I feel like I'm not improving

Hello, I am new to the line fo action community and to forums in general, but I find it great to be able to ask questions of people who have the same passion as us, especially when this is not the case with our loved ones. I've been training gesture and anatomy for a while and I decided to redo some drawings from the beginning of January but I feel like I haven't improved and my lines have become shaky. Any advice so that I can finally improve myself is welcome. (the sketches in orange are the ones I did today) Also I'm sorry for the quality of the pictures I hope you'll be able to see something 😅

https://imgur.com/a/lKcJVbC

Good afternoon, Anoob, welcome aboard. I'm Polyvios Animations, and how are you doing today? You know, I think that by looking and rotating your figure sketches you've put out, you are certainly in the right direction, therefore I feel that you have the potential to learn from the best here when it comes to figure studies, but I think that the lines could use a bit more pushing, therefore, they need to be a little bit much dark and tight. How would you like to go over your light drawings in black graphite pencil, using your whole shoulder, while warming yourself up with 10 minutes of 2 minute pose sketches, please.

The logic behind this constructive critique is because if you loosen up your dominant shoulder and non-dominant shoulder, then you'd see your edges more differently than you're used to. Furthermore if your first goal is to be more specific but concrete with your looser drawings, please bring it on. Let's hope this helps and benefits.

Thank you very much for your advice !! If I understand correctly you advise me to redraw over the drawings I made today trying to use all my shoulder and make 10min of 2min sketches? I'm sorry if that's not what you wanted to tell me but I don't speak English, I use translation software to understand and I can't find the right translation of your advice in my language, that doesn't mean anything.

I will try to keep my language simple, so the translation software can more easily work well.

If I undertstand you correctly, the orange sketches are the most recent. If that is true, then I definitely see improvement. They look more three dimensional and the proportions feel more accurate. The lines are sketchier, but you will have to just work on refining that. Sketchy good lines are better than clean lines that are wrong.

Improvement is hard! Especially by yourself! Input from other people helps you learn much faster. Critique on a website like this can do that. The other way to improve more quickly is to concentrate on what you are practicing. As artists who teach themselves, we tend to over read and over research before we create, and try to practice everything. We want accurate anatomy, we want clean lines, we want good shading, we want good faces, and we try to learn that all at once. When you practice art, just pick one of these goals. Or maybe choose something smaller and simpler.

If you are worried about your sketchier lines in your orange drawing, I reccomend taking your time and drawing your lines more accuratly the first time. If you feel like you can't draw the line right in one motion, practice how your hand moves over the paper while you keep you pencil just above the paper. When you feel confident in your movement, then press down and make the mark with your pencil.

I hope my advice has been clear. I think your work is very very good.

Anoob,

Try automatic drawing, draw what is in your head and let it flop onto the page.

Or

Go Cubist for a while. Some of the shapes are used to make different parts of the body. Morphing the bottom of a figure into the upper chest and neck- so it looks like both can be very informative and challenging. It sparks creative thinking and works on your storytelling skills. You don't have to be detailed in your cubist drawing, just work on morphing of shapes.

Why do this? Both these exercises will help you see your art rhythm and create more lifelike dynamic figures in the small parts that make the figure look like it is about to move.

Do each for around 45 minutes before you start your regular drawing routine. If you draw daily for a few hours, you'll see a definite improvement over the next 3-6 weeks.

All of the best,

JCML Fine Art

I actually see improvement. Your orange sketch has more direction to it, the older ones seem more stiff. Don't be discouraged! You can always retrace your own sketch if you want to make a finished drawing out of it without the '"shaky" lines, but I think you are doing really well

Thank you all for your advice and kindness!

Even though I know you don't necessarily say that out of kindness (I hope), knowing that you think I've improved, even if I can't realize it makes me very happy!! I already train several times a week to make random shapes to work on the accuracy of my lines but I will try to do it every day. I absolutely see what you mean Drunkenelf ! I started to learn art seriously again at the beginning of the month and I researched so much that I had no time for practice, and I couldn't remember anything. However, I don't think learning one thing at a time is an effective method. I understand your point of view and you are certainly right but for me there is so much to know in art that, especially if you are self-taught, you cannot afford to perform in one area before moving on to the next. Mastering a single field in art can take years and we always have to learn and as I imagine all the artists in the world I have time constraints to respect to become better otherwise I will unfortunately not be able to live from my passion. I also do cubism but not a lot, I will try to practice more but I don't think I can do 45min before each drawing session, otherwise I will have to shorten my practice time even more. Thanks for trying to motivate me Dark Intent Arts but I don't think I'm really discouraged, I was just a little (a lot) scared that I'm suddenly stopped to improve. I am someone who is used to trusting the process without really asking questions. Given my current level, I don't have the time anyway.

Wow! These drawings are excellent, I love the style and these poses look super solid, dynamic and real, fantastic form. The only thing I noticed is that the head looked a little small, as well as the bent leg. The calf looks too short and the knee should be bigger with foreshortening in mind. On the female forms, the same problem applies to the bent arm. These drawings are genuinely really good though, was searching hard to find something to critique. the style reminds me of superhero illustrations - but with realistic proportions lol. Great job.

Anoob,

If that is too long, why not try this- or morph my former suggestion to fit this arrangement?

Find a notebook with one page for every day of the year.

Mark the day, month and drawing time goal, then draw one figure per page every day.

Mark each book with a note titled 'Drawing Year.....' (Some artists make a rule like this is my 5-minute book-draw one figure for five minutes only. They have multiple books, each with a different time stamp. Some do the same image, with the same time goal- every day for the year.) {These are just suggestions to get you started if you like this idea.}

Select a date and time on your phone 2-4 times a year. Set a reminder and take 15 minutes to flip through the book and, later, old books to see your progress.

I always start with the middle of my books, then the beginning few before looking at my most current draws. If you have a drawing buddy, even better. Swap and share the progress the other sees. It's always a confidence booster.

All the best,

JCML Fine Art

• Jcmlfineart edited this post on May 26, 2023 11:07am. Reason: addressed to the wrong person by mistake

Here check this out, If you are like me, you don't like your drawings smudging. I always draw on the left and leave the right page empty- Meaning each page has a front and back.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Huge-Doodle-Sketchbook-coloured-doodles/dp/B084DGNM6K

Or will it take two years' worth of draws.

Hope this helps

All the best,

JCML Fine Art