Apr '23
2

This is a Portrait I did today from one of the Rachel Bradley Reference Photos..
Was practicing heads and just figured I would make a finished piece.

Apr '23

Did some exercises today.. Working on a project, not sure if I should be doing it, but gives me something to work on when I get bored of drawing circles lol.

Did pen control again too just for extra practice.

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Apr '23

I know what you mean :smile: I understand we have to do these practices but man it's not the most interesting thing to do

Apr '23

Some work I did today so far, have to take a break, my pinky is hurting pretty bad. Don't know why but just getting sore.

I was working on some hair studies if you can call it that. Just messing with it to see what kind of results I can get.

Regular exercises for the day. I still need to do some figures but like I said my pinky is hurting. Sounds weird to say..
Marc - "Why didn't you do your Figure drawings today, huuuhh??"
Me - "My pinky hurts real bad teach :frowning:" lol
Marc - "That will cost you one Sub and a Like!"

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Apr '23

nice work :smile:

when you draw is the full weight of ur hand stacked on top of ur pinky as you drag your pen around? XD if so i can see why cus that poor pinky is just being squished lol

maybe try using a little bit of ur shoulder to draw to lift the weight off of ur pinky :3

Apr '23

I'll try that, maybe I need to raise my screen stand up so it's not sitting almost flat.

Apr '23

I been thinking a lot lately and have been feeling like I'm forgetting things when I'm trying to draw OR I'm trying things that are too difficult. I'm watching all these art videos, Ross Draws, Sam Does Art, and so many more and they make such beautiful art and I'm getting frustrated because that is where I want to be and I have such a long way to go.
But I just want to draw and paint great things.
I keep doing these "Gesture drawings and they are just sketches but they look bad to me. When I look at them it makes me feel like I'm terrible and not improving. I have all of these videos to tell me HOW to do things, but not if IM doing them wrong.
I've just been going through frustration after frustration because I keep trying things I want to do and I just can't do them yet and it's bringing me down.
I've lost track of my schedule and what I should be doing and concentrating on. I just went back to doing exercises because I really don't know what else to do lol.

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I never really did the 1 minute Gesture drawing because I just hate how they look. It just doesn't feel right when drawing them. They just look bad to me.

Started doing action lines and construction because I just feel like I'm forgetting how things should be and I have so much trouble with the torso and hips and getting them to look like they are facing the correct way on a 2D surface.

The thing that makes this so hard is I have no one telling me if I'm making mistakes with it and how to correct it. So I just keep making those same mistakes over and over with no correction.

Just did more cylinders too. I guess everything is practice. It just becomes not fun when I just want to draw and then I remember I need to do my exercises for 5 hours+ all these things literally take me all day to do.

Don't know what I should do here, maybe all this work is burning me out. I'm literally doing it all day long, trying to get better. Then I noticed I'm not getting better I'm getting worse.

Apr '23

I feel you, I really do. I have the same gap between doing exercises and actually drawing something I like in the end, the feeling of achievement instead of feeling like you're going around in circles.. Seeing an actual, tangible result. And it doesn't help that what I'm hungry for is transforming what it's in my head into art instead of empty practices (which I'm guessing is the same with you)

Even though I faced the same issue (that's why I went back to term 1 to do things differently) so maybe I shouldn't be giving any advice lol but I can tell you what my plan is going forward and maybe that would help.

You can start focusing on 1 subject (for example face anatomy) and use the exercises to draw a character you really love, instead of the generic face we practice with Marc in the lessons. I know it's frustrating when you don't achieve the result you want to achieve, but try to get into the mentality of obsessing over a certain mission (ie drawing the face of your favorite character) to push you forward in trying until you're reasonably satisfied with the result. Remember, it doesn't have to be perfect.. it just needs to meet the requirement of the lesson (how to draw the face structure, the nose, the eyes, etc) and try to do that with every subject (for example a favorite shot from a movie, animated or otherwise, to learn perspective) Think of them as mini projects. Also, I would focus only on line art as a start. Whenever I get into coloring and shading I get lost. Try to get the general outline and when you're satisfied with what you have, move to the next element.

I wouldn't be sure if this will work but the idea is to not overwhelm yourself with so many elements of the art to the point of feeling lost of what to focus on, and to also enjoy drawing images/characters/environments/movie frames that you hold dear to your heart. You will enjoy the process more that way, I think.

Again this is all conjecture, I didn't even practice what I'm preaching yet :joy: I'm taking it slow, and maybe you should too! Take your time with each lesson, and go back to one if you feel you didn't grasp the information well. And if you feel burned out, take a break. you'll be more clear-headed about how to tackle any issue you face after a break.

Sorry for the text dump :neutral_face: I really hope this can help. Let us know if you're stuck with something specific.. I'm sure everyone here will try to help and give constructive feedback. Don't worry too much, it's a phase.. it'll pass once you figure it out, and you will figure it out :grinning:

Apr '23

Thank you for the kind words @olashamala I really think I've been pushing myself too far and ya, I've been not focusing on one thing.. I've been trying to learn everything now and it's getting overwhelming because I can't take in all the information at once and retain it all.
Just need to slow down and enjoy the process.

Apr '23

Some sketching I did today.

Timing myself to see how long I'm really taking to do these things. I don't know how long I SHOULD be taking, but it is just a gauge for myself I guess.

At this point I think I'm taking WAAAAY too long just for some sketches.. These are From Reference too, but it is just showing how much trouble I'm having with things just doing simple sketches.