Liandro
Brazil
I draw cartoons and teach about art, design and creativity.
Albums
3d
I'm happy to share that I'm participating on the exhibition "How funny! Beethoven in caricatures, cartoons and comics" at the Beethoven-Haus, Bonn, in Germany. The museum was once Beethoven's birth place and is now one of the most frequented music museums worldwide. It's a true honor for me to have been invited to participate on their current temporary art show, which features the music genius depicted in several cartoons, comics and caricature works from different periods. If you happen to visit Bonn before August 21, 2023, make sure to check out this cool exhibition! :) More info: https://www.beethoven.de/en/sonderausstellung/list?status=Aktuell
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Week 38: i've combined the drawabox approach of drawing animals with Stan's Structure Basics – Making Things Look 3D lesson. (the last one suggested by @Liandro ) Drawing animals with 3d shapes, but i've used a fineliner and ink to draw them. For the fun side, i did an Aaron Blaise study of this coyote.
4d
Cool, @Geert-Jan! Aaron is such an expert on animals, I love how he designs animals’ facial features and expressions. I think your master study shows you’re quite sharp on your observation skills! Plus, I love how beautiful the black and white strokes look on the toned paper. Nice handling of your inking materials!
About the structural studies, I think you’re being able to find some perspective on how you’re envisioning the 3D forms, so let’s try to tune it up even more. See if you can tighten your structure designs more in such a way that the sense of 3-dimensionality can be felt all through the drawing. You can start your drawing with a loose gesture, but then, on top of it, design each 3D form carefully in order to make their position in space and relationship to one another as clear as possible. It’s not a matter of cleaning up the lines more, but of clarifying the design: try to state for yourself which are the forms that you’re using (cylinder, box, sphere? Derivations or combinations of them?), how they're positioned in space (perspective, depth, overlaps, foreshortening) and how they relate to other forms around them, especially the ones to which they connect. Maybe think of your drawing as a wooden mannequin. See if you can draw through the forms, as if they were transparent. Cross-controus are helpful, definitely keep using them. Keep in mind there's no right or wrong way to design the forms in this exercise, so feel free to explore and test which solutions work best for each study. Plus, your knowledge of line weight should come in handy in order to show that clarity in the drawing.
I’m attaching a draw-over for the sake of example.
Hope this helps!
Keep up the good work!
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11d
Hey, @Dennis Yeary! These are nice drawings!
I’m assuming you don’t have any specific demands or requests over things you’d like to improve and just want some general pointers. I’m also assuming that you did these drawings from observation and, since you posted them in the “Comics & Cartoons” forum, that you were seeking some kind of stylization/simplification when doing them. Is that right?
If that’s really the case, one thing I’d suggest would be to try and simplify/stylize even more in a deliberate way. Now, there’s no right or wrong way to do this, and there’s a million possible results you could achieve in order to fulfill that kind of goal. A lot will depend on your personal preferences. But here are some overall approaches by which you could start pushing your drawings in this direction of becoming even more simplified/stylized:
— Play around with the shapes. For example, a head shape: squish it, stretch it, warp it, “geometrize” it. Intentionally distorting shapes is a way to purposely stylize a drawing.
— Play around with the proportions. For example, compare the size of the facial features against the size of the overall head, then experiment making the features super small in comparison, or super large, or move them more downward on the face, or upward, or outward, or inward. Also, try to notice the size variety across different facial features: if the eyes are very large, it can be nice to make the nose very small and the mouth a medium size, or vice-versa, in such a way to create size variations that might feel visually interesting.
— Consciously decide what you will include in the drawing, and how. For example: is it really necessary to include fur texture in a cat drawing? You could decide it's not that relevant and simplify your cat drawing without it; or maybe, yeah, you could decide it's nice to indicate some fur. Does the fur need to be all over the drawing or could it be shown just on the outer contours? Or just on the stripe patterns? Or just a few random furry spots here and there? Simplifying involves some creative thinking and a deliberate will to be selective about what we will add into the drawing.
I’m attaching some visual examples to add up to these comments.
Hope this helps!
(…And if I misunderstood this and you don’t want your drawings to become more simplified/stylized whatsoever, just let me know what is it that you are you seeking to improve.) :)
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week 37: I've finished the 250 cylinder challenge of drawabox! Also started lesson 5: drawing animals. Included my first attempts. For fun, i've colorized one of my drawings from the inking unit and drew a sea turtle in traditional media (markers, fineliners, white colored pencil). What do you guys think?
15d
Hey, @Geert-Jan!
I think the turtle drawing looks stunning!!
It’s nice to notice the simplified construction on the dog portraits. Have you ever tried the animal mannequin exercise from Stan’s Structure Basics – Making Things Look 3D lesson? If not, perhaps it could be a helpful complement to the “drawing animals” lesson you’re going through now, if you find it pertinent for your study schedule.
Yay on the cylinders challenge! I see there are needed adjustments on the perspective, but let’s not get picky about it here - what matters now is that you finished the challenge by drawing 250 cylinders, right? That’s something to celebrate. Just as a suggestion, perhaps you could let go some more and don’t bother trying to make all the straight lines so perfectly - simply trust your freehand natural stroke and let it “feel as human as it is”.
On the cartoony portrait, as I commented in the other post, I like it! Colors aside, let me focus on the inking part. For fun, I experimented making a few tweaks on top of your drawing and I’m attaching two images here: one where I compare the new version I did with the original one you posted (minus the colors); and another one with some written notes to clarify my thought process as I made these changes. I honestly don’t think there are right or wrong answers here though, so please don’t take my paint-over as a “correction”, but rather merely as a suggestion of other possible inking/design choices.
Hope you find this helpful.
Keep it up!
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2mo
Hello, I drew some robo beans.
I had difficulty with the proportions of the part between the two boxes, I think sometimes I drew it bigger than it is.
The other thing that was difficult for me was the twist. Advice on this would be helpful.
Advice and critiques are welcomed.
Reference images are from line-of-action.con
18d
Hey, @Vera, nice job overall!
I see how you think the area inbetween may have gotten too big in some of the drawings. On a real human body, that space is really not very large, it’s just about the same width as the palm of a hand. When you’re drawing the robo-bean, as a “rule of thumb”, you can consider that the area inbetween the boxes is about 1/3 of the bottom box’s height - this is the approximate ratio of the anatomical distance between the ribs and the pelvis on a neutral standing pose (however, keep in mind that motion and perspective could change that ratio depending on the pose). As a visual cue to this, I’m attaching some notes based on Hale’s proportion diagram which Stan shows in the Human Proportions – Cranial Units lesson (no worries if you haven’t got to that lesson yet, just something to be aware of).
About twists: I think you did a nice job on these ones. But twists can be a bit more challenging than other poses indeed. One helpful thing is to observe the model and notice the two parts of the torso as planes: is the front plane of the upper portion (ribcage) facing the same side as the front plane of the bottom portion (pelvis)? If they’re facing different directions, then there’s a twist. Some twists are pretty subtle, but training to observe the reference just in terms of “front, sides, back, top and bottom” usually helps us notice even the most subtle ones. Then, when drawing, make sure to draw the correspondent planes of the boxes accordingly to what you observed. I’m attaching a few drawings of my own for the sake of illustrating what I mean.
Let me know in case you have any additional questions or comments.
Good luck in your practices!
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Week 4 in the inking unit. Also a slow week. But i've managed to spent time in procreate. Attached a character that i've inked several times with different brushes and approaches.
18d
Nice, @Geert-Jan! I love how you're exploring these different approaches. It seems like you've been up to date with Stan's recent line weight lessons in the Drawing Basics course - that's great. In this batch of drawings, for my personal taste, I like the second one better because of the slightly thicker lines overall and how they contrast with the thinner ones on the facial features. Also, I like the hint of a shadow under the Adam's Apple and under the lower lip, so I'd encourage you to maybe keep consistency of that shading in other areas of the drawing such as under the chin, under the the moustache and under the nose wings. Hope this helps anyhow. Keep up the good work!
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1mo
Asked for help
Hey guys, I've attached some of my more recent gesture drawings.
Although I want them critiqued, I more so want to ask you guys about "off days" in drawing. My digital drawing I've attached was from a couple of days ago, and I remember feeling awful after doing it. Nothing seemed to work and I felt really disheartened to continue.
Then today (the charcoal ones) my gestures felt pretty good. It made me realize that I just wasn't having a good day last time. I remember that Stan said you'll get dips and peaks in confidence, but even knowing that, it's really hard to come back afterwards.
This isn't the first time this has happened, but a string of failures has gotten me to look pessimistically about my future. Any thoughts on how to solve this?
Let me know.
- Dwight
21d
Hey, @Dwight! Your conversation with @Jesper Axelsson seems to have brought up many helpful insights already.
About the “off days”, I totally agree: they happen, it’s okay, and we just gotta keep going. If it makes you feel any better, you’re not alone - guaranteed. EVERY artist goes through bad days, even our heroes. We’re all humans, and this is just part of the game. One bad day doesn’t have to mean a streak of failures for the future, it’s just one day. Yes, it can feel hard to come back afterwards, but, as you experienced yourself, once we do, pleasing surprises can happen. As much as possible, try to keep an open mind and allow yourself enough room to make mistakes and enough time to refresh your mind whenever you need. And then, simply guide yourself back to what you love to do.
Where to find artists to interact with? Well, HERE - this community can be a good place to start! I’ve had many insightful conversations by simply commenting on people’s drawings, as well as by asking people to comment on my own posts. For students, it can be even more helpful to interact with people who are studying the same topics as you, since you’re probably undergoing similar challenges.
I think regular social media can also be helpful… if we know how to use it. Going with algorithm suggestions is not bad, but, honestly, I wouldn’t stick to just that - more than that, I’d highly recommend what Jesper suggested: start by investigating within yourself, and then do some research based on what you find. Search for artists on social media directly by their names or, at least, through hashtags on topics that interest you.
Above all, when using social media for art, make sure to look beyond the beautiful posts and see the people and the processes behind them. It can be easy to feel unmotivated when we’re just scrolling through the feed, especially if we’re already not feeling motivated enough - it seems like everyone makes it so well and easily, and that WE are the only ones who are having a hard time. Right? But that’s a false impression - behind every awesome drawing, there’s a genuine human being, just like ourselves, who’s very likely to have struggled and faced doubts and hardships before achieving that nice “postable” result. If you think it helps, you can try interacting with them by asking meaningful art-related questions, such as “How did you become so skilled in […]?”, “How do you overcome art block?”, “What’s the most challenging stage in your drawing process?”, “How do you make decisions when planning a composition?”… not everyone may be comfortable answering this kind of question on social media, but, in my experience, I was happily surprised with the ones who did.
Finally, as much as possible, try to face this whole art thing as an adventurous journey in the long run. Being an artist is not just a goal, it’s a lifestyle - regardless of the jobs we get, the skills we develop or the money we make with our art, we stick to it because that’s part of who we are.
Hope this helps!
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1mo
Asked for help
@Liandro Hi Liandro, I hope I'm not bothering you.
I have followed the advice you've given me, from your feedbacks on robo bean courses, and i have spaced out my 1 hour exercise for gesture/bean/robobean. 20 minute each, for about a week now.
If it's possible, i would like a feedback on how i did. and perhaps determine if i can move on to the next lessons.
What I felt personally is , around the day 3 mark, it's somewhat easier to draw them, and didn't have nearly as much as a hard time with them. Although for certain poses, especially with twisting and side views, I still have a little bit trouble with them
I have posted below, in chronological order. The one with the ref is from day 5.
Thank you for your time. I hope you have a great day.
Best regard,
Samuel
25d
Hey, @Samuel Sanjaya! Really cool to see this!
It’s interesting that you noticed how your process started to get easier around day 3. From your drawings, I notice that your “Day 4” pages seem to have a clearer line control, and the sense of form seems to have gotten stronger and clearer - to me, that’s visible improvement when I compare with the “Day 1” pages - and in such a short time. Wow! The power of consistent practice, right?
For twists, one thing that can definitely help is to think of front/back/sides/top/bottom, such as the planes of a box. Consider the centerline of the torso and compare the upper and the lower sections: are they turned to the same direction or are they facing slightly different ways? Look for the bony landmarks if you find it helps you better visualize the separations between front and side planes. Some twists are very subtle, but I’d encourage you to practice pushing and exaggerating them in your Beans or Robo-beans. I’m attaching a few sketches of my own as visual examples on this matter (if there’s any other specific pose you’d like me to draw over or comment on, please let me know).
Another exercise you could try on the side is to practice drawing just simple boxes viewed in various different angles. You can refer to Stan’s lesson Structure Basics – Making Things Look 3D for more information on this. This kind of practice should help not only with drawing simples forms with more confidence, but also with visualizing different planes and depth in 3D space.
With all that in mind, if you’re feeling comfortable with your current knowledge and practice results, yeah, I’d say you can keep moving on with the course. And if, at any time, you feel you should go back, review previous topics or practice more of any specific exercise, also feel free to do so. On that note, it’s good to keep in mind that choosing whether to move on or not or deciding what to practice at each time is often subjective, and it can be tricky for someone on the outside to determine it for someone else. So, please, don’t take my advice as a “must”, but as a possibility, and, mainly, consider your own thoughts and intuition about whether you should move on right now or stay longer with the current practice. There’s a fine balance between “feeling ready/confident”, “staying motivated” and “challenging yourself”, and I believe that, more than anyone, you are the most indicated person to evaluate this for yourself.
Hope this helps!
Keep it up!
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Asked for help
This is my robo bean attempt. I would really like to get some feedback since im not sure im heading in the right way and should i proceed with the lessons.
I still have some trouble in side view and twisting torso
1mo
Hey, @Samuel Sanjaya! I think you’re getting the overall idea of the Robo-bean. I also see there is some room to improve in terms of laying in a clearer gesture and of connecting the 3D forms to that gesture.
For now, I’d recommend spending a little bit more time practicing quick sketches just with gesture, the Bean and the Robo-bean. Maybe you can split you practice sessions in three parts: for example, if you’re practicing for one hour, maybe spend 20 minutes just on gesture, then another 20 minutes on the Bean, and the 20 minutes left on the Robo-bean. As you practice, you could also review Stan’s video lessons as much as you need.
For the Robo-bean specifically, one thing I’d recommend is to try and simplify even more - don’t get caught up in any anatomical information yet, just think of the motion + simple 3D forms. If it helps, try to face the Robo-bean not as part of a human body yet, but just as an abstract 3D object. It should represent the same sense of movement and spatiality of the figure you’re using as reference, but it doesn’t need to actually look like the model’s body. Later on, as you gain confidence with these more basic skills, then you can try to start fine-tuning proportions and even adding some of the main anatomical landmarks.
As you keep practicing, make sure to post your sketches here in the community and ask for feedback. If you’d like to get any comments from me specifically, feel free to tag me in your posts.
Hope this helps!
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1mo
Hey, @paper, thanks for reaching out!
I’ll refrain from commenting on color in your work - maybe I didn’t mention this before, but I’m red-green colorblind, so my perception of color is probably different than yours.
About the cross-hatching: on page 3, I think it looks fine. It helps define the shape of the face, and it also conveys a vague sense of shading when zoomed out. On page 14, on the other hand, I think it may have gotten a bit too loose - at least to me, it doesn’t look very much like shading, but feels more like ink marks or another sort of indefinite texture on her neck.
I agree with @Jesper Axelsson on the matter of clarity, and the exercises he suggested could certainly help!
I think it’s pretty awesome that you keep working on your own projects! Alongside with that, I'd recommend seeing if you can also find some space to study and improve on your skills through classes and exercises, as one thing should help complement the other.
Hope this helps!
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1mo
Hey, @Anubhav Saini, thanks for reaching out once again!
. Yes, the lines used to describe anatomical traits seem to be coherent with their underlying structures as far as I see it. However, I’m noticing some parts of the anatomy don’t look very accurate with what should be the actual bone and muscle structure of the human body - but they do seem to follow the structure of the basic forms you designed in your undersketches;
. Yes, I’d say the structure is in tune with the gesture of the pose in all of these sketches;
. I’ve already shared some thoughts on shape design in the other post you tagged me, so you might want to check it out: https://www.proko.com/s/ugLv (please let me know if any doubts pop up regarding my comments there).
On an additional note, the simplified mannequin on the top right corner of image 4 - I really, really like it! The line quality could perhaps be a bit more confident, but the overall sense of structure, form and perspective look pretty solid to me.
I think that the mannequin with simple forms actually looks better than its versions with more anatomical detail (on the bottom of image 4 and on image 5) - which leads me to think that your skills on the basics of figure drawing are strong enough, but, perhaps, something you might wanna invest more at this point is in deepening your knowledge on anatomy, does this make sense to you? I looked in your profile and I noticed you’re not currently enrolled with the Anatomy of the Human Body course - have you considered taking it? Just an idea.
Let me know if I can help you any further.
Best regards!
1mo
Hey, @Anubhav Saini!
I understand you’ve attempted to practice your skills on shape design and simplification. When I analyze your drawings, I do notice there’s an intention to simplify the anatomical atributes of the figure - however, I believe you can “power up” this intention by clearly anchoring your simplification choices on principles of gesture and design such as the ones Stan talks about in his How to Draw Gesture lesson: tension X relaxation; angles X curves. And, also, other types of visual contrast: big X small; empty X full; tight X loose; flowing X zig-zaggy… among other possibilities.
Overall, “creating contrasts” is a key idea about shape design which you might like to keep on the back of your mind as you draw and which can let you guide yourself to make choices about how your drawings will look in such a way that the results may feel not so random or haphzard, but rather more deliberate, assertive and even appealing.
I think this assertiveness and deliberacy has a lot to do with what @Steve Lenze meant when he commented about being more precise with the shapes.
To help illustrate what I mean, I’m sending a sketch I made over one of the same poses you studied.
Hope this helps!
1mo
Hey, @Anubhav Saini! I see you already got some helpful feedback from @Steve Lenze.
You said your goal with these drawings was to learn about anatomy - but what exactly about anatomy are you trying to learn?
2mo
Hey, @Anubhav Saini, thanks for reaching out!
I’ll share with you my personal thoughts on this matter. They’re not necessarily the “right” or “only” way by any means, of course. They’re just how I currently believe things could be effective in terms of study.
Before focusing on specific areas, I’d say there’s a broader range of base fundamentals we need to cover in order to get a solid foundation for comic art / illustration:
1) FUNDAMENTALS OF DRAWING AND VISUAL COMMUNICATION
. Line
. Shape and negative spaces
. Spatial relationships (proportions / angles)
. Value
. Edge
. Form
. Perspective
. Light and shadow
. Texture
. Composition
. Shape design
2) THE HUMAN FIGURE
. Gesture
. Structure
. Anatomy
3) DESIGN
. General principles of design (contrast, balance, harmony, rhythm…)
. Character design
. Environment design
. Prop design
. Visual storytelling
. Thumbnailing and creative exploration
—
After that, we could then focus on more specific areas or expand our artistic repertoire. These could be some of the possibilities:
COMICS
. Comics language/vocabulary
. Cartooning
. Sequential storytelling
. Script writing / Script breakdown
. Panel layout techniques
. Specific drawing techniques for comics (line weight, high-contrast shading, texture stylization…)
. Lettering
. Clean-up / Inking
COLOR
. Color theory
. Color harmonies
REALISTIC PAINTING
. Painting-specific techniques (brushwork, mixing paint, color blending…)
. Properties of light
. Light and color
. Atmosphere
. Lighting phenomenons (refraction, sub-surface scattering, translucency, reflectivity…)
. Matte textures (wood, rock, fabric...)
. Special surfaces (hair/fur, water, skin…)
ART MATERIALS
. Pencils
. Watercolor
. Gouache
. Markers
. Mixed-media
. Digital painting
PERSONAL STYLE
. History of art / design / illustration / animation
. Using reference and moodboards
. Doing master studies
. Selecting “art parents”
. Sketchbook practices
. Exploring what you wanna communicate with your art
—
And, of course, there could also be different subjects or categories we might wanna explore other than these ones I’ve mentioned (these are just what I’ve got off the top of my mind right now - and I hope I didn't miss anything important).
I understand that all this might sound a bit overwhelming when put like that, as a sort of “loose curriculum” with so many different topics. But I’d say you don’t necessarily need to strictly follow such a list in order to develop yourself as an artist. There is no universal “formula” as to how your art skills should be cultivated.
Since I’m sharing my personal point of view on this question, maybe I should also share a bit of my history: I’ve been drawing all my life, but I didn’t go to art school, so my training as an artist has been totally dependable on my constant will to freely practice and study on my own through online courses and books. And, just like me, there are many other artists out there with a similar history - perhaps you! If you are indeed anything alike, I believe the most useful skills you might wanna seek to grow for yourself in the long run are self-knowledge and self-awareness - that way, you can gradually learn how to “mentor yourself” and figure out how to direct your art journey as you wish.
One strategy that has worked well for me is a cycle mix of: a) Following my intuition about what I wanna do with my art + b) Taking courses + c) Regularly doing some introspective analysis to assess my needs and decide my next steps. For example: back a few years, I already had some drawing background and I was very eager to study character design, so I took a course on it. Then, as I was doing character design exercises, I noticed gaps in my drawing fundamentals, so I decided to take an in-depth course on perspective after I was done with character design course. Meanwhile, I realized I also needed more knowledge on anatomy, so, as soon as I was done with the perspective course, I took Stan’s anatomy course here at Proko. At the same time, I also wanted to learn more about lighting, so I started a course on that topic too; but, halfway through, I felt it was becoming a bit too much for the cartoony kind of art I wanted to make, so I let go of that for a while and started doing personal creative projects to develop more of my own “voice” and put together a portfolio. After a few years, I figured it could be useful to study caricature; then, get a review on composition; then, back to personal projects; and so on.
Finding what we need to focus on at each moment is not always easy, but as a regular exercise, I believe it’s totally worth our while because it grants us autonomy over our journey. As far as art is concerned, I believe each artist is often the best person to know what to focus on and what to do with their art.
It’s good to keep in mind that, as you evolve as an artist (and as a person), your opinions, perceptions and strategies can change over time. Make sure to diligently follow all the way through the endeavors you start, but also be open to change your course whenever you truly feel it will be best for what you want.
Hope this can answer your question and help clarify some of your doubts.
If you’d like to discuss anything else on this matter, feel free to let me know.
Best of luck!
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2mo
Asked for help
Hi! I've got a few questions concerning how to avoid the snowman effect in apparently symmetrical parts of the body and more "stiff" and symmetrical poses (see examples for such poses below). I'm having a hard time finding a smooth gesture in symmetrical poses, especially those where the subjects are standing up straight. Also how can we do the torso / pelvis / legs in an asymmetrical (not snowman-ish) way when the subject is facing us?
If anyone would like to try these, just posting what you did with them might give me some ideas and help me out
Thanks!
2mo
Hey, @Crocudyle Boxes! It’s helpful to keep mind that the “snowman effect” is not something inherent in the human anatomy; it’s more like a "bad habit" that results from lack of training in perceiving gesture. In other words, it’s not about the pose itself, but about how we interpret it!
Usually, dynamic poses can make it easier on us to to avoid the snowman effect because the relationship of the body parts is already more asymmetrical, so we’re more inclined to interpret a stronger motion. But, just as it’s possible to slip into the snowman effect even with dynamic poses, it’s also totally possible to design interesting gestures even for “basic” standing or upfront poses. Here are four good strategies for this:
1) Look for natural anatomical rhythms, both on the body as whole and also on individual parts such as the torso, pelvis or legs. In the main gesture lesson (at the top of this page), starting at about 13:15, Stan talks a bit about natural asymmetries of the body, so I’d recommend giving this part a little review in case this topic doesn’t feel fresh in your mind right now;
2) Look for little cues where you can find asymmetries on the pose. Sometimes, the body weight is slightly tending to one side more than to the other; other times, there might be subtle differences in the expression of each hand or foot; or maybe the hair shape could be an offbeat to the overall symmetry on the body. Humans are almost always in motion, so even in apparently "stiff" poses, there can be a hint of movement we can cling to when sketching the gesture;
3) Vary and contrast the types and qualities of the lines throughout the sketch. Remember “C-S-I” from the gesture lesson? If, for example, you draw a body section using a C-curve, try to insert an S-curve close to it; if you use a long line for one specific part, try to make the other ones next to it shorter; if one side is a bold curve, see if you can make the other side a straight, or a less curved curve; if some areas of the pose are relaxed (softer, flowing curves), look for places where there could be tension (straights, stronger curves or sharper angles). And vice-versa. Varying inclination is also super helpful - try to not draw things all parallel, but make the lines converge or diverge angles and directions in ways that feel visually interesting to you;
4) As @Justin ONeill said, exaggerate. Design. We don’t need to be attached to the reference image if we don’t want to, so don’t be afraid to push forces and recreate shapes whenever you feel possible.
I’m sending a few attempts of my own for the sake of illustrating my comments.
Finally, remember that gesture is not just about asymmetries. When thinking of gesture, consider "what is this pose about?" Sometimes, symmetry can be the way to go. And, just because it's symmetrical, it doesn't mean it needs to be stiff, boring or "snowman-ish".
If you have any other doubts or thoughts about this, feel free to pop them here.
Best of luck!
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2mo
Now, about the bigger question…
(I’ve decided to address this as a separate comment because it looks like a different issue to me).
To understand the importance of art in the world, I think we must look beyond professional jobs and even beyond self-expression.
Defining art and its meaning is a big discussion to which, as far as I know, there isn’t much consensus, let alone an objective answer. So I don’t mean to make any statement here as if it was “the ultimate truth”. I’d just like to share the way I see it.
To make things simple, I personally like what author and comic book artist Scott McCloud says: art is everything we do that is not focused on survival or reproduction.
I know this might sound a bit too generalistic at first glance. But, when I think about it, I understand that humans, which are the only animal species capable of making art deliberately and significantly**, indeed also live in ways that are much less just about the natural instincts of survival and reproduction when compared to other species.
** (I know we’ve seen that some monkeys, elephants and other animals are able to draw or paint when trained or stimulated. But willingly grabbing a stick out of the blue and doodling on the sand to help them understand life, represent beauty or make fun of their friends doesn’t seem to be a common behavior among any of these species yet).
When I look at human history, I think art has changed the world many times. When early humans started drawing on cave walls, they were setting themselves apart from other animal species forever. Pre-historical art somehow lead to the invention of writing. Ancient art helped the cultural and spiritual life of old civilizations to survive the tests of time. European medieval art made possible for the Catholic Church to educate the people and keep political power in Europe for centuries - and Renaissance art was an important part of what dissolved it. The invention of photography and movies deeply changed the world in terms of culture and entertainment. In World War II, propaganda art was an important strategic tool used to “educate” soldiers and citizens. Modern/contemporary art was/is often responsible for questioning social issues and sensitizing people to unnoticed dilemmas. Advertising, which helps keep economies moving, is pretty much art geared towards commerce. Even entertainment art is crucial: the stunning graphics and compelling visual stories help better sell more games, movie tickets, merch products, and feed a worldwide imaginary of characters and mythologies.
This is just off the top of my mind now, but, if we’d look deeper, I’m sure we’d find other historical moments when art played a relevant role in “changing the world”.
With all that said, personally, I like to think of art not only as humans’ major attempt to understand and represent the world around them and communicate with each other, but also as the core of humanity itself. It’s what we got for moving away from an animal life purely based on primitive instintcs, it’s just part of our condition as living beings.
That’s my personal take on this discussion anyway.
Hope it makes any sense to you.
2mo
Hey, @matt barton! In my experience, whenever it starts getting “too serious”, it stops being fun. No wonder you’re not enjoying making art under these conditions of pressure, high expectations and reduced compensations.
But the fact that you still enjoy doodling and sketching may be a sign that you do still enjoy art; you might just not agree that it needs to be done under “industry rules”.
I like the exercise @Marion Opperman suggested of considering what drove you into art in the first place. Additionally, I would also suggest considering what drives you into art today. What is it about doodling and sketching that you still enjoy in spite of everything else? Maybe the answers to what drove you initially and what drives you today are related. Or not. Either way, it’s fine.
Hope this helps.
2mo
Hi Darren,
Ray Bradbury used to say that to become a good writer you need to write one story a week every week and at the end of the year you'll have a couple of good stories because no one can write 52 bad stories in a row. He had a point.
Almost everyone has a bit of gearitis when they start so shake if off and move forward. I had it. If I get Blackwing pencils I will draw better, if I get Stillman & Birn sketchbooks I'll draw better, if I use Holbein gouache I'll paint better and on and on and on. I did it, sometimes still do. But the one that that actually has made me better at painting and composition is cranking out 5 miniature paintings a week every week since 2018. Now I want to learn figure drawing and portraiture so here I am at Proko.
As for the age thing...I started painting landscapes and cityscapes when I was 55, I'm 60 now. I've been in multiple shows, sell regularly and I'm not much good really, but I will be, just need another 10 years or so.
That's all anyone really needs - time and commitment.
As for self-confidence - even Tom Hanks and Lady Gaga (among so many others) talk about their doubts about their skills. Physicians report an incredibly high rate of self doubt. You aren't alone - power on through. Hemingway used to say that if you keep repeating the same story over and over again eventually it will become true. You are an artist - you got this.
I have two sayings posted where they can be seen every day.
Day One > One Day
"If you're not trying to get better you're going to get worse." - Steve Huston
2mo
I like everything you said, Denis!
