Build Your Art Progress Engine

[@Mr.McWatson]

Something that works shockingly well is drawing 100 of whatever it is you're trying to improve. After finding a basic formula for the object, you notice an improvement already by drawing 10. It's crazy.

[@amayyaduvanshi2706]

Man i couldn't agree more, i used to struggle with figures a lot and did a 100 figure challenge, i just got so much better and tackling them by the end of it. 50-100 challenges are go to for me whenever i want to improve

[@Mr.Daniel297]

I’ve been through so many art KZbinrs and they’ve all been awesome, but there’s something about the structure and way you go over how to actually put these concepts into practice and simplify them that’s really getting through to me.

[@TheDrawingCodex]

Awesome that’s great to hear! Thanks for letting me know!!

[@TeKn1qe]

My thoughts exactly!!

[@JordansMortalKombatAdven-xn3qo]

I’m a big superhero comic fan and I just really want to be able to draw cool art from my imagination of all my favorite characters and this is why I want to come here so I can get the skill set needed to be able to do that

[@cory99998]

I know meditation isn't everyone's cup of tea but its something that helped me a lot. I struggled with motivation and negative emotion around my art and my personal work for such a long time, but through a lot of meditation I was able to better see my work for what it is. Now every day I happily sit down to work to add 'experience blocks' to my 'life chain' basically. Sounds funny but once I started feeling this, working became a very obvious move. Anxiety and hesitancy largely dissipated.

[@lrdalucardart]

Many have no idea how "mindset" can be a strong Gatling in to become something you wanna be.

[@cory99998]

For me, creating a habit was absolutely key. I have a time every day I sit down and start drawing. I'm only required to draw for 20 minutes after I wake up and can call it for the day from there, however I find that those 20 minutes are usually the hardest and then I'm fine. I have no plans to do this for a living so I'm good with 20-60 minutes of drawing a day and steadily improving year over year. Persistence is key, that's how it becomes automatic. As the habit is setting in, it becomes something I look forward to every morning. Highly recommend.

[@kellydierick1590]

This sounds like something I could do as well! Thing is I have too many hobbies and not doing anything. I work from home 3 days out of 5... I'm going to try this!

[@cory99998]

@@kellydierick1590 I did it for about 6 months and got soooo much out of it. I have other hobbies im drawn to at the moment but I guarantee ill be doing this again. Worked for me

[@kellydierick1590]

@@cory99998ive been doing it for 5 days now and absolutely love it! Thank you so much for this simple but brilliant idea! 😊😊

[@cory99998]

@@kellydierick1590 awesome

[@_Morley]

Hey Tim, great topic. I've been working in the industry for 4 years and on a bunch of very different projects. So many that I did kind of lose track of what I like. But at the same time, so many different things made me happy creatively. I have decided to come back to what I enjoy doing more with my knowledge of what works in the industry and it's been really gratifying. I've shared a few of your videos in my discord server and everyone has reacted positively to them. Thanks for your work!

[@carltonrainey4758]

Your channel is my saving grace thank you for the help!

[@TheDrawingCodex]

Thanks Carlton! That's great to hear!!

[@jonathanbohles580]

Putting out my work in the world really helped with my anxiety, thanks tim !

[@thedrawingbard]

I can’t thank you enough for the way you simplify things. You make it clear that study and progress are important, but that purpose and imagination are the focus. The last two are powered by the first ones. I’m always in the edge of a burnout from studying too much and you way of thought helped me to breathe and get calmer. Again, thanks a lot! ❤

[@TheDrawingCodex]

Thanks! I appreciate you letting me know these videos are helping out. That’s awesome to hear!

[@foswa1995]

Tim, it will always be understated how awesome you are for releasing these videos !

[@maybeeart4286]

In just the last 4 months I have emproved so much and your video has help me with my improvements. Thanks 😊 and love your videos

[@DavidMartinez-le4zg]

Hi Tim! I just want to say that your channel has been a great help in motivating me to illustrate on a daily basis. Your guides have allowed me to develop both digitally and analogically and that is something I am very grateful for. Keep doing what you do, you can't find content of this quality just anywhere!

[@slamotte]

I love the way you speak, it's exactly what I needed to begin my journey. I feel a sense of direction now which has helped more than anything.

[@TheDrawingCodex]

Awesome! I’m so glad this is helped you. Thanks for letting me know :-)

[@amarisjoseph]

You are the best instructor I've ever had

[@JordansMortalKombatAdven-xn3qo]

This is awesome! I need to really make a plan because damn, do I want to improve but, I find I just don’t have time when in reality I do have time I just haven’t made the time to do it so I think much like my cousin Molly does as she’s a great artist, I think my structure is going to be setting 2 hours aside every evening to practice

[@nicholashildenbrand8632]

Habit and a place to work are key. I'm lucky I have two places to sit. One space has my PC and Playstation. The other space has books and is great for reading, writing, and drawing. That separation from work and play is incredibly important. It cannot be understated.

[@TheDrawingCodex]

Yeah for sure! Separating out those areas is super important!. Thanks for sharing your setup and thoughts

[@nicholashildenbrand8632]

@Tim Mcburnie - The Drawing Codex Thanks for your videos. I always enjoy them. I tend to listen them on the way to work.

[@nonono9681]

Just when i was losing motivation, thanks

[@randomartvibes1882]

Yap, I was on that boat for a day or two. This was a needed vibe

[@JordansMortalKombatAdven-xn3qo]

I’m also a huge video game player so I will definitely be doing that as well

[@RandomStuffses]

Sir, how come I just stumbled upon your channel now? I've been looking for such content for years.. Thank you so much for putting it out 🙏

[@coyoteclockworkstudios3140]

Wow, some Breath of Fire 4 in your influence map. That's pretty cool and obscure, but that game really goes have amazing character designs.

[@lasseel3724]

This notified at the perfect time, I was doing a sketch challenge and I'm really discouraged for a while now since it seems like I'm suppose to be improving as i do it but instead I got very confused.

[@ravedragneel1266]

we are what we repeatedly do, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. i dont know if its a coincidence but its the same thing Aristotle talked about. quite knowledgeable

[@iced_coffee_21]

AMAZING video!! I've been feeling so directionless and unmotivated lately, this video is just what I needed to hear :) Now I have an idea on how to move forward! Thanks so much!! ♡ I'm looking forward to binging more of your videos, you seem like an excellent teacher :)

[@RukileinchenChan]

I have been learning mostly on my on seriously since 2018, painting/drawing almost everyday for 4-5 hours. Whenever I look back at my old art ( I have kept all of it on my PC), it hurts that in the beginning I made much progress pretty fast but somehow since 2021 it is so scarce I barely feel any kind of improvement at all. I want to be able to paint in a realistic manner (e.g. MtG style, FromSoftStyle) but the more I learn the farther I seem to be away from my goal. :/

[@luvkayakn]

Hi Princess, do you have someone trusted to view your work and give you feedback? I know I view my own work harshly, but when I look back at early beginner drawings I think I wasn't so terrible after all. Also, you said you draw nearly every day for 4-5 hours. I attached Jason Haaheim's blog regarding practice. I'm a lifelong pianist, picked up violin at age 40, and art over 50. When we're beginners all learning is in the panic zone, and we tend to progress quickly. As we begin to learn a few things that become comfortable, we tend to gravitate towards those things. The first thing I was able to draw from reference that was really close to the reference was a manga girl. As I continue to learn and work on life portraits, I still feel pulled back to the manga style because that's where I know I CAN DRAW. I'm also the type of learner who always reaches further than my abilities. In portraits, I realize I need to work on proportions, sight measuring, and prospective. Where the nose sits when the face is turned is a challenge for me. Kind of one step forward, identify weaknesses in my skills, two steps back to work on weak areas. This article really helped me understand why my progress slows, and I hope it's helpful for you as well. jasonhaaheim.com/practice-between-comfort-and-panic/

[@littlecurrybread]

Also the other thing they mention that is you are a junior artist/entry level you won’t be expected to paint at the same level as the pros. What those studios want are people who have good fundamentals (anatomy, composition) and they will have senior artists take the rendering to that final level that you see. Most game art has many hands touching a single piece, you wouldn’t know that as no one talks about it but go to the wild blue ArtStation and see how many names are on each piece for a single legends of runeterra card lol Lastly, I picked this up from dr k on KZbin, the more you think about your goal, the more pain it will bring you. Just eat some veggies (anatomy, composition, perspective), rendering is the easy part - just it’s time consuming lol - and you’ll be ok. The person who starts a gym membership with a specific goal will be less successful than the person who just makes going to the gym a habit, even if they start off not doing much in the gym. This might not apply to you but it’s helped me at least. Best wishes!

[@artwhat..]

Codex.. very informative and intelligent video, I like the way you wrapped it up with closing thoughts, covering every aspect of what you had talked about.. thanks..

[@TemesgenAsefa-w4m]

What to when using reference tim help

[@user-vr3vu3cc6f]

I feel this video so much and it’s incredible however I want to ask how do I break into being intermediate you know not great but understanding that your good at it and are competent Was called bigginner and it lit a fire in me but stung a lot

[@TheDrawingCodex]

Yeah that’s a good question. It’s a challenge to find a proper answer though. I think that as an artist I have always felt as if my skills are lacking. Even when I started becoming a professional, the idea of “impostor syndrome“ was very real. I guess the situation you’re talking about is where you’re looking for external sources to tell you what stage you are at. This is especially tricky as different people will have different opinions. I started to feel more confident once I had a good handle on my process. That is to say I felt comfortable taking an image from an idea to a finish. In the beginning the images were very simple. Just a face/portrait of single character. But I felt I had some control. The other thing that helped me feel competent was getting my foundation sorted. At the most basic level this involves an understanding of perspective and rendering principals. I only really did this properly once I was 10 years into my career… I had already drawn multiple books professionally. But because I don’t have the basics sorted I always felt like I wasn’t doing it properly. So… that is all to say that most of this is in our head. And doesn’t matter. The things that worked for me was reliable process and basic foundation.

[@user-vr3vu3cc6f]

@@TheDrawingCodex yeh it’s understandable especially with foundation I got into art wanting to make characters so started straight to anatomy fabled a bit on fundimentals but being able to make characters was my first goal main things I’m uncomfortable with have to be perspective and colour As a traditional artist colour is a bit more daunting as it can be expensive to fail at colour if that makes sense? But I really want to push myself in perspective and shapes but feels so boring lol But for all this I supose nothing ventured nothing gaind I’ve been learning art for 3 years but my friends say I’ve only been improving well in the past 4 months (since I started going to life drawing sessions at a local museum)

[@user-vr3vu3cc6f]

@@TheDrawingCodex heck right now I’m struggling to structure my learning over all its a insecurity of mine I’m watching your videos and seeing a lot of amazing info but still lacking in this understanding I know everyone’s learning is different but I feel that when self teaching it’s hard to get that Schools obviously have a structure so it’s just a wired feeling

[@user-vr3vu3cc6f]

For your codex does it still help if I’m mainly traditional?

[@VigasArtRoom]

This helped me a lot today! Thanks!

[@darioscomicschool1111]

Checking this out later ma man!

[@dampfanator]

With a full time job, a baby, 2 dogs and 2 cats and no space for an office in my home… so hard to find any time to get into a rhythm.

[@TheDrawingCodex]

For sure, That's a hard season of life! It can be really hard to find time to do anything at all... I have found that even being able to manage a small amount of regular work in these times is a great way to learn to manage time and productivity. If you can do even the smallest amount when you are under all of those responsibilities then it will feel a lot easier to do more once they ease up (As I hear they do... haha...but who knows) Bon Courage!

[@lizachka1482]

you're very beautiful to look at and you have many interesting points i only wish you also had somewhere on the screen some footage of actual drawing too. i might be being selfish and needy though because i have a brain that needs a lot of stimulation to focus sometimes. but nonetheless, thanks for all your info. i like your mention of momentum. could use more of that myself i guess this could be nice to listen to like as a sort of podcast while i draw too

[@BetinaLundkaerJensenartist]

Brilliant!

[@GodzillaGoesGaga]

Basically become a chronic artist whom is self critical (and accepts criticism from others) and uses that feedback to correct/improve ones work.

[@jomanthekiller]

I've seen a lot of improvement I just feel very discouraged when it comes to digital

[@TheDrawingCodex]

Yeah digital can have a learning curve for sure. Try to stick to really simple processes.

[@juandominguezmurray7327]

cool! 😀

[@yopomdpin6285]

So many things I don't understand in that video

[@TheDrawingCodex]

Anything in particular? :)

[@yopomdpin6285]

@@TheDrawingCodex enough to make a whole other video I think ^^ But mostly the usual "have confidence in yourself and trust in your abilities" for me always kinda sound like "if you trust in God you'll get there" and I really don't understand it. How am I supposed to trust that I can do something without proof that I actually can ? How am I supposed to feel confident when despite improving the result is still light-year away from being what I want ? Doesn't make sense to me

[@Stigmaphobia777]

@@yopomdpin6285 Hi, no one asked me, but I've struggled with this sort of thing my whole life and am just now getting over it. For me it was reading a lot of science articles about how the brain can improve at whatever it focuses on. It also came with coming to understand my body and why I do and don't get the results I want on different tasks through observation of habit and emotion. I've always been fairly good at videogames, so for years I tested myself with different genres I was bad at to prove to myself I could do them. This was likely the most important step, because through repetition I reliably got better at whatever I tried, and nothing beats the understanding that experience brings you. There is likely something you can do well. There was also probably a day when you weren't nearly as good at it as you are now. The same mechanism that allowed you to get good at that will reliably allow you to get good at this. It just takes a lot of time. If you're like me, you likely associate anxiety and negative feelings with drawing. For me they tend manifest when I look at someone better than me, when I look at realistic pictures I don't want to reference (but feel obligated to), when I get frustrated with figuring out why something in my drawing looks "wrong", and when I look at the poor results of my most recent attempt. This is poison. These emotions are likely getting in the way of your focus, and their intensity directly correlates with willingness to try again tomorrow. In one fell swoop your fear of lack of improvement impedes your ability to improve and cuts off your desire to put yourself back in the metaphorical chair. If you are experiencing this find out why and how you can avoid it. I personally load up my first few drawings in the previous month almost every day and go, "goddamn well at least I'm not that shit anymore" and then get excited for the next month where I can say that again about today. Hope any of this helped. Art can be painful, but the pain comes from ourselves, and the better we understand ourselves the better we can forgive ourselves for not measuring up to our own expectations.

[@yopomdpin6285]

@@Stigmaphobia777 See that's the really weird thing cause I don't need a reminder like how you take a look at your previous month's work. I know that I progressed and improved, it's obvious how much I went, I got so much better.... but it's still not even close to where I need to be to do what I want to do. And when people try to cheer me up on that I'm like : "yeah sure, I improved... but look how much it took me to get there. I've done literally thousands of drawings and studies, it took me the better part of 6 years to get there... and the starting line for what I'm aiming at isn't even in sight" And sure yeah, I have several comics project in mind and technically I can start doing them right here right now. I could. Nothing's stopping me. The story by itself will be just as good. But visually ? It would be absolutely terrible to look at. And the reason I want to make a comic and not just a novel, is exactly because of the visual element so what's the point in doing it badly ... Cause in the end, people always say to not compare yourself to other but to your past self.... and I know my past self... But most of all I know where I want to be. And I'm not there at all.

[@Stigmaphobia777]

@@yopomdpin6285 Damn, I feel like I made my comment a little ignorantly because I didn't understand what you were going through. I don't really have much to add because I'm not at that stage yet. For the sake of my own curiosity do you know where you fall short of your own expectations? Like what do you need to acquire in terms of skill to reach what you want to do?

[@games-k8u5k]

What is it for you tim ask me hot Ainme girs 🎉😂

[@velophyte4702]

Your channel is for sure a lost gem

[@khorshedmostafa6854]

thanks