Fantastic idea!

YES! Good enough! I really like the book Effortless by Greg McKeown. In it he talks about defining done. What does done look like for me each day? It's how much I can do in one day to keep my energy high for the long term. It's so easy to go way beyond that and do too much then burn out. Now I plan for the long haul. I have figured out that if I try to do too much, with art and work, that I get stressed and it's the stress that kills my mood and brings on the dark emotions. Social media as well. I try to stay away from social media, news and all that as much as I can. I also practice lots of self care. 10 hours in bed for 8 hours of real sleep, Mindfulness practices every day. Exercise every day and getting out into the mountains once a month. These are what keeps me with almost no stress, happy and always helping others in a good mood. Thanks for sharing!

Yes! It's very influenced by Van Gogh but I'm trying to take it a step further. In 2018 I entered into a lot of personal development, physically and mentally. One of the most impactful exercises I did was to figure out my "big why", my purpose for doing art, what I'm on this planet to do. Getting clarity there has sent my motivation and focus through the room. I'm working on a script for my next video right now that talks about a system to do this full of practical tools. Before this I was just making art for art sake. Just painting to paint. To get better in some way. But now I have a purpose beyond that. I still work on my skills but now my art is focused on helping other artists become better versions of themselves. Before 2018 I was motivated, but I was still playing video games, wasting a lot of time, only doing my minimum most of the time. After going through the Optimize.me program that really ignited my passion for learning plus I discovered that my kidneys were failing and I needed a transplant. It was a full year. I was confronted with a massive library of personal development wisdom plus mortality. My life changed drastically. This helped me to reach the next level because I had skill, I was doing art, but it was just for me, and the body of work had no focus. Now my art is for me plus others, and the body of work is centered around that. Hope that explains it well. I'm excited for my next YT video I think it delivers the idea better.

Haha! I understand the crying part, LOL. Wonderful Idea I've never heard of that but it makes total sense. Wonderful practical tool!

Thank you Liandro!

Thanks Isaiah. I discovered Midjourney and my inspiration went from 0 to 2000 overnight!

Thank you Steve!

Thanks Marco!

The 30 minute minimum is the biggest one for me. Setting the intention to never go below a certain amount. And setting that amount so I can accomplish it no matter what is THE most important. Checkout my video on that: https://youtu.be/WW4UhZ9JLMo There there is also... - Finding your Big Why by combining curiosity into passion and eventually purpose - Floors and ceilings - Defining done to prevent burnout - Keeping score - Eliminating delay - Conquering procrastination - Getting started vs getting finished - Reducing distractions And maybe a few others that I plan on including in that video series. But if I was talking to my younger self I would say the same thing I said in the video. Start with a minimum you can accomplish every single day and focus on longevity first. Then begin adding in everything else. Thanks Adam!

Thank you Adam!

Thank you!

I was going to suggest overlays to check your work but it looks like @Jesper Axelsson has done that for you! His advice is on point. Horizontals, Verticals and angles. I would also add that you're figures are pretty darn close! At some point you have to ask yourself how close do you want/need to get. How much creativity do you want to inject in your work? Do you want to be able to copy the photo perfectly? Hope that helps! Keep drawing through effort you will become a master. Just gotta put in the time :)

I like the composition but I wonder if I hadn't read what you wrote of the story if I would have known what was going on. When I look at the composition I'm not sure anyone could tell what is happening or has happened. You may want to show it to people that have not seen it before and ask them what the narrative is to test. I love your exercise and the compositions but the materials do not lend themselves well to a finished concept. Smoother paper would help a bunch I think. But I know you're challenging yourself to complete it faster which is great. Consistency beats good all the time. Keep it up!

Wonderful painting! I love the light and colors throughout. The composition draws me into the center as well. I've been looking at your work for a while now and I feel that your next big step is with texture. The figures and their clothing has very similar texture, same with the sand. Maybe try not smoothing out everything so much keep it a bit painterly? Hope that helps! Keep up posting all the time like you do, you're rocking it!