#this is why i love doing art collabs too. coloring v fun 4 me

[jacksoldsideblog]

Is there something that you wanted to draw but didn’t have enough skills to do it? What was that, explain me your vision. Im really curious.

The list is practically infinite haha! I'm actually a pretty limited artist.

I mentioned somewhere, I can't really picture things? I can't. Even when I try really hard it just sort of doesn't work. It's not truly nothing but it might as well be. So I really really struggle with anything that involves stylization, lines. I have to sort of, brute force "I know anatomy means this goes here and the arm has to be this size" everything. Everything has to get that extremely exact step by step consideration. The only thing I can reliably make stylized versions of is fish. And even then, it's not very consistent or adaptive, because I struggle to remember how to do it.

On the other hand, I work really well with reference. So I can recreate a reference, in line or painting, usually pretty well. Putting a lot of effort in, I can combine references, alter things a bit.

Recently I discovered if I have a bit of reference on how light plays across something I can color something freely, almost without thinking too hard, because I have a decent understanding of light and I'm willing to work over a limited palette. I've sort of wanted to cry about it because it makes me feel like I'm doing art instead of just... recreating things.

Over time I've built up the ability to sketchline some things, don't get me wrong, but making anything that specifically looks like someone is pretty much out of my wheelhouse. There was about 10 failure Tyler coyotes and that's despite it being largely unrecognizable in the first place.

So that is to say.... I'm so proud of what I've managed to gain, in terms of art skill, and I'm really proud of what I can do. There IS things I can do, and I can do them well, and I try to find pride in that.

But in terms of what I wish I could do? God, I could tell you about specific ideas, grand plots, whatever. But really, I just wish I could sketch out something that looked like someone without taking 9 hours. I would kill for some sort of flexibility or ability to do cartoon drawing. It's why a lot of my comments on art are about how amazing I find the stylization. It's kind of out of reach for me. It's something I find so, so impressive. If you draw and you draw like, characters doing things, even if it's just silly different scenes, even if it's just them having different expressions — god, I wish I could do that. It's not for lack of trying. But after years, it kind of beats down on you when you make no progress.

On the other hand, all those years, I WAS learning, so when I finally started doing something more accessible to me I was able to use the skill and eye I'd essentially built up. So that's nice.