Drawing, time & motivation
4yr
Raphael VHS
Hello everyone,
I've been drawing and learning the basics for two years in my spare time and I've been following a lot of tutorials on the internet because I couldn't find a good evening class near my home. I mostly followed the anatomy courses of Proko (the best on the web for my taste).
I try to be regular in my learning, practicing a bit every day (~30-60 min of sketch per day). However, it's not always easy for me to maintain motivation, especially after work hours and family obligations.
Recently, I have the impression that I'm regaining a renewed willingness to learn and that I'm going beyond the purely classical learning framework. I orientate my drawing time towards more personal projects, simpler, not very time-consuming and especially on a theme that I like (fantasy). Here are the last two ...
I think that lack of time are frequent problems for passionates. Especially if it is not possible to direct your life towards your passion.
In this case, I would say that only the patient can help us knowing that life changes, but it is not always easy.
I wanted to share this with the community.
By the way, thanks to Stan and the whole team for the interesting content (interviews, trainings and podcasts) and this great new platform.
Raphaël
Love the art you shared. Especially the one with the crocodile creatures. I noticed someone else suggested adding color to your work if you haven't already, but I thought I'd add that I've also seen a lot of artists who stick to monochrome or black-and-white work experiment with adding metallic accents like gold leaf, gold inks/markers/pens, or metallic watercolors. Thought I'd bring that up because you might find it fun to experiment with metallic accents if you haven't already. You can look at some of Tim Von Rueden's prints on Etsy (vonnart) to see examples of what I'm talking about. ABZJ Harding's Deviantart Gallery also has a few examples here and there of metallic accents added to black-and-white or limited color palette work.
i started drawing almost 4 years ago and since then i've always tried to stick to a routine, i'm currently in University and between studing for my degree, studing for art and practicing i've barely any time left for myself. I think that the most important thing is to have a schedule and DO NOT put ourselves down if in a day we didn't draw at all, sometimes it's important to take care of ourselves and just relax. Hope you find this argument interesting XD
Great two project results.
I feel you. Its pretty hard to keep on practicing every day. But in my opinion routine is king. When your in a stage you miss sketching/drawing daily then you made drawing/sketching as a daily routine. Thats how it works for me.
I also do a online courses. Its great to learn instead of watching TV because you invest in yourself.
Keep on practicing!
Hey Raphaël! Absolutely love those creatures. I definitely feel you on time constraints and energy has been a big factor for me as well because of built up pandemic stress. I've been finding recently that if I can invest just a little energy into learning the basic forms of a diverse range of subjects from reference, that I end up feeling a lot freer and more confident when I'm trying to get in quick sketching sessions! I've been starting to spot the similarities and rhythms between different things so instead of getting stressed about what I "can" or "can't" doodle, I feel like I can make educated guesses well enough to remove that pressure and make the most of sketching.
Looking forward to seeing you around here! I'm always around for encouragement when the art-life balance is straining!
Hi Raphael 👋 I am a newbie here, nice to meet you! Your artwork is beautiful, such good anatomy !! Do you paint as well? I’d love to see some in colour.
I was just going to say that I totally understand where you are coming from and I actually get my drawing and painting done first thing in the morning now as otherwise I am just too tired at the end of the day. So instead I start my day at 6am with coffee and drawing/painting for 45 minutes, then I get ready for work etc, and in the evening if I have the energy I will do a little more painting but often I’m too tired.
Sunday’s are my painting day and I tend to get in a good few hours at least on a Sunday. Hope that helps! I love to paint in colour so if you ever want to do a collab - your drawing, my painting - just let me know it would be fun :)
I think you are doing great, especially considering your conditions of time and energy. Everyone has a different life, different time and we can all do our best with what we got, and that is enough! Keep it up
