General Discussion

So what motivates you to do art?
And any good books on animal sketching/anatomy, or tutorials on photoshop painting?

I'm trying to shift from traditional art to digital art and I can't really figure out photoshop haha

And I just can't motivate myself to draw in recent months.


(kinda ranty)
In highschool I decided to take part in art training that was aimed at entering art schools, my sole goal was to enter the top art school in China (because the other art schools are not as good as random "normal" universities I can enter). The training took quite some time, I made some improvements however my normal grades dropped. Before grade three when we would undergo the most intense training, my family realized entering the top art school was too risky for me, so I quitted the training. My grades already dropped considerably, however I was lucky enough to get a fairly good score in college entrance examination and got admitted to a not-so-bad university.

So I'm in college and I have more free time than highschool, but I just can't reclaim the passion and my skills after I stopped drawing for a year. I feel that my training went in vain, everytime I tried to draw, my drawings are far from what I desired, and I don't know how to improve them. When I think I should practice (I still keep some of my art textbooks) I will always be reluctant because I feel I could do some more meaningful/fun things during that time. This frustrates me.

When I checked out the gorgeous art done by my previous classmates in art class, I felt the gap between us which is impossible to fill. I doubt my decisions in highschool, what would I be if I didn't give up my art training? And if I didn't even choose to attend art classes in the first place, I would definitely be in a much better university now...

Normally I just start drawing. Lately I’ve been playing around with this and it’s been giving me pretty good drawing ideas (albeit ones that I am incapable of doing).

And if it makes you feel any better? I’ve been drawing as a hobbyist for years. I still draw like I’m ten. It’s not good, but it’s not bad, either. Saying that it seems like you learned how to draw professionally, it has to be better than my art.

Hi, just want to say, you don’t have to use photoshop you can get a lot of art programs to use,

Hey! If you can't motivate yourself to complete fully inked and colored images, quick doodles testing out features in the program or general warmups are great!

Never compare yourself to other artists because you never know the experience they have! I mean, I saw a girl selling prints of incredible art with near perfect anatomy and shading that was far above my skill level, but then I learned she has been drawing for twelve years compared to my five. Another reason is just that artist are always doing their own thing, producing in their own individual styles. It may help you to research influential artists of the past and see that even though they all vary widely, they're all still appreciated equally.

-What motivates you to do art?
Music, my gigantic insistence to get better at it, my entire folder collection of inspiration and other stuff that I forgot.
Photoshop isn't the only drawing program in existence. You can use free programs like Medibang, Firealpaca, Paint Tool SAI, etc.
Do not. Do not compare yourself to others. Different artists have different skill levels and experience. I've seen a mother on Reddit showing a drawing of realistic Thanos made with markers by her kid and at their age I didn't know crap about anatomy.
If you want to improve, I suggest you to just keep on drawing. Practice everyday, you'll get there.

@PinkRose06

That is so cool I am going to have to play with that later to figure out how to use it!

For motivation,

Things that helped me were self care
and taking it slowly, focusing on the things I wanted to draw instead of the things I felt I needed to draw.

When I thought of drawing, I didn't think about "fun", I thought about "work"

Sure we can get really good at drawing by focusing on anatomy, still lives, ext, but that's work and it feels like work and all I ever did was "work" which killed my motivation to keep drawing, I got burnt out and I lost years I could've been spending getting better at art.

Art for me needs to be "fun" and it hadn't been fun for a long time. I had to take it slowly and rediscover what I liked about drawing. Just playing around, drawing the things I wanted to draw, not trying to git good.

Eventually I started having fun again, then I added some practice on top of it, but I try not to make it all practice and when I feel tired, stop for the night or switch to a drawing I think is more fun.

Whenever I'm really in a bad art block, I'll look up different kinds of bugs, animals, and plants and make designs based around those! Some things I've done in the past include night sky petunias, dahlias, multiple moths and butterflies, and pink robins.

Besides that, I use music a lot. Find a playlist that calms you or matches the theme of the drawing you're going for. Sad drawing? Sad music. Happy drawing? Happy music. I always need background noise to concentrate on drawing, but music always can be an inspiration.

Music is a huuuuge motivational tool for me when it comes to art. I just put on a playlist for what my mood is at the time and sketch away. If that doesn't work, I'll flip through my phones gallery or browse tumblr/pinterest for photos until I find one that sparks my creativity.

For me, I get inspiration from many things -