The 10000 Hour Rule - Art Edition - 7626/10,000

[JakeB]

SpectreX - No way man, great question, and it did cros my mind while I was writing that post. Not totally sure what my answer is though. I think that in the beginning, when you're just starting out, the most important thing is learning to 'draw'. Becoming confident just putting lines down. Whether that means doing a load of studies, or drawing from imagination loads, is up to you. In my case, I waited way too long before working from imagination at all, so studies became a huge crutch for me. I'm not 100%, but to answer your question, I'd mix it up a bit. Keep doing long studies until your starting to get proficient at "copying the photo". And focus on accuracy. Whatever you're studying at this point (just draw something you like drawing) doesn't really matter, because you're not trying to learn about the object so much, as the act of pushing pixels or graphite or paint around, matching shapes and colours. Basically, just make sure you have a singular focus for each study. When I study walls and doors, with quick lines, I'm solely focused on the structure of the objects. When I spend a whole day doing a single portrait study. I'm solely focused on what makes an image look realistic (details, textures etc), not so much any of the anatomy or structure of the face. If I want to practice the proportions of the face, I'll do a lot of short studies, rather than one long one.
I hope that makes sense. In short, don't worry too much about "what" you're painting if your main concern is accuracy. And before each study, decide what your "focus" is, and use that to decide what kind of study do. Basically, think about the whole study before you start it. At what point will you have stopped working on the area you're focusing on? 10 mins? 1 hour? 3 hours? 60 seconds (gesture drawing). Just learn what you need from a study, then move on :).
I could keep typing, but I think I'll just end up rephrasing that a load of times. If it doesn't make sense, let me know and I'll try and rewrite it more concisely. Sorry for the essay dude.

Warburton - haha, thanks man, glad you think so. Feel like I'm surfing the line between helpful and pretentious pretty delicately with this lol. IHAVENOIDEAWHATIMDOING!!!

New work stuff though <3

Gestures


Think I've finished that guard piece - any last feedback would be cool though :)



And some process for it :)