... But I'll have to earn them. Last weeks it has been slow to keep drawing consistently and I notice that the practice I had with lines and boxes and whatever goes away quickly when I don't keep drawing. So I set a reward, I have to draw every day for two months, if I do so I can buy oil paints as a rewards. If I fail to draw a day, I have two draw two more extra days. I made a schedule (?) to keep track of the days I drew.
This way I hope to keep drawing, improving skill, which will make the paintings better once I get the paints. I used to set targets, as in X hours a week or X drawings a week, but it was always too much and I ended up stressed and demotivated. So I hope this approach will work better :)
Drawing wise I don't have really a clear goal, I'm not planning on becoming professional, I just want to make pretty stuff. I guess I like illustrations and storytelling. But to do so I need fundamentals and that's what I'll be focusing on the next two months.
Study;
• Basic drawing – Draw a box
• Accuracy – Barque & Studies
• Perspective – Scott Robertson
• Full body Anatomy – Hamption, Proko, Loomis
Put in practice:
• Draw-every-I-mean-EVERY-day
• One illustration a month --> Crimson Crucible
• Figure drawing studies
• Real live practice – Full or partial, practice with water colours
• Barque plate
Draw every day! Draw-draw-draw! Go earn those paints :3
I also tend to overestimate myself while planning...
Great that you've written them goals, I hope it helps you! I find your goals pretty clear btw.
Draw-draw-draw! :)
@Neo; Yeah, we also want to do and learn more than is realistic.. And thanks! I really want those paints :P
@Brush; No I didn't. I have done it before, like draw an hour at least. But during the week I'm sometimes just too tired to study. So the idea is, that even if I doodle in front of the television for half an hour boxes or imaginary faces it also fine. Just not to overestimate myself again.
And I hope that with drawing every day, I keep motivated to draw/study more instead that it becomes an obligation.
Let's see, we are four weeks in and it went pretty I think. I missed 4 days, so I have to draw 8 days more. But overall I have drawn a lot more than before the deathline, so it is working! Pretty happy with that.
Let's review study topics:
Study;
• Basic drawing – Draw a box - (3/5) Did some.. should do more though.
• Accuracy – Barque & Studies - (0/5) Nope!
• Perspective – Scott Robertson (0/5) Except the boxes from draw a box, nothing
• Full body Anatomy – Hampton, Proko, Loomis (4/5) amde some good progress
Put in practice:
• Draw-every-I-mean-EVERY-day - (4/5) close enough
• One illustration a month --> Crimson Crucible - (5/5) Finished CC3 late, now working on CC4
• Figure drawing studies - (3/5) Should do more
• Real live practice – Full or partial, practice with water colours - (2/5) I did one!
• Barque plate (0/5) Nope
I guess there might be a bit too much on the study list for me to fully pay attention to everything on a weekly basis. Especially with the CC eating a lot of time.
First of all, went on vacation for two weeks and managed to forget my watercolours and pencils. Literally, I didn't have a pen or anything to sketch with. Was quite sad about that, had planned to do open air paintings on the camping but that didn't happen. Marked this period in orange, and only added one day.
Second, I managed to drop a cup of coffee on my laptop this week. Motherboard and graphics card toasted, maybe more. I needed a new computer. So I had to use the moneys I saved up for buying the paints. So even if I complete this goal, I won't have the money to buy paints unless the insurance company is nice.
So yeah, I'll just continue with this schedule. I still want to create/stay in the habit of drawing everyday. And when I complete it I can buy paints if I have the moneys, otherwise I just learned stuff. Which is also good :).
Study;
• Basic drawing – Draw a box - (4/5) Started the 250 box challenge, slowly going further.
• Accuracy – Barque & Studies - (0/5) Oops!
• Perspective – Scott Robertson - (2/5)
• Full body Anatomy – Hamption, Proko, Loomis (1/5) Don't think I did much of this
Put in practice:
• Draw-every-I-mean-EVERY-day - (2/5) That kind of failed due vacation
• One illustration a month --> Crimson Crucible (2/5)
• Figure drawing studies (0/5)
• Real live practice – Full or partial, practice with water colours (0/5)
• Barque plate (0/5)
Drawing everyday goes better, really studying is hard though. Especially during the week I notice I lack the energy to do studies and is it easier to work on own easier illustrations instead. Oh well.. Hope things go better this month.
It's better to have smaller goals and feel the accomplishement later than set them big and get demotivated when you fail. I think you should do mainly very basic studies, not full body but only body parts - just to download the shapes into your head. Same goes for faces and anything else.
Smart move to set up some goals Eyliana and for setting a reward for yourself - whether that be new oil paints or a new laptop!
I also like the way you are tracking your progress - it should help you evaluate how realistic and achievable your goals are.
Just from a quick glance at your stats it looks like you might have over-estimated what you can get done in the time you have. I know from chatting with you that you have to fit your art around your degree studies so it's probably worth bearing in mind that you might not be able to devote as much time as you'd like to your art goals - just a thought for you for next time :).
I'd also agree with Piotr - and you might have heard this many times before but one of the best ways to complete a big task is to break it up into lots of little tasks.
Good luck with getting your oil paints :).
“Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day.” -- H. Jackson Brown Jr.
@Piotr; You are totally right, I plan on working through hampton slowly. That way I'll handle the topics one by one.
@Artloader; Thank you! I got the desktop and the oil paints. Woop woop. And I'm good at wanting too much when I don't have that much time. I decided to stick with topics that I enjoy the most, so I actually look forward to drawing.
Short evaluation list;
I spend most of my time training my watercolour skills, doing landscapes. Some portraits. Some life drawing. No accuracy. Finished the 250 boxes challenge. Draw-a-box is really good for fundamentals, need to continue with that.
Since I fullfilled my goal, I'll have to come up with something new. But for now, keep drawing every day is nice. Even if it are not studies, there still is progress. :)
