@Moodybats: I feel like none of my pieces come out how I want XD But, I use a ton of references, and I draw the hands like 4 or 5 times, so it's not so bad??

But I've never tried drawing eerie creatures. ><

@Bearnas tyr: I also crave a proper education. It's so hard when school is expensive, and then the quarantine, but I try and submit some of my works to redline groups that help me on anatomy or something like that.

Selling my soul would be so much easier.

@MoodyBats:
I definitely find finishing to be the hardest part haha
've got a large folder of WIP's to attest to that xD

I did consider Skillshare! Sadly I can't really afford it atm. Maybe in the near future I can get some classes ^^


@CheshireCat:
It really would be.

@Bearnas Tyr: Proper education is... not all it's cracked up to be. It can be very good for some and I did benefit from in class work. But you're only gonna get out of it what you are wiling (and able too) to put in. If you can't self start then proper education isn't going to fix it.

I struggle with motivation a lot. A thing that has helped me is accepting that not every piece I fart out has to look great, or even that good. Another is learning to forgive myself when I don't meet deadlines and finishing it anyway. Most important is that not every piece has to be finished. It's ok to leave things as sketches, or lines, or flats. I still learned from it and I'll be able to do it better next time.

Self starting doesn't come naturally for many people. It's a skill just as much as art is. You have to work up to it.

I wish quarantine was just some extended holiday we were all on but it's not. Don't be so hard on your lack of success right now because we are in global crisis. It is so, so much harder now than it is normally to stay motivated.

(Sorry I know this is a lot but it pertains to the journey I've been on after quitting art school not once but twice lmao)

@Lilykin:
I come from a family of proper artists; half of them are self taught, the other has had education. All of them are...waaaaaaay better than me in what they do. I had a short taste of art education and did amazing compared to my peers, but ended up changing direction bc I didn't think a degree in art would help me get a job, since drawing was "just a hobby" in my mind. I ended up picking something considered "more useful" and ended u regretting it all those years later.

My siblings are the same as me. We can learn by trial and error, but we can't really break a subject into smaller parts, we're more like very inefficient sponges -- absorb everything and anything without structure, resulting in getting a flood of information but only skimming over the necessary basics, if that makes sense. It's difficult to explain I guess. We thrive best when we have structure and assignments give me a clear direction on what to focus on.

My younger sister stuck with her art education, and she developed into an amazing painter with that guidance. The structure of school helped a lot for her, and it would have helped me too if I didn't switch courses. (She hated art education and has threatened to quit more than once herself so I have an idea of how demanding it is. I probably would've hated doing it, but it would've developed my skills insanely fast.)

I've been drawing longer than my sister in years, but i don't even come close to well, anyone in my family. I didn't used to mind, but the ever-growing difference in skill has ended up sucking the fun out of it and making it a Frustration Fest 80% pf the time. I admit I'm having trouble with NOT comparing myself to the rest of my family at this point.

The perfection thing is relatable too, the "It doesn't have to be perfect" mindset hasn't fully taken root yet, but I'm trying to. I seem to be content to just finish a sketch and slap some base colors on it lately, so I guess that's "not perfect, but complete enough" in my mind.


You're right, quarantine isn't doing a lot of people's mental health a favor.

And don't apologize haha, any input is good input. Always good to see things from multiple perspectives.

@pachi:
My first tablet was a Wacom Bamboo Pen&Touch. I've had it for almost a decade and haven't upgraded from it yet haha, so that also makes it my most recent.
I keep being told to invest in an Intuos or Cintiq, or even one of Huion's tablet models but...
As long as this thing works I'm not gonna buy another. It serves me just fine. Plus I'm too broke to afford anything else lmao.

It's been discontinued fairly recently tho so I'll have to upgrade eventually since I won't be able to get the same model haha