When you learn to draw, it is straightforward to get discouraged by a lack of results. As a result, your motivation declines, and you do not finish the last step: abandonment.
I already spoke about it in the article “Beginners, do not think too much: draw! “But from my eight years to my 14 years. I did not get a pencil toward all to remove. And yet, I liked it!
My theory is that I realized that I couldn’t draw what I wanted at this young age. Add to my frustration a complete lack of learning methodology, and you get six years without touching a pencil.
At the level of 2 hours per week drawing, that’s about … 600 hours where I could have improved my picture!!!
It is why I wanted to offer you my three strategies to continue to progress in drawing, not to demotivate you!
1. YOU DO NOT DRAW ENOUGH OR NOT REGULARLY ENOUGH TO PROGRESS IN DRAWING
Learning to draw is a long road that never really ends. As I like to say, “in order to learn to draw you have to draw.” If you want to learn how to draw by reading only my articles or watching all the cool drawing ideas tutorials on Youtube, you will risk having few results: it is essential to apply it while practicing drawing.
The number one reason why you don’t progress in drawing is that you underestimate the time you spend drawing.
Experiment with the following: for the first 30 days, start a stopwatch every time you draw. Remember to pause it every time you have finished your session, then restart it when you start a new drawing session. You can, for example, use your smartphone.
At the end of the month, see how many hours you spent drawing. And share your score in the comments. It might be interesting! Remember that professionals spend a little less than 8 hours drawing each day! So, if you want to become one, 3-4 hours should be a good daily goal to start.
If your goal is to learn how to draw for fun, don’t pressure yourself. Instead, take the test for a month and try to improve your “score” for the next month. Then, you should logically have some results!
Besides drawing enough, it is essential to remove it pretty regularly. Because like any practice, drawing can get lost. It is a minimal loss because, unlike playing an instrument where fingering matters a lot, drawing relies much more on your eye than your hand.
Despite everything, keeping a regular practice of drawing will give you expected results and thus an always present motivation. And we all know that explanation is the most important in drawing practice, so don’t give up for too long! You can more examine my article “How to apportion with lack of motive. “
2. YOU DON’T CONSCIOUSLY DRAW
Drawing is not the same as taking a piece of paper and a pencil and “passively” drawing what is in front of you. It is, unfortunately (and fortunately), more complicated. With each new drawing you start, it can be essential to set a personal goal. It could be in the choice of the subject: you could draw a portrait while you are only doing animals, or the medium used: why not make a watercolor drawing to change digital painting? Consciously choose a topic you want to cover where you are having difficulty. Confronting these difficulties will allow you to progress!
I used this technique when I tried to learn the volumes that make up a face. After that, I understand the theory, and I practice many hours without photographic references to retain the idea. If I have any doubts, I have to go back to the theoretical stage.
By juggling between theory and practice, I remember things and do not confine myself to the simple copy, but to understand something.
Recently, I had a student wishing to represent the seabed. My first advice was, of course, to look for a photographic reference. Although we have mostly experienced swimming in the sea, the accurate seabed is still unknown to most of us. A connection (several is better!) It is ESSENTIAL in this kind of case.
My second tip would be to try to understand how water behaves. The refraction of water, for example, is a phenomenon that completely modifies the perception of a body half immersed in water, appearing to us as “broken.”
Light also behaves differently in water. It is more diffuse, thus reducing the contrasts.
“How does atmospheric perspective behave “and “Where are the lights projected “should question one asks when drawing the seabed.
To better draw a subject, try to understand it in a more theoretical way. Without being a scientist, having minimal interest in the matter could take you a step further and advance you.
3. YOU DON’T GO OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE
Last mistake that could prevent you from progressing. Staying in your comfort zone can be a natural brake on your progress.
I met many students retorting that they didn’t want to learn perspective because they only wanted to do portraits for fun.
Besides the fact that perspective is not that hard to understand when it is well explained, there is perspective in a portrait! Certainly, minimal but existing!
Deciding to completely ignore an area (perspective, composition, value management, value management, etc.) could be detrimental to you down the road. Indeed, learning to represent a tree could be seen as counterproductive if you want to get into animal portraiture. And yet, you could learn something from trees that you would apply to your animal portraits.
When I was still a student at Emile Cohl, I remember receiving the same advice from several former students. “Do not confine yourself to a graphic style. By working 2 different styles in parallel, they will feed on each other. other and they will evolve twice as fast “.
So, my advice is this: Even if you want to specialize or wish to draw for fun, consider experimenting with new things now and then. You could learn something interesting to apply to your specialty or even discover an exciting new field!
PROGRESS IN DRAWING: TO CONCLUDE
Remember that it is normal not to progress linearly. The learning curve for drawing is far from linear but instead works in stages based on a specific understanding of certain topics. Therefore, you can spend several weeks or even several months without your productions having progressed.
But that doesn’t mean you haven’t made progress! It is essential to be aware of this so as not to get discouraged too quickly. Trust the process: EVERYONE can learn to draw.
And it is also in this idea that I created the challenge of the 30 days.
- 30 exercises
- 30 podcasts to guide you
- 30 days
The challenge begins at the beginning of the month.
It’s a summary of all the mistakes. I’ve made in the past, and all the practices and techniques that have helped me improve much faster as a self-taught person.
Ultimately, the article that follows is even more valuable than a classic drawing course because it relates to my experience as a draftsman and that which I have as an instructor.