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My #1 Tip for Aspiring Artists
4 years ago
General
Disclaimer: I'm no pro and I didn't go to art school. I'm just an observant hack doing his best and who wants you to do your best.
If I could go back in time and tell NoobRoy one thing it would be this: Sketch more
"Well no shit, Roy thanks for the git gud." Hold up Strawman-san, there's more to it than that.
In the six years I've been doing the art thing I've found that the main dividing feature between low-tier artists and high-tier artists is consistent sketching. Full-timers and professionals always seem to have unending sketch books filled with experimentation and study and I think that's the key. I made a concerted effort to sketch more this year and I've never felt more confident in my arting.
Sketching keeps you sharp, it helps you understand shapes and composition. Sketching is the bedrock of art, it seems. You can't build a good house on mud, you need a good foundation. IE: Before you do any fancy inking or rendering tricks you need a good outline to work off of.
Unfortunately, it's hard to make something out of nothing. Much easier to hack a workable sketch out and hurry on to inking and painting. There's a tendency among inexperienced or mediocre artists (we've literally all been there, don't feel bad) to sketch exactly as much as necessary for a piece. You thumbnail once or twice, get on with the sketch, and then wrap it up. Maybe you're over-loaded with commissions or you just want to rush ahead and post it for those sweet upcummies. Fair enough, I guess, but when you only sketch to get a piece done you're not necessarily giving yourself room to refine your skills or experiment. It seems to me that operating in this way leads to skills stagnating.
In order to sketch more I believe it's necessary to stop worrying about your output. There's such a push to follow the trends, build up a fanbase, build up your portfolio, etc. But that's all a distraction. All that matters is the canvas and what you want to put on it. I recommend you sit yourself down for a half-hour (or more) every day with an open canvas, a reference or two, and just sketch whatever you want. Get self indulgent. Forget about what people expect of you. You don't even have to show them your sketches. This is for you. If it turns out great on the first try, awesome. If not, try again. It'll be easier the second time.
If you do this I guarantee you'll feel the results in a matter of days. The more you sketch the easier it gets and then you'll really start improving. Don't let your memes be dreams.
But that's just one hack's opinion. What do you think?
If I could go back in time and tell NoobRoy one thing it would be this: Sketch more
"Well no shit, Roy thanks for the git gud." Hold up Strawman-san, there's more to it than that.
In the six years I've been doing the art thing I've found that the main dividing feature between low-tier artists and high-tier artists is consistent sketching. Full-timers and professionals always seem to have unending sketch books filled with experimentation and study and I think that's the key. I made a concerted effort to sketch more this year and I've never felt more confident in my arting.
Sketching keeps you sharp, it helps you understand shapes and composition. Sketching is the bedrock of art, it seems. You can't build a good house on mud, you need a good foundation. IE: Before you do any fancy inking or rendering tricks you need a good outline to work off of.
Unfortunately, it's hard to make something out of nothing. Much easier to hack a workable sketch out and hurry on to inking and painting. There's a tendency among inexperienced or mediocre artists (we've literally all been there, don't feel bad) to sketch exactly as much as necessary for a piece. You thumbnail once or twice, get on with the sketch, and then wrap it up. Maybe you're over-loaded with commissions or you just want to rush ahead and post it for those sweet upcummies. Fair enough, I guess, but when you only sketch to get a piece done you're not necessarily giving yourself room to refine your skills or experiment. It seems to me that operating in this way leads to skills stagnating.
In order to sketch more I believe it's necessary to stop worrying about your output. There's such a push to follow the trends, build up a fanbase, build up your portfolio, etc. But that's all a distraction. All that matters is the canvas and what you want to put on it. I recommend you sit yourself down for a half-hour (or more) every day with an open canvas, a reference or two, and just sketch whatever you want. Get self indulgent. Forget about what people expect of you. You don't even have to show them your sketches. This is for you. If it turns out great on the first try, awesome. If not, try again. It'll be easier the second time.
If you do this I guarantee you'll feel the results in a matter of days. The more you sketch the easier it gets and then you'll really start improving. Don't let your memes be dreams.
But that's just one hack's opinion. What do you think?
A half hour after having more or less properly woken up of sketching sounds not like a doable option to me, who is just getting some resemblance of a daily routine in his live. :)
Now... If only I kept the same ethos up with modding since that is actually more in line with my profession.
Wish it was as fun as it used to be. Not sure why it isn't nowadays
Self Reflection on your process is a crucial aspect of how you evolve, if you don't take the time to step back and allow things to take their course, you'll end up repeating past mistakes with alot more anxiety and stress.
Art/writing block doesn't exist. It's just the inertia of not doing the thing. Do the thing, no matter how bad the end result is, and the thing will get easier to start and do and the end result will get better over time.
Just do the thing
What do you usually do before you start drawing for the day? Like, especially if you've been out of it for a while.. or you just feel a little rusty and can't really get into that state of mine?
Do you do any warm up sketches or exercises in order to improve those aspects? I know for me, I definitely can get the habit down but I feel like I need to spend more time doing those warm up sketches.
My main issue to might just be the fact that I might get stuck in a rut withdrawing the same stuff over again.
Like, drawing one fetish most of the time. I'm thinking about trying to increase the amount of other topics or silly drawings.
I mean everyone is their own worst critic, but as long as you keep a good perspective you'll be happy to see yourself improving.