Morphex: First of all, why all the doom and gloom? Also, don't think you're taking up anyone's time. The whole purpose of this is to ask for help. I very much would like to try and pull you back into reality. If you have learned NOTHING, then all of the pictures you attached would be just blank pages of nothing. If you put some sort of timer on yourself thinking you will become what you want to become in "X" days/weeks/months etc you will drive yourself completely insane. Don't stress yourself out like that. PLEASE don't EVER give up either! EVER! Drawing takes practice and A LOT of it! If you keep practicing, you will break through whatever plateau you feel you may be encountering. I think you're doing just fine! Im not even AT the phase where I am working on faces yet, so I STRONGLY urge you to try and adopt the mentality that this is a LONG run, NOT a sprint to the finish line. I spent a long time learning how to juggle. Juggling and drawing are extremely similar in that they both are prime examples of DELAYED GRATIFICATION. It takes a long time to learn how to do both, and the satisfaction of being able to do it is not felt until way later down the line. That doesn't mean there aren't little victories along the way because there are! PLEASE don't give up. You're doing great! Just the fact that you can compose a face on paper is a huge accomplishment! The REFINEMENT of that will take time! You have a lot to be proud of if you just take the time to find it. Are you further along than you were on day ZERO?? Of course you are! Just keep going! Don't ever stop ever! You got this! Good luck and just keep drawing! Have a wonderful day! -Andy

I can really relate to this feeling. I know the struggle of feeling you just can't get past where you are. But it is exactly that - a feeling. Sometimes you just need to be kind to yourself and have patience as you try to improve. As far as I'm aware, it is impossible for anyone to really just permanently 'plateau' in terms of skill! In my experience, this usually happens because I'm just coming at the art from the wrong angle. I'm focusing to much on a particular subject, or I'm forgetting to make art just for fun. I find it can really give me a boost if I go and try out a TOTALLY DIFFERENT subject to whatever I'm studying at the time. If you're doing a lot of work on portraiture, it might be fun to look at some design! Knowing a little bit of shape design has made drawing a lot of fun for me, even though I'm not really a great portrait or figure drawer. Don't give up! I can see in your drawings that you already have developed skill in art that can be developed even more, as long as you find a way to make your art practice sustainable and enjoyable. I know, easier said than done, but finding joy in the art is key to keeping it up. I wish you the best of luck in your art journey!

Hey there. Sorry to hear you’re facing such struggles. Honestly I think the learning curve with art is horribly long. The people you see that are improving and learning faster than you most likely were already drawing a LOT more before even starting a course. Not to say you shouldn’t take a course, but that the people you see doing so well probably developed hand eye coordination, line quality, and observation skills on their own a bit. This is my own personal experience, but sometimes as course or path just isn’t right at the moment. I’ve gotten in a rut trying to follow the process of an artist and eventually realizing it wasn’t for me. Either it didn’t make sense or their teaching didn’t click with me. Maybe check out some other instructional videos and see if they make more sense to you. I feel like master copies could potentially be beneficial for you. When I was little I would copy cartoon panels and it really helped my observation skills. Finding simple but good head drawings to copy might help things to click. Changing it up might help too. Are there other things you like to draw? Drawing flowers from life doesn’t directly help my art skills but I really enjoy it so I do it when I feel like it. For me, drawing the same thing day after day would be upsetting. Everyone is different but that could be what contributed to you feeling down. I’m working on figure drawing right now, but I still draw whatever random things I enjoy.

Hi Morphex. I understand how you are feeling. When there doesnt seem to be any improvement despite a lot of practice. But there are a few things that help me to keep going. The first thing that really helps me is to have some kind of routine. When I dont have a lot of time (right now I have a lot to do for university) I try to get up early and draw for thirty minutes. When I have a lot of time I write a plan for one week. eg. monday 7.30-8.00: practice straight lines and ellipses, 8.05-8.35:anatomy, 8.40-9.20figures in perspective.... Use a timer for your drawing sessions. I recommend 30 and than take a break for a few minutes I used to do 5. But I think I will do longer break in my next vacation. When timer stops take the break and dont continue even if you want to keep going, if you stop while its fun you will want to come back to drawing. If you feel stuck with something eg. the proportions of the face stop practicing that and go to something that is more exiting. There are many different fundamentals. You could study composition, perspective, construction (which is basically a subset of perspective), color, gesture, handcontrol (drawing straight lines, circles, ellipses etc), visual library (studying the anatomy of different things), and probably some more. In many online courses one thing seems to built on top of another, and thats true to some extend, but its also true that all topics "help" each other. You dont study proportions for a few months, and than your a master at it and than you move on. Its more like studying proportions for a few days or maybe for a week or two and than you move on to the next thing (if you have a lot of time you should definetely study multiple fundamentals simultanously). But you are not done with proportions, but you will go back to it again and again. Rotating through the different art skills, continuing to perfect them I hope this helps. Im by no means an expert, but I thought Id share what works for me.

PS. sry for the bad image quality.

Hi Morphex, I know the feeling and want you to know that it is part of everyone's (or at least most people) journey. This is the point where most people give up and never realise their potential. Don't give up! You can find comfort in the fact that these moments are the most challenging one's you will face on the journey so if you don't give up you WILL succeed :) What is probably happening is that your ego is identifying with the end result. A drawing that doesn't look right feels like a failure. It's crucial that you stop doing that. The quality of your work is not in your control! You are a beginner so it can't turn out the way you want it to. Instead you should focus on creating a routine for yourself and derive your feelings of accomplishment from practicing it. I personally draw every day immediately when I wake up for 15 - 45 mins. If I sat down and did the work I am happy. I try not to care too much about the result. It will get better over time, you just have to trust the process!! I have quit before, just like you might at this point, because I had not properly aligned my goals like this. Hope you find a way to realign your expectations and create a routine :) Good luck fellow artist, you can do it!

Sorry you're feeling frustrated. What videos have you watched? Have you taken a course from the beginning to the end? Diving the head into 3 parts is just one of many, many steps to get an accurate portrait. You have to watch the relative sizes and positions to everything else, making plum lines, straight and horizontal, and any direction of lines between any two spots, like corner of the eye to the tip of the mouse. Everything has to line up in order to get an accurate portrait. If you haven't watched the portrait course from the beginning to the end, please do. It goes much further than dividing the head into 3.

Hi @Morphex. Sorry to hear that you are experiencing frustration with the process -- if it helps, everyone has been there, many many times throughout their life as an artist. I've been drawing off and on for my entire life, 27+ years and there are moments, too many to count, where I hit a point where I realize I don't know what I'm doing. I don't understand what I'm looking at, or I can't seem to get what I have in my head out on paper, and trying to figure it out feels daunting. I try to look at those artistic challenges as opportunities to expand my knowledge of the subject and by extension, of the world I'm living in. It becomes a positive thing rather than a negative thing in my head and that simple shift makes a world of difference in how I approach the drawing. Sort of like a choose your own adventure. The way you look at things could lead you down a path of frustration and burnout, or a path of opportunity and abundance. I think that making art is one of the most beautiful things that you can do as a human. I highly respect your desire to improve your skills so you can make the art that you want. Your images are hard to see, so I recommend when you post next, crop the image to fit the page, make sure it's in the correct orientation, and if you need to, adjust the brightness and contrast to make the image clearer. From the ones that I can see, you understand how to draw a face in proportion. I think where you lose confidence is when you rotate the head and need to draw it in perspective. I recommend revisiting this exercise: Portraits in Perspective (https://www.proko.com/course-lesson/project-portraits-in-perspective/assignments). I know it's hard but try not to compare. The human figure is a very difficult subjects to draw, but I think an incredibly rewarding area of study. I hope this helps. You're doing great. The Proko community is one of the most supportive and encouraging groups I've been a part of, so I encourage you to keep reaching out, and above all, keep drawing. The world needs it! <3