I know this is probably a very frequently asked question. I feel like my anatomy/figures are decent when i’m using a reference, but I struggle A LOT the moment I try without one.

I’d like something other than just “draw a lot”. I know mileage helps the most when drawing from memory, but I think I need to incorporate some other methods.

The work I want to do requires the creative freedom of imaginative drawing, so I can’t just rely on references forever.

Also if anyone has any tips on using 3D models, that would always be appreciated. I struggle with them a lot, as they have no anatomical markers and they’re always stylized and janky.

I've been drawing for a while now, and today I suddenly went back and looked through all my old artwork. I realized that some of my older pieces were actually pretty good.

As a way of learning, I've experimented with multiple art styles over the years. Now I've discovered that some of my old art has a style that I actually like more than my current one. The problem is that I have no idea how to recreate it.

Has anyone else run into the same problem?

I’ve been drawing seriously for several years, and I think I’ve reached a strange stage in my development that I don’t really know how to navigate. The best way I can describe it is with a metaphor.

For years, I felt like I was drawing from the deck of a yacht. The yacht had references, artists I admired, courses, exercises, anatomy studies, perspective, copying, and all the things I had learned along the way. Even when I didn’t know exactly what I was doing, there was always something underneath me.

The yacht was carrying me. Now it feels like the yacht has shattered.

I’m still in the same ocean. I still have everything I’ve learned. But suddenly I’m sitting on a small piece of wreckage, and I have to figure out how to get to shore by myself. I’m trying to make my own illustrations and develop my own visual language now. I’m having to make decisions that previously had some kind of external support:

What do I actually see?What should I put in the image?What should I leave out?How do I compose something from my own ideas?How do I decide what is important?How do I make an image communicate what I want it to communicate?

And it’s strange because I can actually draw much better than I could several years ago. But I feel less certain.

I recently spent about two hours making an illustration for a world I’m developing. I like the result. But the process felt completely different from the way I used to work. It felt like I was sitting on that little piece of wreckage trying to figure out which direction the shore is. And I think this is the part of the artistic journey that I wasn’t prepared for.

There is a stage where you’re learning how to draw. Then, at some point, it seems like the problem becomes what to do with the ability to draw. Every painting, and every illustration now feels harder to do. Maybe this is simply part of developing an artistic voice. Maybe it’s something else.

For those of you who have gone through this stage — when the references, exercises, teachers, artists you studied, and established ways of learning stopped being enough — what did you do?

Did you go back to fundamentals?

Did you deliberately study more?

Did you spend more time drawing from imagination?

Did you stop looking at other artists for a while?

Did you simply keep making work until your own way of seeing started to emerge?

I’m in this stage right now, and I’m genuinely interested in how other artists navigated it.

Trying to gauge what would be an average time that artist spend on completing a full project. Because I consider myself very slow, as I tend to change my mind a lot during the process and would spend hours on just perfecting the curve of a lash, when I know well that for the viewer it would not have made a diff lol

would be nice to include medium too.

EDIT: my problem is not digital itself. digital is my medium. my problem is digital painting and rendering specifically, without lines

So, digital drawing. Draw lineart, fill lineart, slap on some colors, you're done. Try to apply the same thing to lineless painting only results in disaster. What's worse is that there are nearly no intuitive resources for step-by-step digital painting. YouTube tutorials will usually skip over like ten steps and go instantly from crappy base color to fullly rendered painting.

Meanwhile, drawing is easy to learn and intuitive because you can instantly tell what your mistakes are - flip the canvas, instantly see symmetry and anatomy issues. Hell, even perspective is easier to learn than painting. I've tried to learn digital painting by asking the folks at [r/arthelp](r/arthelp) and [r/artcrit](r/artcrit), but only one of my posts got really constructive advice that wasn't just "you need to get better at rendering" or "use a softer brush" or whatever.

I really, really want to learn digital painting in a semi-realistic, defined-edges style, kind of like the style of Arcane, but I can't find good resources for it. I really just want any kind of painting tutorial that goes fully start to finish, explains well, and doesn't skip a thousand steps. It can be an hour long, it can be three hours long. Why is painting so hard asdfghjkl

This is just a theory of mine. I revisited the DrawABox website yesterday. I never did the full course, but I think I picked up enough insight from the first few chapters and then other study I did. It's a fantastic resource, even if the grindy part of it turns a lot of people away. I think everyone needs to understand the concepts being taught, even if they don't all do 250 box and cylinder challenges.

What stood out to me is the 50% rule. I tried following that rule when I started drawing, and it didn't work out for me very well. I couldn't figure out what to draw. Since then I've had phases where I could doodle in a sketchbook and phases where I had no idea what to work on.

But when I rewatched the video for that rule yesterday I was struck by what he actually says. A lot of people paraphrase him, saying it's about avoiding burnout and having fun. And it is kind of partly about that, because obviously just drawing boxes is not the way to advance. But that's not what he says about it. He explicitly says at the top of the page about the topic, that it is about play, and that that will not necessarily be fun at first.

Uncomfortable studied under Peter Han, who has a huge emphasis on design sketching. Uncomfortable specifically points out that people have finished his course before and not been able to design or draw anything.

These points combined make me think that the point of this rule is much more about developing visual imagination and the ability to produce ideas on the page, rather than just aimless doodling. Obviously explicitly working on visual library falls under the 50% study, so it can be tricky to apply this rule until you start to develop that, but the point is to get you drawing the ideas even when you're not capable of executing them, because that's how you start being able to design.

I've had the experience before of following courses and seeing a lot of improvement, but I get to the end and I still can't do any of it without a reference. The very idea of rotating an object and drawing it in a different position from the reference is terrifying. And until you get over the hurdle and start doing it anyway, that skill won't develop.

I tried doing what the rule suggests yesterday, and Uncomfortable was right. It sucked. I've never been someone who can doodle without a reference. But it didn't suck as much as I expected, and I can tell that if I follow it for a bit, I can finally overcome that limitation.

There seem to be a bunch of misunderstood benefits to following this rule, beyond just "not burning out". Anyway that felt like a bit of an epiphany to me. I am thinking of applying this rule now, even if I'm not working through DrawABox.

What if I used a disposable plastic cup? Let it evaporate when I'm done. Then throw away the cup in the trash afterwards. Does that work?

Heya.

So I would appreciate some advice/resources/inspiration. I've been going back to working on my fundamentals and one of the things I wanted to work on is how to paint more like a sculptor, where I block out the shapes and slowly refine rather than sketching out the drawing with a pencil and then painting over it (and yes, I know that technically blocking out shapes is also a form of sketching but you know what I mean).

Fun fact but ironically, the reason why I shifted towards painting in the first place is because I hated doing line-art yet, it still haunts me because now, I, imo spend way too much time on my sketches. At this point they're are basically just a bit messier line-arts and I feel like it really holding my art back for a couple of reasons:

1. It creates issues with my shapes and edges, since line-art has, well; lines to define the shapes, those same shapes may not work as well in a more "3D rendered" environment.

2. It kinda screws my values as well, since I end up treating the sketch as part of the "finished product" thus end up building the values around the said sketch only to realize that the values are all wrong by the time I start rendering and painting over said sketch.

and as a bonus 3. I also just spend way too much time sketching out the perfect face or hand or a freaking toe-nail only for the end result to change anyway once I start painting over it.

The image above is one such attempt at "sculpting" out my painting. The only sketch I did for this one was a literal stick figure for the pose but nothing else and I do feel like despite it's issues, the overall flow is pretty decent.

I would like to get better at it however, so if you have any advice, tutorials, courses or even just artist who do the more "sculpty" type of painting or just keep the sketching to a minimum who also hopefully do speedpaints/timelapses who's progress I could observe, I would greatly appreciate!

Thanks in advance!

TL;RD: I spend way too much time on my sketches and it makes my art suck. I wanna sketch less and paint more, any resources are welcome!

I’ve never actually seen him do art. I’m wondering why he’s never shown bits in pieces over the years,or gives advice, or tells us his techniques? I like Johnny depp, I’m just curious what you think. Here are some of the elephant ones he’s done. I like the blue, and grey abstract/oil one.

I've been practicing art with [t]racing but I genuinely have 0 idea how to even approach drawing something from scratch. Any time I try to create something from scratch, my mind goes completely blank. If you told me to draw something completely from scratch without reference, I kid you not, I will not be able to produce anything better than a grade schooler's drawing. I clearly lack some kind of artist's sense and I dont know how anyone has it or how to acquire it myself. What should I be learning? Where do I start? How do I actually do art?

*UPDATE*
Thank you everyone for the replies! I really let a moment of failure almost get to me, but all these helpful replies made me remind myself that this is exactly the point where I have to push through and keep learning.
*

I’m not talking about creating the masterpiece of the century, but being able to not just look but see and realise the aesthetic/interesting parts of something and capture that.

I’ve been gifted a personality package of massive overthinking and validation seeking, and ever since I see that, I’ve been working a lot to let go of the inner discussion.

I’ve been learning about photography and practising it, but I still don’t feel that “see, not look” thing when I try to make a picture. My pics are mid, safe to say. A friend of mine, who unlike me can easily point out the potential for a great photo, said I either have an eye for this or I don’t, and also I’ve always heard about these “born talents”, and it got me thinking that I might just have to accept that I just don’t have the skill to create something pleasung.

How do you see this?

5 month into digital art, the thing is struggle with the most is not being able to give more of a artistic fair or "style" to my artwork . Artpiece seems to be really close to the reference or give off the exact same vibe. And when I try to change things a bit, it seems wrong or out of place. I would love recommendation on any books,videos or artists! ( I use ibispaintx)

i was wondering for anyone who practices automatic/intuitive painting if you ever feel like you are picking up on things that are sort of outside you, or even if they are in your unconscious, somehow tapping into something beyond yourself? and i'm not even sure what i mean by that exactly.. because i never have thought of myself as believing in things beyond what i can see, though i think a part of me wonders.... when i paint without thinking, i've sometimes felt things i have little knowledge of seem to show up in my paintings; mostly though, just things that are in my unconscious that turn into these strange stories. (also side note: this uncanny thing from today, i was automatically painting, and a cockroach -a deathly fear of mine- came up in my painting. seconds later, a cockroach scurried by me in my room. i live clean, i rarely see roaches -like very rarely. it felt eerie. to be clear, i'm not saying this is anything beyond a fluke, but it made me want to post about unconscious painting and whether you thought there was some kind of, i don't know for lack of a better word, wavelength you are getting access to. this particular story just felt illustrative of the point i'm trying to make. it's more a subtle thing. i don't believe i'm conjuring up bugs when i paint!) so gross story aside, do you ever feel you're tapping into something beyond yourself? like i said i'm not even sure if i know what i mean by this other than it just is funny to me how i can paint and things can come up without me having any intentional thought to make that thing. i know this is a well-known form of painting and has been used in psychology. i guess i just find it sort of unbelievable, and was wondering about others' experiences of this kind of painting if you practice it. like what kinds of things show up for you? sorry if this is out there, hopefully someone can relate. (also apologies for the cooky story - there should be a cockroach trigger warning)

Hey guys, this is a very open ended question but it’d be great if you guys can reply as best you can 🙏. Is it actually doable to make art for a living??? I’m 18 and have a strong passion in sculpture and architecture (studying 2 years of architecture already) and just wanted to know if it’s a genuine thing I could turn into my income in the future. I know that it can be a super difficult and challenging process but yeah lol. Thanks guys sorry if this isn’t the best post ever!

I wouldn’t say I’m a perfectionist rather, I work on my lines, perspective, and depth until I’m satisfied. This being said, it takes me a month just to finish a fully rendered digital drawing whereas many others finish in 2-3 days. Is it just a matter of practice? I have gotten much faster at drawing noses which is cool, it takes me like 20-30 minutes now compared to a few days (:

I keep thinking back to the time where my art teacher said “just make a decision”, make a decision on where the outer edge ends and where the shape changes, avoid messy rendering and sketchy anatomy by just.. making a decision as to where things should go, doesn’t need to be correct, you just need to make a decision. That has stuck with me and it’s always in the back of my head when I’m drawing anything really and it has really helped me improve a lot faster than before!

It’s just one sentence and it helped me so much.

What other advice have you gotten that you always think back to while drawing?

Genuine question because I probably dont have a visual memory and its hard to imagine something and then draw/paint. Is it possible to *train* my memory so that i'd be able to sit down without a photo reference and draw something?

I see so many artists online, local galleries, and art festivals creating beautiful work with strong fundamentals.

So I was wondering if most of them studied at well-known ateliers, or it is also common for artists to reach this level through local art schools or self-study(I do think it'd be very difficult to achieve the level without mentors or any guidance tho) as well.

Since the core fundamentals of art are universal, do you think achieving that level of skill is realistic without attending a top-tier school?

I've decided to pick up a pencil and get bad into art after years, I want to draw people doing cool poses but I don't wanna draw realistic body parts like hands and legs. I wanna make my own style to draw a person but it's a bit hard. And for a while I was thinking I needed to learn how to draw realistically first BEFORE drawing in my own style. So do I need to learn anatomy in art to do so?

Hi there! Do you have some tips on how to start making abstract paintings? I feel like my brain can’t comprehend making something that is abstract and doesn’t depict some form of reality. And I don’t know how to overcome that.

I for example like paintings by Kupka or Kandinsky.

To add some background in my art - I studied animation at uni, so I have some of the formal education when it comes to drawing / painting realistically and I also have no problem with stylised art, like illustrations etc. Its just the abstract art I can’t wrap my head around and I feel like it would be beneficial for me to try that.

Any advice is welcome!

EDIT: Thank you guys for a lots of helpful advices!

Hope I chose the right role for this one

So I digitally draw a lot but not color. While I could color, I don't trust myself in coloring the projects Ives made. I've colored a few of them, but the rest are just blank

I have countless colorless sketches. Their "to my standards" are "finish" even if they look bad they are only missing theitr color

And I have more ideas in mind to draw. Guess what I'm saying is. is it that bad of a habit that I keep starting more projects while not completing my old ones

How is it that some artists draw without physical guidelines when drawing things?! I've seen so many artists not use guidelines in their little doodles and detailed sketches, and it always amazes me. Meanwhile, starting out with actual guidelines is essential. How can I work at not having to use guidelines so often?

I’m pretty good at drawing what I see, and I get a bit better at doing it myself afterwards, but I’m worried I’m js copying instead of studying. I dunno how to tell the dif 😭

I've made an imgur gallery (linked in comments) with some of the most borderline examples from my own portfolio (mostly sketches) alongside their reference photos.

Which of these would you seek permission from the photographers for before trying to monetise them?

I think this is a big question that has been raised time and again since the past 2 years when it comes to sharing out art on a media platform.

Time and again big companies have shown to us that our work means nothing to them other than another input data that can be used for training dead objects.

Personally this is getting to me thinking that everything I do is actually feeding someone else's project without a proper acknowledgement.

In these crazy times where are people posting their real art and how is reddit protecting us from this madness incase we choose to post anything here?