You really are one of my favorite secret stallions. It's a lot easier to keep something you learned inside your brain when what you learned is necessary to do something you love and are passionate about. It's certainly possible to learn things doing stuff you hate, and later using that knowledge to do what you love, but it's better to just do what you love and learn only what you need to learn to do what you love. Thanks Sycra, for everything, over the years, now, and the future.
I've been paralyzed by the mindset of "I need to get good first before I can draw the things I want" such that I've nearly given up on drawing. But seeing so many cool art still sparks some sort of inspiration in me. Really all it takes is for me to actually do it, and keep on doing it. Thanks for clearing some of the things that have been on my mind with this vid. Hopefully I find the motivation to pick up a pencil again 😅
You don't need motivation bud. What you need is small momentum types of action to be occuring during the day and overtime you have motivation with you. Read the book motivation myth by Jeff haden and your perspective on the matter will start to make sense. Cheers
The biggest problem I've had for a very long time is when I get stuck in a loop of perpetual practice because I'm afraid of under preforming on all the cool ideas that I don't want to "waste." I've been suffering from a pretty strong burnout for over a month because of this. I've taken this time to just really think about what I want or what I should do and this video just showing up really reaffirmed the things I had been thinking. Personally I think anatomy is interesting and I'd love to learn it but just studying anatomy is kind of boring. Whereas, applying it to the things I want to draw and not being afraid of doing the ideas I keep holding on to is really just what I want and feel like I should do. This goes for so many things that I find visually interesting. It's been so frustrating to have a literal buffet of interests but not exploring any for some inexplicable reason. In the end I've just found that I've kind of been viewing it all as just "practicing" to prepare for some grand idea, but that bar, as it should, just keeps moving higher and prevents me from ever reaching that point that I want to be at to execute those ideas. My new years resolution has been to try and break into a new and better mindset to change how I think about the things I want to do. I really appreciate you having voiced your thoughts about these things. It may very well have at least helped me.
You know, it just occurred to me that learning anatomy is sort of like learning a language. You learn some major muscle groups, the same way you might learn some basic vocabulary... But it's a lot of use it or lose it, and if you're just spending your time learning lots of difficult vocabulary, but not really using it, you aren't really spending your time wisely. But when you are using it on a daily basis, and you start with the basic stuff, but then add more words as you go, you, over time, develop fluency. I would say my knowledge of anatomy is sort of at a street level of understanding. I know the basics, that I use, and maybe a few extra 'words', but I definitely don't have that high level of fluency that an expert might possess (even if at times I did learn that 'vocabulary' and then proceeded to forget it). But I know enough to have a conversation, and in anatomical terms that means, I know enough to draw a body, and I don't think people will be confused as to whether the arm is on backwards or if the torso is upside down. :D Anyway, sorry for going off on a tangent, just, reading your comment made me think of this idea. Thanks!
There are ways of learning anatomy in a more fun way, but it really depends on what you're going for. Lovelifedrawing on here is a wonderful channel for life drawing, and they cover anatomy without going into the (in my opinion) needless naming and extreme details of each muscle. It's more about getting shapes and gesture down, and I recommend it over the more dry material out there.
what saved me from the trap of 'wasted' ideas is "In the future, I can come back and do a remaster, and it will be a truly glorious version by comparison, no matter how good I make it right now"
I found the secret stallion. You aren’t dumb, Sycra, you are an amazing artist, i’m really glad for all of your videos and content, you helped not only me but tons of artists. I hope you are okay man.
@@maya_void3923i think he’s referring to the mindset? Idk a stallion is strong so I interpreted secret stallion as an underrated artist with a strong mindset
This happens to musicians all the time. They’re made to only play scales and then lose interest. I think the answer is somewhere in the middle. Some practice work is good and some project work. There is definitely a point where you have to stop with the basics or even intermediate practice and make some music/art. Otherwise you’re just going to play scales while everyone asks you to play songs and you’ve got none. But I can play a terrific G Major.
Yeah, many artists say that applying the 50/50 (practice/personal) rule is the best path. That way you can apply the things that you learned and don't feel stuck when you jump to do stuff after a year of practice or so
lol I think I'm the only one who loves practicing scales, the satisfaction of playing them faster and faster smoothly and cleanly motivates me a bunch. The practice I actually despise are long tones T-T
@@megaangryvl I also think the way people are taught to practice scales isn’t as beneficial as it could be (G to G). They aren’t usually taught to play the notes independently (i call this playing the scale sideways) and musically. They aren’t taught how to apply scales to music and vice versa. People who self teach get even less of that which I’m sure also applies to art, since I’ve found it applies to every other thing I’ve learned.
as a musician i really only play basic scales to warm up and then i get on with the piece(s) im currently playing. you get better the more pieces you play to the fullest, and the more challenging pieces you play as well.
Lately I've been practicing a lot, almost to my own detriment. I'm genuinely enjoying it, and I don't plan to stop, but this video has definitely got me thinking. There are things I want to do, but I kinda don't feel like I'm ready to do them. I only finish a piece like maybe once a month, but I spend most of my time sketching, copying artists I like, stuff like that. For me it's not so much that I feel like I _have_ to practice. It's more like that's all I want to do because when I finish something I'm never satisfied, but when I sketch something and it comes out well, I am satisfied and it motivates me to continue.
See the thing is about drawings is that you can always remake them, if you put off the full drawings to the side because you feel like you aren't good enough to attempt it yet just go at it even if you don't like the end product as much, your full drawings will become your practice, and there's nothing wrong with quick full drawings because it's not so much of a time sink, you'll learn faster that way Besides it's your art and you should decide what you want to do with it, it's about having fun while learning so don't worry about "where your art skill should be at" and if quick sketches make you happy then continue with words of advice in mind
@@annoyingnessbeginswithme5698 yeah, that rings true. I think I do want to start "finishing" more things. Since watching this video I've started using pen on my sketches, and I think it's starting to get me into a different headspace. I'm gonna try working up from there, maybe using colored pencils, maybe pulling out my tablet and trying to make something quick and fun and not worry too much about it being perfect, etc
This is honestly true and I wished I realized it earlier on, but this is what living is: experiencing things and knowing what really helps us the most to grow. We obsess over practicing to get good enough at the things we want to do or should do for a job that we don't really ever get to those because we just keep on 'practicing', when really we are just procrastinating and afraid of the actual work we must do. It's better to actually work on projects itself so we can have actual things we can present to possible clients or just show on the net that will actually land us a job, and in any case that experience helps us become actual artists that have finished presentable artworks instead of sketches, practices or whatever. But putting it into actual 'practice' is hard and scary. Nothing worth doing is easy.
@@TheArthurxz You're welcome. Even though each of us is our own person, the journey and experiences we take as artists to achieve our ambitions aren't really that much different, are they? Being able to heard words of wisdom like from this video just helps us realize the things we may be doing right now aren't really helping us grow to our fullest potential.
ngl really needed to hear this. Been doing practice a lot without actually improving and whenever i ask for advise on art servers all i get is "well practice more". Thanks for the advice!
This has had me stalled for such an unbelievably long time. I practise practise practise, drill hands, drill figures, drill cubes for the millionth time, get a bit better, but I don't do anything substantial because "something something, not good enough yet". Indeed, when I look back on the really difficult attempts I made at doing drawings of things that I actually liked, I ended up doing what I didn't even know I could, and always learned the most intensely. These sessions were never a regret. I don't know why I'm like this exclusively with the ventures I'm most driven to succeed in. Maybe I think drawing is too "sacred" to mess up? Is it a matter of setting strange expectations? I play piano as a hobby, but I never thought I needed to learn a bunch of music theory before attempting a piece way above my level. It *always* worked out.
I'm the same way with piano... I am at a very crap beginner level, but I never was as harsh as I am with art. I think the idea that I'd identified as an 'artist' became crippling, because it led me to fear doing anything that would contradict that idea. So if I tried, but failed, doesn't that mean I'm a failed artist? Even if I could rationally understand that that was illogical, emotionally and egotistically, I was still held captive by the label I had adopted. In the end, it took really appreciating failure as the greatest teacher, and that failures meant I was one step further along my journey of improvement, that I was able to overcome some of what was holding me back. Currently, I no longer hold onto the label of being an 'artist'. I think of myself as a hobbyist, someone who draws for fun, because I want to. I also draw for a living, but I think of myself as just a labourer, nothing fancy, someone using a skill to achieve an end, money. This helps uncomplicate my life and when I do things for myself, I truly do them for myself, and not to make money or to please an audience. And then, when I do work, I do it only to satisfy the client and the brief I'm given, without letting my own personal vision get in the way.
This is an expectation trap. I've been collecting these over the course of my life for a very long time. It all comes down to the phantoms your ego creates to protect you from percieved harm. As long as you have any sort of ambition it leads to construction of this expectation versions of what you should be and how you should act. Failure is painful and harmful. It makes you believe your ideal is less achievable with every setback. This mindset inevitably leads to prioritising avoiding falure over achieving your goals. Even more, it makes success dependent (in your head) on lack of falure. Unravelling this knot can take a very long time. This fear of falure was one of the big reasons I stopped drawing and playing guitar. I can't say I've conquered my ego's maladaptive practices, yet. I tried to bruteforce it, but it proved to get me into even worse state. This video both reminds me of a similarly brilliant and insightful one by Matias Pillhede (it's called art is fun) and shows what was wrong in my attempts to fix my aquired resentment towards drawing. Also, the difference between "screwing up" art and a music piece stems from difference in their permanence. Unless you record or do a live performance in front of an audience (and even then people tend to forget things) music sort of fades out of reality once it's over. Drawings and paintins on the other hand are going to stay there forever, with all their flaws and missed opportunities to haunt and scorn you. That too, of course, is just another angry ghost, that can be banished with a correct mindset. However, so far, I'm still in the dark. I'll find my way out, eventually.
this knowledge is GOLDEN. this has been the backbone of my improvement over the years and the MAIN reason I would burn out and have major crash periods with drawing. I sort of had to make the decision for myself that practice would come slowly with iterations on things that I was ACTUALLY interested in finishing. FUN IS KEY. If you aren't enjoying drawing as a hobby, if you feel stressed about it to the point of avoidance, like you don't feel like you want to draw... you're TOTALLY approaching it wrong. It doesn't mean that you aren't good at art, it doesn't mean that you dont have what it takes to finish the dream project you had in mind. You just have to draw FOR YOU before ANYTHING else. That should be your #1 priority IMO. That comes before "needing to improve as fast as possible" or "what if it just isn't good enough". Draw so that you'll WANT to draw more in the future!
the cat example feels like an evolution of your iterative drawing video. that was about practice but with a purpose, but this feels like putting the purpose first and it will lead to the best practice FOR YOU. love it
The thing I've always said: art's primary purpose is to transmit ideas. The ability to get your story across in a way that people can understand or contemplate is just as important as understanding how a cat's eye is shaped. (Not that popularity should be a deciding factor in anything, but It's also why sketches about a relatable moment tend to get more attention than technically impressive but otherwise static pieces. Don't sleep on expressiveness.)
This is why I decided to do it. That’s why it’s really frustrating to have these said ideas but have no way of putting them into any medium. Such cool, really personal ideas that I really need to get into writing and into a drawing and it’s just not really close to being there yet man.
I am a big big believer in being intrinsically motivated as an artist! Honestly, as someone who loves to "practice" drawing, that's what I'm hearing in this video; the importance of maintaining sincere and genuine interest in and curiosity of what we're doing. Personally, figure studies turn my brain on in a way that nothing else does and I love seeing bodies as a series of problems to be solved on the page. But if someone doesn't feel that way, they should spend their time on whatever does create that feeling instead!
Getting sucked into education and practice burned me out of why I began drawing in the first place, which is crafting story. The improvement grind never stops, like you will never feel you hit that goal because a new one will fall into place before you even realize it. So i really needed this reminder of, yea maybe I have good gesture, but what do I want to do with it.
This confirms how I got better at drawing when I was younger. I just drew things I want even though everyone was telling me to go to basics. I used a lot of inspiration to help me understand what I wanted to draw. I would say doing what you want is the best way to learn because you’ll remember it more.
You have no idea how much this video helped me. I lost touch with my usual art groove because I stopped doing finished pieces and projects so I can practice things like anatomy and perspective. Well things got real boring real quick and in addition to the comparison game and social media, I went on a decline and found drawing boring. I'm taking a break, but all the stories I want to work on are still there, ready to be laid out. But I'm realizing now everyone learns differently and you have to critically think what works for you and what doesn't.
Mate, I've been trying to learn art for the longest time and I've been half arsing it the whole way. The amount of times I've wanted to give up due to very minimal progress and watching dry ass videos on technique and anatomy, is crazy. I hear you, I need a project to spark the passion and I need to be ok with my art being bad for now. I have no problem drawing cubes honestly, but drawing them and seeing no progress feels like scratching a chalk board. It's the lack of purpose that's killing me. I need a project that'll kick my ass in a good way! Thanks for this :)
Your coil technique guide all those years ago was an epiphany for me my dude, you are like the wise old man that occasionally comes down from his mountain hut to share some knowledge with the village people while stocking up on eggs. On this video: I like to "practice" with still human figure,and always end up getting really into it, but not with animation. Motivation quickly plummets when you have to draw a shitton of frames of something that doesn't interest you, like bouncing balls and bags of flour.
I do this alot. Ill study and practice so much bc my mind keeps hammering this thought that "Im not good enough for this yet" so it causes me to feel intimidated. I mean dont get me wrong ive been really studying and focusing and ive been improving but this is definitely an eye opener in terms of making me realize i need to actually implement things and make my own stuff with the things I learn. Idk if you read comments but i just wanted to say ty from the depths of my heart bc this really helps❤️
The last time you uploaded, I was still passionate about drawing... I've been trapped on this and now I've completely given up on it and took up 3D Animation instead haha. Not blaming you ofc, I just had a bad go of it. Glad to see you're doing well, Sycra. Your videos have shaped my view on getting into art in general. I also found the secret stallion lol. EDIT: Wow I definitely resonated with that last point.
I've been in a similar situation recently. I started thinking my drawing skills would never be good enough for a job in the industry as a storyboard artist for animation. But I've always had a huge interest in all things 3D. So I started learning 3D animation, and while I think it's pretty awesome, yet challenging, I could see myself getting good at it if I put in the time and effort into learning it.... But I missed drawing. I was spending all of my time on learning 3D animation and I wasn't getting any time to draw, and now I'm thinking of just going back to drawing and pursuing my original dream. For some reason, as someone who has been drawing all of my life, working with a 3D character rig just doesn't feel the same. I still think it's awesome, but as a 2D artist, it just doesn't feel genuine. I feel i can express myself better and put out a better result with 2D drawings, as opposed to posing out a 3D character in a virtual 3D space. So, I'm back to drawing and it feels so good to be back!
@@mariadanielalavia8877 I'd love to, but I still have remnants of negative thought patterns and experience depression and anxiety whenever I even think of drawing, to the point that I don't think that it's worth pursuing, at least at the moment. I just had an extremely bad attempt at learning, is all. I'll definitely pick it up sometime in the future, however. I cannot call myself an artist/animator with a clear conscience without being at least a passable draftsman hahaha.
This may just be a completely personal experience but I overcame this hurdle by thinking about how I build in minecraft. I have been playing for close to a decade on and off, I've improved as a builder immensely. When I started I didn't sit there and practice roofs and different styles of walls I just built the approximation of what was in my head. Over the years I got better at putting what was in my head into the game. Though I am only starting to draw at 22 so it feels harder to not be good at something, but as long as I'm proud of what I do I feel like I'm improving
As someone who never had fun practicing my fundamentals... thank you for this video. It's very easy to chase perfection and improvement but sometimes it's just a secret stallion that can't be caught.
YESSSSSS!!!!!!! I was "practicing" manga for a year, but when I made my first manga oneshot, I learned how inadequate I was. But now that it's a week after posting that oneshot, I am working on the next oneshot and I can say that I have learned as much in a week as in a year. Anyone who want's to make manga MUST WATCH THIS VIDEO!!!!! I wish I had known this before I started.
I love this video and all your points you mentioned. When I got back into drawing after not doing it since childhood, I thought I HAD to draw people and I HAD to do those boring art fundamental practices, or else I would never improve nor do it right. For years this mindset killed my desire to create anything. I do not want to draw boxes, I do not want to spend hours on end doing the fundamentals. I have tried and it only made me stop art all together. I only came to the realization recently that all I want to do is draw animals and nature. I want to work on my own ideas and projects for various paintings and finished pieces. I enjoy the process of working on an art piece or something that the goal is to finish, much much more than just "okay, I will now sketch a bunch of boxes in perspective till I understand everything. Once I know how to do that, then I am allowed to do my stuff", like what? Sketching and practicing that way is not wrong, but different things work for different people. I learn better by focusing on doing finished pieces of what I love to draw, and "practice" stuff whilst I work on a specific thing, just as you mentioned in your video. If I do not know how to draw a scared looking horse, I will find various references on how the expression of a fearful horse looks like and learn through that way by drawing it better than what my first attempt was.
This is something that I stress so much and had to learn the hard way, I had an obsession with my art being everything I wanted and to do that I had to do what everyone said and that was practicing. But as I spend more years and years into my art journey I realize how troubling that is and that in reality you should never practice for the sake of practicing.
honestly, I really agree. Tbf I've only been drawing a couple of weeks, but at least for me in most things I do, getting better can only keep me interested so long. Eventually, there has to be an intrinsic motivation to get the thing done, especially when it's something that requires a lot of thought and time like drawing. I can't bring myself to practice construction and loads of anatomy and making people out of boxes, but I can bring myself to imagine a person or scene and try to bring it to life. That's why I started anyways, because I want to create the things I can't see in my head. Might not be the fastest way to improve, but it sure is the most enjoyable.
Something I've been seeing a lot in regards to learning anything is comparison to how kids learn. As a kid you just learn things unbiased. Everything is new and it feels good to show people what you learned. Now that I'm older, there's this fear of making mistakes, looking stupid, and wasting too much time. I feel like it's the expectation of being an "adult". I remember you mentioned it in an older video. It's like, as a kid, you think you'll do "this" by 20 and "that" by 22 and you end up setting up these expectations for yourself. Then, when it doesn't happen and you see someone around that age as a professional, it feels like you're super behind because you end up comparing yourself. The fear of mistakes makes it feel like "I must practice. I'm not ready to draw a picture yet." I've wondered when should I stop looking at tutorials. I'll practice all these different body parts, proportions, perspectives, etc. and I can't piece them together into a complete drawing because I almost never do complete drawings and only practice. On the other hand, if I just drew without practicing as much, I'd be worried about building unbreakable bad habits and turd polishing. I don't know what the most efficient way to learn is but between being interested in learning different things (like art and languages), you start to learn "how to learn". What you say in the video reminds me of that pottery class story about the students who actually made multiple pots being more successful than the ones who spent their time studying how to make the perfect one. I think deliberate practice is still good and I find I learn a lot in short bursts but I think practicing after you've attempted it is better like you're saying or rather practicing once you've identified what it is you're having trouble with rather than doing it because you're *supposed to*. I found the secret stallion!
I don't practice to get better at something as abstract as anatomy or gesture. I practice to increase what many artists call their "visual library." There are many things I either don't think about drawing or don't want to draw that will benefit me later on having experienced it before. I guess you're right. You can't practice for the sake of getting better, you need a focus. When I need to draw a portrait, I study my Asaro head in different lights. When I want to paint a flower, I take my sketchbook outside and start drawing what I see as a form of practice. I think the best way to sum up this philosophy is this: Don't practice to get better, practice to simply do.
This really resonated with me. I stopped drawing a few years ago, I just got burnt out. Later I realized it was this same thing youre talking about here - practicing and never "performing". While I did improve lots during the practicing, I just lost everything that made me want to draw. I have been wanting to get back to drawing for a while now and your video reminded me what I've figured out. The thought of seriously drawing small projects I have interest in already makes me want to draw P. S. Welcome back Sycra, your videos helped me lots in the past!
This video changed my perspective on my own art. I’ve been caught in a cycle of wanting to draw, then getting discouraged by not having the technical skill and practicing to try to improve, only to burnout and make the practice pointless by not remembering any of it. But, this video reminded me of what I started art for: not to practice, or impress others, but just for fun. I think I lost that after a while, but this has given me a fresh view of things. I think I speak for all of the people who’ve followed you over the years when I say you are truly one of the best Secret Stallions out there. Thanks for all the work you’ve put in to help others, and I hope you’re doing okay.
Back in August last year I had motivation to make a 3d model for one of my OC's from scratch in blender, instead of going through the hundreds of tutorials that show you how to make donuts or whatever I hit up a tutorial which shows you how to just make a character model step by step. My character has a lot different going on but the tutorial taught me enough to do things on my own. After a month and probably 50-80 hours later of me pouring myself over this project it was done, I had it working in vrchat and everything, I had gone from knowing nothing about blender to having a good grasp on how to turn a cube into anything I wanted along with rigging, uv unwrapping and weight painting, I would never have gotten there if I had just made "donuts" and other objects just to learn the basics of the program. This was a very eye opening experience and I've started to approach art in the same manner, I have embraced my creative process a lot more and don't worry too much about "practice"
SYCRA? its been so long since I've seen you. Good video, definitely the mindset that's let me be most productive. For a long while I was in "I need make better concept art for these projects I want to do" rut, but I wasn't actually working on the project. I've gotten way more done since focusing on actually making the comic
Man, you made me realize that's what I've been doing for the past months and I've been putting out projects that I actually like.. while it's not exactly like the image in my head, but it's my best attempt to get to the image as close as possible and so far.. in those moments I didn't get this feeling of it being to repetitive or boring. Those projects drove me to keep learning and finding where I can improve on.
I just started thinking about a new technique. I think of an image I want to draw and just start trying out different things for the picture, trial and error stuff, until I think "Hey, let's go" and draw the final image with everything I learned from my different attempts
I think training is just a useful tool in order to quickly figure out what’s “wrong,” and exactly what adjustments need to be made to “fix” it. That being said, it can lead to a slippery slope of being too self critical from comparing yourself to artists on social media…which then causes u to lose confidence to explore new ideas you once never struggled with producing 😅😩
Love everything you're saying here. I think this is why drawing fanart got my art to evolve when practicing randomly did not. I was invested in learning to draw the characters I loved well, so I worked hard to improve at it. Technically working on any art is practice, and when you're working on something with some meaning to you, it's practicing in a way you feel is worth the effort. Also, I found the secret stallion!
Very interesting video! Anatomy has been a big struggle since I started drawing because not a single advice that many artists mentions on a day to day basis is compelling enough to stick with me, or give me a lot of motivation to break through my struggle, until I saw a popular artist on twitter that explained their reasoning and their process on how they came to learn anatomy. Then I started to gain an interest of this fundamental and learned with personal drawings on the way. It's with this kind of instinct that I started to see the "power of personal interest" like you said and dangerously rejected some art advices that didn't stick to me. Although if I feel sometimes trapped, I feel like its still necessary to bite the bullet in some occasion and practice a little while before ditching the mindset. Nice to see you back, and happy new year :)
Thanks you for this video, I was distracting myself with tons of useless tutorials, because I don't need those specific solutions. Instead you should focus on what interests you the most to learn the most and get even faster. Afterwards you will identify your mistakes and want to have a solution. It's not one test where you fail or not, but an iterative process where you want to fail as often as possible in a way that wants you to continue
This video really confirms how I've been feeling in regards to practicing art. During my short time in art school I followed stuff like figure drawing to improve my anatomy, something I've always struggled with, and while I was improving fast I wasn't enjoying it as much. At some point art became more about practicing than... well, art. It felt like homework, not just because I was actually doing it for grades, but because I had this mindset of constant practicing that I felt I needed to actually get to do the things I wanted to do. There are so many projects that remain in my mind because I've locked myself into this mindset for so long. So many things I denied myself of even trying because I felt I needed to be at a certain skill level to do them. But then I asked myself "At what point will I be better enough to do the things I want to do?", and it seriously got me thinking. For the past few months I've decided to lay off the more traditional practice and simply... draw the things I wanted to draw. I'm again enjoying the process while also improving, even if at a slower rate. I still look up references and tutorials, but like you said they feel more purposeful because I can actually apply them to something right here, right now. Something I have lots of interest in. For example, struggling with hands on a piece? Look up some refs or tutorials on the specific way I want to draw the hand. Want to paint something a certain way? Let's see what others have done and apply it now. It's been incredibly relieving and has made art feel like a hobby again, and not homework. I also do 3D modeling, and realized that over my time doing it I improved precisely in this way; if I work on something I actually want to do, the problems and learning process will feel easier to tackle. Great video and artwork!
That's such a valuable advice! Like so many in the comments I was stuck in the "practice to get good before you start drawing what you want to draw". It made me question my interest in making art. Your advice made me think of the time when I was a child and I would draw whatever I felt like drawing. Yeah it looks bad now, but back then I was so proud of it. I haven't had that feeling in a while now. I'm happy to see a new video of yours! I hope you're doing well!
Your video made me think about some stuff. I used to do a lot of practice by trying to copy photos, but everytime I tried to do something by myself, I just couldn't do it and ended up with just a slightly different version of a reference photo I choose. Nowadays I'm finally starting to freeing myself of this process of imitation, but it's still ingrained. However, I think it's only possible because, as you said, I did more projects last year than actual practices. Currently, I think the point of practice should be just getting comfortable with new things and learning a basic thing or other, but never getting a perfect result or just practicing because you need to, and eventually move on. When I have to do it these days, I try to do a lot of stuff and quickly just to get exposed to different situations on a subject and get the overall point of it.
Awesome to see you posting Mr Stallion. I had been trapped in that practice cycle for years, and Ive come to be thankful, Im kinda glad I went through it and now im out the other side. Just making things, experimenting, just doing the next thing :3
Yep agree, as someone without a guide or art education. The most effective way to do what you want to do, is to just do what it is that you want to do, to identify problems and then finding a solution for those problems. This is where you are able to create questions tailored to you instead of a generic question that will net you a generic answer and that wont really solve your problem when you do get the opportunity to ask. Find the problem > Look at textbook answer > Look at other artist work and look at there answer > Create your own answer
Honestly, is so good to see you back Sycra, your channel has been a treasure to me since i found it 5 years ago, i think i have a lot to learn still, but i ve learned a lot from you, specially from the videos in which you explain how to learn and how to practice. I found the secret stallion!
I found the secret stallion! thank you for your videos, Sycra, you inspired me to pick up drawing after a long break several years ago, been a subscriber since
Hey, hope things are going well. Thank you for this video. I actually...didn't know I needed something like this. It makes so much more sense that you need to have a project you're obsessed over to actually hit the milestones (depending how you learn.) I've been making leaps since having more direction in my work. And lately been weighing doing a comic, but a short one for practice, because I'm worried about my anatomy and storytelling visually skills - but this video's making me rethink it. Thank you, hope to see work from you soon!
I'm also really glad he used the comic analogy because I've been putting off my idea for almost a decade, mostly because i didn't think i was ready or able. but just like you I'm reconsidering that... maybe i should just go for it, and I'll improve overtime, just by doing it. i don't think I'll ever be in a place where i think I'm ready so might as well start now!
We can agree or disagree but I think the real gem and takeaway from this video is that we should question the methods we use to achieve our goals, if they dont work, we should seek other methods or even make our own, all that matters at the end of the day is if you got to the finish line in that goal, not the hows or even the when as long as you are feeling good about it really, we can spent hours talking about discipline willpower and all that crap but at the end of the day those are limited resources and the only thing that will power you forward through ordeals is love passion enjoyment and other powerful feelings. I really like this counter point to the main argument of practice, I'm subscribing for sure
Listening to a new video from you is like a huge breath of fresh air. Welcome back! And the topic definitely resonates with me as a person you struggles to motivate themselves due to perfectionism.
Your point makes a lot of sense. Instead of just spending a bulk period of time practicing certain aspects, if you gather tips from resources along the way as your creating your own projects you will inevitably be putting those pieces of advice into practice in a much more engaging, productive way, rather than burning yourself out by just doing things that you aren't very interested in. I think practice is important, but practice shouldn't be the main focus of building upon your skill. Thanks for sharing man, I had this in the back of my mind for some time now but this has made me think of it in a new light and I appreciate your honest opinion on the topic.
I watched your channel many years ago, when I wanted to become an artist. Now I’ve been working as a programmer for six years, and still love your videos. Thank you! Hope you’re good
So I think you definitly got a point. "Practice what you wanna practice" is the idea I get here. But I gotta say that, I believe building up the fundamental stuff as a beginner and from there thinking about: what comes next or what do I wanna focus on ( maybe hands for example). As an artist I learned that you never are fully aware of all techniques and tricks, that are in the art world. But just practicing because someone told me to would be boring for me so with this point youre right
This video is pure gold. I got this advice before, but could never put it into practice due to various mental blocks. I was thinking: "I know I'm not good enough to get a result I would be satisfied with", or even weirder: "Even if I pull off something good, it will be disingenuous, it won't reflect my real ability". It's so helpful to hear this again from a veteran artist. I'm happy this popped up in my recommended, no doubt a secret stallion of good fortune sent me here. I need to check out your older videos.
Oh! I was rewatching your sycrastreams the other day, missing your videos, and worried where you might have gone or if you're doing ok. I'm glad to see this video, and I agree with you so much on this too. I was always told to draw realism to help my anime drawings, and so I did. And it did help a little bit, but I noticed I had so much more fun and improved so much more when I made stupid fanart comics of my favorite series. I got a lot of practice drawing hands, backgrounds, different poses, learning to make compositions etc. It also helped me pay more attention when I read comics to see what type of techniques artists use to portray movements like punches or walking etc. It also gave me the courage to try blender to help me with drawing backgrounds and compositing backgrounds, which in turn is helping me with light / shadow because of the 3d engine and lighting. Thank you for making so many of your videos sycra, they taught me so much and I like to rewatch them from time to time to keep me company while I draw as well.
Honestly as someone who enjoys practice I still really enjoyed this video bc it made me think about being selective with where I put my passion. While I like doing studies I still find myself just doing exercises for the sake of taking art seriously. Thanks for the video, it’s good to see you again
This is an eye opening video. I got burned out with art after I graduated from college and have taken a break from it for a couple years to get myself together. I'm ready to start getting back into it because I've discovered it is something I love to do. But, I didn't enjoy the process nor results of "practice" after going through the same process like you. So thank you. You have cleared my head and given me direction now.
I was just telling someone the other day how much I love your videos and your philosophy on art as a creative outlet. I think you've just explained back to me why I lost my passion for drawing some years ago. I am trying to start again. It's been a six year journey of intermittent practice, feeling really ready to dive in and then shortly after feeling absolutely demoralized and putting down the pencil for another six months. I need to talk to myself and understand what I want from art, and then I just need to do those things instead of bashing my head against the wall trying to get good enough to make the art I want to make. Thanks, secret stallion. Your words of wisdom always seem to come at just the right time. Hope you are well, and I look forward to more videos.
I agree so much with the "have a project" advice. Since I developed a love for writing stories and then had the idea to create a comic, I draw so much more, with no frustration anymore, and im improving so fast...
I started drawing last year and after some personal works, I identified my difficulties (anatomy, perspective, proportion). I watched a ton of tutorial on the net. Some gave me valuable advice that significantly contributed to my progress, but most were too extensive, or too complex and I quickly forgot them. Your videos have always been a step above the others (Personnal opinion). In comparison, you weren't the most "accessible" for a beginner... And yet! Your advice, your practice, and your mentality have been the most powerful engines for me in the drawings. I adhere to your thinking, because after dozens of pages of exercises, it is in the works that are close to my heart that I progress best, undoubtedly.
I had no trouble learning 3D because I just went from project to project, problem to problem. Then with drawing I immediately fell into “the practice trap”. After 1 year of about 1 hour a day following courses I haven’t really made any progress. I see now I need to just do what I did with 3D! Thank you!
Ah I've missed you and your outlook so much! This is a concept I've been talking to people about for years and it's always taken negatively when yes, skill needs to be developed but, more importantly, passion for the subject should be explored. Thank you for this :)
I only draw and paint occasionally, but I find your videos apply to my main passion: creative writing. There's writing practice that's suggested in many workshops where you get a prompt and write for 20 minutes or so. It can be helpful in some ways, like establishing a daily writing habit or focusing on description. But mainly what you get out of it is a lot of flash fiction. If you want to write a novel, you should start writing a novel. There are elements to a novel that you can't learn from writing practice, so many different moving parts, and how they work together is part of learning how to write novels. I feel like the same is true of different types of art. You might practice shading and then later practice composition, but it's not until you work on something where you care about the finished project that you really think about how shading and composition interact. There's also the feeling of accomplishment that comes from finishing something you care about. The double-edged sword of practice is that it doesn't feel real. This can be comforting when you're afraid of your imperfections and don't want your work to count towards anything. But it also can lead to discouragement because you practice and practice and at the end of it all, you have no finished project to show for it.
This advice really clicks with me. Until very recently I had been stressing myself for years with dull robotic practice with the hopes of getting "good" enough one day to do what I like. I started to notice that I was improving more when I had been "learning on the job" working on things that I was more interested in or having fun with. I wish I had realized this sooner haha
You popped onto my recommended feed today. I use to watch you many years back when I first decided to take art more seriously, like when I was 14 or 15 years old. You helped out a ton when I was younger. I'm now in my third year of art college and doing very well. Funny how life is just one big circle. You in a way helped me get to where I am, the start of it all to say. I'm so happy to see your uploads again :D Also, amazing video as always, this is probably one of the best advice that I agree with wholeheartedly. Keep up the beautiful work and thank you for inspiring me
Sycra you're always spitting 100% facts. This is why webcomic artists naturally get better at everything from anatomy, to perspective, to coloring, they are working on their passion project and want to make it good. The people working on their own projects are Also practicing, but their practice is going into creation, not into a glorified homework assignment. Btw I found the secret stallion!
Been trying to draw since I was thirteen. Art classes were hit or miss, I never really enjoyed them, and practicing fundamentals never sat right. I loved lighting and shadow, and so I wanted to do stuff with it. I got really good at learning lighting and contrast, and I was TERRIBLE at drawing people or characters because of it. For a ton of time I lamented that I couldn't draw bodies or poses. It wasn't until I started doing Tabletop RPGs that I WANTED to draw my own characters. And in wanting to draw my friends' and my own characters I was so IMMENSELY frustrated that I couldn't draw them. I felt like I had to get better at drawing humans before I could even THINK to do art for others, completely failing to realize what actually worked for me. In wanting to see something realized by yourself, you will get better at it. It's only when you're relaxed and content with how you draw something that you'll start to settle. And then eventually you become dissatisfied with your stagnancy, and you'll change it and grow again. Create the thing that you specifically want to create. Draw the things that nobody else is drawing right, because you have an image of what EXACTLY you want to see. That's what's worked for me so far.
i realized this recently. i was in an art rut for months, probably longer, hating everything i drew and knowing that, if i came across art that looked like mine in the wild, i would not like it. and i was tired of feeling that way. i wanted to be excited about what i was creating, but i kept holding onto the "learn the rules before you break them" idea. problem is, i hated learning the rules. i have a REALLY hard time simplifying from realism so all my stuff was too realistic, too stiff, too technical. only recently did i decide to say fuck it and find styles i liked and copied stuff. im still working on it but im making art i like again because im focusing on making stuff i WANT in the way that i want, practice be damned. what you said about people learning the rules made their art boring and standard really resonated with me because that is EXACTLY what happened to me. except it didnt even look decent, because i hated it so much that my rendering was less than half assed lmao. i cant wait to further develop this new exaggerated cartoony style and get life and passion back into my art! also, secret stallion and whatnot lol. i don't think you're dumb at all ❤️
I found the secret stallion! I have to say that your comeback has been great, for me and from the looks of it for many others too! I think there are many people who might feel guilt or shame for doing what they love instead of what others tell them to do which is often "practice". While I know that good amount of practice along with doing personal project and that balance is important, I don't think any of those matter until the individual themselves have the feeling of want or an interest to actually do practice or to do personal projects. You're right about not improving or at least not as much when you're doing something not because you want to but because others tell you to. Not just with art, but also with work, studying, chores. I wish people showed why things are fun or how to make things fun instead of it being like "You HAVE to do this if you want to get what you want."
Wow. This is literally exactly what I've been struggling with. Wanting to make a comic but feeling like I need to practice first. But I had a hunch I should be doing what you're saying. You making this video totally validates that hunch. Thanks Sycra! 🙏🙏🙏
Hey Sycra, it's so good having you back! You've been part of my art journey for many years now -- I always appreciated your fresh thoughts on the topics you talk about. I agree with you that there are different mindsets for different people, and while practice works well for me (because I easily get overwhelmed when approaching "real" projects) I think this video brings a lot of validation to people for which practice doesn't really work.
I totally agree with the comic example, I started to write and draw my own comic series and it finally feels like learning things has actual PURPOSE, the knowledge and skills are needed bc of this project that I want to make as good as possible. I was never really this kind of person who would strictly follow tutorials but I was catching myself sometimes on focusing too much on doing some drawing exercises just bc I thought I had to do them, like a lesson in school, not bc I was genuinely interested in learning this specific thing and needing to use it for smth very important to me.
The only thing I really wanted to do was make a comic and a story, I wasn't interested in just making pieces of art, and I've created and recreated redesigned characters and redrew pages over time and it made me improve as an artist because I always felt like I was moving towards something even though I was so far from a finished product. It gave me motivation to draw because these are my characters and they mean something more than just random sketches, I even learned anatomy and perspective like this and so many things. You practice by doing something you love and it won't feel like practice. Also Sycra glad you are back you are the only art youtuber I could relate to, and wow that topic of interest is spot on I've always shared that exact view. Btw in my opinion the art scene on TH-cam is terrible at the moment there are some decent TH-camrs but most of them are trying to fit a certain mold and everyone is copying each other, the thing I keep seeing right now are these fake personas that try to keep you interested by constantly making jokes and being whacky and it's actually exhausting to watch a couple seconds of their videos it's not even genuine most of the time. Anyway I'm glad you are making videos again.
In my mind there's a big difference between art youtubers who want to help their audience and art youtubers who just want views. Sycra is a wonderful example of someone who really wants to help his audience.
@@rzeka That's really kind of you to say so. I've felt lost for years now because I feel like there are better people offering better presented information than I do... I never liked slick presentation, because it felt like someone was trying to sell me something, and I couldn't figure out what it was (sometimes I'd find out when the soft sell became hard). But I didn't know if I was the only one who felt this way, and if really the video making should be left to those who can use the fancy editing, and who have worked for studios and who have the skills that show they're really at the top. I'm grateful to you, and all the others, who have shown me that there is something (even if I'm not sure what) that I can provide that others may not be providing, and so I should keep producing instead of feeling like there's no place for me anymore. Thank you!
@@Sycra I was actually thinking during your absence that you might have felt that way, I was also thinking that maybe you felt you said all you could or you thought people were doing it better but that's not the case! Sycra I don't know about other people but I've learnt a lot from your videos for some reason the way you present information clicks in my head I'm not sure why and it's hard to explain. You definitely still have a place in TH-cam, people that make these flashy and nicely edited videos are sometimes using it to mask the fact that they don't really have much to say it's just cool art and maybe a short process video, there isn't much to it. But you treat videos differently and it's a lot more phycological too which I always appreciate because drawing is not just drawing it's very mental, I've been a fan for a long time and I've watched every video and podcast so I'm excited to see new content. Also I don't really like the people that work in studios I respect them but to me it feels like they are looking down on me and they are trying to tell me factual information and tell me "this is how I got to work with Disney" "this is how you do it!" And people flock to them because they think they hold the big answers but it's not true and it doesn't make them more qualified than you. Anyway please keep going Sycra!
This matches my experience and I agree, I had kinda independently come to this conclusion... with one possible exception. Sometimes when I start my day and launch straight into the project proper, I get a bit overwhelmed and I will have to draw a bunch of cubes in perspective etc until I get "warmed up", to ease into the actual drawing. But in general I wish I had discovered the value of projects and having an intense interest in the subject matter sooner (obvious in hindsight).
Ah, yeah, I sometimes draw ellipses and things to warm up, so I can relate. It feels different from 'practice' though, even though I mean, I guess whenever you put pencil to paper you're 'practicing' but I get what you mean. :)
thank you for speaking your mind, because these thoughts have paralyzed me for so long. don’t get me wrong i’m actually quite passionate about studying, but my passion for creating and bringing life on to the page just slipped away. it’s so true about just doing the things you enjoy regardless if they’re “good” or not. it’s funny but i’ve recently gotten super into one piece and it’s sparked such a joy of creation back into me. drawing things because you love them is a much more powerful force than drawing them because they need to look good. i’ve been thinking about this idea quite a lot and this video really solidifies it for me. who cares about how your art doesn’t fit into a certain standard of what “good” is. just create and learn from that:) thank you so much
I feel like this is easy to say when you've abstracted away most of the difficulty. People who grow up drawing habitually probably don't need to work on practices much, but if you're getting into it later in life it can help immensely to put time into perspective and anatomy. A little bit goes a long way.
As someone who did start drawing later in life… I can say that’s not been my experience. I did not draw habitually at all in the beginning, and, even nowadays, I will only choose to ‘practice’ drawing a pose, or learn about a piece of anatomy, if I’m aware of its purpose. I’ll first decide on what the problem is, and then, any ‘practice’ drawings become part of finding a solution. One of the most painful art experiences I’ve had was doing a plain study of a pair of shoes… after all the trouble, I can’t say I retained much from it, really. If you’re drawing studies for an image you have in mind, or thumbnailing for a comic, you’re engaging your sense of purpose, which will help you a lot in retaining the information you’re accumulating. There’s a big temptation to go for a sequence of preset goals, where you can more easily get the dopamine fix… but, like with other addictions, it runs the risk of keeping you in an endless cycle of ‘practice’, away from your initial goal.
@@flaviayasin Yeah that's my approach as well, but with a bigger budget for practice. Part of what I focus on is practicing ideas in a way that's still creative and interesting which lets me develop creative muscles and foundational muscles at the same time. For example I really want to be good at heads and faces to make my characters more appealing for myself to enjoy, so I've spent most drawing time over the last two months on heads / faces. It stays fun for me because I try to make every head unique and interesting in some way. Always trying new things. Now when I go back to my more creative work, I have this awesome new tool to leverage.
@@cory99998 This is it. This is why I study the fundamentals because you gain new tools from it. You can also have the ability to scale from the basics into different regions such as anime
Not true, picked up a pencil for the first time this year, and my experience has been the same as Sycra’s. I learn very little by trying to practice and improve. I learn so much by trying to draw what I wanted to draw.
I've been practicing for years and I saw myself get better in a lot of ways but I saw my drawings become lifeless and stale... A lot of my old drawings, while flawed in a lot of ways, they had way more personality than all my current drawings. I always felt like I was practicing wrong because of this. I kept asking myself " what am I doing wrong?" I thought practice was the answer to getting better but I'm so glad I heard this perspective from you! and Welcome back! I've hit a wall for few years and I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue drawing in any capacity. I'm so glad I saw this video. It's motivated me to try again and maybe this time, do it the way I would like to do it. Sorry, it's a bit rambly and incoherent lol
There are two major breakthroughs you will experience as an artist. 1) Your strokes with the pen become swift and confident (The muscle breakthrough). 2) You *Truly* start seeing/constructing 3D forms *with basic 2D shapes* (The Mental breakthrough). The second breakthrough being especially powerful. For me, the first one happened about 7ish months into my journey. The second happened around 2-3 years into my journey (and was after a long period of burnout). Both of these are points where my skill and confidence improved massively, seemingly overnight. It's when lot a concepts that confused me suddenly "clicked". Once you've reached these breakthroughs, you've basically fully matured your "artist eye" on a subconscious level. That's when you start drawing shit without even thinking about it. Even if it's something you never drew before, you just kinda instinctually know how to break it down and "deal with it". I do think it is important for absolute beginners to make an effort to practice the basics in their first year (discovering the "science" behind drawing for the first time should be very interesting for beginners). I see it like learning the Alphabet before learning how to read. However, people tend to standardize everything into routines that may become arbitrary with time. After a certain point, you need to stop drawing Loomis heads, and start drawing Naruto's head. Draw more the thing you WANT to be good at.
I'm one on those artists that only really works on art when I have inspiration, and never did much practise for the sake of practise, but my art has improved at roughly the same rate despite not actually making that much art over the last few years. I think I draw in my head a lot, which probably helps, but it also means I have very little to show for myself when I finally actually draw again and suddenly make massive leaps and bounds in improvement. It does make me wonder how much more I would improve if I could just draw every day like some artists claim to
Sycra, I am so happy and excited to see you posting a new video!! I started watching you all the way back in high school to learn how to draw, and now I'm a University graduate and I work as an artist in the games industry. You truly helped me get to where I am today. Thank you, and I'm SO glad to see you back!
I don’t comment much but… Thank you Sycra! You’re one of the most beautiful speakers I’ve heard! You’re thoughts on art and motivation and life are always impactful and mean a lot to me, I’m happy you’re made this video, but please make sure to take time for yourself, you matter! I really like practicing anatomy, I love the concepts and science behind biology and the form that comes with learning art… but I do think it has slowed down my drive. You’re awesome Sycra! I found the secret stallion ;) (Also link your webcomic in the comments I think a lot more people come here then they do anywhere else…
This resonates a lot with me and it's basically how I learn art all by myself - going to learn the things I was interested in doing because I wanted them to. And let me tell you... that's the ADHD/Neurodivergent way of learning lol. It's good to see you back!
as someone who works similar to you i love using the term practice, but in reality im actually tricking myself to explore more. its weird but my art improves alot when its just me exploring shiz, not sure if thats practice itself bit i treat practice as playtime. the rest of what i draw for is work related anyways
I'm so glad to hear you say this. I drew 250 boxes and then stopped drawing because I started to hate it. Truly, truly hate it and art in general. I've drawn gesture for almost two months now and I sort of see that I should (of course, I can't get better at something I don't draw) but for me finding the balance between practice and what I want to draw is very hard. I am not deluding myself into saying "I will magically understand this if I draw it often" and I know that I still haven't grasped the basics of art (seeing and drawing simple 3D forms, mainly - it's always been THE issue for me), but the advice I've been given by others to "just grind" doesn't work for me. I half shut off my brain and haven't learned much afterwards.
You really are one of my favorite secret stallions.
It's a lot easier to keep something you learned inside your brain when what you learned is necessary to do something you love and are passionate about.
It's certainly possible to learn things doing stuff you hate, and later using that knowledge to do what you love, but it's better to just do what you love and learn only what you need to learn to do what you love.
Thanks Sycra, for everything, over the years, now, and the future.
the legend himself
Fellow Sycra enjoyer
aint no way
W Telepurte moment
wow imagine this collab.....
Great video, definitely agree that practice usually only leads to more practice instead of the thing you were practicing for.
yeah, you even might forget what the original purpose for all this practice is
I've been paralyzed by the mindset of "I need to get good first before I can draw the things I want" such that I've nearly given up on drawing. But seeing so many cool art still sparks some sort of inspiration in me. Really all it takes is for me to actually do it, and keep on doing it. Thanks for clearing some of the things that have been on my mind with this vid. Hopefully I find the motivation to pick up a pencil again 😅
I'm in the same train, i can't believe the hobby that used to help me now feela like homework
You don't need motivation bud. What you need is small momentum types of action to be occuring during the day and overtime you have motivation with you.
Read the book motivation myth by Jeff haden and your perspective on the matter will start to make sense.
Cheers
@@raychell1 me too
@@Tech-bagmash24 Thanks for the recommendation! I'll definitely take a look
You are literally me
The biggest problem I've had for a very long time is when I get stuck in a loop of perpetual practice because I'm afraid of under preforming on all the cool ideas that I don't want to "waste." I've been suffering from a pretty strong burnout for over a month because of this. I've taken this time to just really think about what I want or what I should do and this video just showing up really reaffirmed the things I had been thinking. Personally I think anatomy is interesting and I'd love to learn it but just studying anatomy is kind of boring. Whereas, applying it to the things I want to draw and not being afraid of doing the ideas I keep holding on to is really just what I want and feel like I should do. This goes for so many things that I find visually interesting. It's been so frustrating to have a literal buffet of interests but not exploring any for some inexplicable reason. In the end I've just found that I've kind of been viewing it all as just "practicing" to prepare for some grand idea, but that bar, as it should, just keeps moving higher and prevents me from ever reaching that point that I want to be at to execute those ideas. My new years resolution has been to try and break into a new and better mindset to change how I think about the things I want to do. I really appreciate you having voiced your thoughts about these things. It may very well have at least helped me.
You know, it just occurred to me that learning anatomy is sort of like learning a language. You learn some major muscle groups, the same way you might learn some basic vocabulary... But it's a lot of use it or lose it, and if you're just spending your time learning lots of difficult vocabulary, but not really using it, you aren't really spending your time wisely. But when you are using it on a daily basis, and you start with the basic stuff, but then add more words as you go, you, over time, develop fluency. I would say my knowledge of anatomy is sort of at a street level of understanding. I know the basics, that I use, and maybe a few extra 'words', but I definitely don't have that high level of fluency that an expert might possess (even if at times I did learn that 'vocabulary' and then proceeded to forget it). But I know enough to have a conversation, and in anatomical terms that means, I know enough to draw a body, and I don't think people will be confused as to whether the arm is on backwards or if the torso is upside down. :D Anyway, sorry for going off on a tangent, just, reading your comment made me think of this idea. Thanks!
There are ways of learning anatomy in a more fun way, but it really depends on what you're going for. Lovelifedrawing on here is a wonderful channel for life drawing, and they cover anatomy without going into the (in my opinion) needless naming and extreme details of each muscle. It's more about getting shapes and gesture down, and I recommend it over the more dry material out there.
what saved me from the trap of 'wasted' ideas is "In the future, I can come back and do a remaster, and it will be a truly glorious version by comparison, no matter how good I make it right now"
This perfectly illustrates what I'm going through atm, am glad I'm not the only one that feels this way 🥲
@@paulwilson6357 It honestly feels like people learn all the names of muscles just to show off.
I found the secret stallion. You aren’t dumb, Sycra, you are an amazing artist, i’m really glad for all of your videos and content, you helped not only me but tons of artists. I hope you are okay man.
^Def gave me the push to get as strong as i am. Was the best influence on my mindset going forth honestly.
What the hell is a seceet stallion
@@maya_void3923i think he’s referring to the mindset? Idk a stallion is strong so I interpreted secret stallion as an underrated artist with a strong mindset
This happens to musicians all the time. They’re made to only play scales and then lose interest. I think the answer is somewhere in the middle. Some practice work is good and some project work. There is definitely a point where you have to stop with the basics or even intermediate practice and make some music/art. Otherwise you’re just going to play scales while everyone asks you to play songs and you’ve got none. But I can play a terrific G Major.
That’s a really good comment, ty for that
Yeah, many artists say that applying the 50/50 (practice/personal) rule is the best path. That way you can apply the things that you learned and don't feel stuck when you jump to do stuff after a year of practice or so
lol I think I'm the only one who loves practicing scales, the satisfaction of playing them faster and faster smoothly and cleanly motivates me a bunch. The practice I actually despise are long tones T-T
@@megaangryvl I also think the way people are taught to practice scales isn’t as beneficial as it could be (G to G). They aren’t usually taught to play the notes independently (i call this playing the scale sideways) and musically. They aren’t taught how to apply scales to music and vice versa. People who self teach get even less of that which I’m sure also applies to art, since I’ve found it applies to every other thing I’ve learned.
as a musician i really only play basic scales to warm up and then i get on with the piece(s) im currently playing. you get better the more pieces you play to the fullest, and the more challenging pieces you play as well.
Lately I've been practicing a lot, almost to my own detriment. I'm genuinely enjoying it, and I don't plan to stop, but this video has definitely got me thinking. There are things I want to do, but I kinda don't feel like I'm ready to do them. I only finish a piece like maybe once a month, but I spend most of my time sketching, copying artists I like, stuff like that. For me it's not so much that I feel like I _have_ to practice. It's more like that's all I want to do because when I finish something I'm never satisfied, but when I sketch something and it comes out well, I am satisfied and it motivates me to continue.
See the thing is about drawings is that you can always remake them, if you put off the full drawings to the side because you feel like you aren't good enough to attempt it yet just go at it even if you don't like the end product as much, your full drawings will become your practice, and there's nothing wrong with quick full drawings because it's not so much of a time sink, you'll learn faster that way
Besides it's your art and you should decide what you want to do with it, it's about having fun while learning so don't worry about "where your art skill should be at" and if quick sketches make you happy then continue with words of advice in mind
@@annoyingnessbeginswithme5698 yeah, that rings true. I think I do want to start "finishing" more things. Since watching this video I've started using pen on my sketches, and I think it's starting to get me into a different headspace. I'm gonna try working up from there, maybe using colored pencils, maybe pulling out my tablet and trying to make something quick and fun and not worry too much about it being perfect, etc
in my case i get constant art blocks but for me its okay since u cant really force yourself to draw anything everyday it jst becomes a chore then
Honestly, you described my experience so well
This is honestly true and I wished I realized it earlier on, but this is what living is: experiencing things and knowing what really helps us the most to grow. We obsess over practicing to get good enough at the things we want to do or should do for a job that we don't really ever get to those because we just keep on 'practicing', when really we are just procrastinating and afraid of the actual work we must do. It's better to actually work on projects itself so we can have actual things we can present to possible clients or just show on the net that will actually land us a job, and in any case that experience helps us become actual artists that have finished presentable artworks instead of sketches, practices or whatever. But putting it into actual 'practice' is hard and scary. Nothing worth doing is easy.
Thank you I needed to hear that.
@@TheArthurxz You're welcome. Even though each of us is our own person, the journey and experiences we take as artists to achieve our ambitions aren't really that much different, are they? Being able to heard words of wisdom like from this video just helps us realize the things we may be doing right now aren't really helping us grow to our fullest potential.
@@ayan4697 You're on a wisdom dispensing roll right now, no joke. That's very true, and it's another thing worth remembering so double thanks
ngl really needed to hear this. Been doing practice a lot without actually improving and whenever i ask for advise on art servers all i get is "well practice more". Thanks for the advice!
This has had me stalled for such an unbelievably long time. I practise practise practise, drill hands, drill figures, drill cubes for the millionth time, get a bit better, but I don't do anything substantial because "something something, not good enough yet". Indeed, when I look back on the really difficult attempts I made at doing drawings of things that I actually liked, I ended up doing what I didn't even know I could, and always learned the most intensely. These sessions were never a regret. I don't know why I'm like this exclusively with the ventures I'm most driven to succeed in. Maybe I think drawing is too "sacred" to mess up? Is it a matter of setting strange expectations? I play piano as a hobby, but I never thought I needed to learn a bunch of music theory before attempting a piece way above my level. It *always* worked out.
I'm the same way with piano... I am at a very crap beginner level, but I never was as harsh as I am with art. I think the idea that I'd identified as an 'artist' became crippling, because it led me to fear doing anything that would contradict that idea. So if I tried, but failed, doesn't that mean I'm a failed artist? Even if I could rationally understand that that was illogical, emotionally and egotistically, I was still held captive by the label I had adopted. In the end, it took really appreciating failure as the greatest teacher, and that failures meant I was one step further along my journey of improvement, that I was able to overcome some of what was holding me back. Currently, I no longer hold onto the label of being an 'artist'. I think of myself as a hobbyist, someone who draws for fun, because I want to. I also draw for a living, but I think of myself as just a labourer, nothing fancy, someone using a skill to achieve an end, money. This helps uncomplicate my life and when I do things for myself, I truly do them for myself, and not to make money or to please an audience. And then, when I do work, I do it only to satisfy the client and the brief I'm given, without letting my own personal vision get in the way.
This is an expectation trap. I've been collecting these over the course of my life for a very long time. It all comes down to the phantoms your ego creates to protect you from percieved harm. As long as you have any sort of ambition it leads to construction of this expectation versions of what you should be and how you should act. Failure is painful and harmful. It makes you believe your ideal is less achievable with every setback. This mindset inevitably leads to prioritising avoiding falure over achieving your goals. Even more, it makes success dependent (in your head) on lack of falure. Unravelling this knot can take a very long time. This fear of falure was one of the big reasons I stopped drawing and playing guitar. I can't say I've conquered my ego's maladaptive practices, yet. I tried to bruteforce it, but it proved to get me into even worse state. This video both reminds me of a similarly brilliant and insightful one by Matias Pillhede (it's called art is fun) and shows what was wrong in my attempts to fix my aquired resentment towards drawing. Also, the difference between "screwing up" art and a music piece stems from difference in their permanence. Unless you record or do a live performance in front of an audience (and even then people tend to forget things) music sort of fades out of reality once it's over. Drawings and paintins on the other hand are going to stay there forever, with all their flaws and missed opportunities to haunt and scorn you. That too, of course, is just another angry ghost, that can be banished with a correct mindset. However, so far, I'm still in the dark. I'll find my way out, eventually.
this knowledge is GOLDEN. this has been the backbone of my improvement over the years and the MAIN reason I would burn out and have major crash periods with drawing. I sort of had to make the decision for myself that practice would come slowly with iterations on things that I was ACTUALLY interested in finishing. FUN IS KEY. If you aren't enjoying drawing as a hobby, if you feel stressed about it to the point of avoidance, like you don't feel like you want to draw... you're TOTALLY approaching it wrong. It doesn't mean that you aren't good at art, it doesn't mean that you dont have what it takes to finish the dream project you had in mind. You just have to draw FOR YOU before ANYTHING else. That should be your #1 priority IMO. That comes before "needing to improve as fast as possible" or "what if it just isn't good enough". Draw so that you'll WANT to draw more in the future!
the cat example feels like an evolution of your iterative drawing video. that was about practice but with a purpose, but this feels like putting the purpose first and it will lead to the best practice FOR YOU. love it
The thing I've always said: art's primary purpose is to transmit ideas. The ability to get your story across in a way that people can understand or contemplate is just as important as understanding how a cat's eye is shaped. (Not that popularity should be a deciding factor in anything, but It's also why sketches about a relatable moment tend to get more attention than technically impressive but otherwise static pieces. Don't sleep on expressiveness.)
This is why I decided to do it. That’s why it’s really frustrating to have these said ideas but have no way of putting them into any medium. Such cool, really personal ideas that I really need to get into writing and into a drawing and it’s just not really close to being there yet man.
I am a big big believer in being intrinsically motivated as an artist! Honestly, as someone who loves to "practice" drawing, that's what I'm hearing in this video; the importance of maintaining sincere and genuine interest in and curiosity of what we're doing. Personally, figure studies turn my brain on in a way that nothing else does and I love seeing bodies as a series of problems to be solved on the page. But if someone doesn't feel that way, they should spend their time on whatever does create that feeling instead!
Getting sucked into education and practice burned me out of why I began drawing in the first place, which is crafting story. The improvement grind never stops, like you will never feel you hit that goal because a new one will fall into place before you even realize it. So i really needed this reminder of, yea maybe I have good gesture, but what do I want to do with it.
Glad to see you here in 2023!
This confirms how I got better at drawing when I was younger. I just drew things I want even though everyone was telling me to go to basics. I used a lot of inspiration to help me understand what I wanted to draw. I would say doing what you want is the best way to learn because you’ll remember it more.
You have no idea how much this video helped me. I lost touch with my usual art groove because I stopped doing finished pieces and projects so I can practice things like anatomy and perspective. Well things got real boring real quick and in addition to the comparison game and social media, I went on a decline and found drawing boring. I'm taking a break, but all the stories I want to work on are still there, ready to be laid out. But I'm realizing now everyone learns differently and you have to critically think what works for you and what doesn't.
Mate, I've been trying to learn art for the longest time and I've been half arsing it the whole way. The amount of times I've wanted to give up due to very minimal progress and watching dry ass videos on technique and anatomy, is crazy. I hear you, I need a project to spark the passion and I need to be ok with my art being bad for now. I have no problem drawing cubes honestly, but drawing them and seeing no progress feels like scratching a chalk board. It's the lack of purpose that's killing me. I need a project that'll kick my ass in a good way!
Thanks for this :)
Your coil technique guide all those years ago was an epiphany for me my dude, you are like the wise old man that occasionally comes down from his mountain hut to share some knowledge with the village people while stocking up on eggs.
On this video: I like to "practice" with still human figure,and always end up getting really into it, but not with animation. Motivation quickly plummets when you have to draw a shitton of frames of something that doesn't interest you, like bouncing balls and bags of flour.
I do this alot. Ill study and practice so much bc my mind keeps hammering this thought that "Im not good enough for this yet" so it causes me to feel intimidated. I mean dont get me wrong ive been really studying and focusing and ive been improving but this is definitely an eye opener in terms of making me realize i need to actually implement things and make my own stuff with the things I learn. Idk if you read comments but i just wanted to say ty from the depths of my heart bc this really helps❤️
The last time you uploaded, I was still passionate about drawing... I've been trapped on this and now I've completely given up on it and took up 3D Animation instead haha. Not blaming you ofc, I just had a bad go of it. Glad to see you're doing well, Sycra. Your videos have shaped my view on getting into art in general. I also found the secret stallion lol.
EDIT: Wow I definitely resonated with that last point.
dont give up mate, you can still draw as a hobby (just posting your stuff online here and there) while working on 3d animation :D
I've been in a similar situation recently. I started thinking my drawing skills would never be good enough for a job in the industry as a storyboard artist for animation. But I've always had a huge interest in all things 3D. So I started learning 3D animation, and while I think it's pretty awesome, yet challenging, I could see myself getting good at it if I put in the time and effort into learning it.... But I missed drawing. I was spending all of my time on learning 3D animation and I wasn't getting any time to draw, and now I'm thinking of just going back to drawing and pursuing my original dream. For some reason, as someone who has been drawing all of my life, working with a 3D character rig just doesn't feel the same. I still think it's awesome, but as a 2D artist, it just doesn't feel genuine. I feel i can express myself better and put out a better result with 2D drawings, as opposed to posing out a 3D character in a virtual 3D space. So, I'm back to drawing and it feels so good to be back!
@@mariadanielalavia8877 I'd love to, but I still have remnants of negative thought patterns and experience depression and anxiety whenever I even think of drawing, to the point that I don't think that it's worth pursuing, at least at the moment. I just had an extremely bad attempt at learning, is all. I'll definitely pick it up sometime in the future, however. I cannot call myself an artist/animator with a clear conscience without being at least a passable draftsman hahaha.
This may just be a completely personal experience but I overcame this hurdle by thinking about how I build in minecraft. I have been playing for close to a decade on and off, I've improved as a builder immensely. When I started I didn't sit there and practice roofs and different styles of walls I just built the approximation of what was in my head. Over the years I got better at putting what was in my head into the game. Though I am only starting to draw at 22 so it feels harder to not be good at something, but as long as I'm proud of what I do I feel like I'm improving
As someone who never had fun practicing my fundamentals... thank you for this video. It's very easy to chase perfection and improvement but sometimes it's just a secret stallion that can't be caught.
YESSSSSS!!!!!!! I was "practicing" manga for a year, but when I made my first manga oneshot, I learned how inadequate I was. But now that it's a week after posting that oneshot, I am working on the next oneshot and I can say that I have learned as much in a week as in a year. Anyone who want's to make manga MUST WATCH THIS VIDEO!!!!! I wish I had known this before I started.
I love this video and all your points you mentioned. When I got back into drawing after not doing it since childhood, I thought I HAD to draw people and I HAD to do those boring art fundamental practices, or else I would never improve nor do it right. For years this mindset killed my desire to create anything. I do not want to draw boxes, I do not want to spend hours on end doing the fundamentals. I have tried and it only made me stop art all together.
I only came to the realization recently that all I want to do is draw animals and nature. I want to work on my own ideas and projects for various paintings and finished pieces. I enjoy the process of working on an art piece or something that the goal is to finish, much much more than just "okay, I will now sketch a bunch of boxes in perspective till I understand everything. Once I know how to do that, then I am allowed to do my stuff", like what? Sketching and practicing that way is not wrong, but different things work for different people. I learn better by focusing on doing finished pieces of what I love to draw, and "practice" stuff whilst I work on a specific thing, just as you mentioned in your video. If I do not know how to draw a scared looking horse, I will find various references on how the expression of a fearful horse looks like and learn through that way by drawing it better than what my first attempt was.
This is something that I stress so much and had to learn the hard way, I had an obsession with my art being everything I wanted and to do that I had to do what everyone said and that was practicing. But as I spend more years and years into my art journey I realize how troubling that is and that in reality you should never practice for the sake of practicing.
honestly, I really agree. Tbf I've only been drawing a couple of weeks, but at least for me in most things I do, getting better can only keep me interested so long. Eventually, there has to be an intrinsic motivation to get the thing done, especially when it's something that requires a lot of thought and time like drawing. I can't bring myself to practice construction and loads of anatomy and making people out of boxes, but I can bring myself to imagine a person or scene and try to bring it to life. That's why I started anyways, because I want to create the things I can't see in my head. Might not be the fastest way to improve, but it sure is the most enjoyable.
Something I've been seeing a lot in regards to learning anything is comparison to how kids learn. As a kid you just learn things unbiased. Everything is new and it feels good to show people what you learned. Now that I'm older, there's this fear of making mistakes, looking stupid, and wasting too much time. I feel like it's the expectation of being an "adult". I remember you mentioned it in an older video. It's like, as a kid, you think you'll do "this" by 20 and "that" by 22 and you end up setting up these expectations for yourself. Then, when it doesn't happen and you see someone around that age as a professional, it feels like you're super behind because you end up comparing yourself.
The fear of mistakes makes it feel like "I must practice. I'm not ready to draw a picture yet." I've wondered when should I stop looking at tutorials. I'll practice all these different body parts, proportions, perspectives, etc. and I can't piece them together into a complete drawing because I almost never do complete drawings and only practice. On the other hand, if I just drew without practicing as much, I'd be worried about building unbreakable bad habits and turd polishing.
I don't know what the most efficient way to learn is but between being interested in learning different things (like art and languages), you start to learn "how to learn". What you say in the video reminds me of that pottery class story about the students who actually made multiple pots being more successful than the ones who spent their time studying how to make the perfect one. I think deliberate practice is still good and I find I learn a lot in short bursts but I think practicing after you've attempted it is better like you're saying or rather practicing once you've identified what it is you're having trouble with rather than doing it because you're *supposed to*. I found the secret stallion!
I don't practice to get better at something as abstract as anatomy or gesture. I practice to increase what many artists call their "visual library." There are many things I either don't think about drawing or don't want to draw that will benefit me later on having experienced it before.
I guess you're right. You can't practice for the sake of getting better, you need a focus. When I need to draw a portrait, I study my Asaro head in different lights. When I want to paint a flower, I take my sketchbook outside and start drawing what I see as a form of practice.
I think the best way to sum up this philosophy is this: Don't practice to get better, practice to simply do.
This really resonated with me. I stopped drawing a few years ago, I just got burnt out. Later I realized it was this same thing youre talking about here - practicing and never "performing". While I did improve lots during the practicing, I just lost everything that made me want to draw. I have been wanting to get back to drawing for a while now and your video reminded me what I've figured out. The thought of seriously drawing small projects I have interest in already makes me want to draw
P. S. Welcome back Sycra, your videos helped me lots in the past!
This video changed my perspective on my own art. I’ve been caught in a cycle of wanting to draw, then getting discouraged by not having the technical skill and practicing to try to improve, only to burnout and make the practice pointless by not remembering any of it. But, this video reminded me of what I started art for: not to practice, or impress others, but just for fun. I think I lost that after a while, but this has given me a fresh view of things. I think I speak for all of the people who’ve followed you over the years when I say you are truly one of the best Secret Stallions out there. Thanks for all the work you’ve put in to help others, and I hope you’re doing okay.
Back in August last year I had motivation to make a 3d model for one of my OC's from scratch in blender, instead of going through the hundreds of tutorials that show you how to make donuts or whatever I hit up a tutorial which shows you how to just make a character model step by step. My character has a lot different going on but the tutorial taught me enough to do things on my own. After a month and probably 50-80 hours later of me pouring myself over this project it was done, I had it working in vrchat and everything, I had gone from knowing nothing about blender to having a good grasp on how to turn a cube into anything I wanted along with rigging, uv unwrapping and weight painting, I would never have gotten there if I had just made "donuts" and other objects just to learn the basics of the program.
This was a very eye opening experience and I've started to approach art in the same manner, I have embraced my creative process a lot more and don't worry too much about "practice"
can you send the link to the tutorial? cuz i kind wanna do it too
SYCRA? its been so long since I've seen you.
Good video, definitely the mindset that's let me be most productive. For a long while I was in "I need make better concept art for these projects I want to do" rut, but I wasn't actually working on the project. I've gotten way more done since focusing on actually making the comic
Man, you made me realize that's what I've been doing for the past months and I've been putting out projects that I actually like.. while it's not exactly like the image in my head, but it's my best attempt to get to the image as close as possible and so far.. in those moments I didn't get this feeling of it being to repetitive or boring. Those projects drove me to keep learning and finding where I can improve on.
I just started thinking about a new technique. I think of an image I want to draw and just start trying out different things for the picture, trial and error stuff, until I think "Hey, let's go" and draw the final image with everything I learned from my different attempts
I think training is just a useful tool in order to quickly figure out what’s “wrong,” and exactly what adjustments need to be made to “fix” it. That being said, it can lead to a slippery slope of being too self critical from comparing yourself to artists on social media…which then causes u to lose confidence to explore new ideas you once never struggled with producing 😅😩
Love everything you're saying here. I think this is why drawing fanart got my art to evolve when practicing randomly did not. I was invested in learning to draw the characters I loved well, so I worked hard to improve at it. Technically working on any art is practice, and when you're working on something with some meaning to you, it's practicing in a way you feel is worth the effort. Also, I found the secret stallion!
Very interesting video! Anatomy has been a big struggle since I started drawing because not a single advice that many artists mentions on a day to day basis is compelling enough to stick with me, or give me a lot of motivation to break through my struggle, until I saw a popular artist on twitter that explained their reasoning and their process on how they came to learn anatomy. Then I started to gain an interest of this fundamental and learned with personal drawings on the way. It's with this kind of instinct that I started to see the "power of personal interest" like you said and dangerously rejected some art advices that didn't stick to me. Although if I feel sometimes trapped, I feel like its still necessary to bite the bullet in some occasion and practice a little while before ditching the mindset.
Nice to see you back, and happy new year :)
any chance you still have the link to that post? I've been trying to learn anatomy for a very long time but it's never stuck.
Thanks you for this video, I was distracting myself with tons of useless tutorials, because I don't need those specific solutions. Instead you should focus on what interests you the most to learn the most and get even faster. Afterwards you will identify your mistakes and want to have a solution. It's not one test where you fail or not, but an iterative process where you want to fail as often as possible in a way that wants you to continue
This video really confirms how I've been feeling in regards to practicing art. During my short time in art school I followed stuff like figure drawing to improve my anatomy, something I've always struggled with, and while I was improving fast I wasn't enjoying it as much. At some point art became more about practicing than... well, art. It felt like homework, not just because I was actually doing it for grades, but because I had this mindset of constant practicing that I felt I needed to actually get to do the things I wanted to do. There are so many projects that remain in my mind because I've locked myself into this mindset for so long. So many things I denied myself of even trying because I felt I needed to be at a certain skill level to do them. But then I asked myself "At what point will I be better enough to do the things I want to do?", and it seriously got me thinking.
For the past few months I've decided to lay off the more traditional practice and simply... draw the things I wanted to draw. I'm again enjoying the process while also improving, even if at a slower rate. I still look up references and tutorials, but like you said they feel more purposeful because I can actually apply them to something right here, right now. Something I have lots of interest in. For example, struggling with hands on a piece? Look up some refs or tutorials on the specific way I want to draw the hand. Want to paint something a certain way? Let's see what others have done and apply it now. It's been incredibly relieving and has made art feel like a hobby again, and not homework. I also do 3D modeling, and realized that over my time doing it I improved precisely in this way; if I work on something I actually want to do, the problems and learning process will feel easier to tackle. Great video and artwork!
Bro
I literally hanging in this mindset right now.
Thank god i found this video and your comment❤
Yes!! You are so right. It is so easy to fall into the trap of essentially gatekeeping ourselves because we think "we're not good enough yet".
That's such a valuable advice! Like so many in the comments I was stuck in the "practice to get good before you start drawing what you want to draw". It made me question my interest in making art. Your advice made me think of the time when I was a child and I would draw whatever I felt like drawing. Yeah it looks bad now, but back then I was so proud of it. I haven't had that feeling in a while now.
I'm happy to see a new video of yours! I hope you're doing well!
I graduated in 2019 and I've been watching your videos since middle school. I love your tutorials, you're a huge part of my journey as an artist
Your video made me think about some stuff.
I used to do a lot of practice by trying to copy photos, but everytime I tried to do something by myself, I just couldn't do it and ended up with just a slightly different version of a reference photo I choose. Nowadays I'm finally starting to freeing myself of this process of imitation, but it's still ingrained. However, I think it's only possible because, as you said, I did more projects last year than actual practices.
Currently, I think the point of practice should be just getting comfortable with new things and learning a basic thing or other, but never getting a perfect result or just practicing because you need to, and eventually move on. When I have to do it these days, I try to do a lot of stuff and quickly just to get exposed to different situations on a subject and get the overall point of it.
THE RETURN OF THE KING
Literally I'm just thankful you're alive
Awesome to see you posting Mr Stallion. I had been trapped in that practice cycle for years, and Ive come to be thankful, Im kinda glad I went through it and now im out the other side. Just making things, experimenting, just doing the next thing :3
YOU'RE BACK AND WITH MORE WORDS OF WISDOM AAAAA ;O; we missed u lots
Yep agree, as someone without a guide or art education. The most effective way to do what you want to do, is to just do what it is that you want to do, to identify problems and then finding a solution for those problems. This is where you are able to create questions tailored to you instead of a generic question that will net you a generic answer and that wont really solve your problem when you do get the opportunity to ask.
Find the problem > Look at textbook answer > Look at other artist work and look at there answer > Create your own answer
This is like a total contrast to your iterative drawing video. Both were helpful!
Honestly, is so good to see you back Sycra, your channel has been a treasure to me since i found it 5 years ago, i think i have a lot to learn still, but i ve learned a lot from you, specially from the videos in which you explain how to learn and how to practice. I found the secret stallion!
I found the secret stallion! thank you for your videos, Sycra, you inspired me to pick up drawing after a long break several years ago, been a subscriber since
Hey, hope things are going well. Thank you for this video. I actually...didn't know I needed something like this. It makes so much more sense that you need to have a project you're obsessed over to actually hit the milestones (depending how you learn.) I've been making leaps since having more direction in my work. And lately been weighing doing a comic, but a short one for practice, because I'm worried about my anatomy and storytelling visually skills - but this video's making me rethink it. Thank you, hope to see work from you soon!
I'm also really glad he used the comic analogy because I've been putting off my idea for almost a decade, mostly because i didn't think i was ready or able. but just like you I'm reconsidering that... maybe i should just go for it, and I'll improve overtime, just by doing it. i don't think I'll ever be in a place where i think I'm ready so might as well start now!
We can agree or disagree but I think the real gem and takeaway from this video is that we should question the methods we use to achieve our goals, if they dont work, we should seek other methods or even make our own, all that matters at the end of the day is if you got to the finish line in that goal, not the hows or even the when as long as you are feeling good about it really, we can spent hours talking about discipline willpower and all that crap but at the end of the day those are limited resources and the only thing that will power you forward through ordeals is love passion enjoyment and other powerful feelings. I really like this counter point to the main argument of practice, I'm subscribing for sure
Listening to a new video from you is like a huge breath of fresh air.
Welcome back!
And the topic definitely resonates with me as a person you struggles to motivate themselves due to perfectionism.
Doing a project IS a type of practice; it’s practice with a purpose that leaves you with a finished product when it’s complete. Good advice.
dude you're changing lives. really inspiring and comes with perfect timing. thank you sycra !
Your point makes a lot of sense. Instead of just spending a bulk period of time practicing certain aspects, if you gather tips from resources along the way as your creating your own projects you will inevitably be putting those pieces of advice into practice in a much more engaging, productive way, rather than burning yourself out by just doing things that you aren't very interested in. I think practice is important, but practice shouldn't be the main focus of building upon your skill. Thanks for sharing man, I had this in the back of my mind for some time now but this has made me think of it in a new light and I appreciate your honest opinion on the topic.
I watched your channel many years ago, when I wanted to become an artist. Now I’ve been working as a programmer for six years, and still love your videos. Thank you! Hope you’re good
So I think you definitly got a point. "Practice what you wanna practice" is the idea I get here. But I gotta say that, I believe building up the fundamental stuff as a beginner and from there thinking about: what comes next or what do I wanna focus on ( maybe hands for example). As an artist I learned that you never are fully aware of all techniques and tricks, that are in the art world. But just practicing because someone told me to would be boring for me so with this point youre right
You're back! Big inspiration when it comes to drawing, my man, thanks for everything you do and have done.
This video is pure gold. I got this advice before, but could never put it into practice due to various mental blocks. I was thinking: "I know I'm not good enough to get a result I would be satisfied with", or even weirder: "Even if I pull off something good, it will be disingenuous, it won't reflect my real ability". It's so helpful to hear this again from a veteran artist.
I'm happy this popped up in my recommended, no doubt a secret stallion of good fortune sent me here. I need to check out your older videos.
sycra coming out from his hybernation and starts spitting straight up facts 👍 good day to witness. also that intro hits with such nostalgia!
Oh! I was rewatching your sycrastreams the other day, missing your videos, and worried where you might have gone or if you're doing ok. I'm glad to see this video, and I agree with you so much on this too. I was always told to draw realism to help my anime drawings, and so I did. And it did help a little bit, but I noticed I had so much more fun and improved so much more when I made stupid fanart comics of my favorite series.
I got a lot of practice drawing hands, backgrounds, different poses, learning to make compositions etc. It also helped me pay more attention when I read comics to see what type of techniques artists use to portray movements like punches or walking etc. It also gave me the courage to try blender to help me with drawing backgrounds and compositing backgrounds, which in turn is helping me with light / shadow because of the 3d engine and lighting.
Thank you for making so many of your videos sycra, they taught me so much and I like to rewatch them from time to time to keep me company while I draw as well.
Honestly as someone who enjoys practice I still really enjoyed this video bc it made me think about being selective with where I put my passion. While I like doing studies I still find myself just doing exercises for the sake of taking art seriously. Thanks for the video, it’s good to see you again
This is an eye opening video. I got burned out with art after I graduated from college and have taken a break from it for a couple years to get myself together. I'm ready to start getting back into it because I've discovered it is something I love to do. But, I didn't enjoy the process nor results of "practice" after going through the same process like you. So thank you. You have cleared my head and given me direction now.
Hello Sycra! i really love your videos. I Hope you don't stop sharing your knowledge
I was just telling someone the other day how much I love your videos and your philosophy on art as a creative outlet. I think you've just explained back to me why I lost my passion for drawing some years ago. I am trying to start again. It's been a six year journey of intermittent practice, feeling really ready to dive in and then shortly after feeling absolutely demoralized and putting down the pencil for another six months. I need to talk to myself and understand what I want from art, and then I just need to do those things instead of bashing my head against the wall trying to get good enough to make the art I want to make.
Thanks, secret stallion. Your words of wisdom always seem to come at just the right time. Hope you are well, and I look forward to more videos.
I agree so much with the "have a project" advice. Since I developed a love for writing stories and then had the idea to create a comic, I draw so much more, with no frustration anymore, and im improving so fast...
I started drawing last year and after some personal works, I identified my difficulties (anatomy, perspective, proportion). I watched a ton of tutorial on the net. Some gave me valuable advice that significantly contributed to my progress, but most were too extensive, or too complex and I quickly forgot them.
Your videos have always been a step above the others (Personnal opinion). In comparison, you weren't the most "accessible" for a beginner... And yet! Your advice, your practice, and your mentality have been the most powerful engines for me in the drawings. I adhere to your thinking, because after dozens of pages of exercises, it is in the works that are close to my heart that I progress best, undoubtedly.
I had no trouble learning 3D because I just went from project to project, problem to problem. Then with drawing I immediately fell into “the practice trap”. After 1 year of about 1 hour a day following courses I haven’t really made any progress. I see now I need to just do what I did with 3D! Thank you!
Ah I've missed you and your outlook so much! This is a concept I've been talking to people about for years and it's always taken negatively when yes, skill needs to be developed but, more importantly, passion for the subject should be explored. Thank you for this :)
Glad to see that you're back chief.
You've been one of my main motivations to draw in recent years.
I only draw and paint occasionally, but I find your videos apply to my main passion: creative writing. There's writing practice that's suggested in many workshops where you get a prompt and write for 20 minutes or so. It can be helpful in some ways, like establishing a daily writing habit or focusing on description. But mainly what you get out of it is a lot of flash fiction. If you want to write a novel, you should start writing a novel. There are elements to a novel that you can't learn from writing practice, so many different moving parts, and how they work together is part of learning how to write novels.
I feel like the same is true of different types of art. You might practice shading and then later practice composition, but it's not until you work on something where you care about the finished project that you really think about how shading and composition interact.
There's also the feeling of accomplishment that comes from finishing something you care about. The double-edged sword of practice is that it doesn't feel real. This can be comforting when you're afraid of your imperfections and don't want your work to count towards anything. But it also can lead to discouragement because you practice and practice and at the end of it all, you have no finished project to show for it.
This advice really clicks with me. Until very recently I had been stressing myself for years with dull robotic practice with the hopes of getting "good" enough one day to do what I like. I started to notice that I was improving more when I had been "learning on the job" working on things that I was more interested in or having fun with. I wish I had realized this sooner haha
You popped onto my recommended feed today. I use to watch you many years back when I first decided to take art more seriously, like when I was 14 or 15 years old. You helped out a ton when I was younger. I'm now in my third year of art college and doing very well. Funny how life is just one big circle. You in a way helped me get to where I am, the start of it all to say. I'm so happy to see your uploads again :D Also, amazing video as always, this is probably one of the best advice that I agree with wholeheartedly. Keep up the beautiful work and thank you for inspiring me
Sycra you're always spitting 100% facts. This is why webcomic artists naturally get better at everything from anatomy, to perspective, to coloring, they are working on their passion project and want to make it good. The people working on their own projects are Also practicing, but their practice is going into creation, not into a glorified homework assignment. Btw I found the secret stallion!
Been trying to draw since I was thirteen. Art classes were hit or miss, I never really enjoyed them, and practicing fundamentals never sat right.
I loved lighting and shadow, and so I wanted to do stuff with it. I got really good at learning lighting and contrast, and I was TERRIBLE at drawing people or characters because of it. For a ton of time I lamented that I couldn't draw bodies or poses.
It wasn't until I started doing Tabletop RPGs that I WANTED to draw my own characters. And in wanting to draw my friends' and my own characters I was so IMMENSELY frustrated that I couldn't draw them. I felt like I had to get better at drawing humans before I could even THINK to do art for others, completely failing to realize what actually worked for me.
In wanting to see something realized by yourself, you will get better at it. It's only when you're relaxed and content with how you draw something that you'll start to settle. And then eventually you become dissatisfied with your stagnancy, and you'll change it and grow again. Create the thing that you specifically want to create. Draw the things that nobody else is drawing right, because you have an image of what EXACTLY you want to see.
That's what's worked for me so far.
i realized this recently. i was in an art rut for months, probably longer, hating everything i drew and knowing that, if i came across art that looked like mine in the wild, i would not like it. and i was tired of feeling that way. i wanted to be excited about what i was creating, but i kept holding onto the "learn the rules before you break them" idea. problem is, i hated learning the rules. i have a REALLY hard time simplifying from realism so all my stuff was too realistic, too stiff, too technical. only recently did i decide to say fuck it and find styles i liked and copied stuff. im still working on it but im making art i like again because im focusing on making stuff i WANT in the way that i want, practice be damned.
what you said about people learning the rules made their art boring and standard really resonated with me because that is EXACTLY what happened to me. except it didnt even look decent, because i hated it so much that my rendering was less than half assed lmao. i cant wait to further develop this new exaggerated cartoony style and get life and passion back into my art!
also, secret stallion and whatnot lol. i don't think you're dumb at all ❤️
I found the secret stallion! I have to say that your comeback has been great, for me and from the looks of it for many others too!
I think there are many people who might feel guilt or shame for doing what they love instead of what others tell them to do which is often "practice". While I know that good amount of practice along with doing personal project and that balance is important, I don't think any of those matter until the individual themselves have the feeling of want or an interest to actually do practice or to do personal projects. You're right about not improving or at least not as much when you're doing something not because you want to but because others tell you to.
Not just with art, but also with work, studying, chores. I wish people showed why things are fun or how to make things fun instead of it being like "You HAVE to do this if you want to get what you want."
Wow. This is literally exactly what I've been struggling with. Wanting to make a comic but feeling like I need to practice first. But I had a hunch I should be doing what you're saying. You making this video totally validates that hunch.
Thanks Sycra!
🙏🙏🙏
Hey Sycra, it's so good having you back! You've been part of my art journey for many years now -- I always appreciated your fresh thoughts on the topics you talk about.
I agree with you that there are different mindsets for different people, and while practice works well for me (because I easily get overwhelmed when approaching "real" projects) I think this video brings a lot of validation to people for which practice doesn't really work.
I totally agree with the comic example, I started to write and draw my own comic series and it finally feels like learning things has actual PURPOSE, the knowledge and skills are needed bc of this project that I want to make as good as possible. I was never really this kind of person who would strictly follow tutorials but I was catching myself sometimes on focusing too much on doing some drawing exercises just bc I thought I had to do them, like a lesson in school, not bc I was genuinely interested in learning this specific thing and needing to use it for smth very important to me.
im so happy you're back your videos have helped me so much
The only thing I really wanted to do was make a comic and a story, I wasn't interested in just making pieces of art, and I've created and recreated redesigned characters and redrew pages over time and it made me improve as an artist because I always felt like I was moving towards something even though I was so far from a finished product. It gave me motivation to draw because these are my characters and they mean something more than just random sketches, I even learned anatomy and perspective like this and so many things. You practice by doing something you love and it won't feel like practice. Also Sycra glad you are back you are the only art youtuber I could relate to, and wow that topic of interest is spot on I've always shared that exact view. Btw in my opinion the art scene on TH-cam is terrible at the moment there are some decent TH-camrs but most of them are trying to fit a certain mold and everyone is copying each other, the thing I keep seeing right now are these fake personas that try to keep you interested by constantly making jokes and being whacky and it's actually exhausting to watch a couple seconds of their videos it's not even genuine most of the time. Anyway I'm glad you are making videos again.
In my mind there's a big difference between art youtubers who want to help their audience and art youtubers who just want views. Sycra is a wonderful example of someone who really wants to help his audience.
@@rzeka That's really kind of you to say so. I've felt lost for years now because I feel like there are better people offering better presented information than I do... I never liked slick presentation, because it felt like someone was trying to sell me something, and I couldn't figure out what it was (sometimes I'd find out when the soft sell became hard). But I didn't know if I was the only one who felt this way, and if really the video making should be left to those who can use the fancy editing, and who have worked for studios and who have the skills that show they're really at the top. I'm grateful to you, and all the others, who have shown me that there is something (even if I'm not sure what) that I can provide that others may not be providing, and so I should keep producing instead of feeling like there's no place for me anymore. Thank you!
@@Sycra I was actually thinking during your absence that you might have felt that way, I was also thinking that maybe you felt you said all you could or you thought people were doing it better but that's not the case! Sycra I don't know about other people but I've learnt a lot from your videos for some reason the way you present information clicks in my head I'm not sure why and it's hard to explain. You definitely still have a place in TH-cam, people that make these flashy and nicely edited videos are sometimes using it to mask the fact that they don't really have much to say it's just cool art and maybe a short process video, there isn't much to it. But you treat videos differently and it's a lot more phycological too which I always appreciate because drawing is not just drawing it's very mental, I've been a fan for a long time and I've watched every video and podcast so I'm excited to see new content. Also I don't really like the people that work in studios I respect them but to me it feels like they are looking down on me and they are trying to tell me factual information and tell me "this is how I got to work with Disney" "this is how you do it!" And people flock to them because they think they hold the big answers but it's not true and it doesn't make them more qualified than you. Anyway please keep going Sycra!
Agree. Just draw what you want to draw and it'll come.
This matches my experience and I agree, I had kinda independently come to this conclusion... with one possible exception. Sometimes when I start my day and launch straight into the project proper, I get a bit overwhelmed and I will have to draw a bunch of cubes in perspective etc until I get "warmed up", to ease into the actual drawing. But in general I wish I had discovered the value of projects and having an intense interest in the subject matter sooner (obvious in hindsight).
Ah, yeah, I sometimes draw ellipses and things to warm up, so I can relate. It feels different from 'practice' though, even though I mean, I guess whenever you put pencil to paper you're 'practicing' but I get what you mean. :)
thank you for speaking your mind, because these thoughts have paralyzed me for so long. don’t get me wrong i’m actually quite passionate about studying, but my passion for creating and bringing life on to the page just slipped away. it’s so true about just doing the things you enjoy regardless if they’re “good” or not. it’s funny but i’ve recently gotten super into one piece and it’s sparked such a joy of creation back into me. drawing things because you love them is a much more powerful force than drawing them because they need to look good. i’ve been thinking about this idea quite a lot and this video really solidifies it for me. who cares about how your art doesn’t fit into a certain standard of what “good” is. just create and learn from that:) thank you so much
I feel like this is easy to say when you've abstracted away most of the difficulty. People who grow up drawing habitually probably don't need to work on practices much, but if you're getting into it later in life it can help immensely to put time into perspective and anatomy. A little bit goes a long way.
As someone who did start drawing later in life… I can say that’s not been my experience. I did not draw habitually at all in the beginning, and, even nowadays, I will only choose to ‘practice’ drawing a pose, or learn about a piece of anatomy, if I’m aware of its purpose. I’ll first decide on what the problem is, and then, any ‘practice’ drawings become part of finding a solution. One of the most painful art experiences I’ve had was doing a plain study of a pair of shoes… after all the trouble, I can’t say I retained much from it, really. If you’re drawing studies for an image you have in mind, or thumbnailing for a comic, you’re engaging your sense of purpose, which will help you a lot in retaining the information you’re accumulating. There’s a big temptation to go for a sequence of preset goals, where you can more easily get the dopamine fix… but, like with other addictions, it runs the risk of keeping you in an endless cycle of ‘practice’, away from your initial goal.
@@flaviayasin Yeah that's my approach as well, but with a bigger budget for practice. Part of what I focus on is practicing ideas in a way that's still creative and interesting which lets me develop creative muscles and foundational muscles at the same time.
For example I really want to be good at heads and faces to make my characters more appealing for myself to enjoy, so I've spent most drawing time over the last two months on heads / faces. It stays fun for me because I try to make every head unique and interesting in some way. Always trying new things.
Now when I go back to my more creative work, I have this awesome new tool to leverage.
@@cory99998 This is it. This is why I study the fundamentals because you gain new tools from it. You can also have the ability to scale from the basics into different regions such as anime
@@happy_crustacean7104 just remember to not spend too long there, make sure to create
Not true, picked up a pencil for the first time this year, and my experience has been the same as Sycra’s. I learn very little by trying to practice and improve. I learn so much by trying to draw what I wanted to draw.
I've been practicing for years and I saw myself get better in a lot of ways but I saw my drawings become lifeless and stale... A lot of my old drawings, while flawed in a lot of ways, they had way more personality than all my current drawings. I always felt like I was practicing wrong because of this. I kept asking myself " what am I doing wrong?" I thought practice was the answer to getting better but I'm so glad I heard this perspective from you! and Welcome back! I've hit a wall for few years and I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue drawing in any capacity. I'm so glad I saw this video. It's motivated me to try again and maybe this time, do it the way I would like to do it. Sorry, it's a bit rambly and incoherent lol
There are two major breakthroughs you will experience as an artist.
1) Your strokes with the pen become swift and confident (The muscle breakthrough).
2) You *Truly* start seeing/constructing 3D forms *with basic 2D shapes* (The Mental breakthrough).
The second breakthrough being especially powerful. For me, the first one happened about 7ish months into my journey. The second happened around 2-3 years into my journey (and was after a long period of burnout). Both of these are points where my skill and confidence improved massively, seemingly overnight. It's when lot a concepts that confused me suddenly "clicked".
Once you've reached these breakthroughs, you've basically fully matured your "artist eye" on a subconscious level. That's when you start drawing shit without even thinking about it. Even if it's something you never drew before, you just kinda instinctually know how to break it down and "deal with it".
I do think it is important for absolute beginners to make an effort to practice the basics in their first year (discovering the "science" behind drawing for the first time should be very interesting for beginners). I see it like learning the Alphabet before learning how to read. However, people tend to standardize everything into routines that may become arbitrary with time. After a certain point, you need to stop drawing Loomis heads, and start drawing Naruto's head. Draw more the thing you WANT to be good at.
Im still confused by the second one
But loomis heads are fun and weird sometimes. But I get you
glad you back...you're definitely one of my favorite artists
I'm one on those artists that only really works on art when I have inspiration, and never did much practise for the sake of practise, but my art has improved at roughly the same rate despite not actually making that much art over the last few years. I think I draw in my head a lot, which probably helps, but it also means I have very little to show for myself when I finally actually draw again and suddenly make massive leaps and bounds in improvement. It does make me wonder how much more I would improve if I could just draw every day like some artists claim to
Sycra, I am so happy and excited to see you posting a new video!! I started watching you all the way back in high school to learn how to draw, and now I'm a University graduate and I work as an artist in the games industry. You truly helped me get to where I am today. Thank you, and I'm SO glad to see you back!
I don’t comment much but…
Thank you Sycra!
You’re one of the most beautiful speakers I’ve heard!
You’re thoughts on art and motivation and life are always impactful and mean a lot to me, I’m happy you’re made this video, but please make sure to take time for yourself, you matter!
I really like practicing anatomy, I love the concepts and science behind biology and the form that comes with learning art… but I do think it has slowed down my drive.
You’re awesome Sycra! I found the secret stallion ;)
(Also link your webcomic in the comments I think a lot more people come here then they do anywhere else…
This resonates a lot with me and it's basically how I learn art all by myself - going to learn the things I was interested in doing because I wanted them to. And let me tell you... that's the ADHD/Neurodivergent way of learning lol.
It's good to see you back!
as someone who works similar to you i love using the term practice, but in reality im actually tricking myself to explore more. its weird but my art improves alot when its just me exploring shiz, not sure if thats practice itself bit i treat practice as playtime. the rest of what i draw for is work related anyways
I'm so glad to hear you say this. I drew 250 boxes and then stopped drawing because I started to hate it. Truly, truly hate it and art in general. I've drawn gesture for almost two months now and I sort of see that I should (of course, I can't get better at something I don't draw) but for me finding the balance between practice and what I want to draw is very hard.
I am not deluding myself into saying "I will magically understand this if I draw it often" and I know that I still haven't grasped the basics of art (seeing and drawing simple 3D forms, mainly - it's always been THE issue for me), but the advice I've been given by others to "just grind" doesn't work for me. I half shut off my brain and haven't learned much afterwards.
I found the secret stallion!