The Drawing Advice That Can STOP Any Improvement

[@hunter4233]

luckily I found your channel just as I started taking drawing seriously around a month ago and have seen a lot of improvement. Your tips of careful observation and reframing my mindset from "Drawing what I'm seeing" to "Drawing the EFFECT of what I'm seeing" have been invaluable to me. Thanks a lot!

[@stephentraversart]

Great to hear. It has been the transformating mindset for me😀

[@postmax81]

It was especially enlightening to see you practice sketch. It is very interesting to see you looking for a visual solution to solve a visual problem.

[@stephentraversart]

Works for me. Thanks Jeffrey😀

[@PaintingandExercise]

Thank you. If I continue to commit the same errors or fail to really analyze what is lacking in my drawings then doing more of the same yields the same disappointing results. I am very pleased with my progress after learning to draw a little over a year ago. I compare my work to how I have gotten so much better since then. My skills grew by leaps and bounds back then. Now it is more of a refinement.

[@Prodigy68]

So many valuable lessons, thank you Stephen.

[@stephentraversart]

Thanks. I have individual videos on each of those box topics. 😀

[@nathanschulte6585]

Great video!

[@stephentraversart]

Thanks Nathan 😀

[@karincarter5489]

Thank you ! A very useful summary to use with every 'practice' drawing !! You are the best teacher ever !

[@stephentraversart]

Glad it was helpful Karin. Appreciate your kind words 😀

[@XD-rd8zd]

if I remember correctly from very old Chinese manuals for drawing plants, it was written : - do not paint bamboo without contemplating it first - do not paint bamboo without seeing it clearly in your mind (eyes closed - composition prepared in mind) - paint with very fast strokes and without hesitation

[@stephentraversart]

All sounds very sound. Thanks for sharing this with us. 😀

[@SKY-qf8qq]

Spot on. Such good advice. Been doing art on and off for years. Never improved. So many times just give up. But I know now, what I need to do. Thanks so much

[@stephentraversart]

Great to hear this was so helpful. All the best with it. 😀

[@djerving]

Excellent advice. TY.

[@stephentraversart]

Thanks Doug 😀

[@ruamcdill7871]

More focus on observation and adding creative translation to my process. Very helpful!

[@stephentraversart]

Great to hear. Hope it really boosts your drawing. 😀

[@johndurran614]

Excellent advice Stephen

[@stephentraversart]

Thanks John. Much appreciated 😀

[@LionofJudah7771]

Very helpful thanks!

[@stephentraversart]

You're welcome!

[@fuzzydragons]

observation is soo important and often not even given a thought, but it was one of the first things tutors said in life drawing at college, observe what you're seeing before you even try to draw it

[@stephentraversart]

Absolutely. We can’t draw beyond what we have seen😀

[@Milton1079]

Excellent pedagogy, Stephen. Thank you.

[@stephentraversart]

Thanks Milton. Glad it was helpful 😀

[@andyquinn1125]

Well done, Stephen!

[@stephentraversart]

Thanks Andy

[@GarrisonFall]

Thank you.

[@stephentraversart]

My pleasure 😀

[@MKisJ]

Thank you.Stephen this awesome this is exactly where I am in my art decision making and skill.PERFECT!

[@stephentraversart]

Excellent to hear. thanks.

[@gailreineke7186]

That’s true. And yes, it seems the same, but I just started drawing when I can, and I’m starting to find my style. Finding my own style in the medium I like most is helping me.

[@ceeemm1901]

Good advice Stephen. I found the same thing happened with playing the guitar. If I didn't learn something new, a technique or piece of music, then I could never build on what I had. Because otherwise it was always just picking it up and playing the "same old same old" for 5 minutes and getting nothing out of it. There was no spark of discovery. I think that everything new learned in a craft builds on the previous and you magically have those "wow" moments when the whole becomes greater than the sum of it's parts and there's a great leap forward (Thanks Mao and Billy Bragg). ....Great vid,Cheers

[@ruthward9626]

Thank you so much for this. You've reassured me that I'm on the right track with my own thinking about my progress (& lack of it) & how to improve. The 'creative translation' is the hardest part for me, so anything you could advise about that would be very helpful.

[@sherryward2018]

Practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.

[@stephentraversart]

Thanks for sharing Sherry😀

[@GarrisonFall]

Darn. My practice is never perfect😢

[@troygoggans5495]

Most likely because I draw for stress relief I do not always draw from photos are other work. I like desert scenes and out of my imagination is where I start. So I will create a desert scene with mountains in the background and gradually add other objects such as a abandoned cabin or railroad tracks old military forts that have been abandoned. But I never really plan out what the finish drawing will look like. And as you suggest that is probably where I am making a mistake not planning out what I am trying to accomplish. Sometimes my finish drawing looks alright at least by my standards and then the next time the scale and depth will be all off.

[@veronicagrow7058]

No problem seeing what’s wrong. Fixing is another matter

[@stephentraversart]

Haha. It’s certainly the other side of the coin. 😀

[@heatherh3457]

Bravo. Once again, spot on. Could you please expand upon creative translation.

[@stephentraversart]

I’ll see what I can do.

[@heatherh3457]

@@stephentraversart Thank you.❤

[@ashishchatterjee78]

Sir thanks for enriching our skill from your video. Ashok from Kolkata, India