How do you all stay motivated to keep on practicing and improving?
I'm a noob and went through a half year where I drew almost everyday, worked on a couple real pieces on top of studies, and did r/sketchdaily for the entire duration. Then I just burned out.
I don't have the patience to put into studying anymore. It's harder to find motivation and inspiration. Was this maybe just not for me?
Unless you go to school for it, art is very much a self-starter sort of thing. If you can't push through it or develop strategies to keep you moving, you might be better off pursuing a career where other people push for you.
>>2454386
damn. the thing is i work a 9-5 in an entirely different field (engineering) and it drains me of time and energy. what's your story?
>>2454380
>>2454400
Mix it up brah, try a new medium, make your own sketchbooks with cool paper, change your setting. I work a non art 9-5 and most days for lunch go out and sketch buildings or people in the food court. I got into a slump of just drawing from life in my house or life drawing session, and drawing en plain air was a major inspiring change that is so much more fun than I could have ever guessed, once I got over the anxiety of doing art in public of course.
>>2454412
oh nice thanks for the suggestion. i've been doing primary pen and ink this whole time, using internet references. doing plein air would be a good way to mix it up.
>>2454400
Not that anon, but I'm in a similar situation as you, working in a bank. I deal with loans, accounts, fraud and shit like that and it just drains my will to draw. I'm also married so the wife wants to spend time together when I get home, which used to be the final nail in the coffin since that usually meant I was already on the couch vegetating. Short answer? I just had to drag my ass up and do it. I draw for at least, bare minimum, an hour a night, even if I'm just doing line and circle exercises.
The more I did it, the more I wanted to do and the more it became a decompression technique rather than work. I average around 2-3 hours a night before kicking off and going to bed, after spending and hour with the old lady of course, and I've started improving and actually having fun. I kick myself when I miss a night, and spend most of the next day daydreaming about what I should have drawn.
It's like the gym man. You just have to do it. You've gotten there, you've brought clothes and drank your protein shake, might as well bang out some reps. Set up a time for yourself, set up your desk and supplies and just start drawing. Do lines if you have to. Some days you just run on the treadmill, other days you do circuit boxing training. Some days all you can draw is circles, others you're drawing a Ninja Turtle high fiving Spiderman while riding a dinosaur. Good luck familam, hope you get out of your slump.
>>2454434
thanks for the motivation dude. likening it to a gym helps. what is your end goal?
>>2454386
>tfw im between image 2 and 3
>>2454439
I would like to be at least semi-pro. I spent a lot of time when I was younger with my head up my ass, patting myself on the back for drawing crap (MUH STYLE) and never improving but reinforcing bad habits and shortcuts. Then I gave it up while I was in the military, and only picked it back up late last year. One of those, "I'm miserable, what do I REALLY want to be when I grow up?" moments. I'd at least like to be at the commission level, but I'm basically having to relearn how to ride a bike. So that's why I had to set up a schedule to keep me motivated. Am I a little long in the tooth? Maybe. But hell, I watched a 47 year old man go to selection and get picked up, I think becoming a respectable artist at 27 isn't too lofty a goal.
>>2454434
Why are you drinking your protein shake before you lift?
>>2454449
nice dude. i'm in the same age range. hope you get to where you want to be soon.
what bad habits did you have? what are some things youve done to rid yourself of those bad habits?
>>2454470
I haven't lifted in years man, and when I did I didn't drink anything special. I just run now to stave off the fatty bullshit I cram into my face while I'm working.
>>2454471
Well, like most people I just dove in to drawing animu shit without understanding anything about actual drawing or the human form, so I symbol draw like a motherfucker and do lines so hairy it looked like I was drawing fucking Wookies. Nothing too out of the ordinary honestly. And just practicing, line control, studies, construction, the basics. Break it up every now and then and draw something awful but fun from imagination or a drawthread on /tg/, then back to learning.
What about you man? Where do you want to end up?
>>2454486
i remember going to museums and always being entranced by albert bierstadt and his epic outdoors paintings. it's been one of the pieces that put me in awe. i would like to one day make at least one of those.
of course i forgot that goal for a while, because i figured i should master drawing before i tackle painting. it was a pretty recent realization that i forgot, actually, so i might use that as a segway into trying something new to test my drawing skills after "training" this year.
>>2454499
Those mountains look suspiciously photobashy
>>2455447
he died before computers
>>2455447
bierstadt would knock you off your socks faggot
>>2454380
Kinda relevant question to this thread I guess. I've completely fallen out of the flow over art over the last 6 months, new job and some life changes threw off my schedule and it's been extremely difficult getting back on track.
I attend an atelier once a week and usually get 1 or 2 days of good drawing in but then I feel like I burn out immediately, the cycle repeats each week.
Basically how do I get past this? A year ago I was studying ~4 hours a day or more with no issue, I want to get back to that.
Would you recommend building back up to it slowly? Like start at 30 minutes a day and increase that, or would you recommend I ignore the burn out feeling and just force myself through it?
Really goddamn frustrated with myself right now.
>>2454380
I know this is completely unrelated to art, but seeing this video for the first time really really got me going. Seeing so much passion and motivation from the best of the best at what they do is pretty inspirational. Makes you want to try your hardest. The music is dope as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-MYPAkFsBk
>>2454412
you know man im on the same situation
like, i draw daily and i set thursdays as "inking" days, the days i put black and shadows on my drawings, today was one of those days and i screwed up big time i ruined 3 drawings i loved only in pencils, and all of the sudden i felt terrible i dont know what am i gonna draw tomorrow or how even get inspiration or something i feel like shit any ideas
>>2456056
i once had a job where i got to go home at 10 o clock and mondays were my day off but every night when i got back from work i started drawing like crazy it felt awesome like, my reason to go home wasnt to go to work next day it was to draw drawing has always been my priority
>>2454380
Anon, remember this, don't believe in the shitty excuses of talent, don't believe in the shitty critique of /ic/, believe in yourself, believe in the inner force that it's in you,if you need to sacrifice other unnecessary things in order to reach you goal, DO IT!
While you have Food, Pencil, Paper, and Eraser you have to keep struggling.
>>2456056
I think either method works. You might want to do it gradually though. Might be more important to get 30 minutes every day than to get 4 hours in one day.
>>2454380
It's going to stick with you. I would argue that starting to draw is the easy part. You get very noticeable progress in a very short time and you're not worried about anything else. If you're not serious about it you'll just draw sonic or whatever the heck you love drawing.
When you get serious about art career then the shit hits the fan. You get to a point where you need to spend a ton of time to improve just a tiny little bit, you see skilled competition everywhere. Thinking of whether or not you'll make it, you'll draw and draw and draw and draw but everything you do gets ignored completely, you try to pander, you join social media, you get desperate and you see yourself plateauing more and more. You start thinking if you're really shit and you're wasting your life and thinking of the future makes you feel like choking.
You're welcome.
>>2456555
Trips has the reason
>>2456556
I swear I didn't mean the post to be so depressing. Overall I think the best thing is to just live your life and get a day job and let art be your hobby. This way you don't have to earn a living and art stays 100% pleasure.
Pursuing an art career was the biggest mistake I made. I got really close to dying a few years ago and I decided to do what I loved the most and live off of it, but things didn't turn out the way I expected. Being cornered like this in your late 20s with no real work experience is terrible. Society rejects you, your family rejects you and all that drives you forwards is fear. Every single door is closed in the real world. And if you fail to gather an audience on the Internet you're going to be alone as fuck and be in miserable poverty.
I guess I can't help it being depressing. By all means follow your dreams, but determination and hard work alone sometimes aren't going to cut it. It's like crossing a desert alone, you need a plan and you need to know what dangers you will face, or you won't make it.
>>2455447
That canvas is large as fuck, he can paint details with messy brushstrokes and it will look good from afar, oil painters are cheating basically
>>2454400
Fellow engineer here. I make use of my lunch hour drawing and when I get home I draw as a way to meditate and relax. Everything adds up, and honestly vegetating on the couch does not make you any better in life
>>2456678
Nice post. A place to live (not your parents), time (savings) and friends to get the social fix is all it took for me.
>>2456799
>friends
I remember those
>>2456799
>friends
I have zero art friends but I keep pushing on
For me its just that I've been doing it since I was a kid and I have a real love for it, the thought of slipping away and losing my ability is very scary to me. So I practice every day to stay sharp.
I also feel very fortunate to have such an ability, that is part of it as well. Look at the bigger picture, you may not be gud now, or even if you are great right now, ten, fifteen years from now, even 30 minutes a day, you'll be amazing, that's a wonderful motivator.
That and I suck at most everything else.
>>2454380
Every successful artist who was worried about not making it thought constantly about the burned out coffee shop baristas and wage cucks that hated their existence. That's what you need to do OP, work harder and smarter by looking into the future of who'll you become.
