there's something about the blue bird that was making me laugh every time I looked back at the video. like, they're not having the WORST day, but damn it's been a bit of a day for them. idk i just think you captured something there and that's my favourite thing about ugly art.
I drew some ugly birds along with you, and had so much fun I decided to draw some ugly bugs afterwards. While drawing the bugs, I forgot how much I used to love drawing ants for some reason. And then I had an idea about a little ant at a picnic stealing some crumbs. I think it was the first time in quite a while that I actually had fun making art, so thank you so much!
oooo yes that's a great one too! Isn't that interesting that the compliment can ALSO be terrifying? It would be interesting to explore WHAT about it is terrifying, and what could help make it a little less scary. Thanks for chiming in!
I realised that when I try to do something beautiful my drawings aren't cool. But when I relax and just having fun my drawings are amazing and unique. Thanks for this video ❤
Indeed it's the most accomplished in classic cartoon styles...perhaps that's why she doesn't like it? A child would be very proud of that bird and even many adults!
haha yeah it's funny it seems like a lot of people liked that one - I think for me it's just an indication of the kind of 'art styles' I tend towards. So that's an interesting observation isn't it? I just thought it was ugly because it doesn't match what my inner creative wants to 'work towards'. That's why every single drawing we think is ugly has so much information in it, and it's a shame to just stop at the thought of 'oh it's ugly', and not push a little further to see WHY we think it is!
This is such a fun, anti-perfectionist exercise. Also those birds are all cute, especially that blue bird which has tonnes of personality and really deserves his own picture book where we can find out more about him and see him go on adventures! I really feel like an umbrella would go well with his outfit.
Ever since I watched this video and tried my ugly art I've been drawing almost every day, I'm really happy about this... I try to focus on making art for the sake of just making something, to create, to feel :) thank you!
this is so wonderful to me, it's forcing yourself to draw like a child and there's whimsy and play that my normal art practice doesn't have that I've sorely been missing. thank you for this series, it's helping me explore like I haven't been able to in years.
Oh my god, that blue bird.. hes beautiful.. theres such an emotion captured in his face thats amazing. I love how you cant even see a wing, its so damn funny i love him.
I love how everyone is a big fan of him-it really shows that you dont have to be perfect or try to draw something good to be very loved and be endearing
Four minutes in and I wouldn’t call these birds ugly, in fact their personalities shone rather than having to look beautiful! They made me laugh 😆…continues to watch on…
I've been struggling horribly with drawing even small things the past few months, and feeling that everything I make looks bad because I made it. This was so healing for me, and really helped encourage me to enjoy drawing again no matter how what I make turns out. Thank you so much
It wasn’t until I saw “ugly” art celebrated on instagram that I realized perfection wasn’t necessary anymore. I’ve had to relearn how I accept my own eye. It’s been a transformative process. This is excellent - especially feeling it in the body because those beliefs live inside us.
yes the body is such an important component that I feel often gets left out of the equation but is SO essential. Yay to you for engaging in the process :) :)
Thanks! I have watched about 100 art videos in the last month or two and this is the first one where I picked up a pen and drew with you! Ugliness sounded like something I could accomplish. I even liked a couple of my birds.
Ugly bird art is definitely sparking joy for me… who knew?! And it’s not even that ugly! 😂 As a recovering perfectionistic creative I REALLY needed this!
Love this title, it's late here but I'll try tomorrow. I was always afraid to draw and paint as I felt ashamed of how "untalented" I am. At 35 I'm relearning to play and enjoy my art, however it may look!
"If you never make bad art, how do you know what you can do to improve your art?" I started asking myself that about my writing and it helped me see my "bad" work as simply a way of telling myself: "Hey, your dialogue could be better." Or "Hey, your pacing, or characters, or motivations, stakes, setups, etc... could improve." A bad piece of work isn't a faithful representation and showcase of your abilities. The same way you do good art and then bad art, the cycle goes around, and after finding those aspects of your work that can improve (through those bad works), you can make good art again.
Yes fr!! It’s like having clean hands, yes you can try your best to never get them dirty but you can also go & make them as muddy & grubby as possible planting seeds that will grow into beautiful flowers, it’ll be a whole lot worse for the garden if you’re disinfecting it all & choosing not to have any soil just because dirt is dirty, you might have clean hands but you’ll have no flowers either, the ‘bad’ & ugly are part of the steps you take to get to something beautiful blooming (I hope this makes sense, I’m autistic & this analogy matches up in my own head but I can’t tell if it actually makes any sort of sense)
@@illchayDyz It makes total sense! You need to endure through the things that make you uncomfortable in order to achieve the things you're proud of. If art were easy, it'd be as much fun as tending a garden of plastic flowers. It's beautiful, but you can't say you've put any work or effort in. (coughAiArtcough)
I love «ugly» too. I actually have more heart for inperfection and often feel disgusted by perfection. I almost get provoked. So this exersize didnt work for me, because it feels kinda violent and judgemental to call these poor birds ugly. It hits my stommic every time you say their ugly. I love the discovery of my own thinking though! So it worked in a way. Thank you for that!
I work as an artist in games and my abilities feel like EVERYTHING to me. Survival, identity, safety. If someone saw my sketchbook where I was trying my best and honestly said it's not very good, my body would go into FREEZE immediately. Can't even describe the fear and shame. This exercise was delightful, confusing, funny, touching, all at the same time. This was a trip =)
yeah isn't it wild how common this is even amongst us professionals?? That our body can have such intense freeze (or fight) reactions to something that inherently, if you think about, is just lines on a piece of paper? It goes to show how ingrained those inner judgements are, and how much meaning we put into each one of our ugly drawings. I'm so glad if the exercise was fun but also confusing, because THIS is how we break those meanings that are no longer serving us. :) all the best to you.
I never comment under videos but for this one I really want to thank you!! Your videos are healing me, truly. I feel so much pressure. I am in the animation industry and I have to find a job, I felt so stuck lately. I was petrified, I was so scared of making ugly drawings and waste my time. I had the pressure of making something beautiful in a short period of time to put in my portfolio or demo reel. Since yesterday I watched your other video on ugly drawings and I draw along. I already feel so much better. I feel like I learned a lesson and I am more mature now (it’s been one day lol 😆). Anyway, it touched me deeply, thank you for making this video. Also in 2018 I was on skillshare and followed one of your class, I remember having a lot of fun! THANK YOU ❤
oh oh Margot, your message really moved me. I'm so so glad it's helping. So many of us art professionals deal with this and I think there are solutions to making the process less stressful and more FUN overall :) I'm really glad it's helping, and thanks so much also for the kind words about my older class on Skillshare! haha the serendipity.
What you said about feeling judgement of drawings/ “viscerally” reminds me of being a kid and being told, “oh, you have a knack for drawing but you will never make a living at it” and being left feeling like, “ why bother.” I think that while that person probably felt they were doing me a favor by being honest about my prospects, it totally took the joy of creating out of me. I like that by giving yourself permission to explore a concept without looking for perfection or viability very freeing.
ugh yes, I feel that and so many of us have heard that kind of thing. I agree with @AlextheENTP that most adults need to shut up haha. especially if it's about expressing our creativity and just having fun. :)
I'm just looking at the comments and I can't stop how proud i am to those people that love their ugly art, this video really encourages somebody to draw no matter the condition you're in.
I LOVE the idea of this exercise! I am no pro and I think this could really help me to push myself further by requiring my brain in terms of how I think about my "ugly art". I REALLY love that you said what you liked about each one. The ugliest you could possibly draw still had beauty in some way. That's a wonderful life lesson in general
I found your channel through your video "the power of ugly art" and it really inspired and empowered me. This is my second time in your channel and I wanted to say thank you for all you do❤️
I don’t usually comment on RUclips, but you’ve become my favorite teacher! I hope that one day we can use “style” instead of the idea of beauty or ugliness.
The thing I enjoyed with this exercise was being able to jump right in and start without thinking (or overthinking!) and without any worry or care about how it would look, or what I should do. It was something that didn't matter & was supposed to be ugly so I had no expectations. In another video, an artist said he prefers to use a cheap sketchbook and pen for his idea sketchbook, because if he were using higher quality material, especially a well made notebook, he would never draw in it because he wouldn't want to ruin it. He uses pen because it limits the sketch to line or shadow. It helps him get ideas down quickly, and he can go back through them when he's ready to do a nice drawing. This video's exercise mirrors that idea of going ahead and drawing without restriction to quality.
oo yes that's another great hack!! I'm so glad it worked for you - I find that just jumping in and starting is the BEST way to counter all the overthinking/panic/judgement that gets in the way of expressing ourselves.
The third bird oozes personality! There’s lots to like and enjoy about 1,2 and 3. Despite your assertion that it’s horrendous, 3 is surprisingly captivating. 4 is a bird panicking.
Immediately subscribed. There was a time in my life where I wanted to pickup drawing/painting but I was discouraged by my lack of immediate talent. Ugly drawings made me stop. I have never once considered purposefully making ugly art. This is liberating, thank you.
Great video, Marie! In fact this is deepely connected to the prefectionism and the pressure you put upon ourselves to not create bad art. I simple can't seem to be able to draw in a propper sketchbookm because of that fier. I usually make my own repurposed sketchbooks because of that. I even called one of them my "ugly" sketchbook. There's a tour on my channel if you want to see it. That was exactly to try and not feel precious about my drawings. Thanks for sharing this exercise! It very useful!
I really love how you bring mindfulness and contemplative practices into your drawing practice and using those tools to observe the behavior of the mind and the response of the body to better understand what's going on inside. I've been exploring this as well through a "drawing as meditation" seminar that I attended at a meditation center, and this has been a great compliment to that practice!
Ever since I found out about this channel I am falling more and more in love with chaos drawing, so I wanted to share some of my discoveries. I own many art supplies as I'm eager to try anything new! So far: -I covered a page in gray and brown watercolors, scribbled all over with neon color pencils and then did some doodles on top with a black marker, the marker looks amazing over the color pencils and the pencils give a pretty texture on top of the watercolors -Orange and purple alcohol markers look amazing together, I scribbled in orange then purple on top and as the paper took on the ink I loved the color. Also I doodled with those colors on top of a page covered in peach paint and scribbled with neon pencils, the texture is akin to eggshells and I love it. -I love purple, blue and red together. I did a page of just dots with them over scribbles my niece did in yellow after she found my sketchbook. My niece destroyed it but I love how it looks so I'm using it for chaos drawing
I absolutely adore the blue bird! It seems so friendly. The gray bird with the orange beak looks like a shark-bird to me. Such a fun exercise. I'm definitely going to give it a go!
I love this ugly art series! Im not too keen on drawing, but in writing, yes! And it really helped me gather my courage to write something I am proud of. This is the second ugly art video ive watched from you.
yay this came just in time as i was stressing over my illustration. Making the ugly art helps me reset. thank you. My 3rd bird was soo ugly he is a combination of all the things i dont like about birds lol but after a few scribbles he looks tough and similar to some sort of logo design. I love your blue bird he has soo much character.
I have so much judgment in my life, so I’ll adopt this exercise of making ugly things in my life, in meaning of trying to do things that not asking to be approved by others
Thank you for this valuable lesson. You’ve put me on a path out of this dark forest funk that has my sketchbook laying on my table, unopened in three months. I’m glad I found you. You betcha I subscribed! 🧑🎨🖌️
I love this excersize. The biggest part of my life i've actually been terrified to make art because it was possible to fail. Nowadays i can let that go partly, but making those ugly birds really made me laugh and made me see the value of making these. This is what they had to do with us at art school. That would teach us that making art is not always about performing. It's so valuable to create a healthy relationship with your own art. Thank you a lot ❤
Thank you so much for sharing this with us! I love everything about this video. Your calmness, your drawings, the clarity in your ideas, youre knowledge, your honesty. Im happier after this. Thanks
To answer your question 10:37 I would probably sound defensive but I think that even in the heat of the moment I would be able to explain that I wasn’t trying to make it beautiful and that I was following a “ugly drawing prompt exercise” and feel that I succeeded in what I set out to do, based on the persons reaction.
Love this exercise! Let’s have the same fun with other stuff we draw and paint. Your last bird looks like the birds from Corneille. A lot of people love his art. So you never know what is ugly and what is not. Ugly can be beautiful too😉
I had fun doing it. Today was a day that I am grateful for. JK Rawlings has had impact influence over what some may consider ugly art by creating these creatures through her works . That’s what I felt like I see a really cool, creative creature and different different unique and I resonate with it . This is the stuff ! Thank you thank you thank you thank you
I can really see myself doing this exercice a lot, thanks for sharing, this was so fun! 💕💕 maybe one day before I study how to draw a different animal I will start with ugly drawings, just to get the pressure out and then go into the study with a happy mind
this video was so nice. thank you for making it!!! the idea of making friends with your ugly art because it helped you get somewhere else is so nice. going to save and come back to this video to make sure im keeping the ideas in mind!!
I am working on childhood trauma and this video popped up on my feed. This is great! I am going to do one on how I feel about my body and the expectations my mom had about me and the way she projected her stuff on me. She was also an artist. I also do other techniques in art therapy. I am looking forward to this exercise. It looks very freeing. I get stuck with my art as a perfectionist.
I'm not an artist, and can't draw very well, but I still draw something almost every day. I love this channel of yours and have been doing your workouts. I feel something in common with your blue bird. 💙
I love the screen splash. Bcuz I love drawing and I draw exactly like that and not much better even after classes! If there was a channel of someone with zero talent and not getting much better but gives them pure joy to draw, I’d watch. And relate.
I didn't really succeeded in drawing ugly birds, as soon as they got a shape, I started to empathize with them and see them as characters. Even that way if someone would come and tell me, they are ugly, I would smile, because I know this was only a drawing practice. Your blue bird is actually the instinctive imprint of talent. Making ugly art is a meaningful play for some, but for myself, I think it's a waste of precious time.
I love this so much. I’m a grunge artist. I try to create ugly art that creates a visceral response, and also ugly art that then becomes somehow beautiful. Also I find that when I try too hard to create something nice, that that pressure always creates a piece I hate. When I just go in and trust the process and don’t really try so hard but allow I get the results I like. However people think I’m just making a mess. One crafter said to me if she worked like me she couldn’t live with herself because she’d feel like she wasn’t trying. I work very hard at my grungy art!😂 I just approach it from a different place! I love your birds! They made me laugh too. And I personally thought your fish bird was awesome!
thank you Marie!! Originally found you on Skillshare (LOVE skillshare) and appreciate you and your style, talent, warmth and more. I had a hard time "trying" to draw ugly birds. Just didn't know what to do so I replicated yours and loved them. Not the original point but was great to follow along and loved what you were saying about responding to how others might view the work as "ugly" and what my response might be. Ummmm....don't remember asking for feedback, haha. I love your lightness, possible responses and thoughts, which I'll keep in my pocket! I'm very new to art at 59 and just love playing with different mediums and Skillshare has been such an awesome resource. Thanks so much again. xo
oh I'm so glad you enjoyed the video Suzy and thanks for your kinds words! :) and yesss I love skillshare too, it's why I was so happy to be partnered with them for his video! But yay for allowing yourself to do what felt right today and studying/replicating my birds. It would be fun if you did the exercise again and this time tried to allow yourself to make your own ugly birds. Remmeber, since they're ugly, they can be whatever you want, even just a big circle with a beak and two legs!! Let me know if you end up trying that, it would be fun to know if it got a bit easier! all the best
what a delightful exercise, as someone who draws birds a lot this was very helpful. I love my ugliest little bird, he's so wonky and misshapen and somehow one of my favourite things i've made
I got into urban sketching and for the first time summoned the courage to do a sketch and watercolour in public at a cafe with a friend in a little sketchbook. Hadn't done portraits in a while, but sketched her out, and was pretty horrified at what I drew, how she came across in the sketch. Proportions wrong, looked older etc, and couldn't explain the concept of the style of loose sketching. The experience destroyed me and the little confidence I gained :( Another friend joined and showed her; didn't go down well either. To be fair it was pretty ugly. I am scarred now and can't open that sketchbook anymore.
Aw man that sucks. Whenever I create an ugly piece, I just remind myself that if I keep doing this over and over again, I'll eventually get better. I find it to be a very effective way to cope. Keep it up man, wish you the best of luck.
It may be hard, but keep your art - even the “ugly” stuff so that you can reflect back and see your growth and identity where you haven’t grown. We are probably the hardest on ourselves, and having a tangible image to compare is so much better than what we store away as memories. Also, kudos to you for having the courage to sketch and paint your friend! I know it didn’t go well, but when you feel ready, you can look at it see what you want to do differently. Maybe you could try again with a picture of your friend in the comfort of your own space with no one there to judge. I hope you keep making art:)
i really enjoyed this challenge! your videos have been suggested to me a lot and i decided it was time to watch one and follow along! i had fun with this challenge and think my birds were far too cute still... but im glad i tried! thank you for the video, i think its important to have fun with art and make ugly art/things!
This is an exercise I never would've thought of! Thank you for sharing. I made some ugly birds along with you, and I was surprised to find that one of the birds I made I thought was ugly, but also really liked because of the implication of emotion that the pose the bird was in has. I never would've tried drawing such stupid birds or perspectives without this exercise, but I think I will be in the future!
Art is subjective! If a child made those we would praise them. I don't find yours ugly. What if you try to make a nice one, yet it's "ugly"? What a mind game art can be. I enjoyed your critiquing of each bird. Thank you!
I love this challenge and the thoughts that come with it. I think my birds are still way too nice and I like them all. It turned a page in my sketchbook into an unexpected crazy bird page, and I'm definitely taking away a valuable lesson here.
Thinking about this exercise, I think one of the best parts is it makes you challenge what your first thought about what a bird SHOULD look like. They’re weird critters and you can make them an awkwardly posed mess of feathers trying to make them “ugly”.
Thank you so much for this video! As I consider myself to be highly untalented at drawing, I found it easy to make an ugly bird. And it was freeing, because I didn't have to pretend to be able to draw beautiful and artistic things. It's my bloody ugly bird … so it immediately grew close to my heart; and yes, you're right, it is somehow endearing and unique in its ugliness.
I made a big mistake with my 3rd bird. The whole body is a big S-shape so it has a lot of energy to it and is quite interesting. My girl looks like she is super slouched and kinda annoyed with the other birds, understandably so. But this was the excercise I needed. I've been struggling a lot with drawing lately, mostly because of my mental health. This could really help me to find mistakes in my representive drawings. Thanks and have a wonderful season of renewal and assessment
The white one is the prettiest, then the blue, the black, and the gray is just not recognizable so it's 'ugly'. I love the point of this exercise. I'm going to see everything I create in a different way from now on. I've been working to correct an ugly painting for weeks. My husband thinks it's great. He said it's better than a lot of stuff you see hanging in public places. That's encouraging. It's gotten me to see the possibilities for it.
I am so grateful i could spend this morning with this class❤ it was fascinating and your guidance and insights are jus so uniqe and interesting. It was crazy to me to realize that making thise birds I actually felt like I am failing, I didn't feel I am making them ugly enough. That was such a mindblowing experience🎉 i regret we can't add pictures here because I would love to share my birds. When you encouraged us to imagine how we would feel if someone said they are ugly I just got angry and anxious 😂 like I forgot it was a goal 😅 I also realised how expressive my art was in this exceraise! I could never achive that when I was trying to create something beautiful. Thank you Marie. It was so beautiful on so many levels❤
LOVE THIS you did so good with them, I actually find the third one kind of cute and goofy! Going to go make some ugly birds now 🥰 Will you be doing Inktober this year? I’m going to take a shot at it! 🎃 video feels like it can be taken into context with going about inktober haha
Everyone should dedicate at least one sketchbook for ugly drawing and get crazy with it.
That’s a great idea!
I love the idea of. Gonna do exactly that😄
INSPIRING! Wanting to dedicate a sketchbook exclusively to ugly drawing (not a sketchbook were ugly drawing is *allowed*) RIGHT NOW 😊
Some of us don’t have any other options.
yes yes yes couldn't agree more! Or have ugly drawings in EVERY SKETCHBOOK hihihhi 😇
there's something about the blue bird that was making me laugh every time I looked back at the video. like, they're not having the WORST day, but damn it's been a bit of a day for them. idk i just think you captured something there and that's my favourite thing about ugly art.
Yeah I that bird looks like a fantastic newspaper strip cartoon already, or part of an Allie Brosh 😂
WELL SAID! yes, this lil bird is the reason why I clicked
My favorite bird
he saw something that made him lean forward like that for the rest of the day. kinda like got his spine stuck like this
That bird looks like pumpum silly though
first 3 birds I'm like aww they're not ugly they're cute. then came the shark 😂😂
I got shark like essence too.
haha yes, I nailed that one on the ugly front hahahaha 😂
I drew some ugly birds along with you, and had so much fun I decided to draw some ugly bugs afterwards. While drawing the bugs, I forgot how much I used to love drawing ants for some reason. And then I had an idea about a little ant at a picnic stealing some crumbs. I think it was the first time in quite a while that I actually had fun making art, so thank you so much!
Thank you for the inspo, I now want to draw ants 🐜🐜🐜
You didn’t cover the much more terrifying possibility that someone could see your ugliest bird and go “Wow! This looks amazing!”
oooo yes that's a great one too! Isn't that interesting that the compliment can ALSO be terrifying? It would be interesting to explore WHAT about it is terrifying, and what could help make it a little less scary. Thanks for chiming in!
The blue bird deserves to be framed at the very least imo 😂 But the way you found things you liked about them helped me out alot.
aww thank you, I do have a soft spot for the little guy!
I'm so glad to hear that it helped me work out what I liked about them. :) All the best!
I realised that when I try to do something beautiful my drawings aren't cool. But when I relax and just having fun my drawings are amazing and unique. Thanks for this video ❤
YES all of this!!!! :) it's such a refreshing discovery.
When my nieces and nephews ask me to make art with them, it just flows. No pressure or expectations, and the drawings I make then are awesome!
Rough, sketchy drawings are always more alive than the lavishly painted ones.
@@Anuski1975 100%
What I find interesting is, how differently we all see things.
For instance, try as I may I can't see the third bird as ugly. I think it is adorable
Indeed it's the most accomplished in classic cartoon styles...perhaps that's why she doesn't like it? A child would be very proud of that bird and even many adults!
haha yeah it's funny it seems like a lot of people liked that one - I think for me it's just an indication of the kind of 'art styles' I tend towards. So that's an interesting observation isn't it? I just thought it was ugly because it doesn't match what my inner creative wants to 'work towards'.
That's why every single drawing we think is ugly has so much information in it, and it's a shame to just stop at the thought of 'oh it's ugly', and not push a little further to see WHY we think it is!
This is such a fun, anti-perfectionist exercise. Also those birds are all cute, especially that blue bird which has tonnes of personality and really deserves his own picture book where we can find out more about him and see him go on adventures! I really feel like an umbrella would go well with his outfit.
Ever since I watched this video and tried my ugly art I've been drawing almost every day, I'm really happy about this... I try to focus on making art for the sake of just making something, to create, to feel :) thank you!
oh wow how amazing!! congrats and keep it up :) :)
this is so wonderful to me, it's forcing yourself to draw like a child and there's whimsy and play that my normal art practice doesn't have that I've sorely been missing. thank you for this series, it's helping me explore like I haven't been able to in years.
I'm so glad :)
Oh my god, that blue bird.. hes beautiful.. theres such an emotion captured in his face thats amazing. I love how you cant even see a wing, its so damn funny i love him.
I love how everyone is a big fan of him-it really shows that you dont have to be perfect or try to draw something good to be very loved and be endearing
Four minutes in and I wouldn’t call these birds ugly, in fact their personalities shone rather than having to look beautiful! They made me laugh 😆…continues to watch on…
hihi thanks!!
That blue bird is a mood.
I've been struggling horribly with drawing even small things the past few months, and feeling that everything I make looks bad because I made it. This was so healing for me, and really helped encourage me to enjoy drawing again no matter how what I make turns out. Thank you so much
oh I'm so so glad. Sending much love to you!
It wasn’t until I saw “ugly” art celebrated on instagram that I realized perfection wasn’t necessary anymore. I’ve had to relearn how I accept my own eye. It’s been a transformative process. This is excellent - especially feeling it in the body because those beliefs live inside us.
yes the body is such an important component that I feel often gets left out of the equation but is SO essential. Yay to you for engaging in the process :) :)
I LOVE the blue Bird 🌌🩵🐦💙
Me too 🐟🦋💙🐳🚙 It looks like a child’s drawing, and like he definitely has something to tell you.
aww thank you!!
Thanks! I have watched about 100 art videos in the last month or two and this is the first one where I picked up a pen and drew with you! Ugliness sounded like something I could accomplish. I even liked a couple of my birds.
omg that's so amazing to hear, and also, congratulations to YOU for doing it!! :)
Ugly bird art is definitely sparking joy for me… who knew?! And it’s not even that ugly! 😂 As a recovering perfectionistic creative I REALLY needed this!
I actually think the third one that you drew is pretty cute.
Hihi thanks! It just goes to show how subjective everything is, right??
Same! And yes, things are subjective.
Ditto
I think fourth is amazing!❤
Love this title, it's late here but I'll try tomorrow. I was always afraid to draw and paint as I felt ashamed of how "untalented" I am. At 35 I'm relearning to play and enjoy my art, however it may look!
oh yes, it'd be lovely if you joined in!! And yay for relearning how to play :D :D
I love, looove your blue bird! It looks like it could be a character from a children’s book
thanks so much :)
"If you never make bad art, how do you know what you can do to improve your art?"
I started asking myself that about my writing and it helped me see my "bad" work as simply a way of telling myself: "Hey, your dialogue could be better." Or "Hey, your pacing, or characters, or motivations, stakes, setups, etc... could improve."
A bad piece of work isn't a faithful representation and showcase of your abilities. The same way you do good art and then bad art, the cycle goes around, and after finding those aspects of your work that can improve (through those bad works), you can make good art again.
yes, this exactly!!!
Yes fr!! It’s like having clean hands, yes you can try your best to never get them dirty but you can also go & make them as muddy & grubby as possible planting seeds that will grow into beautiful flowers, it’ll be a whole lot worse for the garden if you’re disinfecting it all & choosing not to have any soil just because dirt is dirty, you might have clean hands but you’ll have no flowers either, the ‘bad’ & ugly are part of the steps you take to get to something beautiful blooming (I hope this makes sense, I’m autistic & this analogy matches up in my own head but I can’t tell if it actually makes any sort of sense)
@@illchayDyz It makes total sense! You need to endure through the things that make you uncomfortable in order to achieve the things you're proud of. If art were easy, it'd be as much fun as tending a garden of plastic flowers. It's beautiful, but you can't say you've put any work or effort in. (coughAiArtcough)
I love "ugly" primitive art. So much endearing beauty. Perfect feels commercial and often boring to me. 🙃
I totally get it!! I like a naive, shaky line that is just ALLOWED to be what it is :)
@@marienoellewurm Really enjoying your philosophy, content and presentation.. Refreshing and a fun distraction from these crazy times. Subscribed ☺️
I love «ugly» too. I actually have more heart for inperfection and often feel disgusted by perfection. I almost get provoked. So this exersize didnt work for me, because it feels kinda violent and judgemental to call these poor birds ugly. It hits my stommic every time you say their ugly. I love the discovery of my own thinking though! So it worked in a way. Thank you for that!
that blue bird is such an icon we love them lol
hahah THANKS.
I work as an artist in games and my abilities feel like EVERYTHING to me. Survival, identity, safety. If someone saw my sketchbook where I was trying my best and honestly said it's not very good, my body would go into FREEZE immediately. Can't even describe the fear and shame.
This exercise was delightful, confusing, funny, touching, all at the same time. This was a trip =)
That. That’s the feeling.
yeah isn't it wild how common this is even amongst us professionals?? That our body can have such intense freeze (or fight) reactions to something that inherently, if you think about, is just lines on a piece of paper? It goes to show how ingrained those inner judgements are, and how much meaning we put into each one of our ugly drawings.
I'm so glad if the exercise was fun but also confusing, because THIS is how we break those meanings that are no longer serving us. :) all the best to you.
I never comment under videos but for this one I really want to thank you!! Your videos are healing me, truly. I feel so much pressure. I am in the animation industry and I have to find a job, I felt so stuck lately. I was petrified, I was so scared of making ugly drawings and waste my time. I had the pressure of making something beautiful in a short period of time to put in my portfolio or demo reel. Since yesterday I watched your other video on ugly drawings and I draw along. I already feel so much better. I feel like I learned a lesson and I am more mature now (it’s been one day lol 😆). Anyway, it touched me deeply, thank you for making this video.
Also in 2018 I was on skillshare and followed one of your class, I remember having a lot of fun!
THANK YOU ❤
oh oh Margot, your message really moved me. I'm so so glad it's helping. So many of us art professionals deal with this and I think there are solutions to making the process less stressful and more FUN overall :) I'm really glad it's helping, and thanks so much also for the kind words about my older class on Skillshare! haha the serendipity.
@@marienoellewurm yes FUN is the word!!
What you said about feeling judgement of drawings/ “viscerally” reminds me of being a kid and being told, “oh, you have a knack for drawing but you will never make a living at it” and being left feeling like, “ why bother.” I think that while that person probably felt they were doing me a favor by being honest about my prospects, it totally took the joy of creating out of me. I like that by giving yourself permission to explore a concept without looking for perfection or viability very freeing.
Honestly, most adults need to shut up.
ugh yes, I feel that and so many of us have heard that kind of thing. I agree with @AlextheENTP that most adults need to shut up haha. especially if it's about expressing our creativity and just having fun. :)
I'm absolutely in love with second blue bird! It's weird and beautiful!! I want to print it 😍
hihi thank you!! :)
I'm just looking at the comments and I can't stop how proud i am to those people that love their ugly art, this video really encourages somebody to draw no matter the condition you're in.
The blue bird made me laugh so much - it’s just utterly perfect.
I can tell these birds have great personalities. (They’re all adorable.) 🥰 😂
Number 4 is a flying fish!
haha thanks, yeah it would be fun to create a story for each one of them. And omggg you're right about the flying fish!! love that
It has a sort of Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds feel about it.
Esto es lo más increíble y genial que he visto nunca, me ha encantado tanto que no tengo palabras, solo gracias, gracias gracias gracias ❤
oh I"m so honored, and so glad you loved it 🤗❤
Making ugly drawing felt revealing. Love your mental tips on the subject, thanks for sharing! ❤
I'm so glad :)
Bird #2 and #1 (upper right) are my absolute faves. Interesting that you disliked the upper right one and I love it. 🩷
haha yes that's so funny!! isn't it fascinating how our perspectives on 'ugliness' is SO subjective??
I LOVE the idea of this exercise! I am no pro and I think this could really help me to push myself further by requiring my brain in terms of how I think about my "ugly art". I REALLY love that you said what you liked about each one. The ugliest you could possibly draw still had beauty in some way. That's a wonderful life lesson in general
Birds are hysterical.
I found your channel through your video "the power of ugly art" and it really inspired and empowered me.
This is my second time in your channel and I wanted to say thank you for all you do❤️
oh, thank you! I'm so glad they help. :) :)
Drawing Ugly Birds & Listening to What They Have to Say, fantastic concept for a podcast interview/portrait series
ooo yes, I love that!
I hate being an echo, but that blue bird is oozing personality ❤
WOAH!!!! All them sharp pencils on the left are OMINOUS!!! 😜😜😜😜😜🤘
hahahahaha this made me laugh so much and you're so right!! Guess what... I had JUST bought a new pencil sharpener hahahahaha 🙈
that's why the purple bird is looking at us like 'whut'. 😂
Number two would actually make a pretty good album cover I think
It''s reminiscent of the Fleetwood Mac's Penguin album cover.
thanks for this, i really enjoyed drawing some ugly birds! your winning ugly bird reminds me of a drawing i did as a kid called "my shark car."
Haha yesss that sounds so accurate! 😁 wish I could see yours too!
Your making birds!🤯
I don’t usually comment on RUclips, but you’ve become my favorite teacher! I hope that one day we can use “style” instead of the idea of beauty or ugliness.
The thing I enjoyed with this exercise was being able to jump right in and start without thinking (or overthinking!) and without any worry or care about how it would look, or what I should do. It was something that didn't matter & was supposed to be ugly so I had no expectations.
In another video, an artist said he prefers to use a cheap sketchbook and pen for his idea sketchbook, because if he were using higher quality material, especially a well made notebook, he would never draw in it because he wouldn't want to ruin it. He uses pen because it limits the sketch to line or shadow. It helps him get ideas down quickly, and he can go back through them when he's ready to do a nice drawing. This video's exercise mirrors that idea of going ahead and drawing without restriction to quality.
oo yes that's another great hack!! I'm so glad it worked for you - I find that just jumping in and starting is the BEST way to counter all the overthinking/panic/judgement that gets in the way of expressing ourselves.
The third bird oozes personality! There’s lots to like and enjoy about 1,2 and 3. Despite your assertion that it’s horrendous, 3 is surprisingly captivating. 4 is a bird panicking.
This is so comforting, exactly what I needed to get me back into it, thank you!
aw yay I"m glad :)
Immediately subscribed. There was a time in my life where I wanted to pickup drawing/painting but I was discouraged by my lack of immediate talent. Ugly drawings made me stop. I have never once considered purposefully making ugly art. This is liberating, thank you.
Great video, Marie! In fact this is deepely connected to the prefectionism and the pressure you put upon ourselves to not create bad art. I simple can't seem to be able to draw in a propper sketchbookm because of that fier. I usually make my own repurposed sketchbooks because of that. I even called one of them my "ugly" sketchbook. There's a tour on my channel if you want to see it. That was exactly to try and not feel precious about my drawings. Thanks for sharing this exercise! It very useful!
I really love how you bring mindfulness and contemplative practices into your drawing practice and using those tools to observe the behavior of the mind and the response of the body to better understand what's going on inside. I've been exploring this as well through a "drawing as meditation" seminar that I attended at a meditation center, and this has been a great compliment to that practice!
16:08 ha ha I like that one.. it's cute.. and the awkwardness makes him/her look funny. 🐦
Ever since I found out about this channel I am falling more and more in love with chaos drawing, so I wanted to share some of my discoveries. I own many art supplies as I'm eager to try anything new! So far:
-I covered a page in gray and brown watercolors, scribbled all over with neon color pencils and then did some doodles on top with a black marker, the marker looks amazing over the color pencils and the pencils give a pretty texture on top of the watercolors
-Orange and purple alcohol markers look amazing together, I scribbled in orange then purple on top and as the paper took on the ink I loved the color. Also I doodled with those colors on top of a page covered in peach paint and scribbled with neon pencils, the texture is akin to eggshells and I love it.
-I love purple, blue and red together. I did a page of just dots with them over scribbles my niece did in yellow after she found my sketchbook. My niece destroyed it but I love how it looks so I'm using it for chaos drawing
I absolutely adore the blue bird! It seems so friendly. The gray bird with the orange beak looks like a shark-bird to me. Such a fun exercise. I'm definitely going to give it a go!
someone else also said it reminded them of a shark-bird!! I love that :D and yessss would be so fun if you participated!
I love this ugly art series! Im not too keen on drawing, but in writing, yes! And it really helped me gather my courage to write something I am proud of. This is the second ugly art video ive watched from you.
I think that all of them are pretty!
awww thank you!
The front facing bird is my favorite so cute
If someone called me ugly I could not care less, but if someone called my pets or children ugly, they will not know what hit them.
yay this came just in time as i was stressing over my illustration. Making the ugly art helps me reset. thank you. My 3rd bird was soo ugly he is a combination of all the things i dont like about birds lol but after a few scribbles he looks tough and similar to some sort of logo design. I love your blue bird he has soo much character.
I have so much judgment in my life, so I’ll adopt this exercise of making ugly things in my life, in meaning of trying to do things that not asking to be approved by others
Yesss you’ve got this!
Thank you for this valuable lesson. You’ve put me on a path out of this dark forest funk that has my sketchbook laying on my table, unopened in three months. I’m glad I found you. You betcha I subscribed! 🧑🎨🖌️
I love this excersize. The biggest part of my life i've actually been terrified to make art because it was possible to fail. Nowadays i can let that go partly, but making those ugly birds really made me laugh and made me see the value of making these. This is what they had to do with us at art school. That would teach us that making art is not always about performing. It's so valuable to create a healthy relationship with your own art. Thank you a lot ❤
Thank you so much for sharing this with us! I love everything about this video. Your calmness, your drawings, the clarity in your ideas, youre knowledge, your honesty. Im happier after this. Thanks
I love the blue bird!
To answer your question 10:37 I would probably sound defensive but I think that even in the heat of the moment I would be able to explain that I wasn’t trying to make it beautiful and that I was following a “ugly drawing prompt exercise” and feel that I succeeded in what I set out to do, based on the persons reaction.
Love this exercise! Let’s have the same fun with other stuff we draw and paint.
Your last bird looks like the birds from Corneille. A lot of people love his art. So you never know what is ugly and what is not. Ugly can be beautiful too😉
I had fun doing it. Today was a day that I am grateful for.
JK Rawlings has had impact influence over what some may consider ugly art by creating these creatures through her works .
That’s what I felt like I see a really cool, creative creature and different different unique and I resonate with it .
This is the stuff ! Thank you thank you thank you thank you
I can really see myself doing this exercice a lot, thanks for sharing, this was so fun! 💕💕 maybe one day before I study how to draw a different animal I will start with ugly drawings, just to get the pressure out and then go into the study with a happy mind
this video was so nice. thank you for making it!!! the idea of making friends with your ugly art because it helped you get somewhere else is so nice. going to save and come back to this video to make sure im keeping the ideas in mind!!
I am working on childhood trauma and this video popped up on my feed. This is great! I am going to do one on how I feel about my body and the expectations my mom had about me and the way she projected her stuff on me. She was also an artist. I also do other techniques in art therapy. I am looking forward to this exercise. It looks very freeing. I get stuck with my art as a perfectionist.
I'm not an artist, and can't draw very well, but I still draw something almost every day. I love this channel of yours and have been doing your workouts. I feel something in common with your blue bird. 💙
I love the screen splash. Bcuz I love drawing and I draw exactly like that and not much better even after classes!
If there was a channel of someone with zero talent and not getting much better but gives them pure joy to draw, I’d watch. And relate.
I didn't really succeeded in drawing ugly birds, as soon as they got a shape, I started to empathize with them and see them as characters. Even that way if someone would come and tell me, they are ugly, I would smile, because I know this was only a drawing practice. Your blue bird is actually the instinctive imprint of talent. Making ugly art is a meaningful play for some, but for myself, I think it's a waste of precious time.
I love this so much. I’m a grunge artist. I try to create ugly art that creates a visceral response, and also ugly art that then becomes somehow beautiful. Also I find that when I try too hard to create something nice, that that pressure always creates a piece I hate. When I just go in and trust the process and don’t really try so hard but allow I get the results I like. However people think I’m just making a mess. One crafter said to me if she worked like me she couldn’t live with herself because she’d feel like she wasn’t trying. I work very hard at my grungy art!😂 I just approach it from a different place! I love your birds! They made me laugh too. And I personally thought your fish bird was awesome!
thank you Marie!! Originally found you on Skillshare (LOVE skillshare) and appreciate you and your style, talent, warmth and more. I had a hard time "trying" to draw ugly birds. Just didn't know what to do so I replicated yours and loved them. Not the original point but was great to follow along and loved what you were saying about responding to how others might view the work as "ugly" and what my response might be. Ummmm....don't remember asking for feedback, haha. I love your lightness, possible responses and thoughts, which I'll keep in my pocket! I'm very new to art at 59 and just love playing with different mediums and Skillshare has been such an awesome resource. Thanks so much again. xo
oh I'm so glad you enjoyed the video Suzy and thanks for your kinds words! :) and yesss I love skillshare too, it's why I was so happy to be partnered with them for his video!
But yay for allowing yourself to do what felt right today and studying/replicating my birds. It would be fun if you did the exercise again and this time tried to allow yourself to make your own ugly birds. Remmeber, since they're ugly, they can be whatever you want, even just a big circle with a beak and two legs!! Let me know if you end up trying that, it would be fun to know if it got a bit easier! all the best
what a delightful exercise, as someone who draws birds a lot this was very helpful. I love my ugliest little bird, he's so wonky and misshapen and somehow one of my favourite things i've made
This was sooo awesome! Thank you for your wisdom, insights, and ugly birds, Marie-Noelle!
thank youuuu 🤗
I got into urban sketching and for the first time summoned the courage to do a sketch and watercolour in public at a cafe with a friend in a little sketchbook. Hadn't done portraits in a while, but sketched her out, and was pretty horrified at what I drew, how she came across in the sketch. Proportions wrong, looked older etc, and couldn't explain the concept of the style of loose sketching. The experience destroyed me and the little confidence I gained :( Another friend joined and showed her; didn't go down well either. To be fair it was pretty ugly. I am scarred now and can't open that sketchbook anymore.
Aw man that sucks. Whenever I create an ugly piece, I just remind myself that if I keep doing this over and over again, I'll eventually get better. I find it to be a very effective way to cope. Keep it up man, wish you the best of luck.
@@randall1073 Thank you! I like reading that while looking at your avatar! Likewise, wish you the best out there too!
It may be hard, but keep your art - even the “ugly” stuff so that you can reflect back and see your growth and identity where you haven’t grown. We are probably the hardest on ourselves, and having a tangible image to compare is so much better than what we store away as memories. Also, kudos to you for having the courage to sketch and paint your friend! I know it didn’t go well, but when you feel ready, you can look at it see what you want to do differently. Maybe you could try again with a picture of your friend in the comfort of your own space with no one there to judge. I hope you keep making art:)
Wonderful wonderful class thank you loads of love❤🎉❤
Thank you for sharing this video! Drawing ugly art, is still art! It is important to have art to go back to and see how far you've come!
The birds you didn't like inspired me to make birds I really like, that's cool
i really enjoyed this challenge! your videos have been suggested to me a lot and i decided it was time to watch one and follow along! i had fun with this challenge and think my birds were far too cute still... but im glad i tried! thank you for the video, i think its important to have fun with art and make ugly art/things!
This is an exercise I never would've thought of! Thank you for sharing.
I made some ugly birds along with you, and I was surprised to find that one of the birds I made I thought was ugly, but also really liked because of the implication of emotion that the pose the bird was in has. I never would've tried drawing such stupid birds or perspectives without this exercise, but I think I will be in the future!
I really enjoyed this exercise ❤ ✨ thank you!
Art is subjective! If a child made those we would praise them. I don't find yours ugly. What if you try to make a nice one, yet it's "ugly"? What a mind game art can be. I enjoyed your critiquing of each bird. Thank you!
I love this challenge and the thoughts that come with it. I think my birds are still way too nice and I like them all. It turned a page in my sketchbook into an unexpected crazy bird page, and I'm definitely taking away a valuable lesson here.
Thinking about this exercise, I think one of the best parts is it makes you challenge what your first thought about what a bird SHOULD look like. They’re weird critters and you can make them an awkwardly posed mess of feathers trying to make them “ugly”.
Thank you so much for this video! As I consider myself to be highly untalented at drawing, I found it easy to make an ugly bird. And it was freeing, because I didn't have to pretend to be able to draw beautiful and artistic things. It's my bloody ugly bird … so it immediately grew close to my heart; and yes, you're right, it is somehow endearing and unique in its ugliness.
I made a big mistake with my 3rd bird. The whole body is a big S-shape so it has a lot of energy to it and is quite interesting. My girl looks like she is super slouched and kinda annoyed with the other birds, understandably so.
But this was the excercise I needed. I've been struggling a lot with drawing lately, mostly because of my mental health. This could really help me to find mistakes in my representive drawings.
Thanks and have a wonderful season of renewal and assessment
i just love your energy. it’s amazingly comforting
The white one is the prettiest, then the blue, the black, and the gray is just not recognizable so it's 'ugly'. I love the point of this exercise. I'm going to see everything I create in a different way from now on.
I've been working to correct an ugly painting for weeks. My husband thinks it's great. He said it's better than a lot of stuff you see hanging in public places. That's encouraging. It's gotten me to see the possibilities for it.
I am so grateful i could spend this morning with this class❤ it was fascinating and your guidance and insights are jus so uniqe and interesting. It was crazy to me to realize that making thise birds I actually felt like I am failing, I didn't feel I am making them ugly enough. That was such a mindblowing experience🎉 i regret we can't add pictures here because I would love to share my birds. When you encouraged us to imagine how we would feel if someone said they are ugly I just got angry and anxious 😂 like I forgot it was a goal 😅 I also realised how expressive my art was in this exceraise! I could never achive that when I was trying to create something beautiful. Thank you Marie. It was so beautiful on so many levels❤
Thank you following along i learned a lot. I needed this.
I'm so glad!
as an art student beginning my thesis work, i needed this
i come back and watch this video for therapy
Aw yay :) :)
I love this, I can't wait to try this exercise. I can imagine personalities for each of those birds 😂
Really brilliant well done x
LOVE THIS you did so good with them, I actually find the third one kind of cute and goofy! Going to go make some ugly birds now 🥰
Will you be doing Inktober this year? I’m going to take a shot at it! 🎃 video feels like it can be taken into context with going about inktober haha
Wise words young lady 💯. Thank you 👏
I'm so glad you liked it :)
All my art, after 8 years of Art Schools in London became ,'ugly art', it's my happy space !
I Love them all
Aw thanks!!