#Art Is Hard

[mermaidinn]

Pirate lessons

[cutetanuki-chan]

they're saving my ass tho

[a-literate-chicken]

Learnin’ how to use procreate, so now I have to go find all my preferred settings again. 😩

[ppinksun]

Cringetober Day 14: Incorrect Quote

spun an incorrect quote generator til i got something i felt like drawing bwh

[spoopity]

Should I color the doodle?

[geddy-spageddy]

him !!

[venomous-qwille]

Hi Qwille!

So I was wondering because I’m struggling with this myself- how did you continuously improve with art when you were first still building upon your skills? Like to get to a level that could be professional?

And I think I mean this in more of a mental capacity way. I tend to get angry at the fact that I’m not better by now and feel like I struggle by the skin of my teeth to improve from where I’m at every time, even if objectively speaking I’m already better than people would expect me to be.

I just feel like there’s a better way to go about it than being fueled by anger or spite. I enjoy art, and I’m proud of my work, but I don’t know how to *not* be angry at myself for not being better at it. How do you accept self criticism with grace when it comes to your work? Or how did you, when you were younger? If that’s a question you’re willing to ask, of course! Thank you <3

Hiya! So, I'll start out by saying that this is absolutely the hardest part about learning to draw/paint. The continuous failure and discontent with the work we produce is a constant struggle that is, I believe, the main reason people stop trying to learn at all.

It's okay to get angry and sad, it's okay to be dissatisfied. It's a very cruel joke that, as artists, our eye will improve faster than our ability to draw. We are constantly chasing a carrot that is being pulled further away from us. For me: my improvement was not constant. There were several points where I didn't draw for years, because of other life factors and because the art I was creating brought me no joy.

Things had to change when I decided that I wanted to do art professionally. I needed to improve and improve fast, so I bent a lot of time towards studies. I found that the things I got better at the fastest were the ones where I found studying to be really fun. I really enjoy copying master paintings- especially the nineteenth and twentieth century realists. Finding fun in doing them for the sake of doing them really helped me improve fast because it wasn't stressful- I was just creating art I liked, even if they were copies.

I think accepting that the main joy of art is in the creating, not the result, really helped me be at peace with my artwork. Also, becoming a professional artist and realising that I didnt own what I created- and that I was subject to the (often questionable) tastes of my commissioners/art directors/stakeholders really allowed me to unlatch my emotional self from my work.

Every piece is a step, sometimes you will hit your bellcurve, make the best thing you are currently capable of making- and fuck that feels good- but often you wont, and you wont know why you dont like it. Learning to enjoy the push towards those small moments, the slow improvement as you gradually grasp new skills, learning to love learning, that is the most curative thing. Once I started to enjoy failing, because it meant I was learning- and once I started forgiving myself for not picking everything up straight away- I was much, much happier.

It's okay for it to be hard and your emotions are valid. Forgive yourself for having them and try to find something you enjoy about the process. Recontextualise your mistakes as what they are: not a failure, but just another step up the giant mountain of your art journey. There is always a higher peak. The journey never ends. Stop looking at the top and just enjoy the view and the mountain air. (And for fucks sake don't compare yourself to other people. They're not even climbing the same landmass.)

[orcadotnet]

if Sean didnt die id like to think they wouldve gotten along

[unbizzarre]

WIP Odyssey Comic

Eight hours in and I've almost finished "panel" one of six \(ToT)/

EDIT

11/14 update! 5 more hours in and I've now mostly finished 2.5 out of 6 pannels for this short! yaaaayyyy

Here it is:

also- when chronicling progress on a large art project like this is it better to keep editing the same post or post separately each time? (new posts each time seemed like it would be kinda spammy so I didn't?) Or is this a thing where you reblog your own post? Is that a thing? I don't really understand under what contexts a person should reblog their own content, but it does appear to be a thing that Tumblr would let me do.

[aurosoulart]

more sketch… this one’s a wip still

[sirtotallynotatimetraveler]

Oh to be a non-perfectionist artist who can draw amazingly and so quickly without getting distracted by anything. One can dream.

[rose-tries-to-write]

I am very impatient it seems, I honestly could not stop thinking about it and I just… The chokehold wouldn’t let me go until I did something.

Enjoy my shit attempt at drawing snails with bow ties.

This took me a lot longer than it should have. I wanted to do a full background with them at the desk, but desks are god awful to draw apparently.

[cutetanuki-chan]

me: I just gonna try to draw a little silly sketches

me, hours later:

[callmegaith]

Big tol vortigaunt Bae and their fav lil human 😌

[hellcifrogs]

Anyone else trying to art out there also feels like being on a long losing battle every once in a while?

This is a little something about feeling overwhelmed, underwhelmed and/or blocked when trying to do the one thing that should bring you joy.