Mahatmabolika的論壇貼

Hey Aunt,

hope you got through your late shift alright.

you're bringing up a lot of different subjects, albeit really deep ones, so I'm focussing on the drawing related ones to stick to the forum topic.

I agree with the addiction as a cover-up thing, though. Also, giving too much space and time to the mind to figure out a why, a what and then judging all the time is the biggest cock blocker of humankind, tainting literally everything. I found adressing it at this basic level (mind = self-absorbed radio of doom) the only way to get it under control. Don't negotiate with (grandiose) terrorists.

I find time-spend-drawing a really nonsensical measure for quality of practice. Similar to time-spent-cooking-a-meal it says next to nothing about how good it is. There is a minimum viable timeframe (literally like 5 minutes) but 10 minutes of focussed anatomy study go further than 5 hours of mindless scribble or even worse, repeating mistakes over and over.

Your idea of lack-of-clear-goals is quite interesting. It made me think: the tasks you propose all focus on direct technical aspects of a piece (proportions, perspective etc) and not on a purpose beyond that (like conveying a mood, message or anything else that you would want to be invoked in the viewer). The other half of the dichotomy of great art (as opposed to skill) is the expression, the artist's voice. One might even argue it is much more important than craftsmanship. Maybe focus on having fun and going nuts instead of just counting the time grinding poses. Get out of the comfort zone.

Hey Jotty,

great job for getting back to practicing!

The IMGUR link you provided seemed dead, so I'm commenting on the two sample pics you posted.

While the effort you put in is admirable, I doubt this will have the desired effect of improving your craftsmenship, that you are looking for. Doing very short drawings mainly improves gesture and linework (or 'looseness' for lack of a better term). Your lines actually look pretty good already, even in the first drawing you did. Not the 'chicken scratch' style you see in most beginners (I had to work on getting rid of it for years myself). Also the gesture and proportions of the ape in the second picture aren't bad at all. If you want to put in 90 minutes a day (which is a challenging plan starting from zero – don't be too hard on yourself and aim for consistency rather than intensity) I would do like 10 of these as a warm-up and then focus on a specific goal that you set for yourself (anatomy, values, perspective, composition...) for the rest of that time.

Also I would suggest not putting a huge anime character and your name in front of your work if you are looking for critique. It is kind of distracting. If you want a funny figure there, I would use one, that is actually drawn by yourself and not some other artists work. But that's just my opinion. You do you :)

Hope this helps! Keep going!

• Mahatmabolika edited this post on June 23, 2024 10:10am.

Hey Aunt,

i feel you. Been struggling with the same issue for a long time.

I used to be an avid gamer as well (still play from time to time but my graphics card is shit, which acts like a welcome inhibitor). Used to have an insane gamer score on xbox and was always good at just grinding – xp, gear or another made-up value – make number go up.

I also have been drawing all my life but only started to take it seriously during the last 5 years. Did the draw-a-box as well. Figure/gesture drawing. I am almost through the proko anatomy course which I never thought possible – knowing what an extensor carpi ulnaris is and starting to be sort of OK at hand drawing... fucking amazing. Still very far from any kind of mastery, though.

That said, I always felt, deep within, that the act of drawing/painting/practicing tapped into a similar mindset as grinding or for that matter even 'just playing' a video-game, which I didn't even enjoy some of the time but did anyways and quite effectively for that matter. After years of practive I am starting to be able to use that energy for drawing as well. Don't get me wrong, that's like one in ten times but I am starting to get better at it.

There were two factors that made it possible for me:

Psychological weight: I (as I guess many other unfortunate souls in our society) have always used 'performance' as a sorry substitute for naturally inherent self-worth. I had to be good at everything and even if I won by a mile I would barely feel OK for a short time. Never there, never OK, never satisfied. Numbers lend themselves very well to satisify this addiction, hence the whole video game thing, but also 'how long did you draw', 'how long is everybody else drawing' and even worse: how 'good' are you at drawing. Drawing 'realistically' (which strangely is the measure most people – especially laymen – use to determine the quality of a picture) is a very difficult thing to learn as it just takes a long time, but you know that. For me the hardest thing was to deal with the ever occuring failure as it implied not just a shit drawing but a shit me. Every picture I made – no matter how small - had to be perfect, presentable, impressing to other people. Working under this pressure of course was unsustainable for any longer stretch of time. I sometimes had to quit after literally seconds.

How did I overcome this? Drawing for the trash can. Get the cheapest paper you can find. I used A3 copy paper. Ideally use an unerasable pen or just don't erase any lines. Then do your studies and literally throw away all you draw, no matter how nice it came out. Focus on the process (as in state of mind, state of emotions) as the practice goal, not the drawings. If you have to adjust an obvious mistake, repeat the pose (or whatever you draw) from scratch. Do not adjust anything you already did. This practice lowered the 'value' of the indivudual sketch from self-worth-defining ordeal, to a random skribble and lowered the voice that would scream in my head to a level, that I could stand for longer than 5 minutes – and I went from there.

The other factor is a lot less spectacular but a strong one nonetheless: Keep your dopamine in check. Gaming, porn but even worse social media and youtube (my worst vice) are made to bombard your brain with dopamine. Your mind becomes a five year old only child, juiced up on sugar and narcissism. Of course you won't be able to concentrate on a pristine and mindful task as crafting a picture for hours on end or studying anatomy and the like. Detox. Be bored. Go for a walk without your mobile phone and without music. Just sit there. Anywhere. Just be. Make time and space for 'nothingness'. This really feels like shit initially but worked wonders for me.

All of this said: sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Be kind to yourself, man. You should be very proud of what you have achieved. You have already proven you can do it, for sticking with it for this long. Just keep going. Be patient and enjoy the ride.