Hermit a Day May: Day 7 — Mumbo!

Would advice would you give an artist who desperately wants to improve?

use references! :0 pretty obvious but with all the “references are cheating” mumbo jumbo going around lately i thought it’d be pretty important to mention! even the mona lisa was painted with a model lol. google poses, use 3D programs like design doll to work out a perspective or how hands work, search for different pen brushes/settings, experiment with things you aren’t used to!! 

maybe save anything you find appeals to you into a ref/insp folder too! that’s what i’ve been doing lately, even if i just like the way something in a picture is painted or the lighting for example i’ll save it into a folder for future insp... the same with any tutorials i find useful cause there’s many things i suck at skjdgkjd

take your time too, attempting to rush things will only leave you unmotivated and frustrated, rome wasn’t built in a day!!! it will take time for you to get to where you want to be and there’s nothing wrong with that, just gives you more time to practice and draw and doodle and scribble hehe >:^) and once you ARE where you want to be, there’ll be another place you want to be then too! it’s all work, work, work, but keep in mind that in the end it will all be worth it and you’ll one day get to look back on your old work and see how far you’ve come

don’t compare your abilities with other artists either, it’s something we’re all dreadfully guilty of but it’s just a recipe for your own disaster, giving yourself unrealistic expectations won’t help you grow, it will just hold you back! focus on yourself, and try and switch the “x is so much better than me” mindset with “x is so talented, i’m going to work towards improving!” - don’t resent people, instead take inspiration from them wherever possible and you will become So Very Powerful

practice as much as is healthy and realistic for you but don’t forget to draw things you actually enjoy too, whether it be fanart or ocs or drawing something you see on your desk - your enjoyment in a hobby like art is just as important, if not more so, than your improvement! there’s no point in improving a skill if it’s nothing but a chore for you to do in the end

i’m sure there’s much more i could write but i hope this is an ok answer and that i could help you even a little bit! ;o; thank you for your ask!!!