Seeking feedback is necessary for artistic growth, but it is also possibly the hardest thing to find reliably. Good teachers and excellent peers can lead you on the path to having a thorough understanding of your craft. Being a helpful teacher yourself is another acquired skill-set. How do you know when you have helpful advice, or just a personal preference? It’s worthwhile to make the effort to be a helpful peer to your fellow artists. You’ll make good connections, broaden your appreciation for different art and ideas, and strengthen your understanding of art concepts by verbalizing them to others. === HOW DO I GIVE A GOOD CRITIQUE? === A good critique tries to consider the artist and their goals. Give context for your opinions, and try to be objective about what is technical vs. your own personal tastes and biases. Ask artists what they want to improve on, and be curious about their interests. Try to frame things positively, and push people to have hope and want to work hard. “I like this pose, but the shoulder is looking dislocated. You might need to move it forward to make it feel more natural, like in this reference.” “There’s a ton of detail going on here, but it can be better to have a few places of lower detail to balance out the composition, here’s an example.” “What sort of art do you admire? I feel like you are aiming for this style, but knowing more about your goals might help us give advice.” === WHAT ARE EXAMPLES OF BAD CRITIQUES? === Bad advice does not consider the person receiving it. Critiques shouldn’t be designed to crush someone's spirit or make them feel hopeless. If something just isn’t your thing, it may be better to let people comment who are more experienced and interested in that area of art. Even if someone is picking up concepts slowly or getting frustrated, it’s not an open invitation to treat them poorly. “There is nothing I can say to you other than read lots of Loomis books.” “Stop drawing anime.” “Fan art is unoriginal.” “This style is a fad that will go away, you should just do something else.” “You just need to try harder.” “You’re too much of an amateur for me to even start critiquing” === HOW DO I GET USEFUL FEEDBACK ON MY WORK? === Help us cater to your artistic needs and goals. When posting work, consider including this information for context: - Tell us what your objectives where with the piece you want critiques. - Share anything you were struggling with while you were working on it. - Tell us what your goals are as an artist. Are you a hobbyist learning landscapes for fun? Putting together a portfolio to get into art school? A professional refining your skills in a certain area? - How long have you been practicing this form of art? - Who are some artists you admire who's style you strive to have in your own work? === HOW SHOULD I RESPOND TO CRITICISM? === There are a lot of ways you can respond. Generally, it is polite to show that you appreciate that someone took the time to give you feedback on your work. It’s important to keep in mind that critiques on your work aren’t personal attacks. Feedback is meant to help you see things from a different point of view. An artist might be trying to guide you away from mistakes they feel they made in the past. Arguing with the person critiquing you won’t be productive. It is their opinion based on their knowledge (or lack thereof). Think of them as simply opinions intended to help you out. You don’t have to accept every critique that comes your way, especially if the critique is subjective rather than objective. With time and experience you’ll have a better understanding of where you want to go with your work. Try to keep an open mind, but also have confidence to shed advice that doesn’t serve you. If someone is being hostile and rude or is actively trying to discourage you, report it. === KEEPING YOUR EGO IN BALANCE? === Egos come with being an artist. It is just a fact. If you didn't feel good about your work and didn't enjoy creating it, why would you do it? The sense of accomplishment is a great feeling, and you SHOULD feel good about the hard work you do. In communities, it’s easy for egos to get a little out of control. When a bunch of artists in a room, each with their own opinion of what is good art and what isn't is always bound to lead to a bit of head butting. This is a community that is meant to be friendly and helpful. Be proud of yourself, be proud of the work you do, but keep it in check. Be respectful to your fellow artists who are different from you. As much as possible, be open to criticism from people of various skill levels. Whether you choose to use them or not is up to you, but be open to the fact that they're going to happen. If you accept them with courtesy and grace, and maybe try to learn a bit from them and open your mind, you will help make this a strong community. If you choose to disregard everyone who gives you advice because you consider yourself better than everyone here, then this is not the community for you. Finally, people who post rude, off point or otherwise useless comments posed as criticism will be penalized by the mods. If you see posts such as this, use the "Report" feature to get the attention of the moderators. === WAIT, WHAT IF I THINK I SUCK? === Everyone has to start somewhere! Art takes hard work, and it doesn’t help to get down on yourself. Being humble is fine, but remember that having a little confidence is sometimes needed for motivation. Believe that you are worthy of kindness and that your art has value, even if it's just to you. Find enjoyment in learning and studying, it’ll guide you through the times when you are getting down on yourself. Just remember, begging (or demanding) praise, attention, or sympathy won’t generally go over well with your peers. Wanting to work hard is what gets you support. Embrace your work ethic and show effort whenever you can.

Heya, my name's Zenith, nice to meet ya! I love the way this site looks already and I'm excited for what the future holds for it. Let's drop some of our art down in the replies and a little message introducing yourself if you want. Here are some of mine:

Hey so I have drawn mostly digitally for the past couple of years and am coming back to paper. I've been having this problem where I struggle to erase the pencil lines underneath the ink. I draw really small most of the time (something I'm trying to fix given that it's caused some issues in my wrist), but even when I don't have a super small area I still find it a little hard to erase. It might be because I'm a little heavy handed when I draw, but if you guys can recommend anything like an eraser that doesn't smudge the ink and whatnot that would be great, thanks.

Helly guys I want to talk about passion is that does it mean that being passionate means working even though if we are mentally tired and if we are feeling mentally tired and we wanna stop does that mean that we lack patience and wanna relax and I have always looked at passion like something that would instantly give energy and I have been so much fuckin infuriated by it and thoughts like don't stop you won't be called passionate if stop and take break while working on an art piece like all the time I thought about passion and passion passion this passion that so much that I destroyed my mental state because I thought I won't be called passionate if I stop and I don't want that I want to be called passionate but at the same i don't want to destroy my mental mental state and what exactly is this passion and how is it necessary and how do you all look up to it????

Today I want to share that while drawing figure it was so fuckin stressful man I was trying to find exact origin and insertion point whenever I was trying to do figure drawing and that's why it felt so fuckin difficult figure drawing because of it and it took a lot of uncessary time and energy wasted on it and my drawing suffered a lot I still remember that whenever I took a refference to practice figure drawing I saw that biceps i wa sthinking in my mind while drawing it yo where do that biceps came from the exact point and where did it went the exact point and I was trying to memorise all the origins and insertion so that I could draw from imagination and I used to feel bad that I could not get the exact points accurately correct it was so dang stressful as I am releaseing the stresss my head feels so dang lighter feels like a load is clearing off my head and IS IT RRALLY REALLKY NECESSARY TO THINK ABOUT EXACT ORIGIN AND INSERTION POINTS WHILE DRAWING CAN'T WE BE SLIGHLY INAAACURATE MANN!!!!!!! I DON'T FEEL LIKE DOING FIGURE DRAWING BEACUSE OF IT FEERELS LIKE LEAVING FIGURE DRAWING FOREVER MAN FUCK THIS STRESSD BUT I WILL RELASE THIS MINDSET AND BECOME BETTER

Hi everyone :) I’m currently in a phase where I’m trying to figure out which artistic direction I want to pursue. I’ve realized that watching an artist's full process is the best way for me to see if a certain style or technique resonates with me. I am looking for real-time process videos (not time-lapses!) of artists creating their work from start to finish. Seeing the actual speed, the decision-making, and even the "ugly stages" would be incredibly helpful for my development. Could you please share links to videos or creators who showcase their full process? It doesn't matter if it’s digital or traditional, fine art or concept art—I’m open to everything right now to find what clicks.

Can Michael Giff finally work through the Natural Way to Draw after having it on his bookshelf for decades? I wouldn't bet on it... BUT LET'S FIND OUT!!

Hello everyone I am confused in this last paragraph in the above text the author is trying to say so far what I have understood is that scary stories are best in nightime when darkness is pitch black and on stormy nights etc when the character is conflicting with nature but at the same time on the last paragraph it is contradicting itself by saying that you can tell equally good scary stories in day time also but why I don't feel like scary stories could be told in daytime and it would look very bad and take away the scary mood. Or I have misunderstood the last paragraph please can anyone help me understand the last paragraph the one highlighted in blue line

A new medium! Holy charcoal Batman! This stuff is awesome. I recently discovered the existence of liquid charcoal from Dave Finch's YouTube channel (check out the livestream of his liquid charcoal Batman. Amazing.) I saw what it could do, and I was instantly sold. Highly recommend it for people who are thinking about dabbling with painting but are unsure if they can handle a brush or color just yet. Sir Alec Guiness. Charcoal on vellum Bristol. Give it a shot!

Hello everyone i want to ask something is that when drawing when there a lot of repitive shapes to draw and then we paint it gets very boring to that and I feel like not to do that but we have to do that to get drawing done dope and drawing and painting when there are lot of repitive shapes to draw and paint one after like what do y'all do in those situation and how do you manage your workflow in these situation please I need help in this because of this my mind gets exhausted very easily and stressed when I have to make and paint a lot of repeative shapes one by one

Hi! Are there other people here 35+ that never lost the dream of becoming full-time artists? I very deeply regret doing medicine for the past 12 years and wish I had been brave enough to follow my heart instead of doing something out of fear. My time for art has been absolutely obliterated by med school and later internship, BUT now I'm out on the other side and have predictable days, which helps me stay consistent and dedicate several hours a day (and nights) to keeping up seriously with art and also doing self-paced courses. The pictures I have attached were one of the last drawings I did before disappearing into the soulless fog of med school. I found them on my old iPad where I kept all my lecture notes. It was always with me when I commuted, and this particular day, I was sad and tired from studying for a future I didn't want. I drew some particular trolls from imagination - at the time, I was involved in a group playing the table-top RPG Trudvang and was very inspired by Alvaro Tapia's drawings. Looking at this now brings a smile to my face, even though I see a lot of mistakes and silly inventions. My plan for the future is to transition very slowly, at some point I am planning to fuel my art efforts by working part-time in medicine, and hopefully be able to work less as (hopefully) my art plans take off. I have a hard time seeing myself competing with younger industry-level concept artists, but I'd like for my work to stand on it's own two legs so that I occasionally could be hired, if my future art is to someone's liking. There is also a part of me that leans towards traditional fine art such as oil portraiture and watercolor landscapes without the pressure of working for a mega company. Looking for people with similar dreams and ambitions, and especially successful stories. My current weaknesses are marketing myself and a portfolio of finished pieces. I never lack ideas or creativity, only time and structure.

I wrote a small Python program called timeshow to do timed, randomized slideshows for gesture-drawing and similar drawing practice on a desktop computer. This can be handy if you've downloaded art image packs and aren't online or otherwise can't use the Proko timer tool. You do need to have Python installed on your system and be comfortable running a program from the terminal / command-prompt, but other than that it's simple and easy to use. You can run a slideshow from all images in a directory (including optional search of subfolders), or from a text file with a list of file paths or URLs. https://github.com/ccorbell/timeshow

Today I want to really get this thing off my head is that don't know why but I feel disconnected with people who are not artist like only artists could be my friend and not not- artist people like we artist are totally and totally different species than them is it only me or any of you guys feels disconnected from non-artist people like only want to hang out with artist and not Not-artist people why do we feel like we artist are totally different from the rest of the world and I feel because of this we artist don't get to have not-artist friends and including me I always struggle with not-artist people like they can't be my friends only artists could and always many times I have skipped my not-artist friend on top of artist and because this I always struggled in relationships with not-artist people and I always desired to have a bond and friendships with not-artist people but these thoughts in mind always gave me conflict and then it gets so fuckin heavy on mind that's it so fuckin stressful and I do not like it!!!!!! at all

I didn't want to be that guy, but... Blackwing Matte pencils are the real deal. I've heard so much about them and took the plunge, and yep. They're purty good. The value range I can get is impressive, and as a self-described lazy person, if I can do an entire drawing with only one tool, I absolutely will. This allows me to do that. The way the graphite goes down on the paper from these is just special, too. It's like charcoal, but with that buttery smoothness of graphite. Like drawing with chocolate. I couldn't be more impressed. And they are fairly shine-free, so that's cool as well. They are expensive, though, but honestly, it might be the best graphite pencil I've ever tried. So for all the art supply nerds out there, add this one to your list! Having some fun with them, I did a couple of quick 30-45 minute sketches, just to see how far I could push a single pencil. We got a winner, folks!

Hiii, a year ago i starten my colored pencil journey. Following totorials in colored pencil is amazing and I am learning a lot about colored pencil. There is for me however a downside. First you only draw from a reference photo and two you trace lines, whilst I am interested in sketching my subject myself. When using a reference i want to be able to alter it. Also want to be able to compose something on my own. Know how to sketch any bird the way I want, draw any flower in al kinds of positions etcetera. I am now doing the drawing basics course but wich courses should I do next?

After reaching the end of the "intuitive perspective" part of the Drawing Basics course, the course goes towards shading and edges, before coming to an end. My line work needs a lot more work and is what I want to focus on. Of course, the way is to redo the lessons over and over, practice and practice. My mind is wondering as to what next, however. I'm most enthusiastic about drawing people, and I do have the portrait and figure drawing courses. My line work was holding me back when I tried the portraiture course, so I purchased the Drawing Basics course. A lot of the Artistic Resources online mostly cater towards people drawing and i'm magnetised towards that but get let down by my art work. Has any body else had this struggle? I'll include a few examples of where I am up to. I'd appreciate any feedback. Note I have been trying to teach myself to draw on and off, for nearly 20 years, before going to the Drawing Basics course. Learning is hard for me I guess.

There were three people inside the  cabin surrounded by mountains and lushy green forest and among those lushy green forests lies a dried tree no one knows as to why that particular tree is dried among those lushy green forest and beside that tree lies a wooden cabin  and in that cabin lives 3 people and one among them was a very weak hearted and others were very macho not afraid of anything at all and they were getting bored so suddenly one of the brave hearts decides to use a oouja board and the weak hearted ones got shrieked in fear but after being persuaded by other persons  he decided to join and so they started the ouja board and  after a while they got bored  so they closed the game without saying goodbye and threw the game in dustbin as they said that it is a rubbish boring game  and so they went to sleep afterwards and when they started to sleep one of them heard  a footsteps of someone outside their room so he got up to check but to his suprise there was none else there only him and the darkness and crankiness of the wooden floor and after not seeing him  he went back to his bed and the other persons  also have the same experience and again after some while they heard the same footsep but this time with a little murming and an eerie voice  so all of them got panicked and got out to fuckin see them and one of them tried to switch on the light but suddenly a storm came and it blew the electricity supply away and then there was complete darkness and the murming and the footsteps continued but this time the volume of the footseps grew louder and louder  and all of them got scared af and one of the brave hearts   peed in his pants wondering who the fuck is that thing and suddenly the footsteps were getting closer to them and with the murming voice it was having  a murmuring sound  like chahhhhchaavhuuuuuvuuuu voice they were fuckin trembling with fear  and then suddenly the weak hearted one  rememberd that we didn't finish the game and he rememberd  that in the manual it was written that don't leave this game without saying good-bye  and so he along with his friends went running to the room where they have played that game earlier that same cranking wooden floor room  they went there but could not find the ouja board and the Errie footsteps and murming was approaching fast  and hearing all this all three of them got terriefied   one was shaking his leg on  the floor and one peed in his pants and the weak hearted one  stood quiet and tried searching the door  and  then suddenly he saw that it is inside the  dustbin and he took out the ouja board  and spread it apart and had set-up the game and as they were doing this the footsteps were coming towards them along the murming sounds and upon fearing the footsteps they went and said good-bye and the game was finished and then voices and murming sounds went way and then they lived happily since then. I HAVE RECENLY STARTED LEARNING HOW TO WRITE STORIES AND THIS IS MY TAKE ON WRITTING STORIES AND I AM A BEGINNER IN WRITING STORIES AND I WOULD LOVE TO GET FEEDBACK ON IT WHETHER YOU LIKED THE STORY OR DO NOT I WOULD LOVE TO GET FEEDBACK.

Hello Proko Land! Decided to take the plunge and invest in some Bristol board and Kolinsky sable brushes and was wondering is there some things that I should be aware of so I don't ruin them XD. I bought a cheaper pack of 8 for 25 bucks and a single "nicer" one for 24 dollars... yes they're on the cheaper side as far as Kolniskies go but it's expensive to me! For synthetic brushes I use Ivory soap and room temperature water to clean them before I I shape them and lye them flat on a paper towel to dry overnight. Can I do the same with Kolinskeies? I know they sell brush soap/conditioner but not sure if that's overkill or actually viable. Any answers or further insight would be greatly appreciated.

I want to ask something is that are we artist are only creative??? like we artist can visualise things like landscapes forest waterfalls human figures in many different angles and views plus we can think outside the box too and on the other hand there are normal people who are not artist one who knows nothing about art aren't they creative can people who are not artist not creative like they cannot visualise things like said above are we artist the only species who possess this unique ability I am really curious to know about it!!!!!!!!! Plus i believe like we people have made artist a totally different species totally different from other people like we artist are from different planet and we forgot in the end of the day we are all humans we arist also have the same red blood like other people and why do people perceive artist different it feels so stressful!!!

A challenge I have with art, maybe partly due to where my skills are at, is that if I do something in a rush it really doesn't look very good. Even when I practice getting faster, like with timed gesture drawings, I need to take about twice the time that I see accomplished artists take, e.g. I need about 3 minutes to do what I see more experienced artists doing in 90 seconds. This is true for any project though, and it's fine when I have plenty of time to not rush, and I can see that translate to better drawings. It's part of learning any craft. But sometimes it's hard to have that open-ended time to draw between work and other obligations and daily time needs. I think this is a universal challenge - how do you approach it? When you have limited time, do you limit the scope of what you try to draw? Do you stretch a project out through several short sessions instead of trying to finishing it in one? Or do you work on skills to intentionally make yourself faster? How's your relationship with your limited free time and your art?