That is something that took me a stupidly long time to realize. Getting good at art has nothing to do with making perfect or pretty pictures. It is your deep fascination and curiosity of how things function. Trying to capture how life works is what you should be striving for. A pretty picture is just a byproduct of that. Love the process of drawing, not the end result.
Well said … and sadly many miss this and that is when frustration sets in and they drop out. It was definitely not my focus when I started and yeah … I was not having fun at all.
TLDR: 1 - Love what you do 2 - Draw everything what’s the person draws in the course (Everything within your comfort level) 3 - Do the assignments 4 - Play and have fun 5 - Don’t give up too easily 6 - Stay consistent (Stay consistent with your studies and practice it) 7 - Find help & find more additional resources (Find extra references , videos, etc if you need it for further understanding)
I also recommend that most people should mix study and creating your own pieces from imagination in a 50:50 ratio. This way, you are breaking the monotony of studying all the time, getting practical experience from designing your own stuff (what most people want to do), and you are getting a more accurate assessment of your current skill. All while having more fun designing whatever you love!
This is great advice. It really helps keep the fun meter up while getting through lessons and concepts that may not be as exciting but are necessary. Thanks for the tip!
What you said circa 20:03. about teachers who "leave things out" during instruction is the single greatest trip wire in teaching. Never assume, as an instructor, that students should a priori understand simple concepts, especially when teaching on an introductory level. (Obviously if teaching college calculus it should be assumed the basic rules of arithmetic are understood.) Art is a subject that really subscribes to this rule.
Yeah I agree. But to give the teachers a bit of a break art is complicated and it is so difficult to teach everything in one course. It’s tough. I think what i learned from going through undergrad and grad school is that if you want something bad enough don’t rely on the teachers. Go and fill in the blanks yourself. But yeah wish this situation was better.
My struggle is with figures and clothes, rather than faces. It may not work for everyone, but my breakthrough for placing features on the face was the eye socket (which is still visible on everyone as a sort of upside down, triangular shape), and the cheekbone line for the front plane, which goes from the corner of the eye to the corner of the mouth (I saw this one in a Patrick Jones video). Those two things really help me establish the three dimensionality of the face, and the features then come naturally.
Thanks I’m working through a few things as we type ☺️ … I’ll keep this in mind. I have seen this method used as well. I have done Proko’s portrait course in the past. So I’m not starting from zero … however still looking to make some good progress in this area. Looking forward to see how this turns out. What is your approach that you are looking on doing to help with your figures and clothing?
@@canilearntodraw2579 sure! Lots of mileage and trying different methods! But also focusing more on perspective work from guys like Kim Jung Gi, Karl Kopinski, and rembert montald, as I think my biggest issue is drawing the figure in space, rather than the figure itself. The morpho anatomy and construction books have been helping me tons. When I see different types of construction (like what I’ve seen in your videos), I’ll draw a few of them and see if something sticks. I like the pelvis’s of the figures in this video because it simplifies the joints in a way that makes sense to me. I’ve copied Barbara Bradley’s book on clothed figure drawing page for page, but I still haven’t reached that “I got it” moment. Guess I’ll just have to do some more :). Definitely need to do more from imagination. My best is your “not there yet” drawing. I’m trying to find ways to tackle natural posing and figures interacting within a scene. Found some advice from Tim Mcburnie, but mostly just need to do reference studies. My other great weakness seems to be design and intent. Even if I know the shapes or the physics behind something, it always lacks character. Have no clue how to approach this besides artist studies and iterative drawing. Starting with Jeremy Mann, but I have hundreds more I want to study.. oh gosh. Gabriel Quinn recommended a lecture “Understanding Appeal” from iris muddy. That’ll also be on my agenda. The plan for tomorrow is to study some of your pages here, do some gesture drawing and animal drawings for drawabox, do some beginner watercolor painting to relax, watch some Kim Jung Gi lectures, draw a simple scene, do a 1:1 of an art piece for design, make a handful of quick expressive characters with and without reference, maybe a very small animation to help me internalize figure movement, then play some guitar… …and be very disappointed when I only get 1/3 of that done. I’ve got all day, but time just likes to mysteriously vanish. Your progress looks so clean compared to mine! Although it’s hard to tell from an outside perspective. But what takes you a page to figure out takes me about 10. Love your videos, hope to keep learning from and with you.
Love those artists you mentioned! I have probably listened to almost all of them! Sounds like you have a solid plan and lots of resources. I can hear your enthusiasm coming through in your comment and I love it! Sounds like someone I would like to hang out with to draw! I get that often that my sketchbook looks really clean. At one point I actually tried to make it sketchy-er on purpose. Lol 😆 … didn’t work out. I just have to accept that this is who I am and how my brain works. Lol. Can’t wait to see where we end up. Thanks!
@@Aeo267 Just had to add....one thing that really helped me with drapery was getting a towel and drawing it in kinds of different "positions" and lighting situations. Throw it on the floor and draw it crumpled, hang it from a hook, stretch it between two points, etc. I'm guessing you already know how to render, so you probably don't need to be told about that (I.e., every crease or fold is going to have a highlight, a lowlight, midtones, reflected light, etc). If you can do that, then all you need to worry about is the effect of gravity on the fabric. That's where just continually drawing the towel helps. It's a lot like hair, really. Well, _exactly_ like hair.
One last thing is dont focus on making your sketchbook look good because YOUR SKETCHBOOK IS YOUR FIELD TEST, it is where you will try stuff, learn, practice and not an art exhibiton, yes the sketchbook on the video looks nice but to me its even better with erasure marks since it shows how much invested you were in.
This is good advice. Although it may look like I don’t follow it because of how clean my sketchbook appears … I actually do ☺️. I have even tried to get a sketchier sketchbook style 😆 but I guess it just doesn’t work for me. But my drawings and sketchbook ends up so clean because I took what I learned from draw a box about making intentional lines and then leaving them and continue to use that moto even when I am drawing in pencil. So I don’t end up erasing that much. And if you look closely you can see the very light under drawing or construction lines I draw first … it’s all in there. I could probably get a bit more extreme but I think it’s just a reflection of my personality. But it is one of the most consistent comments when I show people who also have sketchbooks my sketchbook. Wow it’s so clean! But yes … don’t try to follow this. Let yourself be free to make mistakes. It’s fine and you will have more fun and better results in the long term because of it. Thanks for the comment and advice.
This video was very inspiring thank you. Honestly as a digital artist, with AI getting better and better, I was getting discouraged to the point of asking is developing my skills even worth it. But I come on RUclips and see the joy and passion from artists like you and it helps me keep on learning. 🙏🏾
Wow! This is motivating for me. I’m here working through drawing repetitions of head drawings lol. Just what I need to keep going as well ☺️. Thank you for the comment and kind words. Glad I could provide some inspiration for you!
Something i've done over the years which has weirdly helped is going back to those lessons every now and then, about 1 to every 3 months, and seeing that i understand more about what they were teaching or explaining in them than the first time i watched them, or something i just forgot.
This is a great idea. I have thought about this a lot and have had so many ideas about what I want to try that I have not gone back to them. Great advice though. Just like watching a movie the second time you often see things you didn’t see before and get a better understanding of why the plot was scripted the way it was and able to pick up on obscure dialogue hints.
@canilearntodraw2579 it's also just hard to absorb so much information at once. Plus, you'll have learned other things along the way, and going back, you get the opportunity to see it from a new perspective.
It's amazing how much your reminder to simply remember how to love drawing has just shifted my entire mindset. I've been drawing for a long time but after I got serious about it, doing studies and focusing on getting good, I burned myself out. Art became a stressor for me. I think it's time for a detox where being "good" doesn't matter.
I think a lot of self-taught and intuitive artists (myself included) fall into that trap in which they took up drawing and started doodling whatever they liked in school, like anime characters. Eventually you get a feel for it. So people begin telling you that your drawings are really good. You‘re now the "art kid" in yiur class. You‘re pretty much surrounded by young people who haven‘t seen that much of anything yet so anything that has more detail than a stick figure looks good to them. So one day, you graduate high school and you get into art school abd you think "i was the best kid at art in high school, so I don‘t need to bother with the fundamentals. I already got this in the bag." Even though you never did the fundamentals before in the first place. Oh, but you already drew so many anime characters, surely you‘re already beyond fundamentals. But you don‘t realize that the people who are starting from scratch are actually progressing way faster than you because they do all the excercises. Because they don‘t think themselves above the excercises. Not saying all art kids and self taught artists fall into this pipeline. But for me, it took that realization to finally be able to progress. As well as learning something other thab drawing anime characters, and I actually am way better now at drawing architecture than humans, even though I‘ve been drawing humans since I was 7, simply because I learned environment art from scratch and with the assumption that I know nothing
How do you practice the fundamentals though? I’m new to art and I don’t know what I should try to draw. Like I guess my question is what things should I try to draw when just starting out?
@ i think it‘s best to find a balance between doing excercises but also sketching thinks you like to keep you motivated. Personally, the first thing i‘d do is to train your muscle memory. Get comfortable holding a pen. Draw 2 dots and connect them with a line a couple times, practise drawing a line that isn‘t arched and as striaght as possible. After that, I think moving on to perspective and form is a good move. Start wirh 1 point perspective, then move your way up to 2 and 3 point. Try breaking down complex things into more simple forms like cubes and spheres and cylinders, maybe even integrate some light shading. It‘s really hard to find a curriculum as a self taught artist, but not impossible! The most important things is to have fun and draw stuff you‘re interested in every once in a while, like if you‘re into mechs or anime, it‘s important to stay happy. While doing all this, line work practise is pretty much built in but there‘s no harm in practising is seperately if you feel up to it After that I‘d suggest getting into values and colors and then maybe read up on composition. That‘s how I‘d go about it with the power of hindsight, though I‘m by no means saying this is the best or only way! Hope this helps
@ thank you i appreciate your advice! I’ve started working on 2 and 3 point perspective, but that’s pretty much as far as I’ve gotten. I’ll continue practicing and keep your points in mind :)
I'm glad you woke up to what should be the main goal of drawing. Your own enjoyment and fulfillment. You do what your are doing for the next 7 years I'll bet even your old goal will be attained just incidentally. The only way to achieve your old goal is to build your visual library enough and that just takes time and experience. If you enjoy it. You'll do it. If you do it for long enough 30 years from now you'll be whipping out awesome pictures while you entertain the grand kids as they think what you are doing is magic.
man even just seeing the pages of simple rotated human forms is so inspiring. once my school workload is on pace again im definitely gonna be getting back into studies
Hi marselo! So glad to hear. Sometimes it’s the simple things. I remember when I started out and wanted so badly to be able to draw those as well. Sometimes we forget the things we wanted to accomplish when we achieve them. Thanks for the reminder. All the best. It takes some work but eventually you will get it!
I am still pretty early in my own drawing journey, and I am currently working through DrawABox. I feel like, at this point, I am not creating enough finished pieces to really gauge my progress. So that’s something I am really trying to challenge myself with.
Hi Bopsterjazz! I think draw a box is a great course to start with. Pay attention to making those confident lines. Ghost and really think about where you want to put the line then commit and live with the outcome … don’t try to fix. For draw a box specifically I would recommend drawing larger large enough. Try to avoid small images. Now I’m just some dude who is also on the art journey as well … but I don’t think you should get over concerned with doing “finished pieces” sure use your skills to do fun short projects during the lessons as suggested … but don’t get overly concerned. I didn’t finish the last 2 lessons … I think it started to get more technical than I was ready for. But yeah a great course. Ensure you keep your fun meter up because there are some grinds in that course. How are you liking it so far? Which lesson are you on? Oh I would also say some of the methods will seem clunky … don’t worry about that just do what he says … don’t let your beginner brain tell you there is a better way. I know I had to fight myself on that 😝.
Drawing along with every example (even if it's not part of the homework) is definitely also something I have been doing over the past few years since I started drawing. 👍
New subscriber here! I've been binge watching your content. Your progress is really visible and it’s so inspiring to see! The 'progress is not linear' part really hit home for me. I’ve been feeling like my skills are regressing with each practice session, especially since I work full time and often feel like it’s holding back my growth. Seeing you on your art grind despite everything is super motivating!
Hi 👋🏾! Welcome… so glad to have you as we all make this journey together. Yes definitely not linear … I experienced that this week already 😆. Drawing some figures and I was like … wait … don’t I know how to do these? What’s going on!? Lol. It’s great to have a group of people where we can all remind each other that what we are experiencing is not unique. Looking forward to seeing you around and hearing of your experiences!
Badass boxes. Lovely style. Probably because I prefer outlining too. I don't know... I lost count to guides I've watched. And I started over from 0 so many times I'm afraid I'm running out of attempts. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger and this is killing me now. I'm burning out with burnouts. I'm tired of failures. I never get anywhere. And my brain can't be fooled, even if I get optimistic my subconsciousness knows my chances of ever learning are nearing null. Even when I'm ready to grind my pencil into dust for 40 hours in a row I simply go blind (shape-blind, measure-blind) and can't benefit from re-attempting. So nothing looks right. I literally try all possible shapes and not one looks right. And that's not what I normally do, it's just when nothing else works I get down to this "ok, I'll just draw you atom by atom, you pos" attitude and try to construct every damn bit. As done. No intuition, just geometry. And then I get blind and nothing clicks. So experimenting never works for me, I go backwards, I feel I drown in mistakes more and more, forgetting even the most basic things. It's like trying to swim up a waterfall. Worst of all is I'm less inspired even by the art that had given me the spark. Just don't want anything. Can't do much without motivation and no victories on my 20 years path are enough to destroy me. Well, I don't call my silly copying victories. It's what other people invented and I repeated, reassembling into something pleasant. I know it's fake even if others think it's cool. I want something real because the artists I admire did create something new, not just followed instructions like AI. I used to have ideas when I was a kid. Now I'm well done with endless practices. So I don't know if any more tips would help. I'm still searching, maybe one video would help. "Waiting on a miracle" (c) Encanto
Wow! I’m really sorry to hear you are going through this. It can be hard. Especially when you want something so badly. I wish I had the right words or advice. I am not sure. But it seems that if you are experiencing very unpleasant feelings it maybe helpful to step away for a bit. Let your brain reset. Realize that if you are not doing this for a living, you are the only one putting pressure on yourself to improve. It’s unfortunate that most of our discomfort in drawing or art is self inflicted and yet if there was an easy answer or way around this we would all be geniuses! Sorry to hear. 🥺
@@canilearntodraw2579 Thank you for the kind words. It's enough to make this vagabond believe the very best and keep going for a bit longer. ^__^ But yeah... we don't always get what we want. No matter how much we try. Still, I'm not giving up.
This was a real gem of a video to find. I myself just gotten back into drawing this month thanks to inktober again after not doing it for so long. Been having fun with it a ton and I plan on going back and tackle through some of the proko courses I have bought to get better through 2025 as well as practicing more on my own. Thanks so much for this video this was really insightful. I also should get back into practicing through Kim Gun Jis anatomy book I started a year ago but never found time to continue. :)
Glad to have you along on the journey! I follow a few other artists as they journey through this process and I always find them inspiring. I’m honored to be able to in some small way provide that to others. So nice to read your comment as I am currently trying to practice those heads I mentioned at the end of the video ☺️ … back to the grind … I mean back to enjoying the process! 😝
I am all onboard with this comment! Yeah I just said that because there are some who hear … have fun … prioritize fun and they think this equals no progress. But yes 💯 on this comment!
I challenge anyone who reads this comment to mastery in their preferred medium while still being in love with the process. Take your time! If you are frustrated then maybe you are living in the future and not right now 😳Love what you do, do what you love, hate what you see, and do it all over again! Weeeeeeeeee!
Boom 💥 … “If you are frustrated then maybe you are living in the future and not right now” … that is fire 🔥! Great comment and so true. Love this comment.
Thanks! To know that people can be inspired by my journey also does a lot to keep me motivated. So your comment is just as motivational to me ☺️. The rare moment in which a symbiotic relationship emerges 😋. Appreciate it!
Hello saph! So before I answer you should know that everything you need to learn in art is optional. What you should do really depends on what your goals are, what you like to draw, the type of art you are doing, etc. So with that in mind different fundamentals become more and less important depending on what your goals are. For example if you want to be a portrait artist, you really don’t need to spend much time learning perspective. You only need a little bit of knowledge in this area. Other fundamentals are likely more important. So you should be letting what you enjoy doing and the weaknesses in your current process guide your practice. Having said all of that form and structure is a fundamental that has good application in different areas and styles. If you think it is worth adding it to your practice then you can, it will likely help as most beginner courses focus on this quite a bit. Don’t get too worried that you aren’t learning exactly what you need to though. You will have different moments or seasons in your journey where you will feel the desire to focus on different fundamentals to support your skills. All of these twists and adjustments along the path will eventually lead you to becoming the artist you will be. The most important thing is to keep practicing and keep the enjoyment meter up. Work on the fundamentals you find most helpful along the way. Hope this helps.
You talked about Tom Fox. I recommend his book. It's a bit advanced but it's very good. It's called Anatomy for Artists. Figure and Poses by Tom Fox. Of course, good luck and thanks for your videos. Greetings from Chile, Latin America :D
Hey thanks! I actually have that book as well 😋 big fan of how much fun and life he injects into his work. I’ll definitely take a look back at that as well. Thanks!
Hi! This is a Pentalic sketchbook. Honestly I don’t like it very much … but I’m a completionist so I’ll use it until the end. Everything bleeds through to the next side so I have had to abandon ink in this book. Which is disappointing for me I love inks. As for the course I’m still up in the air around whether I would recommend it or not. As with all courses there is almost always something that you can learn. So it is valuable and I would still take it again if I had too. It probably comes down to how much money you have. I would say it’s not for the beginner artist as it touches very lightly on some topics that have quite a bit of depth to them. I will be doing a full review video soon. Thanks for the kind words!
I would strongly recommend stop using the word Grind - if your main goal is joy now. These are 2 opposite things, even psychologically, you code yourself that it will be hard and maybe painful.
Thank you for the feedback. Even these simple comments I fans great value in personally. They give extra motivation to me. Thanks for being a small puff of wind in my sail (sail boat reference) as I continue along my journey. Much appreciated!
If you check the playlist you will see them (ruclips.net/p/PL4EpXZn_wD2R5zXMQCCoJtlU8WlOf_KbW&si=tjPwZjnKHNyipHAn) and (ruclips.net/p/PL4EpXZn_wD2Q9Mv41dpTZ57Jdkkas6ivp&si=qgz7On9iPJOIXwXL) mostly from Proko and draw a box.
Your sketches are great… I’m having issues with clothing my figures and facial features, oh along with hand gestures specifically having my figures holding their gun😂. I never enrolled in an online drawing class, but, I just ordered a book called “Drawing Drapery from Head to Toe” by Cliff Young. My goal is to make my figures look more believable in different poses. As of now, I am having a difficult time rendering that… especially drawing the figure then dressing it 😢… I’m not quitting tho… Thank you for sharing…
Thanks for sharing! Yeah folds and hands are interesting and can be very expensive which is quite difficult to capture. But you know what our brains can do it. Keep at it. I’ll see you at the top.
That’s actually a typo … should be 3 years 9 months. I think everyone drew growing up … so I think that’s a given. So yes I’ve drawn stuff. But even back than I never had any training and since I graduated high school the start of this series/channel is probably the first time I’ve drawn since that time.
Yes they are … by the way … a little known secret … well not really a secret, Proko’s team mentions it all the time. About 75% of Proko’s is available for free on the RUclips channel. They recently released a basic course and here is the playlist that would allow you to get a good taste of the content. (ruclips.net/p/PLtG4P3lq8RHHMNwxuVk0IcGRtPGHi4vN9&si=KNMG1NAHPZHzYkXy) the videos in the course are a bit longer and then there are some videos that are only available for members. But this should give you a start.
Hi! Thanks for the confidence ☺️. It probably will not be for a while yet. There are quite a few things I want to focus on before I reach that stage. But who knows?
I think sometimes we can over complicate things. I think if you are ever lost in what to do, I would recommend employing the just draw principle. Just draw … draw from the book, draw from the course, draw whatever you want outside the course. It really doesn’t matter in the end enjoying the process is very important. That is where I will start. Cheers.
This is advice i got from an art techer (no my techer just I know her and she techer art) beast way to improve is to draw specely basic shapes at first 1st you need to have fun and don't force yourself 2nd time that it takes dosen't matter you will improve ether faster or slower 3rd thers is no correct way to learn art.
Nice video and thank you for your perspective. If you are open for criticism: You are kind of a redundant explainer and it really messes with the flow of your video. You explain the same stuff over and over again, using different words. Oh these flowers are great, I love flowers. Flowers have such vibrant colors. Flowers smell good, but it is not as prevelant as their beautiful shapes. I love the way flowers are shaped! They look really good.
I just might! Well, not just for cubes alone but very early on I did a video on how to make confident lines. But I wasn’t that good so I was very limited and actually ended up messing up a few things in that video. 😆 … so I have thought about going back and redoing that now that I’m a bit better.
It’s weird how simple it sounds, given my gen (gen x), did exactly that. We lived that way. Why is it documented that a group of kids has dropped social media? Yes…go outside and touch some grass. It’s not so shocking that it has to be documented. 😌
I'm sure I'm not first but I'm not reading 300plus comments 😂. But bruv you do realize what that thumb nail looks like to people who can't draw at all? Looks like you have an interesting interest is what it looks like😂
You dumb wah-wah baby, if your primary goal here is to look at someone's doodling rather than to obtain some good quality advice then click off the video. What is he supposed to show lol? Not only are we getting content like this for FREE, we also have the audacity to complain now don't we. Content like this shouldn't be taken for granted because the creator had accumulated this knowledge over a lifetime and chose to generously share it with novice peasants like us
That is something that took me a stupidly long time to realize. Getting good at art has nothing to do with making perfect or pretty pictures. It is your deep fascination and curiosity of how things function. Trying to capture how life works is what you should be striving for. A pretty picture is just a byproduct of that. Love the process of drawing, not the end result.
Well said … and sadly many miss this and that is when frustration sets in and they drop out. It was definitely not my focus when I started and yeah … I was not having fun at all.
I have a note here from Danny Gregory: "The drawings don't matter, the drawing does. " I think this sums up pretty nicely.
Lol … you just have a library of these quotes? Lol another good one though ☺️
It’s a shame the process of drawing is so deeply unenjoyable.
@@johndoe-rq1pu nothing worth having comes easy, but if its always unenjoyable then something is very wrong
TLDR:
1 - Love what you do
2 - Draw everything what’s the person draws in the course
(Everything within your comfort level)
3 - Do the assignments
4 - Play and have fun
5 - Don’t give up too easily
6 - Stay consistent
(Stay consistent with your studies and practice it)
7 - Find help & find more additional resources
(Find extra references , videos, etc if you need it for further understanding)
Thanks for the summary!
I also recommend that most people should mix study and creating your own pieces from imagination in a 50:50 ratio. This way, you are breaking the monotony of studying all the time, getting practical experience from designing your own stuff (what most people want to do), and you are getting a more accurate assessment of your current skill. All while having more fun designing whatever you love!
This is great advice. It really helps keep the fun meter up while getting through lessons and concepts that may not be as exciting but are necessary. Thanks for the tip!
@@canilearntodraw2579Can you share the links to.your video courses you mentioned. Thanks very much
Right now your art reminds me of artwod, he has a great understanding of 3d forms and putting them in a 2d medium
What you said circa 20:03. about teachers who "leave things out" during instruction is the single greatest trip wire in teaching. Never assume, as an instructor, that students should a priori understand simple concepts, especially when teaching on an introductory level. (Obviously if teaching college calculus it should be assumed the basic rules of arithmetic are understood.) Art is a subject that really subscribes to this rule.
Yeah I agree. But to give the teachers a bit of a break art is complicated and it is so difficult to teach everything in one course. It’s tough. I think what i learned from going through undergrad and grad school is that if you want something bad enough don’t rely on the teachers. Go and fill in the blanks yourself. But yeah wish this situation was better.
My struggle is with figures and clothes, rather than faces.
It may not work for everyone, but my breakthrough for placing features on the face was the eye socket (which is still visible on everyone as a sort of upside down, triangular shape), and the cheekbone line for the front plane, which goes from the corner of the eye to the corner of the mouth (I saw this one in a Patrick Jones video). Those two things really help me establish the three dimensionality of the face, and the features then come naturally.
Thanks I’m working through a few things as we type ☺️ … I’ll keep this in mind. I have seen this method used as well. I have done Proko’s portrait course in the past. So I’m not starting from zero … however still looking to make some good progress in this area. Looking forward to see how this turns out. What is your approach that you are looking on doing to help with your figures and clothing?
@@canilearntodraw2579 sure! Lots of mileage and trying different methods! But also focusing more on perspective work from guys like Kim Jung Gi, Karl Kopinski, and rembert montald, as I think my biggest issue is drawing the figure in space, rather than the figure itself.
The morpho anatomy and construction books have been helping me tons. When I see different types of construction (like what I’ve seen in your videos), I’ll draw a few of them and see if something sticks. I like the pelvis’s of the figures in this video because it simplifies the joints in a way that makes sense to me.
I’ve copied Barbara Bradley’s book on clothed figure drawing page for page, but I still haven’t reached that “I got it” moment. Guess I’ll just have to do some more :). Definitely need to do more from imagination. My best is your “not there yet” drawing.
I’m trying to find ways to tackle natural posing and figures interacting within a scene. Found some advice from Tim Mcburnie, but mostly just need to do reference studies. My other great weakness seems to be design and intent. Even if I know the shapes or the physics behind something, it always lacks character. Have no clue how to approach this besides artist studies and iterative drawing. Starting with Jeremy Mann, but I have hundreds more I want to study.. oh gosh.
Gabriel Quinn recommended a lecture “Understanding Appeal” from iris muddy. That’ll also be on my agenda.
The plan for tomorrow is to study some of your pages here, do some gesture drawing and animal drawings for drawabox, do some beginner watercolor painting to relax, watch some Kim Jung Gi lectures, draw a simple scene, do a 1:1 of an art piece for design, make a handful of quick expressive characters with and without reference, maybe a very small animation to help me internalize figure movement, then play some guitar…
…and be very disappointed when I only get 1/3 of that done. I’ve got all day, but time just likes to mysteriously vanish.
Your progress looks so clean compared to mine! Although it’s hard to tell from an outside perspective. But what takes you a page to figure out takes me about 10.
Love your videos, hope to keep learning from and with you.
Love those artists you mentioned! I have probably listened to almost all of them! Sounds like you have a solid plan and lots of resources. I can hear your enthusiasm coming through in your comment and I love it! Sounds like someone I would like to hang out with to draw! I get that often that my sketchbook looks really clean. At one point I actually tried to make it sketchy-er on purpose. Lol 😆 … didn’t work out. I just have to accept that this is who I am and how my brain works. Lol. Can’t wait to see where we end up. Thanks!
@@Aeo267 Just had to add....one thing that really helped me with drapery was getting a towel and drawing it in kinds of different "positions" and lighting situations. Throw it on the floor and draw it crumpled, hang it from a hook, stretch it between two points, etc. I'm guessing you already know how to render, so you probably don't need to be told about that (I.e., every crease or fold is going to have a highlight, a lowlight, midtones, reflected light, etc). If you can do that, then all you need to worry about is the effect of gravity on the fabric. That's where just continually drawing the towel helps. It's a lot like hair, really. Well, _exactly_ like hair.
One last thing is dont focus on making your sketchbook look good because YOUR SKETCHBOOK IS YOUR FIELD TEST, it is where you will try stuff, learn, practice and not an art exhibiton, yes the sketchbook on the video looks nice but to me its even better with erasure marks since it shows how much invested you were in.
This is good advice. Although it may look like I don’t follow it because of how clean my sketchbook appears … I actually do ☺️. I have even tried to get a sketchier sketchbook style 😆 but I guess it just doesn’t work for me. But my drawings and sketchbook ends up so clean because I took what I learned from draw a box about making intentional lines and then leaving them and continue to use that moto even when I am drawing in pencil. So I don’t end up erasing that much. And if you look closely you can see the very light under drawing or construction lines I draw first … it’s all in there. I could probably get a bit more extreme but I think it’s just a reflection of my personality. But it is one of the most consistent comments when I show people who also have sketchbooks my sketchbook. Wow it’s so clean! But yes … don’t try to follow this. Let yourself be free to make mistakes. It’s fine and you will have more fun and better results in the long term because of it. Thanks for the comment and advice.
This video was very inspiring thank you.
Honestly as a digital artist, with AI getting better and better, I was getting discouraged to the point of asking is developing my skills even worth it. But I come on RUclips and see the joy and passion from artists like you and it helps me keep on learning. 🙏🏾
Wow! This is motivating for me. I’m here working through drawing repetitions of head drawings lol. Just what I need to keep going as well ☺️. Thank you for the comment and kind words. Glad I could provide some inspiration for you!
Something i've done over the years which has weirdly helped is going back to those lessons every now and then, about 1 to every 3 months, and seeing that i understand more about what they were teaching or explaining in them than the first time i watched them, or something i just forgot.
This is a great idea. I have thought about this a lot and have had so many ideas about what I want to try that I have not gone back to them. Great advice though. Just like watching a movie the second time you often see things you didn’t see before and get a better understanding of why the plot was scripted the way it was and able to pick up on obscure dialogue hints.
@canilearntodraw2579 it's also just hard to absorb so much information at once. Plus, you'll have learned other things along the way, and going back, you get the opportunity to see it from a new perspective.
It's amazing how much your reminder to simply remember how to love drawing has just shifted my entire mindset. I've been drawing for a long time but after I got serious about it, doing studies and focusing on getting good, I burned myself out. Art became a stressor for me. I think it's time for a detox where being "good" doesn't matter.
Yes take the detox. Lol. Love it.
I think a lot of self-taught and intuitive artists (myself included) fall into that trap in which they took up drawing and started doodling whatever they liked in school, like anime characters. Eventually you get a feel for it. So people begin telling you that your drawings are really good. You‘re now the "art kid" in yiur class. You‘re pretty much surrounded by young people who haven‘t seen that much of anything yet so anything that has more detail than a stick figure looks good to them. So one day, you graduate high school and you get into art school abd you think "i was the best kid at art in high school, so I don‘t need to bother with the fundamentals. I already got this in the bag." Even though you never did the fundamentals before in the first place. Oh, but you already drew so many anime characters, surely you‘re already beyond fundamentals. But you don‘t realize that the people who are starting from scratch are actually progressing way faster than you because they do all the excercises. Because they don‘t think themselves above the excercises.
Not saying all art kids and self taught artists fall into this pipeline. But for me, it took that realization to finally be able to progress. As well as learning something other thab drawing anime characters, and I actually am way better now at drawing architecture than humans, even though I‘ve been drawing humans since I was 7, simply because I learned environment art from scratch and with the assumption that I know nothing
Great points. Thanks for sharing this!
How do you practice the fundamentals though? I’m new to art and I don’t know what I should try to draw. Like I guess my question is what things should I try to draw when just starting out?
@ i think it‘s best to find a balance between doing excercises but also sketching thinks you like to keep you motivated. Personally, the first thing i‘d do is to train your muscle memory. Get comfortable holding a pen. Draw 2 dots and connect them with a line a couple times, practise drawing a line that isn‘t arched and as striaght as possible. After that, I think moving on to perspective and form is a good move. Start wirh 1 point perspective, then move your way up to 2 and 3 point. Try breaking down complex things into more simple forms like cubes and spheres and cylinders, maybe even integrate some light shading. It‘s really hard to find a curriculum as a self taught artist, but not impossible! The most important things is to have fun and draw stuff you‘re interested in every once in a while, like if you‘re into mechs or anime, it‘s important to stay happy. While doing all this, line work practise is pretty much built in but there‘s no harm in practising is seperately if you feel up to it
After that I‘d suggest getting into values and colors and then maybe read up on composition.
That‘s how I‘d go about it with the power of hindsight, though I‘m by no means saying this is the best or only way! Hope this helps
@ thank you i appreciate your advice! I’ve started working on 2 and 3 point perspective, but that’s pretty much as far as I’ve gotten. I’ll continue practicing and keep your points in mind :)
I'm glad you woke up to what should be the main goal of drawing. Your own enjoyment and fulfillment. You do what your are doing for the next 7 years I'll bet even your old goal will be attained just incidentally. The only way to achieve your old goal is to build your visual library enough and that just takes time and experience. If you enjoy it. You'll do it. If you do it for long enough 30 years from now you'll be whipping out awesome pictures while you entertain the grand kids as they think what you are doing is magic.
So true. It’s funny how that works. Love the grandkids part too. Always wanted to do magic tricks ☺️
man even just seeing the pages of simple rotated human forms is so inspiring. once my school workload is on pace again im definitely gonna be getting back into studies
Hi marselo! So glad to hear. Sometimes it’s the simple things. I remember when I started out and wanted so badly to be able to draw those as well. Sometimes we forget the things we wanted to accomplish when we achieve them. Thanks for the reminder. All the best. It takes some work but eventually you will get it!
I am still pretty early in my own drawing journey, and I am currently working through DrawABox. I feel like, at this point, I am not creating enough finished pieces to really gauge my progress. So that’s something I am really trying to challenge myself with.
Hi Bopsterjazz! I think draw a box is a great course to start with. Pay attention to making those confident lines. Ghost and really think about where you want to put the line then commit and live with the outcome … don’t try to fix. For draw a box specifically I would recommend drawing larger large enough. Try to avoid small images. Now I’m just some dude who is also on the art journey as well … but I don’t think you should get over concerned with doing “finished pieces” sure use your skills to do fun short projects during the lessons as suggested … but don’t get overly concerned. I didn’t finish the last 2 lessons … I think it started to get more technical than I was ready for. But yeah a great course. Ensure you keep your fun meter up because there are some grinds in that course. How are you liking it so far? Which lesson are you on? Oh I would also say some of the methods will seem clunky … don’t worry about that just do what he says … don’t let your beginner brain tell you there is a better way. I know I had to fight myself on that 😝.
Drawing along with every example (even if it's not part of the homework) is definitely also something I have been doing over the past few years since I started drawing. 👍
Ah! Glad to know I’m not alone!
New subscriber here! I've been binge watching your content. Your progress is really visible and it’s so inspiring to see! The 'progress is not linear' part really hit home for me. I’ve been feeling like my skills are regressing with each practice session, especially since I work full time and often feel like it’s holding back my growth. Seeing you on your art grind despite everything is super motivating!
Hi 👋🏾! Welcome… so glad to have you as we all make this journey together. Yes definitely not linear … I experienced that this week already 😆. Drawing some figures and I was like … wait … don’t I know how to do these? What’s going on!? Lol. It’s great to have a group of people where we can all remind each other that what we are experiencing is not unique. Looking forward to seeing you around and hearing of your experiences!
Amazing progress!!
Thanks for the feedback!
Thanks for the video, really good timing for me, about to take a class with Peter Han and this is a good reminder to go above the class assignments.
Sweet! I love Peter Han! I listen to his streams from time to time. You are definitely in good “Hans” … see what I did there … 🥹
thanks for sharing man. im in the same boat and its always good to know youre not alone on the late(er) in life journeys
It’s the journey and the process. We are all in this together. Thanks for sharing and joining in.
Badass boxes. Lovely style. Probably because I prefer outlining too.
I don't know... I lost count to guides I've watched. And I started over from 0 so many times I'm afraid I'm running out of attempts. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger and this is killing me now. I'm burning out with burnouts. I'm tired of failures. I never get anywhere. And my brain can't be fooled, even if I get optimistic my subconsciousness knows my chances of ever learning are nearing null. Even when I'm ready to grind my pencil into dust for 40 hours in a row I simply go blind (shape-blind, measure-blind) and can't benefit from re-attempting. So nothing looks right. I literally try all possible shapes and not one looks right. And that's not what I normally do, it's just when nothing else works I get down to this "ok, I'll just draw you atom by atom, you pos" attitude and try to construct every damn bit. As done. No intuition, just geometry. And then I get blind and nothing clicks. So experimenting never works for me, I go backwards, I feel I drown in mistakes more and more, forgetting even the most basic things. It's like trying to swim up a waterfall.
Worst of all is I'm less inspired even by the art that had given me the spark. Just don't want anything. Can't do much without motivation and no victories on my 20 years path are enough to destroy me. Well, I don't call my silly copying victories. It's what other people invented and I repeated, reassembling into something pleasant. I know it's fake even if others think it's cool. I want something real because the artists I admire did create something new, not just followed instructions like AI. I used to have ideas when I was a kid. Now I'm well done with endless practices. So I don't know if any more tips would help. I'm still searching, maybe one video would help. "Waiting on a miracle" (c) Encanto
Wow! I’m really sorry to hear you are going through this. It can be hard. Especially when you want something so badly. I wish I had the right words or advice. I am not sure. But it seems that if you are experiencing very unpleasant feelings it maybe helpful to step away for a bit. Let your brain reset. Realize that if you are not doing this for a living, you are the only one putting pressure on yourself to improve. It’s unfortunate that most of our discomfort in drawing or art is self inflicted and yet if there was an easy answer or way around this we would all be geniuses! Sorry to hear. 🥺
@@canilearntodraw2579 Thank you for the kind words. It's enough to make this vagabond believe the very best and keep going for a bit longer. ^__^
But yeah... we don't always get what we want. No matter how much we try. Still, I'm not giving up.
This was a real gem of a video to find. I myself just gotten back into drawing this month thanks to inktober again after not doing it for so long. Been having fun with it a ton and I plan on going back and tackle through some of the proko courses I have bought to get better through 2025 as well as practicing more on my own. Thanks so much for this video this was really insightful. I also should get back into practicing through Kim Gun Jis anatomy book I started a year ago but never found time to continue. :)
Love this! There is a Kim Jung Gi anatomy book!? I didn’t know that 🧐. Welcome back to the journey!
Hey, I saw your thumbnail on recommended, and I'm very glad. Great sketches
Thanks! Glad that you found value in viewing my experiences and experiencing the art journey through my eyes. The feedback is appreciated!
This was great! Thank you for making this!
You’re welcome. Glad you found it useful!
Super inspiring! I’m beginning on a similar journey as yours. If you love the process everything else falls into place 👊🏻
Glad to have you along on the journey! I follow a few other artists as they journey through this process and I always find them inspiring. I’m honored to be able to in some small way provide that to others. So nice to read your comment as I am currently trying to practice those heads I mentioned at the end of the video ☺️ … back to the grind … I mean back to enjoying the process! 😝
4:05 I think there's nothing wrong with having fun at the expense of progress, assuming you're drawing for fun
I am all onboard with this comment! Yeah I just said that because there are some who hear … have fun … prioritize fun and they think this equals no progress. But yes 💯 on this comment!
I challenge anyone who reads this comment to mastery in their preferred medium while still being in love with the process. Take your time! If you are frustrated then maybe you are living in the future and not right now 😳Love what you do, do what you love, hate what you see, and do it all over again! Weeeeeeeeee!
Boom 💥 … “If you are frustrated then maybe you are living in the future and not right now” … that is fire 🔥! Great comment and so true. Love this comment.
Ok! Ok! I can learn from this!!!
Lol let’s do this!
Love seeing new videos from you my man!
Thanks! To know that people can be inspired by my journey also does a lot to keep me motivated. So your comment is just as motivational to me ☺️. The rare moment in which a symbiotic relationship emerges 😋. Appreciate it!
Just a thought, along with doing timed and speed sketches, should I still take as much time as I need to understand forms when filling sketchbooks?
Hello saph! So before I answer you should know that everything you need to learn in art is optional. What you should do really depends on what your goals are, what you like to draw, the type of art you are doing, etc. So with that in mind different fundamentals become more and less important depending on what your goals are. For example if you want to be a portrait artist, you really don’t need to spend much time learning perspective. You only need a little bit of knowledge in this area. Other fundamentals are likely more important. So you should be letting what you enjoy doing and the weaknesses in your current process guide your practice. Having said all of that form and structure is a fundamental that has good application in different areas and styles. If you think it is worth adding it to your practice then you can, it will likely help as most beginner courses focus on this quite a bit. Don’t get too worried that you aren’t learning exactly what you need to though. You will have different moments or seasons in your journey where you will feel the desire to focus on different fundamentals to support your skills. All of these twists and adjustments along the path will eventually lead you to becoming the artist you will be. The most important thing is to keep practicing and keep the enjoyment meter up. Work on the fundamentals you find most helpful along the way. Hope this helps.
Thank you for sharing this so generously. Could you possibly share the course links? Thanks very much
Sure www.domestika.org/en/courses/2465-basic-principles-of-drawing-people-from-imagination
You talked about Tom Fox. I recommend his book. It's a bit advanced but it's very good. It's called Anatomy for Artists. Figure and Poses by Tom Fox. Of course, good luck and thanks for your videos. Greetings from Chile, Latin America :D
Hey thanks! I actually have that book as well 😋 big fan of how much fun and life he injects into his work. I’ll definitely take a look back at that as well. Thanks!
what sketchbook is this? would you recommend this course? i love how you explained it!!
Hi! This is a Pentalic sketchbook. Honestly I don’t like it very much … but I’m a completionist so I’ll use it until the end. Everything bleeds through to the next side so I have had to abandon ink in this book. Which is disappointing for me I love inks. As for the course I’m still up in the air around whether I would recommend it or not. As with all courses there is almost always something that you can learn. So it is valuable and I would still take it again if I had too. It probably comes down to how much money you have. I would say it’s not for the beginner artist as it touches very lightly on some topics that have quite a bit of depth to them. I will be doing a full review video soon. Thanks for the kind words!
I would strongly recommend stop using the word Grind - if your main goal is joy now. These are 2 opposite things, even psychologically, you code yourself that it will be hard and maybe painful.
This was very helpfull, thank you.
Thank you for the feedback. Even these simple comments I fans great value in personally. They give extra motivation to me. Thanks for being a small puff of wind in my sail (sail boat reference) as I continue along my journey. Much appreciated!
this quickly turned into course recap
I like your art !
Thanks ☺️
Awesome video man
Appreciate that!
Which course were you taking when making these sketches?
It is Basic Principles of Drawing People from Imagination on Domestika by Tom Fox
what course have you done, and where could I do it also?
If you check the playlist you will see them (ruclips.net/p/PL4EpXZn_wD2R5zXMQCCoJtlU8WlOf_KbW&si=tjPwZjnKHNyipHAn) and (ruclips.net/p/PL4EpXZn_wD2Q9Mv41dpTZ57Jdkkas6ivp&si=qgz7On9iPJOIXwXL) mostly from Proko and draw a box.
@@canilearntodraw2579 thank you!
What’s the box course called? Would love to level my box game up (very beginner level).
The course is Draw a Box.
@ ty 😊
Your sketches are great… I’m having issues with clothing my figures and facial features, oh along with hand gestures specifically having my figures holding their gun😂. I never enrolled in an online drawing class, but, I just ordered a book called “Drawing Drapery from Head to Toe” by Cliff Young. My goal is to make my figures look more believable in different poses. As of now, I am having a difficult time rendering that… especially drawing the figure then dressing it 😢… I’m not quitting tho… Thank you for sharing…
Thanks for sharing! Yeah folds and hands are interesting and can be very expensive which is quite difficult to capture. But you know what our brains can do it. Keep at it. I’ll see you at the top.
@@canilearntodraw2579 Awwww, thank you so much, I’m workin’ at it so, yes, I definitely hope to meet you at the top! ✨👩🏽🎨✨🍀
"Proko" is a good channel to learn features
Great advice
Hi Janellecande! Glad you found it helpful!
That's a really cool sketchbook.
Thanks!!
a question, do you draw since 2 years and 9 months as its written on that video? did yiu draw before that too?
That’s actually a typo … should be 3 years 9 months. I think everyone drew growing up … so I think that’s a given. So yes I’ve drawn stuff. But even back than I never had any training and since I graduated high school the start of this series/channel is probably the first time I’ve drawn since that time.
Straight to the point bro😩😩
Maybe you should be watching shorts?
What pencil did you use for the sketches?
Hi 👋🏾. It’s just a regular Bic mechanical pencil. Nothing special.
what is the video called where you talk about the kim jung gi book? Thanks!
Hey disfortunate, the video where I talked about the Kim Jung Gi is here: ruclips.net/video/A_wR2kb3S2Y/видео.htmlsi=SOdTPYlq_tF-L-20
Is prokos course any good? I’m looking for a good course for learning the basic fundamentals
Yes they are … by the way … a little known secret … well not really a secret, Proko’s team mentions it all the time. About 75% of Proko’s is available for free on the RUclips channel. They recently released a basic course and here is the playlist that would allow you to get a good taste of the content. (ruclips.net/p/PLtG4P3lq8RHHMNwxuVk0IcGRtPGHi4vN9&si=KNMG1NAHPZHzYkXy) the videos in the course are a bit longer and then there are some videos that are only available for members. But this should give you a start.
@@canilearntodraw2579 ok thanks for your help!
Thanks for sharing this content
No problem! I'm so happy to share the journey!
Can i get your sketchbook pdf 😅 please
Lol one day … one day ☺️
When are you going to release a drawing book?
Hi! Thanks for the confidence ☺️. It probably will not be for a while yet. There are quite a few things I want to focus on before I reach that stage. But who knows?
❤
Thanks!
Olá boa tarde gosto dimas dos seus video
Thanks so much! I am glad you are enjoying the videos!
@@canilearntodraw2579 Eu tenho o curso do tom fox tenho o livro mas fico ainda perdido na hora de estudar.
I think sometimes we can over complicate things. I think if you are ever lost in what to do, I would recommend employing the just draw principle. Just draw … draw from the book, draw from the course, draw whatever you want outside the course. It really doesn’t matter in the end enjoying the process is very important. That is where I will start. Cheers.
This is advice i got from an art techer (no my techer just I know her and she techer art) beast way to improve is to draw specely basic shapes at first 1st you need to have fun and don't force yourself 2nd time that it takes dosen't matter you will improve ether faster or slower 3rd thers is no correct way to learn art.
Love this! Sounds like you were listening to a great teacher!
you should make discored for group motviation or somthing ha
Lol … maybe one day. Not a bad idea. I think I know a few artists that have them. Do you know what it takes to setup?
Nice video and thank you for your perspective.
If you are open for criticism: You are kind of a redundant explainer and it really messes with the flow of your video. You explain the same stuff over and over again, using different words.
Oh these flowers are great, I love flowers. Flowers have such vibrant colors. Flowers smell good, but it is not as prevelant as their beautiful shapes. I love the way flowers are shaped! They look really good.
draw in 3d
Seems to me that he's doing just that
Are you talking about modeling in an application like blender?
Maybe you could do a cube lesson
I just might! Well, not just for cubes alone but very early on I did a video on how to make confident lines. But I wasn’t that good so I was very limited and actually ended up messing up a few things in that video. 😆 … so I have thought about going back and redoing that now that I’m a bit better.
Bro talks in slow motion…. x1.75 speed sounds like a normal human 👍🏼
It’s weird how simple it sounds, given my gen (gen x), did exactly that. We lived that way. Why is it documented that a group of kids has dropped social media? Yes…go outside and touch some grass. It’s not so shocking that it has to be documented. 😌
I’m not quite sure what is being said here. Probably a bit more context would help. But thanks for the comment.
I'm sure I'm not first but I'm not reading 300plus comments 😂. But bruv you do realize what that thumb nail looks like to people who can't draw at all? Looks like you have an interesting interest is what it looks like😂
Lol … is that why people are clicking on the thumbnail?🤔😋
Dont talk, show it, blablablabla
☺️
You dumb wah-wah baby, if your primary goal here is to look at someone's doodling rather than to obtain some good quality advice then click off the video. What is he supposed to show lol? Not only are we getting content like this for FREE, we also have the audacity to complain now don't we. Content like this shouldn't be taken for granted because the creator had accumulated this knowledge over a lifetime and chose to generously share it with novice peasants like us
lots of talking but no drawing?
I think tiktok's much better for you lol
☺️
Yeah... It's "how to learn" not "how to draw".... Reading comprehension is an important skill