Heya, my name's Zenith, nice to meet ya! I love the way this site looks already and I'm excited for what the future holds for it. Let's drop some of our art down in the replies and a little message introducing yourself if you want. Here are some of mine:

Seeking feedback is necessary for artistic growth, but it is also possibly the hardest thing to find reliably. Good teachers and excellent peers can lead you on the path to having a thorough understanding of your craft. Being a helpful teacher yourself is another acquired skill-set. How do you know when you have helpful advice, or just a personal preference? It’s worthwhile to make the effort to be a helpful peer to your fellow artists. You’ll make good connections, broaden your appreciation for different art and ideas, and strengthen your understanding of art concepts by verbalizing them to others. === HOW DO I GIVE A GOOD CRITIQUE? === A good critique tries to consider the artist and their goals. Give context for your opinions, and try to be objective about what is technical vs. your own personal tastes and biases. Ask artists what they want to improve on, and be curious about their interests. Try to frame things positively, and push people to have hope and want to work hard. “I like this pose, but the shoulder is looking dislocated. You might need to move it forward to make it feel more natural, like in this reference.” “There’s a ton of detail going on here, but it can be better to have a few places of lower detail to balance out the composition, here’s an example.” “What sort of art do you admire? I feel like you are aiming for this style, but knowing more about your goals might help us give advice.” === WHAT ARE EXAMPLES OF BAD CRITIQUES? === Bad advice does not consider the person receiving it. Critiques shouldn’t be designed to crush someone's spirit or make them feel hopeless. If something just isn’t your thing, it may be better to let people comment who are more experienced and interested in that area of art. Even if someone is picking up concepts slowly or getting frustrated, it’s not an open invitation to treat them poorly. “There is nothing I can say to you other than read lots of Loomis books.” “Stop drawing anime.” “Fan art is unoriginal.” “This style is a fad that will go away, you should just do something else.” “You just need to try harder.” “You’re too much of an amateur for me to even start critiquing” === HOW DO I GET USEFUL FEEDBACK ON MY WORK? === Help us cater to your artistic needs and goals. When posting work, consider including this information for context: - Tell us what your objectives where with the piece you want critiques. - Share anything you were struggling with while you were working on it. - Tell us what your goals are as an artist. Are you a hobbyist learning landscapes for fun? Putting together a portfolio to get into art school? A professional refining your skills in a certain area? - How long have you been practicing this form of art? - Who are some artists you admire who's style you strive to have in your own work? === HOW SHOULD I RESPOND TO CRITICISM? === There are a lot of ways you can respond. Generally, it is polite to show that you appreciate that someone took the time to give you feedback on your work. It’s important to keep in mind that critiques on your work aren’t personal attacks. Feedback is meant to help you see things from a different point of view. An artist might be trying to guide you away from mistakes they feel they made in the past. Arguing with the person critiquing you won’t be productive. It is their opinion based on their knowledge (or lack thereof). Think of them as simply opinions intended to help you out. You don’t have to accept every critique that comes your way, especially if the critique is subjective rather than objective. With time and experience you’ll have a better understanding of where you want to go with your work. Try to keep an open mind, but also have confidence to shed advice that doesn’t serve you. If someone is being hostile and rude or is actively trying to discourage you, report it. === KEEPING YOUR EGO IN BALANCE? === Egos come with being an artist. It is just a fact. If you didn't feel good about your work and didn't enjoy creating it, why would you do it? The sense of accomplishment is a great feeling, and you SHOULD feel good about the hard work you do. In communities, it’s easy for egos to get a little out of control. When a bunch of artists in a room, each with their own opinion of what is good art and what isn't is always bound to lead to a bit of head butting. This is a community that is meant to be friendly and helpful. Be proud of yourself, be proud of the work you do, but keep it in check. Be respectful to your fellow artists who are different from you. As much as possible, be open to criticism from people of various skill levels. Whether you choose to use them or not is up to you, but be open to the fact that they're going to happen. If you accept them with courtesy and grace, and maybe try to learn a bit from them and open your mind, you will help make this a strong community. If you choose to disregard everyone who gives you advice because you consider yourself better than everyone here, then this is not the community for you. Finally, people who post rude, off point or otherwise useless comments posed as criticism will be penalized by the mods. If you see posts such as this, use the "Report" feature to get the attention of the moderators. === WAIT, WHAT IF I THINK I SUCK? === Everyone has to start somewhere! Art takes hard work, and it doesn’t help to get down on yourself. Being humble is fine, but remember that having a little confidence is sometimes needed for motivation. Believe that you are worthy of kindness and that your art has value, even if it's just to you. Find enjoyment in learning and studying, it’ll guide you through the times when you are getting down on yourself. Just remember, begging (or demanding) praise, attention, or sympathy won’t generally go over well with your peers. Wanting to work hard is what gets you support. Embrace your work ethic and show effort whenever you can.

Hello my fellow artists, how are you? Well... I've already written to this community, always asking for help and advice, because I know that here I will find artists who understand what the artist goes through, I'll try not to write too much, but I really wanted help from you... I've always drawn both on paper and on the PC, and I used to have a dream of becoming a professional illustrator, but... You know when you're doing something and suddenly it doesn't give you as much pleasure as it used to? Unfortunately, anxiety and excessive self-demand for something "perfect" made me reduce the frequency with which I drew. In the past, I would have looked at everything I did with pride, but today nothing I do pleases me, I only like what others do (like what Stan Prokopenko himself does). I want to be like the professionals and teach like them. But I don't even know where I am on this journey (if I'm an amateur, beginner or intermediate) and the worst part is that you don't like your style, your way of doing things... Well... I hope you can help me with this... What do I do? I've looked everywhere for a "solution", but all the answers are just repetition... I'll leave here the few drawings I have on my ArtStation. Thanks

Just wanted to share a cool story. For anyone familiar with the hidden camera show Impractical Jokers, I had the opportunity to meet Joe Gatto recently. He’s an avid dog lover. He has over 15 dogs that he adopts and gives a good home to live out the remainder of their lives. And these are two of his favorites dogs from the whole pack. Giving Joe this gift was one of the coolest moments in my art career. He seemed genuinely moved and excited and told me he planned to hang it up at home. I’ll never know if he really did, but it’s really cool to think my drawing could be bringing Joe a level of happiness that he has brought me over the years that I’ve been watching him. I’m curious, what are other artists high points throughout their career? What’s one moment you can reflect back on that made you realize why all this hard work is worth it?

Lately I been having a hard time getting inspiration to draw. It doesn’t help many people are disinterested with my progress. So my question how do get motivated to improve?

My buddy says I should record my drawing and put them on YouTube or TikTok.

So i when will I learn to paint lol. Ive been doing this for a few years, most of it without studying. Then i started using proko, new master academy so on. Ive learned to draw, paint figures and something. But it feels like ive gone nowhere and cant do the things i want. Also i really dont know what to paint, id love to do fantasy but to sell/show that genre it would have to be online. I cant really stop doing art, but i feel like im wasting my time because ill never be good enough to do for example book covers. Id love to create art hat would give other people enjoyment/peace/emotions that ive had especially when i was younger and had Mtg cards or fantasy books. I dont know what im saying, im kinda burned out? Chasing after the skills needed, feeling like im an idiot, forgetting about what ive learned before. Just last week i watched https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqs7ye6KJ5Y and felt like all ive done before has been a toddler trying to emulate somethings he has no idea off. You can look at some of my work and studyin at my instagram https://www.instagram.com/anttikallinen/?hl=fi . Is this the end of the road for me, or will there be a time i can create something im proud of and people will like? Im not a youngster like most people learning art in proko or elsewehere, so yeah. I also live in a small industrial town, cant really move easily, never had a lot of money and not daredevil/desperate enough yet. I dont know, just wanted to vent my feelings ;).

And no! I don't mean mature in *that* way. I want my art to look more adult, more professional. I'm not sure exactly what that pertains. I've been feeling dissatisfied with my art for a while. I don't feel like I'm challenging myself enough. I still haven't made any big strides towards learning environments or perspectives. And most important of all, I feel embarrassed to show my art to people in my life. I feel like it looks very teenage-y, like something only a niche internet community enjoys. I don't know how to remedy this, do I change my art style? Do I do more traditional art? Do I do more 3D art? Do I draw horror, or dark and gritty things? I don't know how to get out of this slump, I need a concrete plan. Instead of me attaching images, you can get a quick overview of my art here (if you want): https://instagram.com/snokkart?igshid=NGVhN2U2NjQ0Yg== Thank you in advance for any input :')

I was wondering if it’s still possible to become a career artist or is this going to be hobby?

Quick question: are you given access to the MedsMaps Discord when buying the course here or is that only through Aldoori’s own site?

Does anyone have a good recommendation for a 6B option? I have clutch and 0.5 mechanicals in 2H, HB, 2B, and 4B and was looking to get something truly dark. I’m thinking a General’s Layout or 9xxb would work here but I’m not sure how they’d fair in my soft pencil pouch if I try to draw on the go though.

I draw sloppy lines, and it’s super ingrained in me to redraw a line multiple times. Has anyone had much success with breaking such habits? I want to keep a good flow while drawing nice lines, but I struggle to just do a nice smooth line and move on. I’ve included some 60 second gesture drawings from today. Any feedback and advice would be appreciated.

With the rise of AI's like Dall-e and Midjourney, is it even worth pursuing to learn art by myself? it would take many years for me to train to get results similar to what Dall-e can create. Even if I can get to that level, an AI can create an image within seconds, where a human needs hours to create a piece like that. How do you guys feel? Do you feel threatened?

I'm looking for a digital pad so I can try digital art where ever I go. Any suggestion or advice

Hey, Beta testers! I've been hanging around the community for about a week and I'm willing to give some feedback for those of you who need help with the assignments. I see Stan already replied to a bunch of posts, and I've already replied to some, too, but some of the older ones may have been lost in my feed. Anyway, if there's anyone out there who asked for help and didn't get any response so far, if you'd like me to comment, please tag me in your question and I'll see what I can do for you! Happy studies :)

i used three my drawings and use ai to enhance it

Hi all! Like many of you I aspire to become a skilled draftsman. Recently I've been focusing on figure drawing and whilst that's been improving I find the amount of time I've spent on doing this (gesture specifically) I then miss out on time that could be spent in other areas such as head drawing or animal drawing. Do any of you either get this feeling or so you always manage to divide what subjects you practice? I guess the other thing is even though I've spent so much time focusing on figure drawing I still feel a million miles away from being able to do a finished, rendered price of art in any form and I've been trying to teach myself for years! How do you deal with this frustration?! Thanks all Peace and love peace and love

Hello everybody! So, i have been practicing drawing just about every single day for almost a year now. I usually spend 4-6 hours a day just drawing (i have a lot of time on my hands). I've bought the figure drawing course and the fundamentals course and watch youtube tutorials, too. After putting in a lot of time i'm just not seeing as much progress :( ill usually draw along with Stan and take some notes diagrams etc.. I feel like i should be a lot further than i am. I still struggle to get nice figure drawings (some times i'll get a few i am proud of) but 6-7 out of 10 times i'm not content with them). Today i saw some drawings from several months ago and got wigged out cause my studies looked similar and i noticed figures i am drawing now I have been leaving out what i studied said months ago. i'm worried i'm working with old habits and forgetting to integrate what i have gone over in the past. I know one year isn't very long in the artists journey but the amount of hours i have put in should show more progress.. ugh maybe i am being to hard on myself but over all need some advice for studying smarter instead of harder or at least commiserate with others who have had similar experiences or some wisdom to share. thank you for reading this looong post and i hope to hear from someone out there <3

I really need some help focusing where I'd like to work. I want to be a freelance illustrator but I don't know where my art fits! I'd like to someday do a lot of things, but I need to pick a lane at least to start. I'm just not sure where my art fits? If anywhere! Or if it'd even good enough.. I started with a lot of portraiture but I've been wanting to do more narrative/illustrative work. Attached are various pieces that you could say are my "rough portfolio"? Any feedback will help! Thanks! FYI, the one with the bear is unfinished!

I want to learn cartoon/anime art for animation to work on personal project. nothing too crazy. This type of art has simplified anatomy and shading, Can I learn it in 4 years? Or at least become intermediate? I can dedicate 6 hours everyday into learning and practice.