Sketches no.1

Instructions

I have been re-awakened among the ashes. _____________________________________________ Here’s some old art while crit no. 6 is in the works. The project won’t be out until shortly after oct 20 or sometime early in november. _____________________________________________ I know this isn't a critique project, but here's some advice you can apply now: To improve, you have to embrace mileage (investing time into study), let loose a little, and create unfinished pieces. In the art of this project, you can still see the sketches on top of the base colors/values. Not everything you make has to be polished, but everything you make should teach you something (if you want to improve quickly). Note: I make unfinished pieces not because I like to, but because the art piece served its purpose. I try to always have a goal when I draw or paint, whether it’s critiquing someone else’s art or sharpening my understanding of anatomy. I fulfill my goal and then I stop. If I wanted to make a full piece, I could, but I wouldn’t get much out of it as compared to doing a study of a head or sketching a car from imagination using the big medium small theory. With regards to learning, once you figure out what your art lacks from comparing your art to others by ‘legally and ethically’ stealing their techniques and parts of style, then it's time to apply mileage. Mileage is key for becoming great at a particular skillset, but if you practice the wrong things, your art will decline. From my experience, mileage needs to be coupled with comparing your art to sources of interest and then figuring out exactly why you like their art. When I say “like”, I mean do you like their value range? Is it the anatomy that makes their art good? Is it the colors? Is it the design choices? I’m not necessarily talking about favoring the art because you reference the character or that it’s meme material or anything like that- Try to get to the technical aspect of it and figure out why you like others' art. Once you come to that realization, you’ll be able to apply it to your own art. The next challenge once you know exactly what you need to improve on is how do you do it? How do I get better at something when I don’t know the process to a certain level? These were the questions I had when I saw that my art wasn’t where I wanted it (still isn’t where I want it). So I literally typed it up on google and youtube: "How to get good at anatomy?" “How do I draw heads?” “How do I render materials?” ”How do I…etc etc” And I just kept asking these questions over and over again, watching every tutorial I could find, regardless of how boring the thumbnail was or how it didn’t fit my style. One thing that really helped me at this stage was watching a tutorial with the intent of never watching it ever again. I don’t want to rely on using a reference or pulling up a tutorial every time I draw a figure. So I learned how to draw a figure from scratch, without needing any reference. Okay, so after answering the more generic questions, like how to get good at anatomy, how to draw legs etc, I eventually narrowed my results through practice. For instance, how do I know how long the leg is compared to the upper torso? How large can the head be without the figure looking wonky? How big is the pelvis compared to the torso? How big can I make the eyes without my head looking like an alien? Notice how when I ask these questions, they start off as general “how do I draw a torso” and then I add “without it looking too big or too small” to narrow my results so that I can actually improve and draw a perfect torso-to-pelvis ratio every single time. Eventually I got to the conclusion that I needed to learn proportions first, then construction, and then anatomy. When I start the workshops, I’ll try to cover all of this - but I just want to show that you can exponentially improve, starting right now, once you start asking the right questions. This applies to all areas of life too, not just art. Alright, that’s enough of my rambling for one project. I’m hoping you leave inspired to execute your own art, compare it to others, figure out what your art lacks, study online through youtube and google, and then apply what you learn through mileage. I know it sounds like a tedious project in school or smth, but this is what it takes, and why not start now? You don’t have to put in long hours per day, 5-20 minutes is all you need. What matters is knowing exactly what you’re trying to improve and dedicating time toward just that - every day (mileage). Best of luck, and don’t ever give up. Have a well Xecuted day!