I wrote ~5000 words on what 40 hours of studying drawing can do. I know my drawing is not great, but it has improved considerably, and I believe it is a story worth sharing.
@nina_kali_nina I'll put this in bookmarks.
@nina_kali_nina this was very interesting to read, and congratulations on your hard work and persistence paying off! I am fascinated because I really, really, really cannot draw, have never been able to (I literally changed my choice of career as a teenager because my total lack of drawing skill precluded my first choice) and I still basically believe there’s some fundamental thing I missed out on.
@drmikepj thank you! I believe you might find yourself unblocked in drawing if you get a talented teacher. If you have energy and time for that, of course. It takes a lot of energy and time, and sometimes could feel pointless, in the era of virtually-free photography and terrible-but-often-good-enough GenAI (yuck)
@nina_kali_nina It’s one of those things where I start from so far behind the average that I would have to work hard just to reach the starting point for most tutorials.
@nina_kali_nina singing is analogous - I can sing and lots of people tell me they can’t. 99% of them just need to practice and get over their social embarrassment, but there’s 1% who just can’t do it despite coaching, unfortunately.
@drmikepj yep, I believe this is how things are... It is not impossible to learning singing, but it is much more difficult for some people.
@nina_kali_nina anyway, glad it brings you pleasure, and it brought me vicarious pleasure to see how your work improved.
@drmikepj the "Drawing on the right side" says that the art level of a student is usually indicative of the age at which they stopped practicing drawing. So, you are correct, you will need to catch up to those who stopped drawing at 12 (which seems to be the average age when children drop drawing). But it can be done, I was told.
@nina_kali_nina in my case probably more like 6 or 7. I drew for art class to age 14 and then gave it up once it stopped being compulsory, and I drew for design and technology class to 16, but my skill level never improved and I was constantly told I was making no effort to improve. I also have poor handwriting, am clumsy, and can’t throw or catch so I do suspect some motor control issues.
@drmikepj problems with throwing and catching could be related to issues with binocular vision!
@drmikepj @nina_kali_nina you put that into your style! Some artists have shaky lines. You can just make it work for you. I do believe most people can draw. It’s whether you can persevere to maybe get to a place where you like your own work which is the real question. I keep making progress, drawing 40 years professionally, still feel forever on the brink & rarely doing work I am really happy with, with a few exceptions. It’s such a lifelong process. I wonder if an artist ever gets ‘there’.
@JoBlakely @drmikepj I also wonder how external support contributes to this feeling of "getting there"
@nina_kali_nina @drmikepj there is some innate skill in drawing. My kid started drawing as soon as she could hold a pen. At 10 she draws MUCH better than any kid. If she continues she will be very good. But there is NO way I could ever reach her *current* level, even with hard work for a full lifetime. It does not "click".
@f4grx @drmikepj I am still inclined to think that this is a skill issue. However, if she already drew much more than you ever did, that's a gap that's very difficult to close. In middle school, I've been drawing two pictures a week, mostly as needed by the art class; my ex (the illustrator one) had churned out at least that much every day, probably far more; I (mis?)remember one short holiday with seeing over 500 pages of paper used for pose study
@drmikepj @nina_kali_nina same haha. I've basically given up on any "organic" drawing. What I can draw is machines. Straight lines, mechanisms, blueprints. Any character or animal or vegetal? Nope lol.
@f4grx @drmikepj kind of funny, I got a book on industrial design that basically teaches the very same skills as regular drawing, but allows a lot of cheating - rulers, collages, perspective tools. I think the "organic" drawing educators are too mean.
For me, drawing "gourds" really unlocked drawing flowing organic shapes. It's just a couple of ovals and curves to connect them, but after a hundred or so I started to feel like I connect to them on some emotional level lol
@nina_kali_nina @drmikepj I have no idea of body proportions, to start with. And honestly I think I am not ready to invest time in this study, because I know I would struggle and still suck.
@f4grx @drmikepj neither do I! Neither did artists who drew lots of famous paintings in the Middle ages and early Renaissance :3
I think not being able to invest time is a very big and very valid point here. Also If you don't feel like it's a rewarding activity, or worse still, feel down after drawing, it's something that you can't just overcome with pure will, I think. In this aspect, I feel very blessed - I couldn't enjoy drawing for years, and now I sometimes can
@nina_kali_nina @drmikepj i'm very glad you have some new activity you enjoy!
@nina_kali_nina I loved Blue Period too! And I've also only recently started trying to draw more often. I'm surprised how much I'm able to express now, after only a few months of doodles. Your drawings are looking great, and thanks for sharing this!
@cathos have you read it, or only watched the anime? I find both are great in their own ways.
Drawing is kind of like a language, isn't it? Learning more ways to express things in it can be rewarding, even if it is a game with diminishing returns.
Aw, thanks 
@nina_kali_nina I only read it! But I should check out the anime.
It really is a language. The biggest expressive breakthrough for me lately was realizing that I didn't have to interpret what I was seeing - I could just draw what I was imagining or dreaming. And, earlier this year, I realized I didn't have to start with being able to copy things perfectly, which was a big relief. I have done so much drafting (architectural and engineering drawings) and drawing with constructed lines in the past, but never really trusted my hands and pen to go where I wanted them. Yet now, I feel like I am almost able to reliably draw shapes from memory.
@cathos this is impressive! 
@nina_kali_nina I haven't attempted faces yet though! I'm really impressed with how your last self-portrait turned out.
@cathos it can be very fun and extremely trying at the same time :D
@nina_kali_nina thank you for writing and sharing this journey. I'm inspired to get back to practicing myself. 
@crenfrow good luck!!!
@nina_kali_nina I have the same book. For not quite as long, but at least 5 years. I'm encouraged by your story. Keep going! :)
@drj Thank you! And good luck, maybe :)
@nina_kali_nina I had a similar experience, minus books and museums. I wanted to illustrate a monster manual and didn’t want to spend more than an hour per monster. The palpable improvement over those 30 or 40 hours surprised me a lot!
The variance is terrible and back then I thought I’d redo many of them but then I never did. I could always draw something else instead!
These were the drawings I made at the time, using the ZenBrush 2 app on my iPad. I really want to do a similar 40h effort using real ink and brush.
https://alexschroeder.ch/view/2017-monsters/index
Reading your blog brought all that back and now I think I should paint some more so thank you for that.
@alex ooooh, this is so cool!
@nina_kali_nina amazing progress!!!! That is how you do it! Very lovely work you are doing. Very high quality.
@nina_kali_nina I made rapid progress and levelled up seeing with that book too. It’s a great book, but you don’t need to put so much pressure on yourself to do it by a certain time, unless you want to. I still haven’t finished the book either, and should probably take a look again and see where it can help now. But the bit I did do, did help.
@JoBlakely I suppose we're our worst critics. The book says it can be done in 5 days, so when it takes 50 or 500 or 5000 it feels really disappointing
@nina_kali_nina Not perfection but I think your drawings are pretty good.
@MisterMoo thanks! I think I have lots and lots of work in front of me, though!
@nina_kali_nina @Madmonkey abbiamo fatto una piccola recensione del metodo Edwards per "disegnare col lato destro del cervello" qui: https://youtu.be/_4drjwlrmb8
@riprova @nina_kali_nina bellissimo libro, letto un ventennio fa.
Ma continuo a non saper disegnare 
that's a fantastic read - and a fantastic journey!
inspiring me to do some drawing too!
@rzeta0 thank you, and good luck; don't forget to enjoy the process!
@nina_kali_nina Thanks for writing this and sharing it. I enjoyed reading it. I have struggled at different times with learning to draw well. In college I took a live drawing class and I learned a few things but never felt like I progressed much. Maybe I should give drawing another try!
@tuckerteague if it feels like something you might enjoy (being in the flow is a feeling some love and some hate), by all means! Good luck~
@nina_kali_nina
Interesting journey, thanks for sharing!
@nina_kali_nina thanks for sharing. I am half way through and this was already quite insightful!
I esp felt the part of learning lines and basic forms. People seldomly grasp that it is an acquired skill to draw a straight line without a ruler or a pretty ovaloid. I had this lesson to in a book but it. Is. So. Consuming 
in every way.
Anyhow, I am looking forward to reading the other half bit 
@ppxl best of luck!
It is indeed a skill, and a skill people often forget they learned. For example, in the crosshatching sub-chapter, Betty Edwards wonders why not everyone has the crosshatching figured out, and just tells the reader to practice it (without any specific exercises provided, maybe not to overwhelmed the reader)
You dive in the deep end and draw human faces the objectively hardest thing to draw because our brains are finely tuned to read faces.
I like both of these drawing. The second one is more sophisticated in how the light and shadow are rendered. But I love the boldness of the glasses on the first one.
@futurebird thank you! Human faces are endlessly fascinating to look at, I think. They seem simple and familiar, but there are so many little details we miss when we just stop after our brain captures the gestalt of the face. You know, the kind of "AHH, I know this face, so I know this person, but something is different about them, but I can't tell what, probably new haircut"
@nina_kali_nina I have this bookmarked - I need to read it (just not at 6:50am). You've poked at me to dig up my copy of You Can Draw in 30 Days by "Commander Mark" Kistler https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/mark-kistler/you-can-draw-in-30-days/9780786727230/
I had some success with the early exercises but I set it aside and haven't gotten back to it. With everything going on now, I really need to.
Anyway, I'm glad you stuck with it and acknowledge (are satisfied with, are happy with?) your progress. We all start at the beginning, you can't learn without trying, you can't try without failing, so making friends with failure unlocks your willingness to try and to learn. I still need to read your post but thanks for sharing it :)
@arclight thank you for sharing your experience, too!
@nina_kali_nina Very inspiring!
While practicing drawing some time ago, I actually made a pencil sketch of your pfp. I'd like to share that if that's not too weird.
@accidentlyAnton oh, by all means! It'll be the third drawing of this photo :D
@accidentlyAnton hey, not bad at all :)
@nina_kali_nina Congrats on the journey!
@nina_kali_nina thank you for taking the time to share this; I find it inspiring.