I think some people are just way better at analyzing and understanding information. One person can do a study and learn a boatload and another person can do 10 studies and learn nothing.
1. Natural observational drawing skill (accurately able to draw what you see) and the ability to DESIGN (simplify, exaggerate, edit, etc. ) 2. Sensitivity to well designed images and spaces. (Study the elements of design) 3. Photographic memory, or highly accurate visual recall 4. Right Brain dominance, creative, intuitive thinking. (read THE ART OF LEARNING) 5. Positive relationship to art, or positive experience making and improving art.
I cannot believe this is free information, its criminal more people don't know about you, every video, you have talked about at least 3 things that could improve my art and work flow. Thank you
Thank you for all your videos! They are so helpful. You have a great way of explaining. I try to listen to you while drawing. It just helps. And sometimes I pause the video and draw you for practice. I think the easiest route for me is just draw what I see, and not what I think I see. As soon as I just let go and think of everything as shapes and do not question that, the result gets so much better. Even though it sometimes feels weird to draw shapes and not "the nose". Also not to be too self critical, just enough to see what you can improve for next drawing.
It is interesting that you bring up ‘Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain’ as #1. This book was the bible for many aspiring artists, and a ‘have to read’ during Art School’s Foundation Year. In the early 2000’s (might be earlier), the concept of the human brain using the two hemispheres for differing kinds of processes (i.e. the right is for the arts and the left is for logic, etc.). With the advent of fMRI machines (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) examined examined a number of brains in real time and the doctors/scientists found no relation or function in either lobes to the arts/creativity, nor the science/logic but rather all functions of the brain regardless of left or right held no pattern or specific area within either lobes. The brain and it’s wonderful abilities when examined uses any and all parts as necessary. The only thing that probably kicked the right(creative) and left(logic) was assumed as the right side of the body is controlled by the left hemisphere and the right controls the left. But that is far as it goes.
References is a good quality that I struggle with... I lean on the "Memory or Mental Library" aspect, I'm always drawing from imagination, I like creating fantasy, things I have never seen before. So sometimes it's hard to use references, or even look for them when I would rather be drawing. I would say I rely too much on strong recollection, and not providing myself with actual references during the process, which can be detrimental... despite thinking I have a great memory, I also acknowledge the brain always makes mistakes and we are great at fooling ourselves. I guess the talent would be more like preparing, or building, a quality panel or library of references and actively using them. Not just collecting pretty pictures but making great use of them.
i think i have some of those, but im a bit introverted and my mind play games sometimes, like judging when something looks bad or sometimes going tunel vision and dont knowing when to stop.
As someone who has all of the first three, I feel like prioritizing enjoyment of art, and not falling victim to “oh you have x talents and your art is still this bad?” are very important Great video!
I have none of these how interesting! Well now I have some of it because of the years of practice. The talent I had is not being able to resist getting back into drawing every time I decided to quit.
That’s the beauty of art anyone can do it regardless of if you have talent or not.. it’s all practice, practice and more practice I tell this to my friends all the time
Nicely said. Especially about our attitude - when people learn to paint vs learn how to paint TO create something they wanted (if that make sense). Also I think there is one another natural skill - some people are better in 3D viewing from imagination and it helps them understand perspective and form without much trouble. Thanks for video!
Great video. I'm a photographer and I think that skill has developed my ability for a good visual memory. However, when I draw I'm just too analytical. Im trying to work just with color and/or line to move past this problem. I agree about mastery taking time. There are no short cuts.
This is great, put the words on something that's been treading my mind for a while. For design sense I believe the best way to train it is cultural reference. Having lots of sources of inspiration, subconsciously, impacts how you see your own art :)
Fantastic video, would love to hear more of your thoughts on each of these. Maybe specifically your advice on how you dealt with developing the pure love of doing art, not intellectualizing it all to hell and back. Good to hear you are a critical person but still able to make great art for a long time!
Codex..ha,love the way you side stepped, overstating your opinion, good job.. me myself, I don't think there's natural talent I think everything is learned, some people may be able to learn faster than others..hay, I started rewatching Lord of the rings and The Hobbit movies, talk about great castles and landscapes.. bye'eeee..
As a kid, the only reason why I started to learn drawing was because I did not have a printer to print whatever I wanted, so I "had to make do" by copying the image from the PC to the paper. I also did that for stuff I couldn't take a photo of since phones with camera weren't a thing back then(Nokia anyone?).
I love you're videos man there super helpful I was wondering would you need a large social media following to get noticed by studios? Or is just the quality of youre art enough?
When you are talking about visualisation you mention you "definitely don't have" that super vivid, photographic memory kind of ability - so where would you put yourself on that sliding scale? I ask because I have a low visualisation ability and it gave me a kind of art crisis a number of months ago when I realised other people could vividly see images in their head, while I could see very little. I learned about aphantasia and while I'm not sure I have that, it's certainly not far off. Anyway I saw in another of your videos that you draw with a ton of construction and "scribbly" first stages that you build on and find the shapes in, which is how I draw also, so I was wondering if you have similar visualisation?
hi tim!! i've been watching your illustration mini workshop and absolutely love it, been wondering if you'd ever consider offering one-on-one mentorships? great video as always :)
I'm the exact opposite to you, I've always been good at drawing what's infront of me and have been from a young age. But I don't have a minds eye, I can't see what I'm imagining. I'd much rather be able to see my imagination. I draw mainly from my imagination, and it's taxing, because I have to translate the way I imagine things into a visual expression. There's a huge difference in quality between stuff I've done with reference vs stuff right from the imagination. To the point that it's a huge hurdle. I've not found a way of doing work as fast as I'd need to get a job in art. I think mainly because I have to spend so much time working out the basics constructs of my image physically, and I see really great artists seem to be able to do that internally, so they can just render fully realised imagery without construction. It's disheartening because there's no chance I'll ever be able to do that.
I sadly feel I have none of these as a natural or developed talent but I would argue that an ability to think of things in a 3D sense and manipulate them around in your head could be considered a talent! At least that's the lie I'll tell myself for now
That is a very good talent to have and I envy you! I’m a cartoon/comic artist and my biggest annoyance is having to think about the shapes of certain creatures or objects sometimes. It’s really annoying because it takes away so much time from your actual drawing.
The problem with espousing the 10.000 hour myth is that people do it without actually having read the study and putting it within the correct context of that study, which only focused on a very specific skill, how to become a violin virtuoso and master all genres of music that a violinist could ever be required to perform. So simply saying 10.000 hours,without actually considering what the study was about, means you only say it because you heard someone else say it, without understanding why they said it or what it means. In the context of drawing, 10.000 hours would be the time required to master ALl art styles and all aspects of artwork to the point where you have complete mastery with nothing left to learn or improve. That means after 10.000 hours, for the study to be applicable, you have mastered manga, American comics, cubism, photo realistic drawing, painting, colours, landscapes, composition, perspectives, ALL OF IT. Obviously that varies based on what skill you are trying to learn and how big a part of that skill you are trying to master. Not all artists have an interest in mastering photo realism, and not all artists have a use for mastering how to draw all the various Japanese or western styles of drawing. So saying people who oppose the 10.000 are trying to sell "get rich quick" tutorials, rather than trying to encourage aspiring artists by giving them a realistic expectation is showing you don't understand the origins of the 10.000 hour myth :/
Thanks for your thoughts here. You bring up some good points that I'm sure others are considering as well. Have you read outliers and the surrounding material? My understanding of the concept is that it takes 10,000 hours to achieve 'mastery' which is defined loosely as being really good at something... to the point where the artist/craftsperson makes it seem easy and effortless. There are no mistakes, it seems easy to do, and seems natural. It is utter nonsense that 10,000 hours of art and mastery would require you to get good at all forms. Where did you get that? Mastery has nothing to do with not having anything more to improve. Ask anyone who has put in their 10,000 hours. I have never heard anyone with mastery of anything say this. Ever. They just want to get better at it. Mastery is not and end point, just a marker. Getting good at all art forms is simply not possible. Mastery of each requires specific focus. And to a certain degree a sublimation of other aspects of art. If you are young you might think 10,000 hours is a long time. It's not. It's just how long it takes to get good at stuff. Not the best... not the ultimate artist... just to the point where other people are going to appreciate your skill. You won't be making mistakes anymore, you will have control of your chosen medium. You will be able to express yourself though it.... not have some kind of god like power. If you try and focus on mastering all styles and types of art... you will never ever get to mastery of any of them in a lifetime. Guaranteed. Artistic expression does not work that way. You can't always just pick a medium. Part of your journey is mastering yourself and how you express yourself though your tools. Not on abstractly getting good at stuff. Skill and craft are only part of the battle, and it is rare that someone has mastery of a craft or skill without deep connection to it. 10,000 hours is a realistic expectation. If you have only put in a few thousand hours it will feel like slow going, despite a lot of work... but the idea behind the rule is it should give you confidence that... yes you are putting in time and effort, but you are not there yet. Relax and enjoy the journey!
+ you are equating violin which is one instrument normally playing a very narrow genre of music... to all visual drawing arts and styles. This is not a good comparison... coming from someone who is talking about reading studies and paying attention to the original source material. That virtuoso is not going to be able to play other instruments to the same degree (better than most perhaps... but not mastery). In fact many other types of music might be impossible to play easily once you are trained in a particular cultural rhythm.
Do you have any of these? Can you think of any other 'Talents' that relate to drawing and art?
Sheer will.
I don't really think I have any talent, but I wanna do it, I wanna get better at it, I think it's the only thing I really want to do ;A ;
I think some people are just way better at analyzing and understanding information. One person can do a study and learn a boatload and another person can do 10 studies and learn nothing.
Biggest talent ever: not judging my own art too harshly and thinking everything I do is crap. Still don't possess that talent....🤣
There's an issue with you video though, Tim.
There's no such things as a "left/right brain dominance". Neurologically speaking, it's a myth
1. Natural observational drawing skill (accurately able to draw what you see) and the ability to DESIGN (simplify, exaggerate, edit, etc. )
2. Sensitivity to well designed images and spaces. (Study the elements of design)
3. Photographic memory, or highly accurate visual recall
4. Right Brain dominance, creative, intuitive thinking. (read THE ART OF LEARNING)
5. Positive relationship to art, or positive experience making and improving art.
I cannot believe this is free information, its criminal more people don't know about you, every video, you have talked about at least 3 things that could improve my art and work flow. Thank you
Congrats on the 1 million views on the channel. Thanks for all the free art tutorials. Ur content has helped me immensely.
Thank you for all your videos! They are so helpful. You have a great way of explaining.
I try to listen to you while drawing. It just helps. And sometimes I pause the video and draw you for practice.
I think the easiest route for me is just draw what I see, and not what I think I see. As soon as I just let go and think of everything as shapes and do not question that, the result gets so much better. Even though it sometimes feels weird to draw shapes and not "the nose".
Also not to be too self critical, just enough to see what you can improve for next drawing.
It is interesting that you bring up ‘Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain’ as #1. This book was the bible for many aspiring artists, and a ‘have to read’ during Art School’s Foundation Year. In the early 2000’s (might be earlier), the concept of the human brain using the two hemispheres for differing kinds of processes (i.e. the right is for the arts and the left is for logic, etc.). With the advent of fMRI machines (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) examined examined a number of brains in real time and the doctors/scientists found no relation or function in either lobes to the arts/creativity, nor the science/logic but rather all functions of the brain regardless of left or right held no pattern or specific area within either lobes. The brain and it’s wonderful abilities when examined uses any and all parts as necessary.
The only thing that probably kicked the right(creative) and left(logic) was assumed as the right side of the body is controlled by the left hemisphere and the right controls the left. But that is far as it goes.
References is a good quality that I struggle with... I lean on the "Memory or Mental Library" aspect, I'm always drawing from imagination, I like creating fantasy, things I have never seen before. So sometimes it's hard to use references, or even look for them when I would rather be drawing. I would say I rely too much on strong recollection, and not providing myself with actual references during the process, which can be detrimental... despite thinking I have a great memory, I also acknowledge the brain always makes mistakes and we are great at fooling ourselves.
I guess the talent would be more like preparing, or building, a quality panel or library of references and actively using them. Not just collecting pretty pictures but making great use of them.
You've honestly become my morning podcast. I play you videos in the morning as I wake up and get my day started :)
i think i have some of those, but im a bit introverted and my mind play games sometimes, like judging when something looks bad or sometimes going tunel vision and dont knowing when to stop.
You are such a unique teacher, thank you a thousand times!
As someone who has all of the first three, I feel like prioritizing enjoyment of art, and not falling victim to “oh you have x talents and your art is still this bad?” are very important
Great video!
I have none of these how interesting! Well now I have some of it because of the years of practice.
The talent I had is not being able to resist getting back into drawing every time I decided to quit.
That’s the beauty of art anyone can do it regardless of if you have talent or not.. it’s all practice, practice and more practice I tell this to my friends all the time
Nicely said. Especially about our attitude - when people learn to paint vs learn how to paint TO create something they wanted (if that make sense). Also I think there is one another natural skill - some people are better in 3D viewing from imagination and it helps them understand perspective and form without much trouble. Thanks for video!
Great video. I'm a photographer and I think that skill has developed my ability for a good visual memory. However, when I draw I'm just too analytical. Im trying to work just with color and/or line to move past this problem. I agree about mastery taking time. There are no short cuts.
This is great, put the words on something that's been treading my mind for a while. For design sense I believe the best way to train it is cultural reference. Having lots of sources of inspiration, subconsciously, impacts how you see your own art :)
Fantastic video, would love to hear more of your thoughts on each of these. Maybe specifically your advice on how you dealt with developing the pure love of doing art, not intellectualizing it all to hell and back. Good to hear you are a critical person but still able to make great art for a long time!
Codex..ha,love the way you side stepped, overstating your opinion, good job.. me myself, I don't think there's natural talent I think everything is learned, some people may be able to learn faster than others..hay, I started rewatching Lord of the rings and The Hobbit movies, talk about great castles and landscapes.. bye'eeee..
Thank you so so much!
Tim, I think that you can use the audio of these conversational videos to make episodes of a podcast, it's amazing to hear your voice
As a kid, the only reason why I started to learn drawing was because I did not have a printer to print whatever I wanted, so I "had to make do" by copying the image from the PC to the paper.
I also did that for stuff I couldn't take a photo of since phones with camera weren't a thing back then(Nokia anyone?).
love your videos, very good content to play while drawing!
I love you're videos man there super helpful
I was wondering would you need a large social media following to get noticed by studios? Or is just the quality of youre art enough?
When you are talking about visualisation you mention you "definitely don't have" that super vivid, photographic memory kind of ability - so where would you put yourself on that sliding scale?
I ask because I have a low visualisation ability and it gave me a kind of art crisis a number of months ago when I realised other people could vividly see images in their head, while I could see very little. I learned about aphantasia and while I'm not sure I have that, it's certainly not far off. Anyway I saw in another of your videos that you draw with a ton of construction and "scribbly" first stages that you build on and find the shapes in, which is how I draw also, so I was wondering if you have similar visualisation?
hi tim!! i've been watching your illustration mini workshop and absolutely love it, been wondering if you'd ever consider offering one-on-one mentorships? great video as always :)
I'm the exact opposite to you, I've always been good at drawing what's infront of me and have been from a young age. But I don't have a minds eye, I can't see what I'm imagining.
I'd much rather be able to see my imagination.
I draw mainly from my imagination, and it's taxing, because I have to translate the way I imagine things into a visual expression. There's a huge difference in quality between stuff I've done with reference vs stuff right from the imagination.
To the point that it's a huge hurdle.
I've not found a way of doing work as fast as I'd need to get a job in art. I think mainly because I have to spend so much time working out the basics constructs of my image physically, and I see really great artists seem to be able to do that internally, so they can just render fully realised imagery without construction.
It's disheartening because there's no chance I'll ever be able to do that.
I sadly feel I have none of these as a natural or developed talent but I would argue that an ability to think of things in a 3D sense and manipulate them around in your head could be considered a talent! At least that's the lie I'll tell myself for now
i think you're right, the ability to "see the other side" of an object is easy for me, but my wife can't do it at all
That is a very good talent to have and I envy you! I’m a cartoon/comic artist and my biggest annoyance is having to think about the shapes of certain creatures or objects sometimes. It’s really annoying because it takes away so much time from your actual drawing.
The problem with espousing the 10.000 hour myth is that people do it without actually having read the study and putting it within the correct context of that study, which only focused on a very specific skill, how to become a violin virtuoso and master all genres of music that a violinist could ever be required to perform.
So simply saying 10.000 hours,without actually considering what the study was about, means you only say it because you heard someone else say it, without understanding why they said it or what it means.
In the context of drawing, 10.000 hours would be the time required to master ALl art styles and all aspects of artwork to the point where you have complete mastery with nothing left to learn or improve. That means after 10.000 hours, for the study to be applicable, you have mastered manga, American comics, cubism, photo realistic drawing, painting, colours, landscapes, composition, perspectives, ALL OF IT.
Obviously that varies based on what skill you are trying to learn and how big a part of that skill you are trying to master.
Not all artists have an interest in mastering photo realism, and not all artists have a use for mastering how to draw all the various Japanese or western styles of drawing.
So saying people who oppose the 10.000 are trying to sell "get rich quick" tutorials, rather than trying to encourage aspiring artists by giving them a realistic expectation is showing you don't understand the origins of the 10.000 hour myth :/
Thanks for your thoughts here. You bring up some good points that I'm sure others are considering as well.
Have you read outliers and the surrounding material? My understanding of the concept is that it takes 10,000 hours to achieve 'mastery' which is defined loosely as being really good at something... to the point where the artist/craftsperson makes it seem easy and effortless. There are no mistakes, it seems easy to do, and seems natural.
It is utter nonsense that 10,000 hours of art and mastery would require you to get good at all forms. Where did you get that? Mastery has nothing to do with not having anything more to improve. Ask anyone who has put in their 10,000 hours. I have never heard anyone with mastery of anything say this. Ever. They just want to get better at it. Mastery is not and end point, just a marker. Getting good at all art forms is simply not possible. Mastery of each requires specific focus. And to a certain degree a sublimation of other aspects of art.
If you are young you might think 10,000 hours is a long time. It's not. It's just how long it takes to get good at stuff. Not the best... not the ultimate artist... just to the point where other people are going to appreciate your skill. You won't be making mistakes anymore, you will have control of your chosen medium. You will be able to express yourself though it.... not have some kind of god like power. If you try and focus on mastering all styles and types of art... you will never ever get to mastery of any of them in a lifetime. Guaranteed. Artistic expression does not work that way. You can't always just pick a medium. Part of your journey is mastering yourself and how you express yourself though your tools. Not on abstractly getting good at stuff. Skill and craft are only part of the battle, and it is rare that someone has mastery of a craft or skill without deep connection to it.
10,000 hours is a realistic expectation. If you have only put in a few thousand hours it will feel like slow going, despite a lot of work... but the idea behind the rule is it should give you confidence that... yes you are putting in time and effort, but you are not there yet. Relax and enjoy the journey!
+ you are equating violin which is one instrument normally playing a very narrow genre of music... to all visual drawing arts and styles. This is not a good comparison... coming from someone who is talking about reading studies and paying attention to the original source material. That virtuoso is not going to be able to play other instruments to the same degree (better than most perhaps... but not mastery). In fact many other types of music might be impossible to play easily once you are trained in a particular cultural rhythm.
I suck at all of these...
Confirmed; I have no talent.