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Day 23
Another day another sphere. Not as good as yesterday but this time without referring back to the tutorial.
I would have liked to do more but the last days I can feel that my hand would start to hurt again if I would do more. Kind of frustrating but it is how it is …
Hey Christopher, me again ha. I think I can relate to the feeling, being frustrated, each day is different. I just thought I’d share my two cents, take it for what you will, I hope I’m not assuming too much, I’m pretty much talking to myself here lol.
I don’t want to accuse you of ‘grinding’, all your work has certainly been quite valuable in building fundamental skill, you have put a tremendous amount of work in with the whole other 100 day challenge! and I think the improvement in the forms is clear. Tone is tricky, and I basically know nothing about it so your ahead of me haha.
I just know for me I can get discouraged and unenthused about drawing if I get too zoned into doing one thing. While being focused in on an Academic study is very important and can be very productive, motivating, and cause lots of improvement, I’ve come to see it’s also important to have some time to not worry about how things turn out and just remember to have fun. Not necessarily having the pressure of showing other people. We sometimes like to say that we aren’t good enough to do a certain thing yet, but really we will never be ‘ready’ until we just do it anyway. There’s many things like this that I have not dared to really try yet, so this is really for me! We always have to find the balance that works for us though. Trying something new, can just kind of freshen the mind sometimes, and if it doesn’t go that well just call it a warmup and it will be better the next time haha. Anyway take it for what you will, keep it up. 👍
Thank you Mattias and I know exactly what you mean. It might sound silly but letting go and just drawing for the fun of it is something I struggle with alot. Not necessarily because I think I’m not ready to draw a certain thing but more so because I for one part got so involved in wanting to improve that it’s just hard for me to accept that the things I would like to draw or aim to draw will probably turn out unsatisfying.
I don’t claim to be able to look into the future but I unfortunately learned enough to know that I currently don’t have the skills to execute what interests me in a way I want. And knowing that it will not turn out as I would like it to makes it hard for me to have fun or even attempting it. I hope all of this makes kind of sense.
But I know it’s something I need to work on 😅
Day 24 & 25
I wanted to do some still lifes in my challenge at some point anyway but I got carried away a bit.
But after Mattias comment I thought now would be a good time. I actually really like the still life references NMA provides but never attempted one because I was sure they are to difficult for me right now. Despite that I purposely choose to cross the border a bit because I think that way it’s more about the relationships and rhythms between the objects and not about getting a single object to look perfect. And that might actually be exactly what I need right now.
Hi Christopher. I suspect doing these still life drawings might be an excellent way forward, especially because you say you like them. I think grinding is fine, but only as long as it’s thoughtful and your brain is engaged in the learning. I think once you become frustrated, it’s good to stop and have a break, and think through and find solutions to what’s going on in your mind. You’re drawing a good mix of subjects now which I think is positive. You’ll keep learning regardless of what you draw and some variety will keep you fresh. The rendering on your spheres is really improving. You’re doing great 🙂!
Thank you Deborah. I just feel like beside being disciplined and analytical with my learning that I kind of lost the connection to the fun side of art and the process of creating art.
I started like a bit less than two years ago and did so with practise and learning in mind. I always wanted to learn first and then create.
It might sound silly but because of that I lack experience in just creating art and connecting the elements I practise.
The more the inexperience grew the more I feared failure.
Day 26 & 27 & 28
On day 26 I finished the graphite version, on day 27 I drew the second block in and today I attempted watercolor.
Saying this would be my first attempt at watercolor would be a lie but I’m far from being experienced.
In the next weeks I plan to use still lifes to just create art and only to focus on learning if it’s about process and value, meaning I will judge the results for just that.
As example for my next still life I plan to especially focus on proportions while doing the block in since the size relationships on the last one are quite chaotic compared to the original reference.
Day 29 & 30
Day 29 were the thumbnails + some work on the graphite version. It’s not as easy as you would think to consistantly match the chosen values and proportions.
Tomorrow I’ll attempt a watercolor version again.
I think that’s a good workflow. Choosing a still life > thumbnails > 3 versions in my chosen mediums.
Day 31
It ended up way more rough and abstract than intended. My brushes are probably a bit to big for how small I’m working right now.
But besides that I really enjoy doing these. The only thing I struggle with is actually starting because I always find myself thinking that the chosen reference is above my current abilities. That’s why I choose more complex references on purpose.
Also the process of doing these really clarified what I need to work on. Proportions is still a thing aswell as value grouping.
Day 32 & 33
Left side is from yesterday and the right side from today. I wanted to throw in some objects from life again and I’m still struggling but hopefully persistence will pay off.
Day 34 & 35
Banana days! 😅 I personally like the fountain pen ones from today more.
Day 36
In the moment there a many different thougths wandering through my head like if my focus on value maybe was to early, not necessarily in terms of difficulty but in being not that important in my current stage to stress so much about it.
Also how to reconnect with the fun side of doing art and what is even fun for me. And following those thoughts leading to the question of what actually is more valuable (especially for someone like me), learning the basics through a more academic lense there your current abilities lead to what subjects are appropriate to draw (fruits, objects) or to learn drawing through a subject I like. But what are the downsides of the latter, what basic elements do I maybe not develop enough that way?
Beside all this and to whatever decision all this leads I also don’t want to stop this challenge since I intended to stick to it however it goes but I also agree with some of the comments in both this and the first challenge about me needing to lean less towards clean, emotionless practise and more towards putting the elements together and to actually enjoy what I’m doing. But as silly as it sounds in the moment I got no clue how to do that. 😅
Looking back in my opinion focusing just on a basic fundamental skill and not on an specific subject matter was not the best decision since it let’s someone like me fall into the trap of grinding (in a bad way) and not getting out of my comfort zone just to easily.
Hi Christopher,
I am not sure if I can help you out in any way, but I will give you a bit of my insight. It is sometime easier to see what to do or to asses the work of others than your own.
I think that you are doing a fine job with the fundamentals you are practising on. It is that everything takes time, patience and milage before it starts to look and feel the way we would actually like it to be within very short while after we start with our endeavour. We just have to be conscious that there are no short cuts.
Every day, every hour of work, every exercise we do count and are moving us forward, closer to the skill level we like to have. The only time we truly fail is when we stop and don’t do anything.
What to learn first or what is a proper learning path is very tough question for each one of us. As I think Steve Huston said in one of his lectures, art is like a bowl of spaghetti, you learn and pick bits and pieces here and there and then at some point it all starts coming together. There is no recipe, and that is why it is hard and often feels disorienting.
Fun part should be found in the process of discovery and learning the new things. No doubt it will get frustrating along the way, but that is the case with anything worthwhile that we do. We are passing through the uncharted territory and what we do is pushing us to our limits. In essence that is good because whenever we are on the verge of failing that means we are facing a challenge that is big enough to move us beyond our current capacity. That can be intimidating, but only when we are on the edge we are learning and moving ahead. If we are comfortable we are just rehearsing what we know.
I would suggest just to keep working as you do, shifting your attention to whatever subject keeps you motivated. Through the time those things will start sticking together and will lead you in the new direction and new challenges. Before you know it you will have your own bowl of spaghetti:)
I hope this helps, good luck!
Hey Christopher, I can definitely relate to the sinking feeling, thinking I’ve done it all wrong, i think it’s just an unavoidable part of growth and moving forward, although it certainly isn’t any fun and is very stress-inducing in the moment. Of course there isn’t a perfect way to learning art, and as much as we want to we can’t learn everything at once. We all tend to lean to one extreme or another, which can be a strength.
But for what I would suggest, it’s very important that a percentage of our time is used in things that are interesting, exciting, and fun for us. Whether it be figures, animals, animation, whatever it is you love, and Want to do. Mad drilling can be beneficial, but it can’t be everything, we won’t last on willpower alone! We have to find the Productive Balance between academic study, and more creative things, left brain vs right brain if you will. But finding that of course isn’t easy, it takes time, experimentation. There are many lessons to be learned from both ends of the spectrum! I guess it comes down to coming to love the process of art, trying not to get too caught up in just the result. Easy to say hard to do lol. to love the process it must be interesting and engaging for us! This is something I certainly believe in, and want to do more, but I also need more academics as well. Balance is everything!
I hope something in this helped, or was hopefully encouraging in the ongoing process of learning! We all have things to work on, and our strengths. We must be in it for the long game! I appreciated your comment and wanted to see if I could return the favor, it feels like we’re in similar stages of the journey!🙏👍💯
Wow @gordanknezic those are some powerful insights! Very well said! 💯 especially Steve Houston’s spaghetti! fantastic.
Thanks alot to both of you Gordan & Mattias 🙏
Both of your comments are really helpful and encouraging. Especially if I combine what you both said I come to the conclusion that at my current stage everything I do is at least of some value even if it might not be what would be of most value at that moment.
Keeping the desire and the dream of learning to draw means to keep going, so even if I would do everything “wrong” I at least did something and therefore moved forward.
I think in the beginning while we aren’t able to communicate with our art as we would like to it’s so easy to lose ourself in just working for the goal instead for the enjoyment of the process which ultimately is why we like doing art.
If we look at being an artist like being a burning flame a beginner might be looked at like a small and weak flame. At that stage it might be more important to be careful and protect the flame from dying than to add new wood to increase it’s size. (I hope that makes sense)
In the future I’ll keep in mind that to keep going and to enjoy the process should be my number one priority right now.
37 & 38
Since that beside Value, developing an overall process was also a goal of mine for this challenge ,which is luckily pretty general in what it could mean, I think adding figure drawing as a subject should be fine.
I picked the spirit of the pose by karl gnass as course to start with. And for this course I’ll try to more closely follow what karl gnass suggests. In the past I often just loosely stuck to the teached principles because I thought understanding the idea behind it would be enough.
I also got a dedicated notebook to take notes, thanks to debra and Deborah for being an inspiration 😅👋
Beside this challenge, I think for future challenges I will just put much more value in just drawing everyday and allow myself to jump around as I like.
As Mattias said, everyone has it’s extreme. So for me I think it’s best to be thankful for the benefits of my analytical and disciplined thinking but to counterbalance it’s negative aspects mentally trying to loosening up a bit and to focus more on just keeping the enjoyment and to draw everyday.
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