ShopDreamUp AI ArtDreamUp
Deviation Actions
I drew 10,000 stick figures.
It took me 45 days, but goodness, I finally hit the milestone, and it's quite appropriate that there is no appropriate in how sudden and unexplosive it was to cross the finish line. Almost poetic.
Suffering yet another drought of art, where I had no will to learn or to draw anything really - Especially when it came to my comic projects - and where I felt no drive to even write, I was once again in that endless spiral of despair of having distinct wishes to be able to draw like so and so - to at least have some sort of finished project, to be a master of a certain fundamental. I have the ebooks, I have the youtube links, I know the grind, but I felt nothing for it, and no drive. After all, after two Loomises, what could I possibly expect from yet another art book? More dissapointment in the fact that I hadn't actually levelled up even after going through yet another gruelling process?
That's when I decided to draw a bunch of stick figures.
Absolute basic mode.
I thought to myself: I've already done 1,000 mannequins, why not bump up that number but with stick figures instead?
I thought to myself: This will be annoying, but it's the perfect balance of tedious and relaxing. I have no pressure to make masterpieces, and if I do it right, hey, maybe I can learn a little something, maybe not.
I have so much to say on this whole thing, but the main take away I've gotten from this is some modicum of pride in myself, to finally go for a goal and do it.
Am I a better artist? Have I levelled up? Was it worth it? I have absolutely no idea. All I know is that minutes and hours I usually spend screwing around or procrastinating on the internet or being bored out of my mind in bus rides has ended: My days were filled. Really filled. Even when watching something, I drew stick figures. While having a coffee in the cafe, I drew stick figures. While waiting for a bus, I drew stick figures.
My life and all its ups and downs went on as it always did. This did not suddenly revolutionize my life or change any way in how problems came at me, but I did something on the side that I can feel happy about. I always feel like I never have enough time, I always feel like my days revolve around the next problem to solve, but this was something that I could constantly keep track of.
I had really bad moments where I just stopped, I had bad days, I had good days, but I finally reached the end, and with that learnt an important mantra: Step by step, step by step.
I didn't feel like i'd lost when I just stopped drawing for one week, I just feltl like I was riding a bike again after leaving it in the garage for a while: Sure, it's a shame that I hadn't been working at it daily, but it's not something that I forgot completely.
Isn't that always the best sort of way to talk to old friends and long forgotten contacts? The ideal best friend is someone you haven't talked to in 20 years and you can just have a coffee with spontaneously. The fanfare, the stress, the pressure of OH WOW I AM DOING THIS THING AFTER A WHILE cheapens the moment, it puts pressure on you, and it makes you focus on the wrong thing.
So finishing this little challenge of mine, I am damn happy and proud, and ecstatic, but I know the shitty days shall come back, the sun and earth shall do their dance, I'll still be a noob artist, and give me 200 years a life span and I'll never be as good as Da Vinci - Objectively, not self-deprecating- But I'll keep on drawing so long as I can, I'll keep on writing.
It's unfortunate that I haven't found a fellow artist willing to do such silly challenges yet, so I've also learned the bitter lesson that one can only drive themselves to draw in the end, but I'd love to be able to find people like me who just want to walk the road and enjoy the moments. In a way, I have given up: I don't and can't be number one, but I love the process and the road.
My two cents
Oh gawd I'm so stoked about this right now.
It took me 45 days, but goodness, I finally hit the milestone, and it's quite appropriate that there is no appropriate in how sudden and unexplosive it was to cross the finish line. Almost poetic.
Suffering yet another drought of art, where I had no will to learn or to draw anything really - Especially when it came to my comic projects - and where I felt no drive to even write, I was once again in that endless spiral of despair of having distinct wishes to be able to draw like so and so - to at least have some sort of finished project, to be a master of a certain fundamental. I have the ebooks, I have the youtube links, I know the grind, but I felt nothing for it, and no drive. After all, after two Loomises, what could I possibly expect from yet another art book? More dissapointment in the fact that I hadn't actually levelled up even after going through yet another gruelling process?
That's when I decided to draw a bunch of stick figures.
Absolute basic mode.
I thought to myself: I've already done 1,000 mannequins, why not bump up that number but with stick figures instead?
I thought to myself: This will be annoying, but it's the perfect balance of tedious and relaxing. I have no pressure to make masterpieces, and if I do it right, hey, maybe I can learn a little something, maybe not.
I have so much to say on this whole thing, but the main take away I've gotten from this is some modicum of pride in myself, to finally go for a goal and do it.
Am I a better artist? Have I levelled up? Was it worth it? I have absolutely no idea. All I know is that minutes and hours I usually spend screwing around or procrastinating on the internet or being bored out of my mind in bus rides has ended: My days were filled. Really filled. Even when watching something, I drew stick figures. While having a coffee in the cafe, I drew stick figures. While waiting for a bus, I drew stick figures.
My life and all its ups and downs went on as it always did. This did not suddenly revolutionize my life or change any way in how problems came at me, but I did something on the side that I can feel happy about. I always feel like I never have enough time, I always feel like my days revolve around the next problem to solve, but this was something that I could constantly keep track of.
I had really bad moments where I just stopped, I had bad days, I had good days, but I finally reached the end, and with that learnt an important mantra: Step by step, step by step.
I didn't feel like i'd lost when I just stopped drawing for one week, I just feltl like I was riding a bike again after leaving it in the garage for a while: Sure, it's a shame that I hadn't been working at it daily, but it's not something that I forgot completely.
Isn't that always the best sort of way to talk to old friends and long forgotten contacts? The ideal best friend is someone you haven't talked to in 20 years and you can just have a coffee with spontaneously. The fanfare, the stress, the pressure of OH WOW I AM DOING THIS THING AFTER A WHILE cheapens the moment, it puts pressure on you, and it makes you focus on the wrong thing.
So finishing this little challenge of mine, I am damn happy and proud, and ecstatic, but I know the shitty days shall come back, the sun and earth shall do their dance, I'll still be a noob artist, and give me 200 years a life span and I'll never be as good as Da Vinci - Objectively, not self-deprecating- But I'll keep on drawing so long as I can, I'll keep on writing.
It's unfortunate that I haven't found a fellow artist willing to do such silly challenges yet, so I've also learned the bitter lesson that one can only drive themselves to draw in the end, but I'd love to be able to find people like me who just want to walk the road and enjoy the moments. In a way, I have given up: I don't and can't be number one, but I love the process and the road.
My two cents
Oh gawd I'm so stoked about this right now.
1000 Hands
1000 Hands
So this is it. I am here at last at this humble hill of self imposed drawing madness, and I'm so damn proud that I could reach this.
I'm always trying to improve in art in general, I always am trying to get better at everything and anything, but I've gotten a bit fatalistic about the whole process. I keep on feeling that there is no true way to learn anything new, that there's really only the stuff you pick up over time and there's no way you can consciously advance a step forward in a direction you want to go. Things just sort of sort themselves out and there's no point in stressing yourself over it, or bothering about it. The b
01.02.2017
Greetings, Journal, it has been a while.
Guh, so much to talk about, so little time and space.
Let me just say: Epiphanies are great! While they come, in their rare moments.
I have a sudden craving for Sushi.
Let's get to the arting thing, eh?
27.11.2016 - The Journey Continues
The day keeps on turning, the seasons keep on turning, and it has been too long since I just felt great about the whole art process in general, and I doubt I'll feel it again, but I'll sure as hell keep at it.
I miss making art for the smallest reasons, I miss making it for the biggest reasons. I miss being inspired by the drawings and paintings I see from all across the board, no matter how many people like them or not. I miss that optimistic fool.
I'll never be that person again, but I sure as hell will try to reach out more, to draw more, to train more. To get back into the process.
Long story short, the process continues.
Figure Drawing For All It's Worth - Complete
So this took me a very long time, but I finally, finally, finally finished going through Figure Drawing For All It's Worth by Andrew Loomis.
I was going to go at it a page a day, so that I should be finished in December, but it was starting to take up too much time so I made a mad rush throughout the weekend. Phew
Loomis is pretty verbiose, so reading his chats was not really a priority of mine. His excercises explain well enough what he aims to teach, so I went at them.
I can't say I've made any particular leaps or bounds in terms of skill, because there is the missing fundamental skill to draw good circles, straight lines and visualize 3
© 2017 - 2024 legomaestro
Comments5
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
Ohhh! So this was the challenge.