Hi everyone!

I've been drawing for a few years, and I've recently noticed a pattern in the way I work: I spend a lot of time sketching ideas, but very rarely turn those sketches into finished pieces.

I genuinely enjoy the sketching stage. Ideas come relatively easily, and starting something new feels exciting. But once I try to move beyond the initial sketch and develop the piece further, my relationship with it often changes. What initially felt promising can suddenly start feeling awkward or disappointing, and the process begins to feel much more demanding than I expected.

Sometimes I wonder whether I've simply become too comfortable with sketches. A sketch can remain full of possibilities, while finishing a piece means making decisions and eventually accepting a final result. I find that interesting because I've started to realize that the difficulty might not always be about drawing itself, but about the transition from an open-ended idea to something finished.

I've also spent time exploring different interests—game art, comics, architecture, and other directions—but I still don't feel particularly attached to one specific path. Maybe that's connected to the same tendency to keep things open rather than committing to a direction.

I'm curious whether other artists have experienced something similar.

Have you ever gone through a long period where you constantly started and sketched things but rarely finished them? What do you think was behind it in your case? Did your relationship with unfinished work or finished pieces eventually change?

I'd really love to hear about other artists' experiences and perspectives on this.

I've never been the type of artist to hurriedly pursue a personal style, I recognise that that is not something to be found but something to be crafted over a period of time. An art style is like handwriting, slowly but surely you start to form habits that endure and mark your work as your own.

That said, I've also never seen my work as something that's really my own stylistically speaking. I've always examined my work through what I was trying to accomplish, how well the anatomy is, the posing, the colors, the concpet, etc...but never how consistent it is with my past work bc that was simply not something on my mind. I've always looked towards my goals as an artist but never looking back to where I was.

That wasn't until this morning where I uncovered some old sketchbooks I had that trail back all the way to 2017/2018, and I was suprised by consistent my old art. Obviously it lacked any technical understanding of art and was mostly fan art of stuff I liked at the time, but it still had very telltale signs of habits and techniques that I still conciously or unconsiously do to this day. Its just felt like suprise bc it showed how much of me there was in my art, and I never really thought about bc I always focused on honing my technical skills, trying to change what I deemed were mistakes but not what I was keeping with me. Has anyone else went through something similiar?

Before anyone says it yes I read the official explanation, just hear me out. I’ve been trusting the process and doing the Drawabox exercises with a fine liner on paper like I’m supposed to. I got excited because my line confidence really did start approving as I went on. However, I found whenever I work on the project I was working on digitally (pretty much my sole medium), that muscle memory I was starting to build just goes out the window. I’ll be doing great on paper, then the second I switch back to my tablet my lines are inaccurate and wobbly again with the same techniques.

I’m not saying that Drawabox’s methods are ineffective for digital art, but as of now I do have to disagree that they’ll automatically translate without also practicing those exercises on a tablet. The biggest thing I noticed right away was that because a tablet is completely smooth unlike paper, that adds a layer of difficulty. There’s also the matter of non-screen tablets. Your line of sight is disconnected from where your pen is. Not exactly a disadvantage if you’re used to that like I am, but again, I have a hard time believing it’ll all work itself out if you just stick purely to traditional for the exercises. So sure you can just undo the line with the click of a button, but if you’re disciplined enough to ignore that then the whole “doing it digitally gives you a crutch and you don’t really learn properly” doesn’t hold water anymore imo, quite the opposite actually. What do you guys think? Do I got a good point or am I just another naysayer?

TLDR: Drawabox is great for improving line confidence and accuracy, but if you only practice the exercises traditionally then it won’t magically also make your digital line work better.

I've been looking into this question for a while, though I've already formed an idea, I'd like some output from ya'll experienced visual artists.

I'm trying to build a palette to stick to for a while and thought I'd keep it really simple so I can get more involved with learning color mixing better. I decided on:

• Burnt Umber
• French Ultramarine Blue
• Cadmium Red (cadmium free to be precise)
• Cadmium Yellow (also cadmium free)
• White (of course)

These are all Winsor & Newton Artist series. I bought 200ml tubes since I'd be sticking with these for a while.

The problem is that I had been using Cadmium Lemon which is a really nice, bright, yellow. But I replaced it with a big tube of Cadmium (free) Yellow which is much darker (almost a light orange but more vibrant than Yellow Ochre for example).

I'm afraid I won't get any nice, bright yellows with this cad yellow and this limited palette. Should I just continue with Cadmium Lemon instead?

So ive been drawing for a LONG time and a major weakness is starting to pop up that im really gonna need to address if i wanna take art seriously at all, i get worn out way too fast

When i draw, i love it, and ive actually gotten really good at drawing quickly too, the time i spend is quite productive i get big chunks done in a timely manner, and when i get locked into a project i can go for a good couple hours without realizing, buuut....

i'll go so much time without drawing, and for no reason, i have the free time, i have the ideas, but i just cant for the life of me up that frequency and build up that daily habit, i CAN lock into projects for hours, but how do i get locked into that project more regularly? Something to break that mental wall? And build up that routine? Any training regimes or strategies?

hey! as the title says. i understand that i need to grind out the fundamentals first - i have a basic understanding of the very fundamentals and a very poor understanding of figure drawing - but i'd eventually like to find a course that'd teach me how to draw digitally, especially draw character/concept art, as that's what i'm most interested in.

courses that teach fundamentals in digital painting, or the aforementioned fundamentals in figure drawing, are also welcome - i'm okay at traditional sketching, pen and ink, watercolor, etc. but i'm having trouble transferring my skills digitally.

as for why courses - i have ADHD and do best with a structured and crucially not self-paced format of learning.

thank you!

Last year I pushed myself to create a sophisticated and beautiful series of 5 large paintings exploring themes of humanity and anatomy. I'm usually self critical, and worry I haven't done my best. Yet everyone who has seen the work in person is really impressed, I got amazing responses to the work. However I was relocating and lost and confused about how to submit the work to a gallery. ​So I put the collection in storage and later even lost the digital copies of the paintings due to technical difficulties.

This year I am making new work in my new location, but it pains me knowing the work I already did before with so much inspiration, and really executed to museum quality, is sitting in the dark, unappreciated. Any advice on how to address this feeling, and has anyone else shared in this feeling of actually producing high quality work but not being able to handle the gallery submission and exposure side of the equation?

I feel like it takes me forever to get to a point with a sketch that I like it to ink and color it. Yet I hate sketching so the majority of the time I hate drawing and I feel like that’s not a good thing. I really like inking and coloring, though I rarely spend enough time on it since sketching takes forever. On top of that I draw every day and I spend hours sketching only to delete and restart the next day and I find myself in a never ending cycle of unfinished work. How do I get faster so I can exit sketching and get to inking more often?

I was showing it off to a friend and talking about following some Bob Ross videos to get started and they said I got the wrong kind of paint for that and needed oil paints and not acrylics because Bob Ross uses Liquid White. Is there something similar to the Liquid White Bob Ross uses for his oil based paintings for acrylics?

I've picked back up on sketching and drawing i want to work my way up to a canvas but the fear is real but I feel more and more like I cam do it....plus this is helping my ptsd not flair up

I have watercolor& acrylic works on canvas panel and planning to hang at bars and restaurants.

I usually frame them without glass into picture frames but I want to have glass to protect my work just in case.

I couldnt proper way to frame it with glass yet.

Would shadow box work well for this or is there any other way to do it?

I am not planning to make frames but just buying the frames and put them in if possible.

Right now I'm good at art, and I could keep on learning or get into another hobby simultaneously. Because the thing is my ADHD literally doesn't let me stay in any single hobby lol. I couldn't stick with one even if a wanted to. But the thing is, can I maybe learn all of them if I invest all my time into every single one of them, or am I doomed to fail If I don't focus on one single thing. Because I've noticed that all the people who are pros at something have that something as their only hobby. But I mean, I'm gonna study Animation and Digital effects on my career, right now I'm on highschool, so maybe I could keep on learning how to draw and how to sew by now and wait till my career to learn the rest? If somebody specializes on two of these hobbies or more please give me some advice. Because I would love to be good at all of these, but I don't know if it's really possible. Could I technically make myself a schedule every afternoon after high school to learn each thing every day of the week, like an afternoon school, or will I just burn myself out?

I feel like I’ve been stuck for a few years and haven’t gotten much progress. Im doing daily gesture drawings but I feel like im just copying what I see. How do I properly study things and really improve it?

I’m curious about how other artists approach abstract art. Since it’s generally more free and less restricted by things like realism, perspective, anatomy, etc., are there still certain “rules” or principles you follow when making abstract art?

Or is it more about doing whatever feels right and letting the artwork develop naturally? At what point, if any, does having too many rules defeat the purpose of abstract art?

I really want to be a pro illustrator someday, I've done a lot of studying on humans/bodies but I am an absolute noob with objects and backgrounds cause I just don't practice. I know this isn't sustainable if I want to go pro, so I really need to start practicing but I don't really know where to go

Any free books that are online, favorite youtube series recommendations, or series on other platforms that helped anyone where would be so awesome

I've had this question ever since I saw the 'make more art than you consume' and posts discouraging over-consumption, which I can get behind. But I'm curious why making art isn't considered, least in these contexts, a type of consumption? I'm a maker, draw and sew, but I'd also say I'm under the rock so I may not understand how it's intended online.

There's obviously tons of different arts so not at all equal in the amount of physical resources they use or if any, if those are brand new or scraps, how they break down, if an artist reuses pieces or lets them sit, useful etc. But it does seem like the core of art kinda is 'making stuff and spending time on things you don't technically need'. Communication and self expression isn't always there and can be fulfilled outside of art and such. But it does have certain skills and well being attached, so maybe that sets it aside a little?

I'm curious what your insights might be?

I've seen numerous artists on the internet that don't have to rely on the loomis method where they just intuitively draw seamless proportions (e.g Kim Jung Gi). I want to know your thought processes behind when you draw today and when did you feel like it was the time to stop doing construction techniques.

What do you think of art spaces these days? Do you think there is a very visible gap in galleries vs accessibility? Are art museums getting less and less attraction/traffic because it feels too exclusive? If you are an artist, how do we make sure more artists who don't have access to display their art in galleries, get the opportunity to do so?

Idk if this is the right subreddit, flair or anything, I think so from what I've seen.

Anyway, the only art I know is music, I haven't really done much else. But I randomly got in the habit of collecting disposable plastic bottle caps, especially those white thin ones. I have zero idea what to do with them and then I thought "Art Project!". My mom is a kindergarten teacher so I asked her but she said A: Throw them away they probably have bacteria, and B: mosaic. I like the mosaic idea, my brother is like my mom and very artsy so he has paint I can borrow, so that's an option. But I think it's a good idea to get some insight on other options before I dedicate a loooong time to this. Like literally anything, mosaic, model, smt else.

Also I think I have around 250+, it's hard to count exactly but it's enough to make my desk unusable. And once again sorry if this is the wrong sub/flair.

I’ve been helping to teach a friends kid how to draw, and I’ve been thinking a lot on what was encouraging/discouraging for me when learning. But, it’s been a long time since I was at the early stages like the kid is, so just looking for things to keep them motivated, and not accidentally discouraging them with my normal sarcastic (gen x) self.

I started digital art 3 months ago after being a traditional artist for almost a year. After spending the first month getting bored of just studying i wanted make my own art, but i just spend the whole time scrolling through pinterest looking at things i think are cool but cant replicate, its hard to come up with ideas on my own. this has led me to quit multiple times.

I get that to get better at drawing you have to just draw but i cant seem to enjoy the process like i used to; it always ends up unsatisfying or boring. Is art just not for me anymore or is there something i can do?

im currently using ipad pro 10.5 inch and considering to change because it's not getting the ios update anymore. im thinking about getting an ipad gen 11 since it still supports the 1st gen apple pencil but i wonder if there will be a major difference compared to drawing in an ipad pro. i mainly only use ipad for drawing with procreate & ibis paint. should i get it or just save up for an ipad pro/air?