So to get straight to the point, if you want to become a better artist you kind have to
suspend the idea that art is this purely emotion and inspiration-driven experience.
A lot of people might disagree with me on this and it's kind of a paradoxical statement
in itself, it's just the easiest way that I've found to put this into words, and basically
you can look at an artists as a machine; we take in inspiration and we put out a product,
our interpretation, whether that's a painting or a drawing whether it's for sale or just
for fun.
We've made a thing.
And what goes on in between, in the mechanism of the art machine, is a combination of elements
and components all working together in a balance for productivity and improvement and development.
So basically we need to reframe our point of view on things a little bit because maybe
you're watching this video because what you've been doing to improve so far hasn't been working.
And we need to take more of a clinical look at something that's usually seen as quite
visceral and quite spiritual.
The same way that a ballet dancer performs the art of movement and it's fluid and it's
organic but behind the scenes it's all repetition and pain and practice and maybe a little bit
of twirling around in their room for fun sometimes when no-ones watching.
Right so before I ramble on anymore; here's the formula.
These are the steps, this is the work you've gotta put in to get your art factories production
quality through the roof.
Right o the first step is to dedicate some time every day to creating art.
You've heard it before I know, but if you're still not doing it and you're still not seeing
improvement that you'd like to see then maybe it's time to start taking it a little bit
more seriously.
Commitment to this is key, so it should be as inevitable as the half hour that you spend
messing about on your phone before you go to bed.
Make it part of your routine.
So for me it's one of the first things I do in the morning after I get dressed.
For you, your trigger could be when you finish your dinner, it could be when you finish your
homework.
Just find something that you do everyday and slip that art practice in either before or
after it.
That's just the easiest way to anchor a new habit.
Okay but draw what, right?
Major key here is balance.
So we learn through doing and we learn through studying.
So you can draw and draw and draw, but if not studying your subject matter, you're always
gonna be limited to the things that you THINK you know and you can read all the books in
the world but if you're not applying that and implimenting it onto paper, it just doesn't
mean anything, it's not gonna stick.
Now a lot of the time when we sit down so purposefully, so intentionally and forcefully
to draw... you know; 'It's 5 o clock, time to draw something!'
it just doesn't work like that, we're just not inspired, and the art machine runs on
the fuel of inspiration right, but you have to extract that fuel in order to use it.
So if you find yourself staring at a blank but of paper, your inspiration fuel tanks
are empty, it's time to replenish them.
It's time to study.
So that could entail, watching Youtube tutorials, going to life-drawing classes, they have Youtube
life-drawing as well, you can enroll in an online class (if you're interested in Skillshare
I do still have a 99 cent coupon for that, I'll leave a link to the video where I talk
about that in the description), books I'd really recommend, I know for me it really
helps to have something more tangeable, something I can touch, it just makes more sense of things.
Study the masters, I talked about that quite recently as well.
Another key part of studying art is to draw from life, that's a really essential skill
to have, to be able to translate what's 3D in front of you into a 2D image.
I've actually written a blog post to accompany this video, I'll leave a link to it below,
but basically it breaks down all of those steps just in case I went to quickly, I've
got some really useful links in there as well to good YouTube channels that you can use
to learn, some book recommendations as well, just all that good stuff so don't forget to
check that out.
Right so that's the work side of things, now if you happen to sit down at your allotted
art time and you find yourself more inclined to play; your inspiration well is full and
you've got a ton of ideas or you jut wanna doodle; do that!
If you go to your sketchbook and you have this amazing idea for a drawing, do it, if
you wanna experiment with a new medium or just make a mess and have fun, go for it!You
have to take those moments of pure inspiration and run with them.
And make mistakes!
Don't ever let the fear of not being able to translate your ideas onto paper stop you
from trying.
In fact, it's almost better to make mistakes, it's better to get it wrong because then you
have something to work on next time.
That's the direction to your next study session in.
Create, create, create, then analyse and improve.
That's the cycle that's gonna get you moving forward.
So those are the two main components that go into strengthening the machine of good
art production.
Again the one thing that I need you to take away from this is that you must create are
as often as possible, if not every day.
If you wanna have fun and experiment and get ideas on to paper; go ahead, if you don't
have any ideas or you're lacking inspiration, get on with some studying and practice.
That's the skeleton of the structure.
Then there are always those extra bits you can throw in.
One of them in life experience.
I'm not gonna talk about that a lot cos you know I don't like to leave the house that
often, but yeah things like travel, culture, life, memories it all goes into creating a
more well-rounded outlook, a diversity of ideas.
So go out, or stay in, watch a good film, listen to good music, go to a gallery or take
up a hobby like photography or... pottery.
Next is engagement or community, you've gotta share!
You've got to get feedback, give feedback, talk, discuss, you can't exist in a bubble
because that will stunt your growth enormously.
If you don't have friends or a close circle that are creative or can offer you constructive
feedback then there are tons of ways that you can find that online.
You could set up and instagram account or Youtube account and share your art anonymously.
Again Skillshare, they didn't sponsor this video but there's a great community there
of like-minded people all trying to better themselves all submitting their work for review.
And then the last thing that I would suggest would be a project or challenge so for example
if you're not good at drawing feet, you could set yourself the challenge to draw a foot
every day for 30 days.
You can also do something, if you really wanna push yourself, something that's gonna take
a lot of skills and exploration of things wouldn't often explore so for example you
could write and illustrate a short story.
You could follow along with my 30 Ways to Fill a Sketchbook that would have you possibly
trying different materials and different styles.
If there's anything for you to take away from this video it's that the difference between
you and the artists you admire is not some genetic superiority it's not something they
were born with, it's not chance, it's a formula and it's very much attainable.
Like them you have all the parts to the great art machine, you just have to put in the work
to put those parts together.