I always liked drawing. I used to draw things in papers when I was younger, like school age. I used to make some pixel art in games that allowed it (Rage Racer on PS1 comes to mind) and my art teacher really got the class hyped up to draw.

Sadly I didn’t go further on it, as High School was just blergh. But now, at the age of 32 (I started last year when I was 31), I find myself paying lessons to learn how to draw. I know a place that teaches drawing that is close to my home so I decided to go there. It’s been very eventful.

The ABC of Drawing

I had to focus on the fundamentals so I could get things to work. And I managed to get some work done. Initially it was really bad, stuff you wouldn’t show to anyone other the people you are paying to oversee your stuff. After almost an year later, I’m confident to show my WIPs but not much more.

I had to learn how to draw people, and that was my real problem. It still is but I’m pretty sure that it’s better now that I understand what to do. I knew perspective techniques, I knew how to draw objects (drawing fridges is cool!) but people never looked right when I attempted before. Now I can say I can draw people without (too many) issues, but of course poses are what kill me.

Hands and feet are also artist killers, mostly because they are incredibly hard to get them right. You can easily make them work in a sketch or something, but to make them work like they are supposed to? Incredibly hard. This is why so many artists don’t do them or make sure they are off the frame, because it’s quite literally one less thing to worry about.

I understand color theory as well but getting it to look just like that good is gonna be what I’ll be focusing on.

“Why not just get Youtube lessons?”

Now you might be asking yourself, ‘Why not get lessons from Youtube or some other free place? You find it everything you need for free!”. Yes, I know but hear me out on this one: I’m not paying for the lessons, I’m paying for a teacher to give me feedback on my issues.

Looking up stuff on Youtube is all fine and good. If you follow the example to a T and it works, that’s good. However, what happens when you follow the example and it doesn’t work out? Are you gonna send the video maker a comment saying that it didn’t work for you? You probably won’t because you won’t get an answer. Or in the case you do get an answer, it’ll be a non-answer.

This is why I’m paying this course, I have an amazing teacher that knows how to draw and can teach me how to draw as well, pointing out the flaws and errors I have with my drawings, as well teach me of tricks and tips on how to do things. Not everything out there works with everyone, so it’s always good to lean on people that do this for a living and get information from them.

“lol just get an artist to help u out ez clap”

This mentality is also incorrect for this solo reason: Artists are people just like me and you. They have their daily issues and problems to solve, and I can’t be hogging someone to give me advice for free on what to do with my drawings. If I show my WIP drawings and they don’t comment on it, I’ll never assume they are good, I’ll just think that they couldn’t bother giving any feedback because they simply can’t.

And as I said, I’m paying for a teacher to teach me, give me feedback. Advice isn’t teaching.

“lol just use AI”

I have used AI. But because AI is incredibly finicky, I’d rather do it myself. AI can be useful on making concepts, because it’s hard to visualize things sometimes. Maybe you want a redheaded vampire male with steampunk clothes, or a blue haired dragon lady with a bikini. Those are easy to think about but hard to visualize as a character. AI can help with those, so you can draw them for real.

I feel like I can improve more

I feel that I’ve not reached the limit of my capabilities. I want to draw more but sometimes I have too much on my table that it’s just hard to do it straight away for several hours. Yes, hours. A drawing isn’t something that takes a few minutes, it can be several hours of work and can be a little frustrating to get poses or body parts just right. However, it’s not time wasted because the end result can be fairly good.

I took a year of lessons and in about 11 months, I’ve seen a big evolution about myself in drawing. I’m going to take another year, maybe more, and see how it’ll work out.

False Expectations

Now you might lack the absence of drawings here. And that’s intentional. I don’t feel like I should show the world what I’ve been doing just yet. Mostly because it’s still all mostly WIPs. Finalizing art is really hard and it just kills me, since getting right here makes the whole difference. I’m still learning how to make colors work right because they are finicky.

I’ve posted my drawings as WIPs and got people asking for commissions (as in, I draw them) and I’m like ‘Woah, settle down son! I haven’t got to that level yet”. So that’s why I’m not showing as much. But once I “git gud”, I’ll be able to share more of my drawings.

To Sum Up

Drawing is fun, drawing is hard, I pay lessons to not listen to randoms on the internet, I can’t do your OC yet.