WAY behind on my art- seeking partner to motivate me

[Inagada Davida]

Please help me. Because I don't have many art friends in real life and because I fallen so badly in my art skills it looks like now I never even attended any art school at all and whatever I learned there is all gone. This spirals me in a loop, where I try to draw, get depressed, then don't draw, which makes me get worse, then finally start back drawing again, dislike my work even more, stop drawing again... I miss my art classmates and i think having professors and a regular schedule helped motivate me to not just do more with my art but just my life and health period. I would appreciate anyone who will help me get back on my feet/critique me honestly and effectively and give me ideas for drawing anywhere from once a night to at least twice a month, I will try to do the same.

[Hadorei]

Please help me. Because I don't have many art friends in real life and because I fallen so badly in my art skills it looks like now I never even attended any art school at all and whatever I learned there is all gone. This spirals me in a loop, where I try to draw, get depressed, then don't draw, which makes me get worse, then finally start back drawing again, dislike my work even more, stop drawing again... I miss my art classmates and i think having professors and a regular schedule helped motivate me to not just do more with my art but just my life and health period. I would appreciate anyone who will help me get back on my feet/critique me honestly and effectively and give me ideas for drawing anywhere from once a night to at least twice a month, I will try to do the same.

Hey Inagada, I totally relate to this. I'm new to the forum, a friend of mine recommended it to me. I'm looking for someone who might be interested in doing a Google hangout/Skype or something while working (I live in Europe though so I don't know if we'd be on the same time zone!). I have many projects to work on that aren't getting done, I easily feel depressed and lonely while I'm working. I have loads of free time right now and my main goal this year is to really push my art forward, it's very difficult to structure my time effectively and actually do what I tell myself I will do. I also would like to do more sketchbook and study work but again I hate just being alone at my computer all the time without much motivation or connection. I'll usually find some distraction or excuse to do something else to feel busy. Maybe we can set certain weekly tasks together and review them together? Do you have some goals for what you want to finish or what you want to improve? I don't do digital art, I'm drawing and painting by hand. I'd like to study more anatomy, perspective, realistic shading, portraits, animals, foliage and landscapes (basically everything). My main projects are a large painting I've set myself to do this year, a new series of 12 images, and finishing some other paintings from the past few years....and just doing more creative pieces in general, hopefully not letting them sit around unfinished for the next 3 years as I have done with everything else! Not everything I do is realism or anything, sometimes I just like to draw/paint however I feel like.  I've also started a personal art therapy journal that I use purely to express what I'm feeling without any attention to what it looks like. Maybe something like this could help you as well to break out of stuckness? It helps me sometimes to just put the pencil on paper and make a mark, any marks, just getting the ball rolling, and sometimes something very interesting and creative comes from this that could inspire a future painting etc. It's also just therapeutic. It would be cool to have someone kind for company on this artistic journey even if just to motivate each other to keep up with what we say we're going to do. :)  Happy to offer feedback/critique if asked for it, or just to help you stay on track. Let me know if this clicks with you and we can talk. :)

[Miguel]

Hello Inagada and Hadorei! Fellow aspiring illustrator over here. I relate to your loneliness, i know that from personal experience, i don't have "art friends", and i understand that it is definitely hard to keep motivated every single day. 

That's why i started posting some of my stuff here( i'm new like Hadorei), to meet people and share some of our stories. You just need some direction where to go in order to improve, what do you want to improve in the first place? Drawing skills? Lines? Tone? There's definitely a lot to learn, something that i struggle to internalize, is that it takes time to learn and improve. One of the things that has helped me to have more ideas is to write them down! I have had moments when i say "well, i wanna draw something cool" and then grab a board or paper but i have nothing in my mind, any idea, nothing, but lately i have been writting down ideas, like for example: Fatty warrior, big shield, angry. Those words help me to stay focused in the subject and do a lot of sketches about it. When you restrict yourslef, you are more focused to create new ideas on that subject.

It would be awesome to have a hangout group to chat and be accountable to each other! We can share same ideas and talk about each others work and journeys.

Take care and keep drawing!