The Deception That Stops Your Drawings Improving

[@masterklep]

I found copying other artist's work useful when I want to see, touch (repeat on paper) and understand how those artists interpreted, stylized, translated and simplified real objects or designed characters and then drew them in certain styles or techniques. First I do it by myself, then I go and learn how others do the same. It gives me some fresh ideas!

[@stephentraversart]

There are ways and means it can be beneficial. But that said, with self taught beginners, it do easily ends up becoming a misleading, and ultimately demotivating deadend. 😀 Thanks for sharing

[@masterklep]

@@stephentraversart I heard the idea from many artist that beginners should start from drawing from nature from real life objects etc., not even from photo. And only after a while add studies from photos and other artists. I think it works!

[@TeleviseGuy]

Up until recently, I had the fear that the next thing I'm doing is going to lead to a bad drawing. I scrutinized every single stroke and every single move that I made, and instead of learning and growing, I was preventing myself from making mistakes. Lately, I learned something new - whatever I do in my drawing process will lead to the result that I want to get to, regardless of whether a particular move that I made is the "correct one" or the "wrong one". Now, when I draw, I focus only on reaching the goal and completing the job, rather than preventing mistakes and trying to dissect the individual moves before I even do them. This has opened my eye to a new perspective of drawing - where I treat drawing as a goal, and everything I do in the drawing process as things that lead to that goal. Overthinking and letting thoughts get into my head damaged my ability to draw.

[@kimberleewatz462]

This is very helpful. Lack of improvement is something i have been struggling with for a very long time, but more recently i have been focusing more on thinking about what i draw before drawing. Sometimes i practice on scrap paper. It has helped, and not only for realistic styles of drawing. Great video.

[@stephentraversart]

Thanks Kimberlee, my playlist on Tips for the Self Taught Artist would probably be a big help for you in this.

[@bahnsbh1154]

i love your videos; they're so genuine and passionate. i always come away with something useful. wishing you the best.

[@stephentraversart]

Thank you so much! This is very encouraging to be told.

[@Luper1billion]

Something that helped me was to draw the reference from a different angle. Forces you to use your imagination a little and work out all the perspective and line work for yourself

[@stephentraversart]

Thanks for sharing this idea. 😀

[@jenniferwinter3463]

Love it, drawing wilderness, thats me, so I put my pens down, put aside photos I want to copy and took a walk and for the first time really saw buildings in a "fan shape" eye levels, and people close and far away, learning to use my eyes, thanks Stephen great video.

[@stephentraversart]

Wonderful to hear Jennifer. It’s always so helpful to put these things into practice 😀

[@Ramsesdgr8]

This has been extremely helpful. I hadn't really thought of things that way...and I believe you are right in your thinking.

[@stephentraversart]

Thanks Hunter. Hope you can make it work for your drawing 😀

[@telldpablo]

I’d love to be able to do this! Sadly with aphantasia, the inability to visualize in your mind means drawing over and over with slight changes till I like what I see. Thanks for the informative video. Enjoy your work, thanks.

[@stephentraversart]

We can each only do as best we can. Keep at it Pablo😀

[@ike780]

I also think that artists who are too avant garde to do the same thing twice will struggle to see improvement.

[@stephentraversart]

repeating a drawing is a great way to fast track improvement, I think

[@angelikarowinska9353]

Drawing the same thing from memory, over and over again, is very useful. Progress, in my opinion, comes from repetition.

[@stephentraversart]

It can be very helpful. Thanks for your thoughts Angelika 😀

[@brandonbeezernoid6509]

My fav channel to improve pen to paper 🦾

[@stephentraversart]

Thanks Brandon, appreciate hearing this.

[@journofay]

Reading Chiang Yee's 'the silent traveller' series is why I fell in love with line and colour

[@stephentraversart]

Wonderful. thanks for sharing

[@jankhambrams]

I am very excited to think about and try out what you've suggested in this video. I've been feeling stuck lately and your thoughts have cleared up a lot of what I've been stuck on. Being able to approach the drawing process more intentionally and with a clearer perspective of what, why, and how I want to do is going to help a ton! :)

[@stephentraversart]

I'm so glad! I hope it revolutionises your drawing process for you. 😀

[@askialuna7717]

I have a strange problem when drawing, when I try to pay attention to proportions and drawing a line very similarly. I have the feeling that I'm drawing it very differently than the photo, and I then compare it several times. The feeling didn't go away, and at the same time I know that they are very similar. They are Schrödinger's lines for me, feeling similar and different at the same time. I looked at it in a photo and listened to my feeling, and it was strange because I had the feeling that the line was very similar to the photo and my brain didn't understand why it looked different😔. It's also such an unpleasant feeling that I developed an aversion from drawing of photos, when I was still able to draw something as a teenager. Mainly, I have the feeling that most of the time my drawings don't get any better because, my fine motor skills develop very slowly and hardly at all. I'm starting since a year again after years and have been at it for some time. A year ago I was able to do straight lines well after a week or two of training, but I think I practised too rarely in a few months. So it was a good decision to do the exercises from the beginning, and I've been stuck ever. For months, I had only been doing beginner's exercises and got stuck on squares, boxes and simple cityscapes, because I have some difficulty drawing straight lines in different directions. Since I've been stuck there for months, I'm worried that my muscle memory will forget the other shapes and curved lines of them. Before I give up again, I first supplement it with simple landscapes and still life, trying to understand how they are constructed and drawing contours and "assembling" them from simple basic shapes. I plan to draw my own environments and sceneries with characters, and I need more other information and practice for that, than for copying.

[@blackcitadel9]

Ah, this old chestnut. "The best way to learn something is to try teaching it to someone else"

[@stephentraversart]

It worked for this old nut!😆

[@sudhirkothari]

fantastic Stephen..so I am a little confused. I like to try and copy you as you draw and that may create a fairly okay drawing...but now I realize, blindly copying your strokes, helps somewhat but not really...So how does one draw...learn your principles and draw oneself from a photo or memort?

[@stephentraversart]

I suggest you watch my demo and listen to what I say, and then print off a copy of the photo and draw from that without looking at the video again until you’ve finished your drawing. Then compare them. 😀

[@kerya5146]

Do you find thumbnails useful? I usually do two or three thumbnails before starting a watercolour to work out my focal point, perspective, tone, light source etc. Should I do this with my drawings as well? Thank you.

[@stephentraversart]

I don't use them myself, but I do a little exploring of the marks I think I'll use to create the effects I'm wanting. There are a few videos on that as well.

[@kerya5146]

@@stephentraversart I did a drawing this morning of a building. It was okay but I realised that the composition was a bit dull - it was too front on. Maybe a thumbnail or two might have helped me realise that before launching into a drawing. I don’t know.

[@Aries61]

If someone takes a photo for reference and copies it or God forbid traces that photo is that still not drawing?

[@stephentraversart]

We can all do whatever we want (copyright notwithstanding), there's no problem with that. But if we want to learn to draw our own drawings, copying (or tracing) will not teach us that. My channel is for people who are wanting to learn to create their own, original drawings, whether from photos, life or imagination.

[@kerya5146]

@@stephentraversart Is there a difference between slavishly copying a drawing, and alternatively studying the way an artist makes marks, trying to replicate those marks, and then incorporating (adapting) the things learnt into one’s drawing/painting?