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Art Advice: How to use Learning to solve your Problems
2 years ago
# Introduction #
Hiiiiii!!
In light of seeing a common problem among friends I wanted to write a journal inspired by this qwq
Ok so!
We have problems and want to solve them. Maybe you don't draw because a lack of an established workflow paralyzes your progress, or that you're coloring things and it just doesn't *feel* right for the vibe you want.
Trial and error is very effective, but there is a risk to this.
It is human nature to want results when you put an effort into something, and if you're spending an inordinate amount of effort and achieving very little, your brain will command you to stop wasting energy.
This is where Learning is an effective tool for achieving your goals; it is a time saver when harnessed correctly.
But there are millions of tutorials out there, and being told "Just watch some tutorials and learn" or "just read the documentation" does not give you the necessary framework to do this correctly.
So what will happen to most is that, without proper guidance, people will enthusiastically sink many hours into learning, and if the d20 of life deems it so, they will meet several bad tutorials/resources or engage in resources in the wrong order, and after several hours they will realize that.. they're not getting anywhere. And if they're in their early stages, especially if not particularly important to them, they may decide they'd rather spend time on something that makes them feel good (or, far worse: that they're quitting art because they have no options left, and enter a painful cycle of quitting and restarting). Others have been deemed luckier by the great d20 of life and just have so much passion for art that they're willing to jump through all the hoops and eventually find a way. Others are deemed even luckier and just intuitively find out or are taught their Learning Strategy.
Chances are, if you are reading this exact sentence, that you're like how I spent years of my life - not so fortunate - so let's reroll your fate and turn you into one of those people who have the meta of learning all figured out... and we'll do this by me sharing my knowledge with you ;3
Remember, there's an inherent problem with learning itself: there is an unspoken meta to *knowing how to learn*. Let us call this Learning Strategy.
Here's a list of practical if-thens you can adopt in your Learning Strategy. Down the line, let me know if this has worked for you as much as it did for me!
# Your Learning Resource keeps assuming that you already know certain parts of the process #
Solution: Put this resource on hold and switch your focus to learning the assumed knowledge
The risk of not doing this is losing trust in learning in general and forming a mental block around it, which means losing a tool that could be in your belt (which, if this particularly distresses you, skip straight to the last section)
# Your Learning Resource doesn't address a problem that means anything to you #
Solution: Stop - create a list of art frustrations / goals that you have and this will be your guide on what tutorials, articles or questions to ask
- Your time is valuable. If you sink too much effort into learning without any results, you risk losing trust in learning from resources completely and may resort to pure trial-and-error, which is time consuming in its own way.
# You've already lost trust in active learning, so it's hard to bother with it anymore even though you wish it didn't intimidate you #
This is only relevant if you're feeling things like: "Tutorials are scary. A lot of them are crappy."
Solution: First, start by fully accepting that it's NOT shameful to not want to actively learn! You don't feel like going to YouTube to watch tutorials, so what? It's not a big deal and don't let anyone shame you for it. Take some time to fully, genuinely accept that before proceeding. Second step now is, think of active learning as a tool to solve a really annoying problem. It's your ticket to getting what you want. That thing you really really want? You can use this tool. You can also hurt yourself with this tool. It's fascinating how it works and you have a curiosity for this tool. That is the frame of mind that will allow someone to un-stuck themselves, it's how to get what you've been craving.
# You feel like you've "tried everything". Your problems are not technical, and learning technique doesn't only not address that, it adds stress to an already troubled state #
Relevant for those who feel "A tutorial on coloring isn't going to help me actually draw, I haven't drawn in 5 months / I don't color things / I don't post things and end up with a never ending backlog of art pieces I wish I could do / Every time I start drawing I feel disappointed and ashamed"
Solution: Stop learning from tutorials and redirect your #1 priority to learning about yourself and your situation. Your #1 priority is creating a Routine / Life Manifesto / Standard Operating Procedures, whatever you want to call it. It's a long, painful, and immensely rewarding process of addressing all the elephants in the room that have just been *there*, unresolved. List what frustrates you (e.g. can't draw), and then identify what are the factors that are causing this problem to happen (e.g. i'm afraid of being disappointed). You will then unearth the core of the problem, a cognitive dissonance that you have to make an authoritative decision about.
For example:
> "I wish I could draw something sexy"
-BUT-
> "Art is only sexy to me if it's good quality, and I cannot produce good quality work at my skill level"
In that case, you will need to focus on one of the statements and resolve the dissonance by creating a win-win scenario.
In that example, resolving it could mean authoritatively, permanently, truly, GENUINELY deciding to adopt any of these resolutions into your core beliefs:
- "For something to be sexy to me, it doesn't have to be good quality, it instead must (fuel my imagination / tickle my friends' fetishes) <3"
- "I don't feel like drawing sexy things, I want to draw funny things instead xD"
- "I thought I wanted to DRAW something sexy, but really and truly I just want the sexy art itself so I don't have to be the one drawing it so I'd rather commission it or browse online <3"
- "I thought I wanted to draw something sexy, but really I just want to experience sexy things <3"
So, many of these kind of resolutions will crop up and as you resolve them one by one, you will be less burdened and more able to figure out a way forward (hopefully one that involves you drawing, but it's entirely ok if it's not for you <3)
So, another question someone may ask is: Why not do both this internal resolution process AND learn from tutorials at the same time? The problem is that the risk of trying to juggle technical learning with this process of internally sorting yourself out is that, the nature of your problem is systematic and there's no one-size-fits all solution to it, and any resource that claims to be an "easy fix" is not to be trusted. There is no easy fix. And if you spread yourself thin you will distract yourself from the real priority and get stuck for years like I did. Life is complicated and there are multiple variables and the reason why (as an example) someone can't get themselves to draw can't just be boiled down to "10 simple steps". Take self-help content with a pinch of salt. It's not that self-help content is necessarily evil, but those "10 simple steps" can be things that work for some people, but don't work for others when put into practice. So you need to go through your emotional homework and figure out what is causing your large-scale problem, your learning is focused on learning yourself and how to manage the external pressures.
You may have financial pressures. Or are committed to too many responsibilities. Or have extremely low self-esteem. The underlying point you need to take away from this is is, that if you feel like you've "tried everything", then solving your art problem is not a matter of tutorials, it's dealing with the systematic problem.
Note that if you relate to this part, this doesn't imply that "barely coping". There is a sliding scale of dysfunction in a system - what this part of the journal is referring to is
I hope this helps someone out there!!
Good luck and may this help you all >w<
Hiiiiii!!
In light of seeing a common problem among friends I wanted to write a journal inspired by this qwq
Ok so!
We have problems and want to solve them. Maybe you don't draw because a lack of an established workflow paralyzes your progress, or that you're coloring things and it just doesn't *feel* right for the vibe you want.
Trial and error is very effective, but there is a risk to this.
It is human nature to want results when you put an effort into something, and if you're spending an inordinate amount of effort and achieving very little, your brain will command you to stop wasting energy.
This is where Learning is an effective tool for achieving your goals; it is a time saver when harnessed correctly.
But there are millions of tutorials out there, and being told "Just watch some tutorials and learn" or "just read the documentation" does not give you the necessary framework to do this correctly.
So what will happen to most is that, without proper guidance, people will enthusiastically sink many hours into learning, and if the d20 of life deems it so, they will meet several bad tutorials/resources or engage in resources in the wrong order, and after several hours they will realize that.. they're not getting anywhere. And if they're in their early stages, especially if not particularly important to them, they may decide they'd rather spend time on something that makes them feel good (or, far worse: that they're quitting art because they have no options left, and enter a painful cycle of quitting and restarting). Others have been deemed luckier by the great d20 of life and just have so much passion for art that they're willing to jump through all the hoops and eventually find a way. Others are deemed even luckier and just intuitively find out or are taught their Learning Strategy.
Chances are, if you are reading this exact sentence, that you're like how I spent years of my life - not so fortunate - so let's reroll your fate and turn you into one of those people who have the meta of learning all figured out... and we'll do this by me sharing my knowledge with you ;3
Remember, there's an inherent problem with learning itself: there is an unspoken meta to *knowing how to learn*. Let us call this Learning Strategy.
Here's a list of practical if-thens you can adopt in your Learning Strategy. Down the line, let me know if this has worked for you as much as it did for me!
# Your Learning Resource keeps assuming that you already know certain parts of the process #
Solution: Put this resource on hold and switch your focus to learning the assumed knowledge
The risk of not doing this is losing trust in learning in general and forming a mental block around it, which means losing a tool that could be in your belt (which, if this particularly distresses you, skip straight to the last section)
# Your Learning Resource doesn't address a problem that means anything to you #
Solution: Stop - create a list of art frustrations / goals that you have and this will be your guide on what tutorials, articles or questions to ask
- Your time is valuable. If you sink too much effort into learning without any results, you risk losing trust in learning from resources completely and may resort to pure trial-and-error, which is time consuming in its own way.
# You've already lost trust in active learning, so it's hard to bother with it anymore even though you wish it didn't intimidate you #
This is only relevant if you're feeling things like: "Tutorials are scary. A lot of them are crappy."
Solution: First, start by fully accepting that it's NOT shameful to not want to actively learn! You don't feel like going to YouTube to watch tutorials, so what? It's not a big deal and don't let anyone shame you for it. Take some time to fully, genuinely accept that before proceeding. Second step now is, think of active learning as a tool to solve a really annoying problem. It's your ticket to getting what you want. That thing you really really want? You can use this tool. You can also hurt yourself with this tool. It's fascinating how it works and you have a curiosity for this tool. That is the frame of mind that will allow someone to un-stuck themselves, it's how to get what you've been craving.
# You feel like you've "tried everything". Your problems are not technical, and learning technique doesn't only not address that, it adds stress to an already troubled state #
Relevant for those who feel "A tutorial on coloring isn't going to help me actually draw, I haven't drawn in 5 months / I don't color things / I don't post things and end up with a never ending backlog of art pieces I wish I could do / Every time I start drawing I feel disappointed and ashamed"
Solution: Stop learning from tutorials and redirect your #1 priority to learning about yourself and your situation. Your #1 priority is creating a Routine / Life Manifesto / Standard Operating Procedures, whatever you want to call it. It's a long, painful, and immensely rewarding process of addressing all the elephants in the room that have just been *there*, unresolved. List what frustrates you (e.g. can't draw), and then identify what are the factors that are causing this problem to happen (e.g. i'm afraid of being disappointed). You will then unearth the core of the problem, a cognitive dissonance that you have to make an authoritative decision about.
For example:
> "I wish I could draw something sexy"
-BUT-
> "Art is only sexy to me if it's good quality, and I cannot produce good quality work at my skill level"
In that case, you will need to focus on one of the statements and resolve the dissonance by creating a win-win scenario.
In that example, resolving it could mean authoritatively, permanently, truly, GENUINELY deciding to adopt any of these resolutions into your core beliefs:
- "For something to be sexy to me, it doesn't have to be good quality, it instead must (fuel my imagination / tickle my friends' fetishes) <3"
- "I don't feel like drawing sexy things, I want to draw funny things instead xD"
- "I thought I wanted to DRAW something sexy, but really and truly I just want the sexy art itself so I don't have to be the one drawing it so I'd rather commission it or browse online <3"
- "I thought I wanted to draw something sexy, but really I just want to experience sexy things <3"
So, many of these kind of resolutions will crop up and as you resolve them one by one, you will be less burdened and more able to figure out a way forward (hopefully one that involves you drawing, but it's entirely ok if it's not for you <3)
So, another question someone may ask is: Why not do both this internal resolution process AND learn from tutorials at the same time? The problem is that the risk of trying to juggle technical learning with this process of internally sorting yourself out is that, the nature of your problem is systematic and there's no one-size-fits all solution to it, and any resource that claims to be an "easy fix" is not to be trusted. There is no easy fix. And if you spread yourself thin you will distract yourself from the real priority and get stuck for years like I did. Life is complicated and there are multiple variables and the reason why (as an example) someone can't get themselves to draw can't just be boiled down to "10 simple steps". Take self-help content with a pinch of salt. It's not that self-help content is necessarily evil, but those "10 simple steps" can be things that work for some people, but don't work for others when put into practice. So you need to go through your emotional homework and figure out what is causing your large-scale problem, your learning is focused on learning yourself and how to manage the external pressures.
You may have financial pressures. Or are committed to too many responsibilities. Or have extremely low self-esteem. The underlying point you need to take away from this is is, that if you feel like you've "tried everything", then solving your art problem is not a matter of tutorials, it's dealing with the systematic problem.
Note that if you relate to this part, this doesn't imply that "barely coping". There is a sliding scale of dysfunction in a system - what this part of the journal is referring to is
I hope this helps someone out there!!
Good luck and may this help you all >w<
I see you sent me some stuff you drew~ >:3
This in turn makes me less likely to draw or improve. Cos why bother trying to get better if no one notices? It's one of the reasons why I don't upload much.
I'm on my way to sleep rn, 5AM brain ish sleeby, but - in your case!
Try do some self-reflection and try to evaluate what you want out of art first. Like what's the most core thing that activates your neuron? Is it when someone is like "omg that's amazing!"? Or when someone is like "thats hot >w<" (different things!) Or is it when you getting an idea to life? For e.g. for me it's making my imagination feel more real, venting horny feelings or pushing other people's buttons becomes I have a fetish for tickling other people's fetishes >:3 Try compile a list of what ACTUALLY makes you feel happy (so remember: not what you think should make you happy, just be brutally honest and completely accepting with yourself). Then come up with some experiments you can make to get more of that. So right now, it makes a lot of sense to just forget about the technical skill, it's not the priority. THEN, once you arrive to problems that can be solved by technical skill, *then* it'd be useful to look up tutorials (e.g. if you want more comments, search on engaging with your audience, imo that will help you find some resources that may help with my best guess on what you want)
Keep me updated on any findings you get from this emotional homework, I wanna know these things too~ >w>