#pretended i'd done a 'good job' NOW I WISH I HADNT FILTERED ANYTHING i want to see how fucking bad i was at first

[corpsentry]

do u have any tips on how to start drawing and get better?

hi anon! to be completely honest i have no idea what the fuck i’m doing but my single most earnest piece of advice is to draw. do it. draw. don’t think, don’t stress, don’t exhibit self doubt-- draw.

here’s a list of things that aren’t worth thinking about: - how good everyone around you is - how other people will see your art - your current skill level - what you know you are capable of accomplishing and what you believe you are not - how hard the thing you want to draw is - how impossible it is to create - how you cannot do anything - how you are incredibly new to this and therefore incapable of creating something incredible - how many bodies there are left

drawing is a process, a habit, a mindset, a physical motion, a heartfelt emotion, drawing is: many things. but thinking about drawing isn’t and never will be, like, Drawing.

ok i know i sound like i’m high as fuck so i’m going to contextualize this now dab. i have been scared of backgrounds for my whole life. my entire life. all of my 19 years i have been bitter and resentful and dumb. then at the start of december i decided to challenge myself to do a 15 minute photo study every day because i was tired of being scared shitless of backgrounds and now everything has changed by taylor swift feat. ed sheeran. this worked because 15 minutes isn’t very long and therefore isn’t that intimidating but also because i was forced by my own word to put in consistent work over a fixed period of time. this also worked because i made a firm decision to only use the photographs that the momentum browser extension displays on your new tab screen every day which means i had a choice between exactly two photographs every day (firefox or chrome?) and was forced to confront some of my demons instead of looking for an easy way out. finally, and most importantly, when i sat down each day with my photo reference i didn’t let myself think about how fucked up this photo was. i didn’t let myself think about how completely fucking impossible it was for me to recreate this batshit insane image. i smashed the start timer button before i could get nervous and shut my brain off and focused all my energy on making the canvas look like the photograph and somehow over the course of 26 days my body and brain and soul (???? if i have one) figured something out.

here’s december 7th

here’s december 24th

december 15th

december 26th

december 12th

december 23rd

and then on december 24th i was like i want to try doing something different. i want to draw something from my favorite video game and current obsession the legend of zelda breath of the wild. and so i took a moment away from redrawing scenery and tried to do something different and serious and to my complete fucking surprise it didn’t turn out a disaster. it turned into this

i wouldn’t have been able to do this if i hadn’t done twenty-four shitty 15 minute photo studies before that. i wouldn’t have been able to pick colors, render shapes, account for lighting, et cetera, et cetera, because i only learned about how the shape of your lines and the direction of your movement and the different colors you use can affect a drawing by suffering through making some really shitty choices earlier on in the month. i wouldn’t have dared to try this at all if i hadn’t been fucking around for three weeks before that, getting my ass handed to me every day for no good reason other than that i was mad and tired and tired of being mad. i wouldn’t have thought i could draw backgrounds at all.

obviously i still have a lot of work to do as i’ve only been at this for a month (people are another matter and i do not wish to perceive them) and i have zero technical advice to give because i have never taken a formal art course in my life but i do have something to say and it’s this: if you want to draw, draw. don’t give up. don’t give in to the fear and mindset that you’ll never be able to do something. you can start with fuckall knowledge of how to pick colors, use lighting, draw water, whatever, and figure them all out eventually. you can start out shit and become not-shit. what you need to do is keep drawing, and keep drawing, and keep drawing.