both comes from similar things...Thanks you helped me both with art and life✨❤
Super interesting! I love the "train the puppy" analogy, have to remember that. To me, learning to tune into what's going on inside my brain, dealing with emotions, frustrations, motivation or lack thereof, feels roughly as important as the technical aspects of drawing. Maybe even more important, a prerequisite. And it's so paradoxical at times. When, say, I have high expectations when I'm starting to sketch, I need to realize that, and then completely let go of those expectations to actually meet them. If that makes sense :)
Yeah there’s a lot of these paradoxes. In mental health, you have to accept feeling anxious and not try to stop feeling anxious in order to overcome anxiety problems for example
Do you know…….that was really helpful and lovely to watch the two of you chat so easily about important things while drawing and painting. It’s left me with a good feeling and the advice to not wait for inspiration or the perfect moment was very useful. You did good today :)
This was so good! Thank you so much - it's what I've been struggling with for decades and totally stunted my artistic attempts every time. I'm so encouraged by what you've shared.
Dear Kenzo ! while seeing your video, trying to understand ( my mother tongue is french...) your advices or commentary about drawing&painting, suddenly the idea to sketch you both appears in my mind. And what did I see first on the image on the right of my screen? All those little pink hearts painted on the long wall behind the bench on which you are sitted. Isn't it these feeling you are speaking about : a peacefull feeling provided by the simple connection to Heart & Love surrounding us in fact, but without the constant possibility for our mind to feel it? Aren't we all looking for these Presence of Love with a big L ? Nowadays it is exactly my purpose and questionning when thinking, beginning, doing and achieving my art's projects. In other words, do am I patient enough to do what I can do today without avoiding opening my eyes on those "little" opportunities of bright love my spirit's unique eye is so thirsty of? Thank you so much for these image, it is a GIFT, I will carefully place it as front page of my computer. It will be more than a simple remainder of 2 kind and smiling gentlemen, sketching 3 boats on a shinny river by a shinny weather, sitting on a bench, speaking with intelligence of art and human being difficulties, with hundred and hundred pink hearts behind them without perhaps (?) seeing, or feeling them completely, just because they are (the hearts...) so many ...Marianne from Nice, South of France
Thanks. I'm trying to learn drawing after putting the pencil down for 20 years and I get anxiety often about drawing or painting and then often get frustrated that my drawing looks pretty terrible, especially faces.
i'm 26 and have been drawing for most of my life, but I still can barely finish a single drawing because of anxiety and ADHD. i'm probably too old at this point to get good enougb at art to make a career of it, but i still want to try to improve. i'm always going to regret my past failures to learn and grow through anxiety, and i don't think i will ever be able to stop hating myself for it, but i'll keep going. maybe someday i'll get somewhere. i don't know. i'm feeling very hopeless about it all and regret is eating me alive
Hey that sounds really hard! It mostly sounds like stuff you're doing to yourself, and I'm sure you could find ways to not do that stuff. Perhaps you could try Mark's book? 26 isn't too late to become super good and even create a career. I started in my mid-30s!
Life isn't a race, be nicer to yourself! I felt a lot of pressure in my 20s too and thought I was wasting them, but I can only look back as having needed those experiences to become who I am today. Don't look at the past or future, just focus on living in the here and now. Thoughts are with you bud, be strong for yourself!
lol I don't think the visitor found the drawing to be bad i think she was just making conversation and of course with art it is always easy to say the wrong things.
10:32 Srry gotta speak my mind on this one, she had to nerve to say that really? She probably cant handle criticism very well soshe puts other people down.
Hey thanks for commenting! She was nice and friendly but I think what she was saying came out wrong. I was being a bit self deprecating and she was going along with it
Big thanks to Mark for explaining why Motivation is a Unicorn Fart. Links to his stuff are in the description :)
Thank you for the chance to join you on the drawing adventure that day! It was a highlight of my trip to London. I learned so much from you at the workshop and on our sketching excursion.
I've really changed the way I approach art. I've had to give up on the idea of learning how to draw. Now the goal is the process itself. If I can turn off the part of my brain that is telling me I'm doing it wrong, and just focus on shapes like you said, I consider that a successful session of drawing. It doesn't matter if my people look like aliens and every animal I draw looks like a walrus, if I focused on seeing it was a success.
Yeah that’s a great idea to consider doing the practice as the goal, not the drawing outcome. I have filled sketchbooks with walruses and alien people. Every time i sketched it was a win, though I didn’t always feel that way at the time
I’ve found a way to turn off that critical part of the that’s always wondering if what I’m doing is good enough. I give it a distraction, something to listen to. Music, especially songs, or podcasts! If I listen to either of these while I’m painting or drawing, that critic in my head thinks about that instead of criticizing what I’m drawing or painting. It really works.
@21ruevictorhugo This was a great idea. Now, I'm listening to audiobooks, mostly murder mysteries. The critical part of my brain is focused on trying to figure out who did it, instead of telling me what I did wrong.
Even focusing on the fact that drawing / painting is proven to delay brain aging and helps improve neurological connections is already enough motivation to draw and paint regardless of whether the result satisfies us or not😂. It's healthy for our brain so drawing and painting It's good no matter what
Thank you for sharing Kenzo some of your story. The more detailed a picture , the more interesting it can be. Interesting to hear the chat with Mark. Waiting for the right feelings in order to do art is a BIG point. Just do it ! Oh yes….so simple…..so simple…(without all the over analysis …waiting for ….the right energy…the right mindset…the right clarity of thought….the right preparation of art materials…the right sharpened pencil ….the right time of day…..the right light……….the right mood…..) How to get yourself to do stuff?? Turn off the Brain and just Be with the pencil….let the pencil do its thing and turn off the emotions and reactions to what we are drawing…..we all struggle with the same stuff…..it’s comforting to know this. I know that I have improved my attitude to drawing by training myself to not care….and though i still procrastinate daily i am better than before because of this . babbling here….but hey…i don’t care…i know someone will relate out there…maybe only the puppies….or the walruses or aliens….but that’s ok with me.😂
hey Tessa! Yes it's been a struggle for me big time. I can't say what should work for anyone else, but for me it was big to learn to separate a bit from all the thoughts and feelings, and see the brain's products as only occasionally useful. So then i can base my actual actions on what i value (family, art, health etc). And then my brain desperately tries to get back the control! Mark's book was useful, and also another called the Happiness Trap.
Thank you Kenzo. Your videos literally changed my life and I appreciate who you are and what you do immensely. 🙏🏼
12:55 this part resonated with me a lot. I procrastinate so much to the point that starting feels like trying to push off a huge weight that's been dropped on me. I built up such a specific and impossible idea of how I want my art to look that I'm just bound to feel unsatisfied with anything I do. But you need to just do it and tune out the critic in your mind.
yeah it's this slow, compounding growth that feels almost boring day to day, and is crazy over the years
Really really one of my favourite videos you've made Kenzo. The frank and open way that you discussed your experiences was really poignant, and I think that your works speaks for itself as testament to how you have overcome things. Also want to echo what someone else commented - giving your attention to the here and now and not the end result is the best approach to all of life, not jusy drawing. Living that takes practice and rewiring of the brain too though! Cannot recommend the lovelifedrawing study group enough, thanks for all that you do 😊
thanks i'm so glad you enjoyed it! Even with this video, i had my brain suggest it was a bad idea to talk about anxiety etc etc. i'm getting more and more used to ignoring it and doing what i like!
❤😂10:34 love it. I was in London last week with my wife and kids. Spent two nights at Holiday Inn near Hammersmith station. Spent the two nights just drawing in the hotel’s foyer/slash dining area. People would walk past and peek. I ignored them and kept going no matter how my art looked. Then one guy stopped and stared a long time and I made the error of looking up. He had this big grin on his face and I just squirmed and stopped. Never look up! 🤣
Hehehe i don’t sketch out and about much so it was fairly new for me
You have done a lot of good videos, Kenzo, but really this is one of the BEST EVER!
Wow, thanks!
ugh, I started to learn to draw so many times and soooo many times I failed that I'm tired of even thinking about scribbling again...
the interesting fact is that I had some results of my practices that I REALLY liked... And yet it wasn't enough to keep me going for more.
but... I have anxiety problems - maybe this is connected to my drawing problems...
Been there before! I hope you figure out a way to enjoy the process, despite the many many frustrations
I feel you!
Great video! I echo all these ideas with my own therapy and i wish you the best of luck along your journey.
Heyy that's crazy! I've been following you both for years 😄(Going to Mark's workshop on sunday😊) So cool!
Oh awesome! I hope you enjoy it
more then any other aspect of figure drawing, the issues you talked about in this video have been my biggest barrier to my progress i think. a lot of things to think about here!
Hey Chris, that's so interesting. Your progress has been really strong, but it just proves anyone can have the doubts!
I would like to tell you that I exactly relate to this and my anxiety in life and art both comes from similar things...Thanks you helped me both with art and life✨❤
i think this video just saved my life
not to be contrarian, but the initial "brain's version" of Kenzo was beautiful.
10:32 "oh can I look? oh thats shit" 😂she probably from new york
hehehe she was actually nice but i think some of it came out wrong!
I bet his internal monologue was like "oh i'd like to see you pick up a brush and do better" lmao how rude of her.
Super interesting! I love the "train the puppy" analogy, have to remember that. To me, learning to tune into what's going on inside my brain, dealing with emotions, frustrations, motivation or lack thereof, feels roughly as important as the technical aspects of drawing. Maybe even more important, a prerequisite. And it's so paradoxical at times. When, say, I have high expectations when I'm starting to sketch, I need to realize that, and then completely let go of those expectations to actually meet them. If that makes sense :)
Yeah there’s a lot of these paradoxes. In mental health, you have to accept feeling anxious and not try to stop feeling anxious in order to overcome anxiety problems for example
Do you know…….that was really helpful and lovely to watch the two of you chat so easily about important things while drawing and painting. It’s left me with a good feeling and the advice to not wait for inspiration or the perfect moment was very useful. You did good today :)
So glad you enjoyed it!
This was a breath of fresh air. Identified with every single part of this video. Thank you so much. 🤗
Glad you enjoyed it!
Excellent. My puppy needs a lot more training. Terrific video on programing yourself to success in other areas as well as art.
This was so good! Thank you so much - it's what I've been struggling with for decades and totally stunted my artistic attempts every time. I'm so encouraged by what you've shared.
Glad it was helpful!
So helpful, thank you!
Thanks for creating and sharing this. Lovely to watch ❤
Thank you 😊
Loved this so much, thank you
Dear Kenzo ! while seeing your video, trying to understand ( my mother tongue is french...) your advices or commentary about drawing&painting, suddenly the idea to sketch you both appears in my mind. And what did I see first on the image on the right of my screen? All those little pink hearts painted on the long wall behind the bench on which you are sitted. Isn't it these feeling you are speaking about : a peacefull feeling provided by the simple connection to Heart & Love surrounding us in fact, but without the constant possibility for our mind to feel it? Aren't we all looking for these Presence of Love with a big L ? Nowadays it is exactly my purpose and questionning when thinking, beginning, doing and achieving my art's projects. In other words, do am I patient enough to do what I can do today without avoiding opening my eyes on those "little" opportunities of bright love my spirit's unique eye is so thirsty of? Thank you so much for these image, it is a GIFT, I will carefully place it as front page of my computer. It will be more than a simple remainder of 2 kind and smiling gentlemen, sketching 3 boats on a shinny river by a shinny weather, sitting on a bench, speaking with intelligence of art and human being difficulties, with hundred and hundred pink hearts behind them without perhaps (?) seeing, or feeling them completely, just because they are (the hearts...) so many ...Marianne from Nice, South of France
Resonates! Thanks kenzo.
I really wish the 'motivation is a unicorn fart' title hadn't hooked me, but I admit it did.
I changed it tho cos views were going down 😂
@@lovelifedrawing Probably a bit esoteric of a title 😂
Thanks. I'm trying to learn drawing after putting the pencil down for 20 years and I get anxiety often about drawing or painting and then often get frustrated that my drawing looks pretty terrible, especially faces.
i get that too, even now!
Thanks for this video, I really like the comparison to a puppy 😁 it helped me a lot. (and the woman, like wtf? 🙈)
yeah it's a great analogy from Mark, also because we tend to treat puppies so nicely
i'm 26 and have been drawing for most of my life, but I still can barely finish a single drawing because of anxiety and ADHD. i'm probably too old at this point to get good enougb at art to make a career of it, but i still want to try to improve. i'm always going to regret my past failures to learn and grow through anxiety, and i don't think i will ever be able to stop hating myself for it, but i'll keep going. maybe someday i'll get somewhere. i don't know. i'm feeling very hopeless about it all and regret is eating me alive
26 years old? Honey I am in 70’s and I’m practicing my art skills daily for the past year and I am improving
Hey that sounds really hard! It mostly sounds like stuff you're doing to yourself, and I'm sure you could find ways to not do that stuff. Perhaps you could try Mark's book? 26 isn't too late to become super good and even create a career. I started in my mid-30s!
Life isn't a race, be nicer to yourself! I felt a lot of pressure in my 20s too and thought I was wasting them, but I can only look back as having needed those experiences to become who I am today. Don't look at the past or future, just focus on living in the here and now. Thoughts are with you bud, be strong for yourself!
lol I don't think the visitor found the drawing to be bad i think she was just making conversation and of course with art it is always easy to say the wrong things.
Yeah I think you’re right - nice to see you here Suzette!
why have you changed the title though?)
'motivation is a unicorn fart' was definitely more fun!
10:32 Srry gotta speak my mind on this one, she had to nerve to say that really? She probably cant handle criticism very well soshe puts other people down.
I don’t understand what she said. What did she say??
@@fromeveryting29I am wondering the same thing. I missed that last comment, just can’t articulate what she said. Driving me crazy!
Hey thanks for commenting! She was nice and friendly but I think what she was saying came out wrong. I was being a bit self deprecating and she was going along with it
@@fromeveryting29 From what I understood, she said, "Even ugly can be beautiful."
did that lady come up and call it shitty? thats so weird