Hello and greetings from Germany

[Christopher]

Hi there,

My name is Christopher, but Chris is also fine. My relationship to art is difficult but also passionate. I often found myself grasping new principles pretty fast, so as you may imagine I often won’t be able to execute them the way I want to. Since I tend to be really hard on myself things can get really frustrating from time to time.

So after catching myself not drawing regularly, looking for excuses and, or always starting new “maybe better” approaches I was or still am plateauing.

Being as reflective/analytical as I am, I stepped back and started to slow down. My goal for last year was to just simply draw regularly which I did. Since I seem to have a sensitive Hand/Arm which often forces me to do less then I would like to (to prevent injury), my goal until this point of 2020 was to slowly increase the time spend drawing daily. In the moment I arrived at averaging between 1 1/2 and 2 hours a day, which isn’t where I want to be but it’s at least something.

Until today everything I learned was from scattered resources being unconnected, the next step for me was to find any type of connected guidance. So my plan now is to use NMA’s library and to start from scratch. Even if it might be boring in the beginning, following some form of similar style connected lessons that build upon each other seems to be the best way to build a solid foundation.

My next Idea was to start a 100 Day challenge to track my progress and maybe get some guidance since I never really participated in any type of art community.

 

So thats it about me, sorry if this text might be to long or boring …

[Joshua Jacobo]

Not long or boring. This helps me learn where you’re coming from which is very useful.

1-2 hours of drawing a day is nothing to scoff at. I think your 100 day challenge is a great idea.

 

Welcome to the community.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by Joshua Jacobo.

[Alex]

Guten tag, Christopher

I am also starting from scratch like you. Good luck on your art journey! It will be hard fought! 100 days will be an impressive feat! I am very much looking forward to seeing your progress if you post it online 🙂

best wishes,

Alex

• This reply was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by Alex.

[Christopher]

Thank you Joshua & Alex

@Joshua

That’s at least what I hoped for when writing it, so that’s good.

@Alex

If it would be easy I think much more people would go for it. In terms of starting from scratch I just thought continuing on a house without a solid foundation isn’t the best idea 🙂

I still need to figure out the goals and overall structure of my 100 day challenge but I will post it I promise!

Thanks again to both of you.

[Alex]

Hi christopher,  yes, structure is something I also struggle with, jumping back and forth from perspective drawing to anatomy, drawing to painting, painting to modelling. Its all daunting to look at, chipping away a piece at a time is all we can do. It may be a willpower thing, I’m sure even the instructors on here experienced the same thing starting out. 🙂

• This reply was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by Alex.

[PaulDidier]

Hi Christopher. Welcome and looking forward to seeing your work!

I know what you mean about taking precautions to prevent injury. I’ve had back and neck issues along with shoulder and hand injuries. I’ve found that setting a timer for no longer than 25 minutes, then forcing myself, for 5-10 minutes,  to get up, stretch, flex my hand, walk around etc, is a must for helping to prevent any recurrences. It also helps me to stop staring so closely at my work. When I come back from this short break I often see lots of things I hadn’t noticed because I was so “zoned in” on a small detail.

Good luck!

 

[Christopher]

Hi Paul thank you!

I also ended up taking more breaks and in general splitting my practise in multiple session’s rather than one 2 hour+ one.

Additionally I started exercising my arm/wrist/hand to strengthen my arm.

[Jean Carlos]

Hi Christopher!

100 straight days of art is something you will be very proud of! I bet we will all be better artists in the end. As I’ve heard other people say: It’s a marathon, not a sprint!

Looking forward to your journey!

Good luck!

[Author]

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