Let's get this flaming garbage truck back on track

[The Lama]

Why I need to do the challenge:

I've been feeling pretty lost in terms of what career path in art I want to take and this lack of clarity has caused me a great deal of anxiety. I'm currently doing a degree in game art and while I like the work and it teaches me a lot i'm not sure what I really, really want to pursue. I am pretty lucky to have some really amazing tutors so that's what's getting me through it on my off days.

Don't know how deep to dive into it but i've been struggling with my mental health for a wee while. I was diagnosed with aspergers/anxiety/depression a few years ago and while it gave me some clarity about why I feel the way I do it's been a bit difficult to assimilate with everyday life. I hit a real low a couple months ago and that prompted me to take my health/art into my own hands again.

I watched Amit's S.M.A.R.T Art Goals video (so informative :D) and after taking a hard look at how i'm going with my art and life in general it'd be good to evaluate what I want to achieve in the long term. Putting a plan together seems like the best way to do it. 

For my goals I want to explore as many different subjects as I can while building up my foundation so the goals will reflect that. They'll be small at first but I want to make sure I can keep a consistent habit going.

My S.M.A.R.T Goals:

Art:

Study Sketching:
I'm gonna pick a subject that peaks my interest everyday and do some sketches of it. If it really interests me i'll continue doing it on subsequent days. My goal is 1 page a day.

Exploratory Sketching:
I think it's important that I sketch freely, to see what I gravitate towards drawing naturally as I feel it'll give me some more insight into what art pursue more deeply. If the sketches gravitate towards the same subject matter as my study sketches then that's alright too. My goal for this is also 1 page a day 

Foundation Study:
For my foundation studies I want to focus on, well. Foundation. So that'll be either anatomy, rendering or perspective. I don't want to be too rigid on what the specific study is at first because I want consistency as my priority. You guessed it, 1 page a day. 

Health:
Gymmin':
I've got a solid workout routine sorted and a gym really close to class which I go to. I've been going consistently for a few weeks so I'm gonna try keep it up. It's been doing wonders for how I feel in general. It's amazing what pushing heavy things around can do for your mental state. My goal is to gym at least 4 days a week.



Updates:
I know it's easy to disappear from the internet when the going gets tough but i'm gonna try my best to update my Sketchbook daily and do a weekly review on Sundays of how my challenge is going in this thread.

I'm gonna have to keep my classwork under control during this time too so my aim is to get ahead on that work so I can dedicate some more time to my challenge.

TL;DR:
Feelin sad
Gotta not feel sad
Gonna do lots of study pages and lift things till i'm not sad

LET'S DO THIS (RED TEXT AND CAPS MEANS I'M SERIOUS)

[Artloader]

Sounds good The Lama :).

Good thing to figure in your health as well.

Good luck and get to it!

[Amit Dutta]

Awesome to have you here Lama. :) I too have suffered from pretty severe depressions so I'm glad to hear you taking responsibility for doing the right actions that are going to be good for you, especially the physical health bit!

I took a look at your Sb, some really nice character work in there. No feedback for now. I think keeping it simple with your goals like 1 page a day on carefully chosen topics are a great way to start and build in a bit of a habit of consistency first if that is your main goal. You can reevaluate the goals or add to them, make them more relevant or detailed as you go! Good luck!

[The Lama]

@Artloader Thanks man! Will do my best

@Amit Thanks so much Amit, I know it's early days but it feels good to be more active on the forums and taking things a bit more seriously. Will post up my daily stuff now :) I'll definitely do a review of my goals periodically and change them up. See ya around :D

[The Lama]

Week 1 Review:
Managed to hit my goal of going to the gym 4 times and got my 3 pages of drawing done everyday so that was a good start. Even though volume of work doesn't necessarily equal quality I completed about 24 pages of drawings this week and that's a butt load more drawing than I usually get in. The harder part is going to be in keeping it a habit.

I still don't feel tangibly closer to figuring out exactly what I really, really love drawing subject matter wise but I am more enjoying just jumping on pinterest, scrolling around for a while and diving into whatever cool animal/ armour/ piece of technology interests me.
I'm trying to supplement that with additional info too. eg. when I did the diving helmets I watched some videos on how they were made and how they worked, when I drew the medieval armour I watched some videos about how blacksmiths crafted them. That seems to be making the info stick a bit more.
I'll try repeat this for next week and see how it goes. I am really itching to dive into just figure studies though...

[Artloader]

Form the habit and the quality will come Lama - well done on the 3 pages every day.

Maybe after a season of trying out different subjects, you will find a favourite?

Keep going and good luck!

[The Lama]

Thanks dude :) Yeah, there's a world of stuff out there so the more I explore the more i'll find out what I like

[The Lama]

Week 2 Review:
Ok, so this week wasn't as good as the first one, I managed to catch a really bad chest infection (excuses) so I've been mainly housebound and sleeping most of the time recently. Only did 5/7 days worth of drawings and 2/4 gym sessions this week. I'm gonna try just do 3 pages per day of anything next week, not structured into specific categories and see how that turns out. Doing 1 page of each seems like I just start getting into the topic before switching so keeping the ball rolling on a specific topic might help more.

[Amit Dutta]

Being sick isn't an excuse, taking breaks when you need is all part of the game. Keep it up :)

[The Lama]

@Amit Thanks dude, yeah it's better to do what's smarter in the long run than push too hard.

Week 3 Review:

So this week was kinda along the same trajectory as last, finally well again though so I can hit the gym starting tomorrow. Started drawing traditionally again too which really was a breath of fresh air. I missed 2 days of uploads this week but i've been spending more time overall with study. Also getting a schoolism subscription seems to have been a worthwhile investment so far. Learning a lot about lighting from Sam Nielson's course. Next step would be to apply some of it to personal work methinks. Onwards!