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Howdy, friend 🙂

Are you struggling with burning out, no motivation, and feeling guilty for not practicing the "right" way?

It’s ok. I don't blame you. This whole "drawing" thing can be real grind sometimes.

After drawing for literally decades (and as a pro) I can tell you 3 things:

Now I know that sounds rather grim. Maybe you're thinking "decades and it still sucks??? why bother?" Well hang on now! Not so fast. What if I told you I found I knew some ways to get good at drawing pain free?

Do you wanna know ‘em? o.o

Do you really wanna know how to improve without even trying? O.O

“ O K “

Here are 3 mental strategies I’ve found useful to keep myself chugging along for years:

We all begin by doodling things we love.

Nobody sits down day one and starts studying art theory before they start drawing. Only a psycho would daydream about the moment they can render a perfect sphere in charcoal.

Be real, you grabbed that pencil for the first time because you wanted to express yourself - whether it was dinosaurs, anime characters, or new OCs. And guess what? That’s perfectly fine.

My first obsession was drawing dinosaurs. I wanted to be a paleontologist until I was 12 - until I learned how little I'd make and how much schooling it would take xd. So being the lazy bastard I am, I decided to obsessively draw psychic pokemon instead.

Heck, I spent most of my teens drawing things for my made up sci-fi universe. I have sketchbooks FULL of characters, maps, and lore without a single sphere or perspective practice to be found.

And yeah yeah yeah... fundamentals like forms and perspective are important. They are essential if you wanna get really good. But you don’t actually NEED to master them to let yourself have fun. In fact, you shouldn’t.

If drawing always feels like a chore, guess what? You won't do it. And if you don’t do it, you will 100%, absolutely never ever get good at it. I promise you will burn out before you get anywhere.

Cuz here’s the truth. You need to draw A LOT to get good at it, and you are WAY more likely to keep doing things that are enjoyable.

So prioritize keeping it fun.

Learn fundamentals as they become relevant to your work.

Now that you’re drawing for fun, you’ll inevitably bump into a situation where what you make looks...”off” - and that’s ok!

Rather than hating who you chose to be today, instead, put the pencil down, take a step back, and calmly ask "hmm why is my drawing off?"

If everything looks off - laugh it off, and keep drawing. F the haters, including you XD

BUT PLEASE!!! Don’t force yourself to spend a month drawing nothing but boxes, spheres, and Loomis heads before you start another piece you actually want to make. Just watch a relevant tutorial or two, practice it for an afternoon, then try to use it into your future work.

You learn best by doing, even if your drawing doesn’t turn out perfect. If you’re stuck on one piece for hours trying to make it a masterpiece, you’ve already lost. The reality is you were never going to get it right, because you don’t know how yet - and that’s ok. It’s all apart of the process. You can try that piece again later when you have more experience.

Remember! If you're struggling, accept that you might not be good enough yet, BUT ALSO ACCEPT that one day you will be good enough!

That’s how you win.

Also, if you want some help with anatomy, I have a lot of poses you can use.

Social media has a lot of potential. It gives you the chance to show your art to literally thousands of people who would not have otherwise ever seen it. Social media is not your enemy. It’s one of the greatest gifts artists and creatives have ever received.

BUT social media also has the potential to be a black hole of abject misery, sucking your soul into the abyss with every post.

I know you see accounts like samdoesarts, ramonn90, or karlkopinski and think "man...I'll never be as good as them. How can I ever make it?"

Well, if you’re worried about your skill hindering getting noticed on social media - stop it.

What you never see when you look at those accounts is the hundreds upon hundreds of hours those artists have practiced their craft. The only difference is they found a way to keep going - day after day after day after day.

So don’t let social media art stars define your worth as an artist. And especially don’t let it dissuade you from drawing.

It means practice should build you up, not break you.

Study when you’re stuck. Study when you’re curious. But DON'T grind away on fundamentals just because you feel like you should. And DON’T feel bad cuz you aren’t.

Even if you take years to start any serious study, those years aren’t wasted - all your doodles will make learning your fundamentals easier later - I promise.

With that, I have only one action step for you:

If you end up drawing just scooby-doo for a month straight, perfect. Yeah, you might end up with 30 janky scooby-doo drawings, but you also just spent a month building your line skills.

Cuz art isn't about improving. Art is about growth, self-expression, and inspiring others.

You want the trick to get good quick? Stop learning, start having fun.

Peace and Love,
Brosatsu