Hello my loves, I hope you’re all well.
Before we start, today’s video is sponsored by Skillshare and I just wanna thank them
for consistently supporting this channel and allowing me to keep doing what I do.
This actually wasn’t the video I had planned for today but I stepped on my hard-drive and
amongst so many other things, I lost a ton of footage for you guys.
I’m not even gonna think about the rest of the stuff on the hard drive because I’m
still very much in denial about that, but hopefully this little video will do for now.
Little being the operative word here because I’m starting a series of little house drawings.
If you saw my latest video of the paper unboxing, you’ll have seen that I got five of these
dinky little bamboo paper sketchbooks and I’ve been so excited to try them out with
a collection of little themed drawings.
So, of course, my first go-to has to be houses, I’ll probably fill one up with little landscapes
and then I’m not sure what I’ll do with the other three, who do you guys think?
Working on this scale is a great, fun way to get some practice in and I think the collection
of drawings at the end might make a nice little series of like mini-zines.
How many times have I said little already- oh my god.
This paper is lovely by the way, the paint responds to it so- I can’t describe it-
so calmly and perfectly.
And the paint I’m using is the limited palette of Daniel Smith watercolours I bought.
I struggled a bit with them at first just because of the limited number of colours I
have but over time I’ve figured out a few good mixing combinations and I think the colour
combos in themselves lend their own kind of look to a piece.
The pen I’m using is the Winsor and Newton fineliner and I will, as always, have info
on everything listed in the description below.
Anyway, I just wanted to talk really briefly today about not feeling like a ‘proper’
artist.
Comparing yourself to others and always seeing yourself as an amateur, almost even being
embarrassed to be in any kind of art space whether it’s in class, out in the world
or online, like that imposter syndrome of thinking that anyone that knows anything about
art, especially the fellow artists around you, will see right through you and will maybe
even be scoffing or rolling their eyes at your attempts to be one of them.
I’ve felt it here and there.
My usual thing is like, thinking if I were a real artist then you know, I’d have a
proper, consistent body of work to show for it, I’d make art every single day and I
wouldn’t have days where I don’t want to make art.
But there are a handful of ways that I consistently am able to tackle that feeling.The first is
to recognise that any feelings of shame or inadequacy, almost always come from comparison.
I feel like I’m not doing enough because I’m looking over there at someone that’s
doing loads.
If you get rid of what you think other people want or where you think you stack up in comparison
with others, and you just look at what you’re doing from the standpoint of always putting
your best foot forward, always striving to do a little better than you did yesterday,
or doing something that you enjoy and you are satisfied with, it can really help to
ease that self-doubt.
Touching on that last point of always striving to be better, to flip that feeling of inadequacy
on it’s head and turn it into a sense of achievement, my second point, and the easiest
self-doubt quick-fix for me is to learn something new, or getter deeper understanding of something
I already know.
In the year+ that I’ve been using Skillshare, I haven’t needed anything else for getting
a better understanding of all types of things related to art.
There are techniques I’ve learned about drawing buildings that I’ve been able to
pick up and take with me and develop with myself style.
And when I need a reminder of the fundamentals, which I often feel kind of insecure about
having not been to art school, I can always find actual teachers and a real class community
on there to fill in those knowledge gaps.
Skillshare is a website with tens of thousands of online classes that you can get unlimited
access to for $10 a month on an annual plan.
As usual, I have a code for any of you guys that haven’t signed up yet, if you wanna
have a look for free, you can actually get 2 months of premium membership at no cost
at all with the link I’ll have down below.
It’s only valid for the first 500 people, it’s totally worth checking out if you can.
Th e final thing that works for me when confidence is low is to draw the things I love.
Houses are my comfort zone and I know most of us art people are always trying to change
things up, not get caught in drawing the same face over and over, the same bowl of fruit,
for fear that people will say that’s all we can do, but honestly, sometimes you have
to remind yourself that all you need to do to be a ‘proper’ artist is to make art
that says something to you.
Like with the first point, so much doubt comes from thinking about other people’s perceptions,
and while it’s important to take on some criticism in order to improve, the bottom
line, for me anyway, is to make art and enjoy making it, learn and improve at my own rate
and draw the things I like to draw in the way I like drawing them.
It’s been really nice having a chat, I started this out so stressed about my hard-drive but
Im already kind of ready to let that go now and move on.
Thanks for being here to listen to me ramble, I’d love your suggestions on any other mini
things I can fill my little sketchbooks with.
Don’t forget to check out the link in the description if you’re on the fence about
seeing what Skillshare has to offer.
And I’ll see you soon for the next video!
Bye!