Improve Your Drawing - A Great Drawing Tip

[@gnarthdarkanen7464]

The trick to getting ourselves more honest about self-critique (I think) is to drop the emotional context we find so frequently online. Words like "awful" or "sucks" don't help. It's even true when critiquing for others. Suggesting issues and offering solutions to those issues is what leads to improvement... I know when my drawing sucks... even if I can't say or point out exactly why. I have eyes and can see it sucking... I'm not blind. BUT to notice my background lines are precisely heavier than the foreground lines... Noticing that my hatching was done "backward" leaving little tiny blobs at the exposed ends of each stroke where it SHOULD taper off as I lift the pen... Letting myself get impatient and move to "scribble technique" instead of hatching or cross hatching precisely... ...THESE are all issues and they're FIXABLE. If I notice these details, or someone points them out, even my crooked, slightly curving and meandering perspective lines can be remedied. I CAN practice the strokes, and stop myself from getting impatient... EVEN if that means sitting up and taking a breath, stating out loud, "It's going to be here when I get back to it." and going for a coffee and a smoke... Whatever it takes... It CAN be fixed. The trick then, is to quit whining "BUT THAT'S MY STYLE!" instead of admitting that I have issues... I do. I can see most of them... haha... I said it before. "I'm not blind." Sometimes, it IS a "Style" question, versus a "Quality" question... AND that should be addressed, too. This is where experimentation gets involved. I can draw in several styles if I put my mind to it... I get out one of my "Big Books of Drawing" and flip to an illustration in the appropriate style, and then put the particular web-image or archived digital still on my monitor... AND proceed to study both the illustration (and the chapter it's in which usually has some dissertation defining said style)... AND the monitor's Screen-sized image... clipboard or trucker-can on my legs, I get out the ol' fountain pen or pick up a dipper out of my cracked-to-useless coffee mug, and start to work... It's NEVER EVER perfect... I can get pretty close most of the time... BUT I still go back and there's stuff I'm just not happy with. Sometimes the harder question is "Did I screw it up, or is it just the style I don't really get along with???" haha... AND that's a thing. I like his works, BUT I'll never completely be comfortable with Don Martin and those damnable floppy feet when he does people... I can do it... I just don't like it when I do it. BUT that is a "Style" question... NOT to be confused with a "Quality" question... AND most of all, DO NOT FORGET to breathe, relax... If it's not fun, you're not going to keep doing it. Cut yourself some slack. I'm no master, in spite of whatever impression I might make in my commentary. I'm good... I don't know at this point if I'll ever be "great"... I don't do it for that, though. Whatever it is you want to become skilled at, you CAN get there from here. It's a long road, but it's always do-able. Remember to PLAY at it. ;o)

[@santone1849]

I actually really liked the first drawing . Its has something 😊

[@stephentraversart]

Great to hear. Thanks for telling me. 😀

[@JacquelinePJames]

Excellent..thank you

[@stephentraversart]

Thank you. Appreciate your telling me.

[@TwainMR7]

Great tips Stephen. I love your videos. you are an excellent teacher.

[@stephentraversart]

Appreciate you telling me Mike. Thanks 😀

[@monarabah8841]

Great video 😍😍💛

[@stephentraversart]

Glad you think so. Thanks Mona

[@evelyncikas]

Thank you for sharing it! It really is great tips!! 🤩🙏

[@stephentraversart]

My pleasure Evelina. Great to hear they were helpful. 😀

[@MrLeeHolton]

Great videos. Great amount of information condensed into a relatively short video. I appreciated the perspective “quiz”.

[@stephentraversart]

Thanks for saying so Lee. It's always hard to know what to put in or leave out, or even if it's helpful at all. Encouragement for the next one. :)

[@remitathomas1002]

Very helpful with those examples,thank you!

[@stephentraversart]

Thanks Remita. It's very helpful to get your feedback. :0

[@rajathrs650]

Very detailed tutorial, subscribed instantly

[@stephentraversart]

Really glad you found it helpful Rajath. :)

[@rajannair7195]

Love your art and your channel which is very informative and well presented 👍👋

[@stephentraversart]

Thanks Rajan for the encouragement. It's very different to anything I've done before, but I hope to improve. :)

[@oliverpierre22]

So useful!! Thank you Stephen. (And I managed to guess the rogue line of perspective.) Still an amazing bunch of sketches though. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@stephentraversart]

Haha. Wish I'd seen it sooner. Glad it was helpful. :)

[@RatusMax]

Hopefully my comment's aren't annoying you. Someone told me if I watch the video, like, comment and subscribe, it will help the algorithms. Being honest with yourself and your art is the fastest way to learn. When I was digital painting and the painting was turning out bad I kept lying to myself that it would get better if I kept adding details. It never did. So I sat there and analyzed what I did wrong and what I did right. Then digitally painted again. It came out better. That's when I knew, I needed to be honest with myself up front. When others critique my work, I get angry but then catch myself. Most of the time they are right and it's something I neglected or lied to myself about. Although there are some times when you should ignore feedback. Especially if you are getting better over time. Focus on your improvement from the last creation rather than trying to catch up with someone else. Trust me even when I know this, I catch myself trying to "catch up" to others and forget that I have developing to that point.

[@stephentraversart]

Of course I appreciate your comments. And yes, they do help my channel. Critiquing our own work is a very helpful habit to be in. If we accept mistakes we won’t ever move past them. Keep at it. 😀

[@MRK1099]

very useful

[@stephentraversart]

Excellent. Thanks for telling me. :)

[@fanatlarge]

Yikes. That Chambord drawing is fiercely complex. How to get the perspective on the buttresses right is beyond my imagination.

[@stephentraversart]

Thanks, but I drew it from a photo, not from life, so it was already in a 2D form, which makes it much less difficult. :)