[Talk] Let's talk about art improvement!

[faf]

An artist's personal growth is one of those things I adore seeing in other's work as well as mine so I am curious about your own personal improvement and some of your reactions seeing your own growth. What are some things you do to personally improve your skills? Also, feel free to post some of your older art paired with your newer art as well!

I might as well talk about my personal growth, when I first started I was just basically drawing from imagination without any care for anatomy but once I've took art courses as well as kept drawing, I have noticed many changes in my current skills compared to my previous skills. Often times, I question myself a lot by saying "is this the same artist?" or "I cannot believe I used to draw like that." Overall, I still have a long way to go but so far I am pleased with my progress!

Here is one example drawing I have improved on 3 years ago and I can certainly add more:

Spoiler: 6 year difference (thinking about redrawing it again)

 

[Lordecoxinha]

Hi!

Personally, I find one of the things that help me the most when it comes to improving in art is having the attitude of "I could do that" and actually trying to do things I find interesting in other people's works. Be it shading or lineart style to a simple color palette that appeals to me, just trying to replicate techniques and such seem to help me improve my art repertoire a lot.

Your two Scraftys really show how much you have improved, specially on proportions and shading! The placement of shadows really stood out to me.

Here's an example of a character I first did back in 2017 and then last year, after studying some of the solid black shadows Thiago Lehmann uses in his works, I really recommend checking him out!

Spoiler:

 

[faf]

That is a really good mindset to have because saying stuff like "oh I cannot do this" is self defeating and puts you in a rut. And you have definitely improved yourself! The newer piece feels much more dynamic compared to your old piece, especially since the pose feels a lot looser and natural and the colours are bolder too.

 

[Fairy]

Man, I should really redraw some of my older 2015-ish art because honestly I'm super impressed with everyone's improvement! I often dissociate from my art for long periods of time when I'm feeling particularly mentally ill, but coming back to it is always a relief on my heart. Feeling pretty inspired after seeing this thread ngl. :')

 

[Lordecoxinha]

You definitely should! And show us the results :D

It really sucks when psychological issues keep you from doing things you love, but to me at least it always feels surreal when I get back to it. Staying healthy should always be top priority tho.

Personally, I found it's all about finding inspiration and pursuing it, and trying to stay excited with my own ideas so they keep flowing!