10-24-2013, 08:31 PM
hey dude, i know a lot about frustration, since i've been kinda depressed the last few months because of it. But i learned to deal differently with frustration. Frustration comes mainly from a few things. It comes from being too competitive with others and you don't feel you're progressingwhereas every little 12 yo kid from this forum is making huge steps,so you try to paint and think about doing something good, it ends up shitty, you're more frustrated, etc. It can also comes from your too high expectations. Your painting is far from what you thought it'd be, and you're frustrated. Guess what, your painting will never be the same level than what you have in mind, and you'll never catch your expectations, since everytime you progress, your standard are rising too . In order to improve fast, you must be in the present when you're painting, or drawing, your concentration must be turned on, you must think a lot, about the light, about the volume, about proportions, etc, and it's so easy to just copy the patch of colors, or shadow shapes, while the mind is wandering on what to eat for lunch, or about what your girlfriend told you last night, etc. You must turn off every distraction from inside or outside, and be there, feel what you paint, vizualise what you draw, and you'll learn so much in so short amount of time ! And that's the kind of mindset i'm actually trying to put on myself. Of course it comes with time, your concentration skills won't grow up in a single night, but it's worth the effort. About not being too productive, i've been caught in the trap too. i've searched for productivity tools, that'd help me not being lazy, but those tools where actually making me less productive. they became my new procrastination. I was always trying to optimize my tools, to update them, and it was taking a lot of time, but also because i used my to-do list as an excuse to do everything exept the important stuff, like " hmm i should send those emails, or i couldn't be focused, or i should wash the dishes, etc " my minde used thos productivity toole to slack more ... -_- .. i think that until you don't find a huge good reason of doing what you're doing, you won't be more productive, and i don't agree with bjulvar, if you're happy about what you're accomplished, you'll become fat and lazy, just set up some goals, and stick them to your desk, and keep them in mind, always ask yourself " am i ther yet ? no, so i should better stay awake one more hour if i wana succeed ! " you must find the fire that will make you go crazy about drawing, but you have to maintain the fire . Start slowly, let's say draw 5 hours everyday fully focused, and when it becomes easy to do thos 5 hours, do 6 hours, etc ... if you 're in fire and draw 10 hours, you'll be able to do it for a few days, before lazyness will overcome your fire ... anyway, keep it up dude !!