Fear is the mind killer
#1
Hello Daggers,

Been lurking for a bit, thought I might as well say hello although I don't have much to contribute to the community as of yet.

At 38 I decided that I would like to fulfill an old dream of mine of becoming a concept artist. I've had no real prior training in this field, so I definitely have my work cut out for me. I work in health care full time, and spend the rest of my days drawing.

Reading through the many great sketchbooks here on this site has been a great source of inspiration, thank you for that. And its quite motivating to see everyone's progress. Hope one day to have something worthy of sharing.

So far, the two biggest things I've learned is, it comes down constant reflective practice and Visualization of form (caps intended as I find this is key for me). Now if I could only do it consistently...

As for my biggest hurdles, if I had to say, it would likely be rushing through practice at times, losing focus (autopilot), lack of structure and diversity in practice (as in i'll spend a whole day/week focusing on one thing and one thing only i.e.: lines), very little life drawing (close to 0), a sense of having poor control over my lines (i.e.: how I intend the line to look and how it ends up doesn't always match, especially with curves), poor visual library. Also I noticed sometimes I find myself being fearful, the thing is I can't tell whether i'm afraid of doing poorly (unlikely as I expect to do poorly at this stage) or of actually doing well or better than expected... is it that i'm afraid of doing something nice and not being able to repeat it? I don't quite get why I feel this way at times, it doesn't really impact me as I just power through it anyways but its been interesting.

Currently i'm taking Dynamic Sketching 1 at CGMA, and slowly going through Proko's figure drawing course (still at the beans, had a hard time with gesture), also got the Hampton's figure drawing book (yay for a method to the madness...)  and Framed Ink (looks like a nice read on composition) on the way from amazon which i'm excited to dig into. I have the pdfs of all of Loomis books (thanks to that nice fellow that been hosting it for years), and a very nice little book on perspective called Perspective made Easy.

Any suggestions for other resources useful for someone at the early stages as myself is most welcomed.
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#2
Welcome fellow newcomer! 


Working under any position in the medical field is a tough gig. If you can make it there, you can make it as an artist. It's never too late to start. I can relate as I work as a medical transcriptionist, and it has been a long process of training myself to find the time to draw - mindfully.
It would be great to see some examples of where you're at and what we can help you with to get stared. Have you posted a Sketchbook? I'm also working on figures and gestures, and happy to work along side you!

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#3
Welcome! I started self teaching seriously around 34 while working full time. Managed to go fulltime freelance at 37, so it is totally doable, not that time or age matters at all.
Sounds like you have a fair sense of what to work on.

I recommend Dorien Iten's gumroads (0+) and drawabox.com is always a good one to send people to for drawing fundamentals, not dissimilar to the dynamic sketching course.
Ernst Norling is good, more in depth Industrial Design constructive techniques can be found in Scott Robertsons How to Draw, which is good on perspective for vehicle / mechanical design, more technical approach than intuitive.
Croquis cafe on youtube for timed actual life drawing poses.
Schoolism has cheap online self directed courses as does new masters academy.

if you want to do concept design, start early on learning about, practicing and creating actual designs and working the design process, ideally through working on your own personal mini projects rather than only on random stuff. Don't wait to get technically good in fundamentals first before trying to design things.

Start a sketchbook, and/or start to get some feedback on your work through other channels as you go. Feedback is going to be key for you early on.

Good luck!

 YouTube free learnin! | DeviantArt | Old Folio | Insta
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#4
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Thank you both for the warm welcome!

@AEBL Ah nice to meet another medical professional with a taste for art! i'm a nurse myself, and can definitely relate to trying to find the time and the right set of mind to practice efficiently, but I do what I can. I haven't posted a sketchbook yet as i'm not sure I have much to showcase for critique as of yet. Lines, ellipses, perspective exercises and the occasional gesture/mannequin has been my bread and butter for the last few months. Maybe I'll post a few of my early sketches just to get it started but they are horrible.

@Amitt Dutta Thank you for showing me that it is possible. You are an inspiration. I've always enjoyed the learning path and been a permanent student all my life so I know in the end it comes down to how much you focus and put into it, just a question of reminding myself of that and not letting the frustrations of the early steps drag you down.
I got dorien's gumroads and went through it yesterday, very useful!
I do have Robertson's How to draw (forgot to list it on the original post) and gone through the early chapters, but I put it on hold as it overlaps a bit with dynamic sketching. Probably revisit it after my CGMA course for the more technical bits.
I used to just freely sketch and design things, but since I started focusing on the fundamentals I confess I completely stopped doing that. I'll start adding in the occasional loose sketch and concept in between forms and contours :).

I'll set up a sketchbook with my early sketches, and i'll add any studies, concepts and work to it going forward. I will definitely appreciate any feedback you guys may have.
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#5
Welcome to the forum Shalis :)

Sounds like you're already travelling down a good path with dynamic sketching. I've been dipping in and out of that stuff myself from drawabox.com and various other resources and can say that it has really helped me construct and understand forms. I have the How To Draw book as well and have really found it useful.

Good luck with your goals!

“Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day.” -- H. Jackson Brown Jr.

CD Sketchbook



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#6
@ArtLoader
Thank you, I appreciate all the warm welcomes. You guys are all a great inspiration for me.
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