Learning how to finish an illustration : a plea for help

[Raine]

Hi everyone,

This is my first post here even though I spent some time lurking around before, I love the spirit of this forum ! I am a 26 yo full time worker in France, but I always wanted to become an artist. It is a very serious practice to me, but drawing also calms my soul.
I happen to put too much pressure on myself on the technical level, making me struggle to keep practicing freely and regularly. I've had aggravating circumstances; but I can't afford to hide behind those circumstances to justify failing myself. 

So I am asking for help, I desperately need to learn how to draw regularly and how to *finish* a drawing or a complete illustration. I feel like I let so many years go by without ever producing something truly meaningful to my journey.

I'd like to show you some of my sketches, but maybe it doesn't work well when on a mobile phone. My sketches are mostly gesture or anatomical studies of the human bodiy (without rendering).

I thank you in advance for any general advice or help that you could give me !

[JosephCow]

I think the answer is deadlines. It's always been helpful to me to do assignments in art school, or on this forum we used to do challenges just for fun where you submit something after a few weeks. And then you need to be okay with just moving ahead with something that isn't perfect because it needs to be done. I've been surprised at how much I can actually do if I have no choice but to finish it.

But if you have no time limit, you can noodle on something literally forever. Which is nice sometimes, but doesn't give you the sense of accomplishment. Maybe a class or workshop environment would be good for you? I've done like 3 day workshops before where you end up with a finished piece no matter what. It can be fun and really build your confidence.