The more I paint, the more I find my work lacking…in several areas. But what should I do about it? I could of course just flail my arms in the air and cry, “WHy iS ThIS sOoOoo hArd?!” But that gets boring fast.
So, in the interest of actually being productive with the frustration that comes from not painting the way I want – I draw more.
Draw from reference and with the intention of learning and improving. Some days it’s quite a struggle for my ever wandering mind to focus so intensely on something (can you relate??), but that’s where these kind of studies shine.
These were done on different days from references I found through Pinterest (took me yeeeears to understand how useful this app can be!), and you can see that some were more involved than others, and that’s okay. Because with each of these sketches or studies, I learned something.
And that something now rattles around in the back of my mind while working on other illustrations. This is where I encourage YOU fellow artist friend – don’t be discouraged when your work isn’t at the level you want it to be. You can absolutely get there!
We both can.
So let’s lower those flailing arms of frustration and put them to good use. Study. Sketch. See.
And I guarantee you will be a better artist for it!