Newsletter For Artists

 

#134 - THIS Is Part Of Your Creative Routine Too

When you do not feel like drawing, do this instead.

On the desk, you see a sketchbook, my favorite pens within reach, reference images, an iPad for putting on reference images, YouTube, Netflix, or Spotify, a headset, an art book that inspires me to draw if I need it, reading glasses, and there is a comfy chair.

#133 - As You Create Art, Consciously Notice How Various Aspects Of It Make You Feel

And what makes you feel better!

You’re an adult, and you want to learn a new skill. You go in search of information. Say you like to learn to draw. The advice you see everywhere is to draw every day and practice fundamentals.

#132 - Seek Not To Create Beauty, But To See Beauty In What You Create

Curate what you pay attention to.

You can choose the stories about your art you want to listen to. Listen to the ones that you control, the ones that make you happy and keep you motivated.

#131 - The Opposite Of A Good Rule Can Also Be A Good Rule

Or What happens when you “break the rules.”

I see attempts at rule-following in art a lot. People want to know the right proportions of humans and such, the idea that if you follow the rules, you will make great art.

#130 - Do Not Just Look Up Art Tutorials Online, Also DO Them If You Want To Become A Better Artist

Bookmarking tutorials is just a form of procrastination.

Rembrandt just had access to a few prints his master owned. He learned by copying these. Look at all the information we have at our disposal now! Any image ever made is one click away, as are all the books ever written. Teachers put out vast amounts of information.

#129 - A Free New Drawing Workbook Is Now Available On My Website

A workbook with great warm-up drawing exercises that are short, fun, help you improve quickly and result in great sketchbook pages.

The drawing workbook is centered around daily warm-ups and quick memory drawing exercises to start the creative day, which should take only fifteen to thirty minutes each day. It consists of twelve types of assignments that get progressively harder, and you can go through them at your own pace, staying with one assignment until it becomes too easy or boring, in which case you should move to the next assignment.

#128 - You Get Better At The Things You Repeat, Keep Practicing

So repeat the things you want to become better at!

You shouldn’t do exactly what I do—you most likely have other creative goals—but instead, focus on what you want to become good at and practice that a lot.

#127 - Why Amateur Artists Have An Unfair Advantage Over The Professionals

The things you can do when you don’t have a boss!

Going unscripted and improvising is way more fun and usually yields far more expressive, lively, original, and surprising results. You can not do that with customers because they want specific things. But your personal work can be.

#126 - How Going For Wrong Proportions On Purpose Can IMPROVE Your Art

You CAN have fun with proportions.

This one considers whether you should care about “correct” proportions. Spoiler alert: there is no such thing as a “correct” proportion.

#125 - The EASY Drawing Exercise 99% Of You CRAVE

This exercise seems to be popular among art students and I kind of wish it wasn’t.

Among them were the 3D reference models I had on “Practice Drawing This” designed to draw from, as I wanted to take another path.

#124 - Can You Draw Boxes WITHOUT Using Perspective Grids?

I discuss whether you must create a perspective grid with vanishing points to draw believable boxes in three dimensions.

#123 - WHY Should Artists Do Circle And Ellipse Warm-Ups?

A great warm-up routine.

#122 - Another Way To Practice Drawing Boxes That Can Be Very Helpful In Constructing Boxes Quickly Later

I wanted to do them with a particular angle in mind: I wanted to highlight an aspect of the drawing exercise that you might not have considered before.

#121 - Practicing Drawing Organic Forms For Fun And Skill Improvement, And Beautiful Sketchbook Pages

If you do this exercise, it should result in a cool-looking sketchbook page, which is motivating and will make you want to draw tomorrow.

#120 - Practicing Drawing Circles And Ellipses Is A Great Drawing Warm-Up Exercise

You can do it at any time and don’t even need reference for it.

This drawing exercise is a great one because you can always do it, even without reference or inspiration, and improve your hand coordination.

#119 - Start By Drawing Large Shapes, First, And Then Imagine the Form and Fill In The Details

What should you start with, shape or form?

So why freehand draw? Why eyeball it? Several reasons:

#118 - More Heinrich Kley Illustrations From Vergil Eaneis For Artists To Study

You can learn a lot from studying these illustrations.

This book is called Vergil Eaneis and they got hold of number 106 of 990 that were printed. it was published in 1910 so it is in the public domain, and it contains some wonderful illustrations by Heinrich Kley!

#117 - How Artists Can Resist Temptations That Are Unhealthy For Their Art Practice

It does require some effort. For a start, turn off youf phone!

Large corporations create products and services for us that are unhealthy and addictive to maximize their profit.

#116 - Everything In Your Creative Pursuit Can Be Designed, From Your Work To The Way You Work

A fantastic way to look at every aspect of your life.

Design everything about your life and optimize for the things you want to do.

#115 - Certain Parts About Making Art Burn You Out - How To Avoid Burning Out As An Artist

Do things you find fun and relaxing, and try to ignore what you don’t like about your work and how it is received by others.

When you are burned out, it may be just one of the many things you do that is burning you out. You could practice fundamentals too much, for example. Just stop doing that thing that burns you out. Find another creative activity that brings you joy and pleasure and, just as important, leaves you satisfied with the result.

#114 - Make Your Drawing Habits Small Enough To Fit Into Your Life

So that you can always draw.

Making your creative habits small enough to fit into your life is vital. If you stop creating, it is tough to come back and build a creative habit again. But if you make it small, you can keep going. You can carry a small notebook and pen or pencil to write or draw. Or you can even do these on your mobile phone. But keep going.

#113 - Often, You Can Learn Any Craft As Well As Most Others If You Just Seriously Try

You can learn anything.

If you think you can’t draw hands, cars, or feet, that is just a story you tell yourself. You can learn to draw them. It just requires you focusing on it, practicing, trying, figuring out what is going wrong, really paying attention, trying to fix it, and doing that repeatedly in small iterations. That is how you improve skills, how you train your brain to become better at things.

#112 - What You Feel While Drawing - Stoicism, And A Way To Not Feel Bad About Your Art

Don’t feel bad about mistakes.

Because I already know how you feel. You see all the mistakes, and you feel your drawing sucks.

#111 - What You Feel While Drawing - Notice How Background Sounds Influence Your Concentration

What background sounds are best while drawing?

This article will discuss background sounds and how they can be beneficial or detrimental.

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