Feeling "stuck" or like I'm going backwards, help?

Please read the entire post first!

I have been drawing for 10+ years. Over the last 2 years, I tried to go especially hard on studies and practice. I have specific goals, I'm practicing frequently, I have taken classes, I'm not self-taught, I tried Draw A Box already, I've read all these textbooks and watched all of these YouTube videos, - but I feel like I'm 'stuck' and / or going backwards. I am not interested in motivational / mindset advice so much as trying to identify and fix the problem.

I'm also not looking for critique about my line confidence; I know I have issues, but I haven't found much that helps. I'm not drawing from my wrist (I wear a wrist brace, which makes it pretty hard to).

These are some 1-minute some practices. The first is from 2023. The second is from a few months ago. The third is from today.

This extends to longer timers, untimed drawings, and personal art as well, but I'm using these as examples because they're similar. Taking breaks hasn't helped much (also sorry about the tone of my post; I have gotten a lot of unsolicited or unrelated advice and want to be as clear as possible).

• Icouldntthinkofaname edited this post on August 4, 2024 5:27pm.

It looks like you've gotten MILES better in the way of gestures and fluidity. In my experience learning the different skills in the artistic field, it's really hard to integrate the concept of fluidity while remembering structure. Maybe you could try focusing on one skill per practice (form, lines, gesture), and try to integrate all of those in a drawing once you are a bit more confident with each skill.

I found that my portraits had to get a lot more abstract before I started learning what I could take liberties with and what immediately made the drawing look off. I want to get to a point where I can imitate renaissance and impressionism era art, but I am nowhere near that, and thats ok!! I can look at so much interesting art and try so many new things in between the serious learning.

My only recommendation is to avoid looking at your art as if you're the critic for a while. You can go back and analyze it all later, but I can imagine the stress you're putting on yourself by trying to achieve perfection at all. I find that if I have time set aside to look at everything with a more critical eye, my drawing practice can be easier. Because if I don't like how it's going, I can look at why later, but for now, I just need to finish the timed drawing.

I do want to add that no advice provided under a forum post OR in ur DM's in response is "unsolicited" advice. Everyone who responds wants to help and if you need more one-on-one structure, maybe a mentor would work better for you. Looking at local artists who do things yyou enjoy and attend an art showing or something. Mentoring artists as an artist is how people used to learn.

There isn't a requirement to be a professional to use this website/forum, so if you are looking for advice in the craft of creating art, find artists you like, and look at how they progressed, or ask how they became satisfied with what they produced. For example, I have a diploma in digital art and new media, so I can only provide help when it comes to what I learned there and from experience.

If you're interested in seeing where I'm at with my practice, DM me, but I'm 15 years in and still spend most of my art practice on mental work.

Hope this helps!

i think imgur is down because i can't access the pictures you linked atm! i'm commenting to try to remember to check it out later, see if it works then. i won't share any mindset advice, but just wanted to echo your frustration, i've also been drawing for 10+ years and have started going harder and being more consistent with the practice over the past two years. so even if i haven't seen what you linked, your post was very relatable for me lol. checking in later, hopefully imgur will work by then.

Hey noname,

I agree with Remyaliyssa that there is quite a bit of improvement visible in the pictures you posted. You seem to have gotten much more comfortable with construction and having the body appear as connected solid masses.

You still seem very frustrated and ask how to 'fix the problem.' The pictures you posted are 1-minute studies. In my personal experience, these extremely short time figure drawings do not look very pretty (for lack of a better term) for all but the most elite artists or at least those that focus on this discipline specifically. If you want to improve on these quick poses, what helped me was establishing a system of what to draw in what order (e.g., head, neck, spine, stretched side, pelvis direction, etc.) to get more consistent results. Also, not only representing the three-dimensional mass but incorporating the more abstract shapes that result from (core) shadows can give you a more finished look. However, I always found one single minute super steep of a climb to get anything representable. Mine start taking shape from 5 minutes onward. The only other way is actually getting down with anatomy as much as you can.

It is hard for me to give you advice (aside from 'hang in there,' which you said you did not need) beyond that, as my own experience with improvement in drawing and painting was always setting my mind on one specific thing (e.g., composition, lighting, anatomy, etc.) I wanted to learn and working on that almost exclusively for some time. You mention that as well, but don't say what these goals are or where you are at (maybe post some of your finished work?).

The only other thing that I can mention is that after grinding on a subject for months, actually putting your skills to the test by doing a proper painting where everything comes together might give you a confidence boost. This usually works for me. Like do something fun with it and go nuts.

And although you don't want to hear it, I'll still say it: don't be so hard on yourself, your doing great. ;)

Hi. I like the advice above, about finding artists that you like, and seeing how they work. You could even try to find half a dozen gesture drawings by different artists that you admire, and copy them as closely as possible. Same materials, same marks, same shading. Then compare that experience with how you're currently drawing, and see if there's anything that your favorite artists are doing or not doing that is different from how you've been drawing, and see if you can work on that in your own drawings.

If that doesn't help, maybe try changing materials for awhile. Do gestures in watercolor or charcoal or pastel, and see if that helps you move past the stuck feeling.

Good luck!

Thanks all! Made the post in a fit of frustration and genuinely appreciate the responses.

@Remyalyssa glad to hear that ! I've been doing more structure lately, but I'm having trouble getting the two to mesh, timer or no timer. I don't have a mentor but I try to get more specific advice, and go to forums and the like when I'm stumped. Asking artists I like isn't much of an option (I draw more stylized / anime-esque, so most of my inspirations don't speak English, and the ones that do either haven't replied or only have their emails open for business and commission inquiries). I'd definitely be interested in your practice!

@Cafeaulait The frustration is real! Good luck to both of us, lol.

@Mahatmabolika I do have a system, but it can be hard to stick to it (I try to start with action lines / torso, but I've drawn the head first for years and fall into that really easily). Any advice on the abstract shapes? I also try to focus on one thing at a time, but it's easy to forget what I was doing before when I do, so I've been trying to get as much as possible out of whatever practice I decide to do. I'm having a lot of trouble with the things coming together part (I jumped back into these after a short break, but during that time I was working on more construction, and both feel like they're getting harder, lol).

Re: goals, technically speaking I want to not have to think too hard about posing or proportions or making things look more dimensional, but broadly it's just to get more comfortable and go back to doing personal work (it's been nothing but studies for a while - I don't have any recent finished work beyond simple portraits / headshots). Also I still appreciate the encouragement! It's just frustrating to ask a more technical question and hear "keep trying you'll get there" in place of advice, but in addition to it is something else. Someone on here told me to try meditation once.

@Quiet Katt I mostly work digitally, but I do similar excercises for other things! I do these traditionally and mostly in pen so I don't Ctrl+Z constantly.