Well, let's be real, there are asshole fic writers out there, humanity being what it is. :p
Cloonan's oracle cards are really beautiful! Thanks for sharing. I can see why comparisons could feel destructive--I know that feeling. I look at watercolorists all the time and have to remind myself that I have been doing watercolor for like...a year or so. There is a learning curve!
What that means: "your people look like people rather than stretched people with weird heads." :p This is an achievement! It took me years to stop drawing people that weren't stretched with weird heads.
So one thing that might be helpful in adjusting a drawing-everyday regimen is to look at (a) celebrating your strengths or (b) shoring up your weaknesses. This is an idea I got from an interview with an artist in an issue of Imagine FX, which is a zine for digital sf/f illustration. Basically, you want not just to draw but draw in such a way that you target some specific aspect of art, whether that's something you're already good at and enjoy, so that you build up your joy in drawing again, or something that you know you're still learning, so that you get in practice. The artist in question suggested taking things one month at a time, so that each month you try something different. For example, one month might be figure, another month might be color, another month might be negative space. Or you could do it in a more fun/fannish way, just as you did with your Jeanne d'Arc series! He literally says that when he started his "one-month habit" drawing practice, he spent one month drawing different doodles of Wonder Woman because she was one of his favorite characters.
Anyway, this is something that I have been endeavoring to do on and off, although I'm pretty bad at structure and doing things every single day, and given that you already pulled off a Jeanne d'Arc challenge series I'm betting you'll be better at it! Make a list of things that you would enjoy tackling for thirty days at a time (Jeanne d'Arc! Hannibal! Tanith! kittens! inking! hands! seriously, whatever works for you). Again, you're drawing everyday, so you're mostly there! But I wonder if you might see some benefit from additionally targeting your practice.
All the same, every artist is different, so if you don't find this suggestion helpful, please disregard, and good luck with your art.
no subject
Cloonan's oracle cards are really beautiful! Thanks for sharing. I can see why comparisons could feel destructive--I know that feeling. I look at watercolorists all the time and have to remind myself that I have been doing watercolor for like...a year or so. There is a learning curve!
What that means: "your people look like people rather than stretched people with weird heads." :p This is an achievement! It took me years to stop drawing people that weren't stretched with weird heads.
So one thing that might be helpful in adjusting a drawing-everyday regimen is to look at (a) celebrating your strengths or (b) shoring up your weaknesses. This is an idea I got from an interview with an artist in an issue of Imagine FX, which is a zine for digital sf/f illustration. Basically, you want not just to draw but draw in such a way that you target some specific aspect of art, whether that's something you're already good at and enjoy, so that you build up your joy in drawing again, or something that you know you're still learning, so that you get in practice. The artist in question suggested taking things one month at a time, so that each month you try something different. For example, one month might be figure, another month might be color, another month might be negative space. Or you could do it in a more fun/fannish way, just as you did with your Jeanne d'Arc series! He literally says that when he started his "one-month habit" drawing practice, he spent one month drawing different doodles of Wonder Woman because she was one of his favorite characters.
Anyway, this is something that I have been endeavoring to do on and off, although I'm pretty bad at structure and doing things every single day, and given that you already pulled off a Jeanne d'Arc challenge series I'm betting you'll be better at it! Make a list of things that you would enjoy tackling for thirty days at a time (Jeanne d'Arc! Hannibal! Tanith! kittens! inking! hands! seriously, whatever works for you). Again, you're drawing everyday, so you're mostly there! But I wonder if you might see some benefit from additionally targeting your practice.
All the same, every artist is different, so if you don't find this suggestion helpful, please disregard, and good luck with your art.