I think there is a mechanistic way to physically train for art, similar to the way you train for athletics. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that your hand and eye coordination is an athletic process in general, and most of us would do well to conjugate our learning but reserve our max outputs for certain times and projects. However, none of that has to do with effort or trying harder. We simply work to reach our threshold, push past it a little bit, rinse and repeat. Beginners do this rapidly. Experienced artists looking to improve will have to be more mindful since it starts becoming more specific. I’ve always found anything beyond this really just overcomplicates the simplicity of art. And when that happens, you start taking steps backwards just like highly trained but thoroughly burnt out athletes.
Wow, I really did need this, what a perfect timing, I didn't draw almost anything for a week and I am so stressed out because of it. I always find excuses to do something else, like it's too late or I am tired or it's too early, I'm going to eat something even though I'm not hungry, watching a video, looking at social media, watching movies or series or daydreaming. Before drawing, I have a whole different mindset, and while I am drawing or I did draw today, my mindset changes into something completely else, I feel so good doing it and for the whole day my mood is just positive vibes, but it's really hard for me to actually take a pen/pencil and f'ing draw. And well of course Steven's videos are just the perfect mood changers to make me draw and convert my mindset into the positive one.
Uhm Steven... this absolutely just blew my mind. I ate up the whole thing. Jesus. This is all I needed to hear, today! Thank you so much for sharing these thoughts - even if they become abstract and pertain to life itself as well, you're absolutely hitting the CORE of what art and creativity truly is, and how many people approach it in a self-destructive way these days. Including myself. I needed to be reminded of this so much -- because you're right, my heart already knew it. THANK YOU!
16:57 “you don’t have to do a goddamn thing” god this gave me chills. Hearing this come from the lips of a “successful professional artist” means so much more than you can know. Like you said, Steven, I knew it already but putting it in those words makes it hit different.
When I go to play tennis my coach always forces us to push ourselves past our limits, now that I’m better learned in tennis I’ve realized if you want to have longevity you need to increase the amount of tennis you enjoy. A major thing in tennis is effortless power which Ironically comes from being more relaxed and flexible. I think that my best drawings came from a time when I was just in flow, working on my time, in a relaxed and flexible manner.
I also learned that when I was playin scuash, you don't have to put more force on the racket, but rather more quicknes on the overall arm movement if you want a sharp ball. I'm amazed time and time again how my friends always point out at sketches I did in "the zone" as more alive and dynamic, and it's because I move differently, my wrist lighter, "quicker" in a way.
That's what I've been wondering about for years. People always told me there's no such thing as art just bursting out of you or you feeling what's the next move is. "You can't study while having fun!" bullcrap. I learn the best if I'm having fun. They like my end result when I have fun drawing and draw how I like to draw but when they eventually ask "how do you do it?" they just crap all over my process and point to other artists like "you should do it like them! That's the right solution!" and I'm like they liked my stuff when they didn't know how I made it. How I make it is essentially like this I decide on what I want to draw for example a vase with flowers and then I relax don't think verbally and let my brain come up with the answers which come mostly in images or sensations. Those images and sensations do use construction and all the other art stuff I've learnt but I also love to figure out how to draw something. Sometimes I can feel taste or smell what I'm drawing. Sometimes I get the sensation of biting into what I'm drawing. Sometimes I hear the sounds the thing I'm drawing would make like scraping metal. But most people say to this that it doesn't exist and you need fundamentals (which I indeed use I just don't make an inner monologue about them and I don't stress about how so and so would do it). It's my drawing I do it how I want to. I'm trying to get out of this "If you don't feel bad while drawing you're not working hard enough, you can't have fun and you must adhere to other people's expectations in how you work." and I've recently came to a similar conclusion as yours. As much as I should be confident enough to value my own opinions on the matter it is helpful to have a pro reinforce them. I see way too much draw yourself to death while you're miserable advice around. I've decided to just cut out art advice videos in general for now I have to focus on my own solutions. The ones I have fun with. This one, I checked out because I suspected it might do with what I'm going through and it would probably be helpful. It was so thank you very much.
I feel you there. Edit: Some artist said once: You will get out more knowledge of one piece of art you did enyoy making, than dozens youre forced yourself to make, because everyone expectet it from you. And i can admit: Damn right he was! My forced work, all knowledge beside, allways looks like crap. The ones i did not even think about and led it just flow, are the ones i can at least be a little proud of and where i automaticaly think: ok. this point on another way next time :) Its the way our brains work actually: excesive learning in a short time : you know for the next week or so the answers and than your lost again. Take your time and have patience: Even after years, you can take advantage of your knowledge.
@@krisztinanagy8818 sadly, its a thing even the pros, who should know better, say over and over and over again: Work your ass of, or you get nowhere. And as much respect as i have for them: its sadly bullsh... It only burns Out newcomers, who think everything they are saying is set in stone and THAT actually leads them nowhere. Art is a burnout culture nowadays and i myself know many really good newcomers, WHO could do great, If they would not allways burn out there creative energy, because someone told em, they have to. To all the professionels: please stop this! Youre not helping the people which are idolizing you. You let them run into a wall :/
I’m not sure what was more memorizing listening to your words or watching your art unfold….this was a wonderful experience. I’ve hit a major art block, I’m watching these videos to get back on that art horse just like your digital painting ironically.
doesn't a lot of this over work/ work addiction attitude stem from studios and the entertainment industry? I know for myself I used to listen a lot of interviews and professionals talk about their experience and how they would work their butt of and ask for seconds as they would "love" the grind. This sort of attitude would rub off on me and I'd beat myself up because I'm not able to do the same.
Truth is truth my friend. We all expect so much from ourselves. I find my best works are done when i am enjoying myself. In the last few months i have become more prolific, creating more art and increasing my skill levels. But i could never do that before until i let go of that villain inside of me. Now i let him sit back and be awed at what i do and i am blowing my own mind with what i am accomplishing. The best i have felt and the best art i have done has been when i am relaxed and enjoying what im drawing. Funny thing is that since i learned to relax let go and enjoy ideas and images have been flooding my brain because i am not pressuring myself and choking myself with that villain and my self critic. Life is short and not always easy. Dont let your own self critic stand there with hands on hips like an angry stern teacher making snide remarks at you and putting you and your art work down. That person hasnt even got good advise because if they did you would be doing amazing work all the time. Get out of your own head and fears. That critic is not you it is a stumbling block on your road to success. Ignore it and try not to listen and learn on your own what is a good technique or bad. I am a self taught artist and im pretty sure that most of the masters were also. I dont know if there were real art schools around back then but i am pretty sure they didnt have degrees hanging on their walls. They did what they loved and let their hearts feel joy when they created. That was their drive. The love of the art. And yes they used it as a way to survive but they still loved what they did to be able to do it. Let go and love your life, and stop letting the critic steal your time and energy and ideas from you. ❤️
You're spot on about the fact that we don't actually have free will. Our motivation is highly curated by our environments and our natural temperaments and physical state of body and mind (all of which are hard to decode for our own use and purposes).
What I thought was a video about putting "effort" into improvement at art was actually a much needed life lecture on acceptance of self (even if we have no free will in the end), acceptance of reality, and the distance of the truth and existence of nirvana from everyone's mental grasp --- that is to say, it has never been very far out of reach. Thank you for this. I needed it.
Been running the idea of passionless perseverance in my head alot lately and been worrying if I've become a victim of it. This video didn't put a ease to that and may have agitated the idea even more but i'm glad to have heard this. Great art work and thanks for sharing!
Having the technical skills itself is a toiling task to perfect, but the work ethics are the factor that stimulates an artist's product. Productivity is stemmed from one's mental attitude and having the mindset to "work" kind of disappoints the idea of drawing as a passion. Please keep up the good work, your videos really are comforting to dreading artists.
Incredible video! I completely agree with the idea that "working hard" at art is a vast and vague conspiracy. I'm a fiction writer myself and picked up drawing as a hobby a month ago, because I lost the effortlessness I used to have in my writing. I absolutely suck at drawing and I have a lot of fun just failing every day. And slowly I've noticed that my joy at writing is returning, and the practice of drawing has a lot to do with that. It just reminded me how to detach from the outcome and just enjoy the process. I'm bingeing your channel. So much good stuff...
Its a fascinating thing how artists can self abuse themselves the worst and be caught in a situation that feels like stockholm syndrome to yourself. I know very well that as I essentially did this to myself for almost 9 years with art. It gave me such a long and love and hate relationship with art and what felt like extreme sacrifices to my personal life and wellbeing for what I hoped was a reward to the end. I didn't get that reward. So I slipped into not doing art as everything I did for those years was to serve a 'purpose' of being a useful asset to somebody and after trying for so many years it didn't amount to anything I just burned out. It's crazy how it quite easy to fall into this mindset, especially so when there's no guidance whatsoever. When we see artist have 'fun' or do things effortlessly we automatically treat it as 'talent' or better yet they're working 'harder' that we are. It as at this point I feel the most important thing is to understand what you want. What the actual person who sums up who are right now desire to make in art. Anyways i've gone a bit of a rant here, thank you Steven for bringing this topic up. Its something that always was on my mind since recently retreading the path of self discovery for art.
i realized this lately. how studio work and listening to others too much has clouded my personal flow and process. the time i removed the voices of my peers inside my head, i went back to being relaxed in production. no doubt, no hesitation, everything came out natural. it was peer pressure that kept me from being my self. Thank you again sir, for putting these thoughts into words!
This hit me pretty hard a few days ago: Outside factors can very easily influence blockages to the relaxed state needed to create. That's why I am actively working to find a job that will give me the necessary breathing room financially, and time-wise to fully chase and indulge my creative pursuits.
I've been thinking a lot about the sort of thing you talk about in this video. Both not having free will, and whether or not I'm working hard enough at improving the fundamentals of my art. I practice a little bit every day, but it's not perfect practice. I'm not studying as much as I think I should in order to get better. I've been drawing for about 5 months now, I've yet to really delve deep into studying shading, value, painting, etc etc.. Studying all the complex things that art requires makes my head spin and makes me feel like it's hopeless to even try, after all I'm picking up art late in life at 30. But my goals with art are just to improve, and to eventually make pieces that I enjoy the look of. Maybe one day I'll start seriously studying and putting more effort in. But I think that's mostly out of my control. 90% of the time I don't feel like drawing. But I practice and improve for that 10% of the time that I do feel really inspired to make art. If it so happens that I start taking it more seriously and start studying more, then it will manifest as a necessity of reality. If it doesn't, then that is not what was destined to happen. All I know is that I want to draw. I can't control the outcome of that work, all I can do is do what my will is to do. And my will is to one day create art that I enjoy creating.
Thanx man. It's like message from universe for me) I noticed when I want to create something "cool" and big and industry related I feel already exhausted even before started to paint it. But without thinking about how good it must be I can draw something. The idea is very related to ideas of Vadim Zeland
Man, i can get through this, in the deep I knew there was a better way to do the thing that i actually enjoy, not being frustated every time that i put the pencil in the paper, i know this is a constant trip and my way I work is unique I'm starting to accept it.thank you for drawing with me 2day
People do have free will. Right now you can choose to do absolutely anything. The question is “Am I doing the right thing?”. Very interesting video, I enjoyed listening to your thoughts.
Even though we have the free will to believe we don't have free will, I respect your CHOICE to not believe certain aspects of reality. I hope people respect my choice, due to the fact I have free will, to stop doing the easy thing and running away from art and turn into it, because even though it's hard and without free will we would do the easy, sure thing, I have finally turned it into a passion and wish I hadn't been afraid to for so long
*Veers across 5 lanes of traffic* - Totally in your lane!!! LOL j/k Awesome talk, it's always a pleasure to hear you when I paint. Thanks for getting my brain thinking :)
@@edwardteach1992 Exactly what I thought, this painting might by the only painting perfectly depicting the the looks and color of a shard plate and a shard blade.
I don't know if the idia of "work harder" is actually usefull. I think about working smarter, or better. You can allways put more hours, more time, but that's not working harder, just working more. As well, you can put more atention, more intention on not distracting yourself. That's working more focused, not harder. Working "hard" is a really loose concept. You could run pumping more force into each step, that wouldn't be running harder, but faster. If you evaluate your effort on how much time you can run, it doesn't matter the speed but the resistance. So i think that if you want to work harder, you first need to clarify what "harder" means. If harder means that you learn faster you could allways search for strategies to maximize the learning, if it means producing more in less time, on can search for ways to doit. so..can someone make art "harder"? I think yes, but first clarify what harder is, then you can probably find ways to accomplish what you seek.
A lot is brought up in this video and I enjoyed many of your points. Honestly, I didn't make it all the way through; your cadence has a 'spoken word' type quality that just isn't for me. But anyway, you seem to deny the benefits of speed here. Working harder may not be advantageous but working faster in many disciplines is a huge deal. I'm a comic book artist and generally speed is one of the only factors that makes or breaks doing the job professionally. Just something to consider.
To be honest Steve, I unfortunately think that this is something consistent with me for a long time already. I get anxious and agressive when I’m not scribbling, drawing on paper. Then I get horrified that I have not spent enough time doing so. It’s like I have this anxiety obsessive compulsion that trips me up every time in the pit of exhaustion and rage. Somehow both strongest in the same time. But, I do hit these lights which illuminate my working in the dark. It seems to make all so clear I feel like a creature of epic proportions swimming in this giant crystal lake bathed in light. I call them art ecstasies, when it feels so significant and sacred what is happening to you, what you are happening. Ecstasy in immersion.
I came à long way. And god I’m tired. But I think I finally realised something important about time: I killed that god, Chronos, who devours all new. Life triumphs the sacred, and I can evolve as wildly and freely as I wish. I also just draw better now, so there is less friction involved.
Drawing like a child , absulately zero effort, just happilly sitting there, flowing with what u doing and do,ng good pieces - bad pieces. I forgot You remembered me this is why I left physics engineering abd chosen Art. I wanted to just create.
I always remember Zeno's Paradox--the one about how nothing moves. How you can infinitely keep dividing a distance in half. A mile becomes a 1/2 mile; then a 1/4 mile, 1/8th, 1/16th, etc, etc, all the way to the .0000000000000000000000000000000001th mile that still has many infinite zeroes left to divide itself into. And how according to that logic, if you got on a plane and headed to France, you shouldn't ever get there--infinitely stands in the way. But you most definitely do arrive. So it seems like just because something makes sense logically, doesn't mean it makes sense out in the world. And so I think logic and reason can really help explain things and can help us create very helpful tools. But it doesn't really capture all of the world's complexity. And that's where the free will thing sort of falls for me. Logically, I can see how we most certainly don't have "free will." But Zeno's paradox also makes sense to me logically. As for the idea that "I'm already home"--it's very beautiful and lovely. But I have to sort of "reject God's ticket" like Ivan Karamazov did. And for the same reason too. If we are not free, then existence seems like some hellish thing that conjures up certain beings and creatures only to make them suffer greatly. I can't ever be at peace in a world that causes innocent people that much pain. Or it makes some innocent soul grow up in a cruel environment they didn't choose and turns them into someone harsh and even crazy. And so I always feel great sympathy with people who feel alienated by the world, who truly never feel "home" anywhere. I also really resonate with the last stanza of the Robert Frost poem, "Reluctance." Ah, when to the heart of man Was it ever less than a treason To go with the drift of things, To yield with a grace to reason, And bow and accept the end Of a love or a season? But I really love the video. I am a very controlling person who has an impossible time accepting things. And sometimes--just like the poem above--I feel it is "treason" to just gladly or sadly accept certain things. So I really struggle listening to Taoist thoughts and Zen teachings. But they are always so thought-provoking and arresting to me. Anyway, there's a lot to think about. This is mostly so I can express what I'm feeling and I don't forget it because it's a jumble of unexpressed emotion. Thank you for your great and quite moving thoughts.
I personally feel like we have free will, but not exacly in things most people think we have. Hmm i think its like - we are shaped by world around but also we decide what parts of the world will shape us? And we have the free will of change i think - i feel like for person to change they need more to influence of others or need and subconcius decisions of mind, true change needs that small part of us to say - i choose to change in that way ... what do you think?
@@piotrlatuszek171 Thank you for your response. I have often thought about "free will" like you do too--that I can influence what influences me. I can choose to put myself in certain environments over others. I can water certain "seeds" (alcoholism) that can then grow into huge, untamable plants. But the thing is, I think there's a certain limit to the mind that's beyond argument. Despite all of the treatises and thousands of years of conversations, I can move my arm however I'd like. That's the common sense "bedrock" that no argument will take away from me. And even my thoughts are not completely beyond my control. People like Sam Harris say I am helpless to think what I want. He says something like, "I want you to think of a movie from the 90's." And the mind will dig and come up with a movie. And I can't help that process. I can't help that my mind thinks of "Pulp Fiction." Ok. But let me influence it more. Let me think of technology and spaceships and something more gadget-y. Now I am thinking of "Twelve Monkeys." Now I am thinking of Bruce Willis. Now I am thinking of Die Hard. Can I ease my mind into thinking of something more sci-fi? Bruce Willis was a big action star, so was Will Smith. Now I am thinking of Independence Day. See? I can exert willpower over how that stream of consciousness moves. Finally, whenever I read about the lives of Taoist and Zen monks, I am filled with a sad feeling of resignation. Like an acceptance of sad things. But when I read the biography of someone truly great like Beethoven, my spirit sours. And when I listen to his music and it is filled with great anger and power and triumph, and I know he is composing this DEAF, and I know that anyone else would interpret it as a sign from God that he is NOT SUPPOSED TO BE A COMPOSER ANYMORE, but he still does it--he overcomes all of that and becomes not only a GREAT composer, but perhaps the greatest composer, and just greatest artist period--it fills me with so much awe and strength and urge to fight and overcome. I don't get that from treatises on meditation and acceptance and the lack of having freedom. It is undeniable that the human spirit recoils under shackles. Whatever argument is out there against free will, there is a returning feeling that can never be argued away.
@@anzolomyer4584 I think the whole point of meditation is to face reality. With slow enough progress the oncoming emotions can be met, while treating yourself with acceptance and compassion, love you could say. Whether or not we want to face reality, reality doesn't care. But I see it as a better option than letting my mind do its tricks, deluding me of what is real and what's just my mind's creation. Letting my mind shield me from every negative emotion is not what life should be about. Not having to deal with an additional layer of bullcrap from my mind also frees me to see what really matters to me in life. What Beethoven's music, or any touching art to that matter, probably taps to is this deep place that is ordinarily hard to reach because our minds, and all its layers, are in action. Meditation shuts off the mind for a while.
@@matsu820 Thank you for your response. I was going to write this whole big long thing, but it was just big and sad and long and unnecessary. Thank you for your thoughts. Whenever someone gives you a neat idea, it's a real gift, I think. The mind is a dog, and some ideas are big bones that are fun to chew on for hours and days. I will say this, though: Imagine someone pointing at the infinity that separates 3 and 4. And they say, "That is the largest infinity." And someone else says, "No. The distance infinite distance between 5 and 10 is larger." Meanwhile, the cicada buzz outside and the sun shines and life continues on with no trace of infinity anywhere. I think people can argue endlessly about mental concepts such as "free will" and "reality." But I think the world is much, much greater and more complex than anything anyone can really argue about. And some philosopher will come along and say that everything is an illusion. Meanwhile, 2,000 years later, the illusion continues and people grow up through the ages and have great joys and terrible sorrows, and feel all sorts of seemingly non-illusory things. Some philosopher comes along and says, "You're not actually in control of your legs. There is no 'you' and you have no 'will'." The person stares at them blankly, walks away, and out pops more children, and the centuries continue. Some other philosopher comes along and says, "The will is very real. And it loves those who are untamable lions and who can't help but be themselves in every situation, and so everywhere they go, they exert their unfettered power and might, and they are not sorry if they step on any ant, because they are always looking up and ahead with their full attention." Meanwhile, some kind charity worker does much more good for the world than some mighty and heady person stomping around, convincing themselves they have a star inside of them the shape of a heart. I think how you live your life is your greatest argument. For instance--you have 3 children and are planning to have 4? You must not think that "existence" is some great "burden" or other pessimistic and heady thing. In any case, I have replaced one long thing with another long thing. Before I erase all of this and type out yet another long thing, I will just stop here lol. It is very hard to argue against argumentation if you don't actually buy into argumentation.
@@anzolomyer4584 That's an eloquent write-up! What I understood from it is that you find that living on this earth is indescribable in the way that would warrant the use of the term "reality". That what I call reality, or someone else calls reality, is different and ultimately a consensus can't be reached, thus we can't call any one thing "reality". That's what I gathered from your writing. But I, in a way, disagree here. What I mean by reality is not some grand unified theory of physics, but simply what is left after we remove our own erroneous judgements from the situation. For example, insecure people go and compensate for their insecurity by doing things that their mind comes up to make them feel better, most often without their awareness of what's driving their behaviour. It is totally understandable, it's just human, but it is also problematic. This is where the mind just runs rampant and comes up with whatever that makes the person feel better, effectively deluding their world view in the process. It also doesn't lead to a better place in the end, cycle just repeats. Instead we should work on our insecurities, or whatever else it is that causes us turmoil or suffering. This is what I would call facing reality, confronting your beliefs and feelings without resorting to altering your worldview to fit your inner troubles.
I need to stop being lazy : / the thing is that I also like doing nothing as much as I like drawing if it makes sense…. I just need to push myself more if I really want to get good and find motivation somewhere 😩
I think there is a mechanistic way to physically train for art, similar to the way you train for athletics. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that your hand and eye coordination is an athletic process in general, and most of us would do well to conjugate our learning but reserve our max outputs for certain times and projects. However, none of that has to do with effort or trying harder. We simply work to reach our threshold, push past it a little bit, rinse and repeat. Beginners do this rapidly. Experienced artists looking to improve will have to be more mindful since it starts becoming more specific. I’ve always found anything beyond this really just overcomplicates the simplicity of art. And when that happens, you start taking steps backwards just like highly trained but thoroughly burnt out athletes.
@G r a y S a u r u s Art used to be a part of the Olympics tho
words like arrows hit my psyche right in the heart and made me cry.. again. thanks steven
Wow, I really did need this, what a perfect timing, I didn't draw almost anything for a week and I am so stressed out because of it. I always find excuses to do something else, like it's too late or I am tired or it's too early, I'm going to eat something even though I'm not hungry, watching a video, looking at social media, watching movies or series or daydreaming.
Before drawing, I have a whole different mindset, and while I am drawing or I did draw today, my mindset changes into something completely else, I feel so good doing it and for the whole day my mood is just positive vibes, but it's really hard for me to actually take a pen/pencil and f'ing draw.
And well of course Steven's videos are just the perfect mood changers to make me draw and convert my mindset into the positive one.
A comment from 2 days ago on a video that is live for 8 seconds. Are you a time traveler?
@@anessalwan been asking the same thing lmao
@@anessalwan patreon or a member
@@jmurillo7922 Neither, I am indeed a time traveler.
Uhm Steven... this absolutely just blew my mind. I ate up the whole thing. Jesus. This is all I needed to hear, today! Thank you so much for sharing these thoughts - even if they become abstract and pertain to life itself as well, you're absolutely hitting the CORE of what art and creativity truly is, and how many people approach it in a self-destructive way these days. Including myself. I needed to be reminded of this so much -- because you're right, my heart already knew it. THANK YOU!
Ps. That drawing is absolutely gorgeous, I love it xD
*Just RELAX* when I do this everyone thinks I am lazy :D I am just trying not to burn my brain.
Thank You again for the video.
16:57 “you don’t have to do a goddamn thing” god this gave me chills. Hearing this come from the lips of a “successful professional artist” means so much more than you can know. Like you said, Steven, I knew it already but putting it in those words makes it hit different.
When I go to play tennis my coach always forces us to push ourselves past our limits, now that I’m better learned in tennis I’ve realized if you want to have longevity you need to increase the amount of tennis you enjoy. A major thing in tennis is effortless power which Ironically comes from being more relaxed and flexible. I think that my best drawings came from a time when I was just in flow, working on my time, in a relaxed and flexible manner.
I also learned that when I was playin scuash, you don't have to put more force on the racket, but rather more quicknes on the overall arm movement if you want a sharp ball. I'm amazed time and time again how my friends always point out at sketches I did in "the zone" as more alive and dynamic, and it's because I move differently, my wrist lighter, "quicker" in a way.
Artistic process is 80% a mystery. Cool video, very interesting
That's what I've been wondering about for years. People always told me there's no such thing as art just bursting out of you or you feeling what's the next move is. "You can't study while having fun!" bullcrap. I learn the best if I'm having fun. They like my end result when I have fun drawing and draw how I like to draw but when they eventually ask "how do you do it?" they just crap all over my process and point to other artists like "you should do it like them! That's the right solution!" and I'm like they liked my stuff when they didn't know how I made it. How I make it is essentially like this I decide on what I want to draw for example a vase with flowers and then I relax don't think verbally and let my brain come up with the answers which come mostly in images or sensations. Those images and sensations do use construction and all the other art stuff I've learnt but I also love to figure out how to draw something. Sometimes I can feel taste or smell what I'm drawing. Sometimes I get the sensation of biting into what I'm drawing. Sometimes I hear the sounds the thing I'm drawing would make like scraping metal. But most people say to this that it doesn't exist and you need fundamentals (which I indeed use I just don't make an inner monologue about them and I don't stress about how so and so would do it). It's my drawing I do it how I want to. I'm trying to get out of this "If you don't feel bad while drawing you're not working hard enough, you can't have fun and you must adhere to other people's expectations in how you work." and I've recently came to a similar conclusion as yours. As much as I should be confident enough to value my own opinions on the matter it is helpful to have a pro reinforce them. I see way too much draw yourself to death while you're miserable advice around. I've decided to just cut out art advice videos in general for now I have to focus on my own solutions. The ones I have fun with. This one, I checked out because I suspected it might do with what I'm going through and it would probably be helpful. It was so thank you very much.
I feel you there.
Edit: Some artist said once: You will get out more knowledge of one piece of art you did enyoy making, than dozens youre forced yourself to make, because everyone expectet it from you.
And i can admit: Damn right he was! My forced work, all knowledge beside, allways looks like crap. The ones i did not even think about and led it just flow, are the ones i can at least be a little proud of and where i automaticaly think: ok. this point on another way next time :)
Its the way our brains work actually: excesive learning in a short time : you know for the next week or so the answers and than your lost again.
Take your time and have patience: Even after years, you can take advantage of your knowledge.
@@chaoswolf7976 I wish more people would realise this. It'd make learning anything really so much more efficient and well fun...
@@krisztinanagy8818 sadly, its a thing even the pros, who should know better, say over and over and over again: Work your ass of, or you get nowhere. And as much respect as i have for them: its sadly bullsh... It only burns Out newcomers, who think everything they are saying is set in stone and THAT actually leads them nowhere.
Art is a burnout culture nowadays and i myself know many really good newcomers, WHO could do great, If they would not allways burn out there creative energy, because someone told em, they have to.
To all the professionels: please stop this! Youre not helping the people which are idolizing you. You let them run into a wall :/
@@chaoswolf7976 thankfully we have this video to spread the word.
Ugh! Sounds tasty.
I'm feeling both attacked and enlightened uh
feels weird
i feel so much better after literally changing my sleeping schedule 1 hour earlier, should've seen that sooner, damn
I’m not sure what was more memorizing listening to your words or watching your art unfold….this was a wonderful experience. I’ve hit a major art block, I’m watching these videos to get back on that art horse just like your digital painting ironically.
doesn't a lot of this over work/ work addiction attitude stem from studios and the entertainment industry? I know for myself I used to listen a lot of interviews and professionals talk about their experience and how they would work their butt of and ask for seconds as they would "love" the grind. This sort of attitude would rub off on me and I'd beat myself up because I'm not able to do the same.
Yes
this is the best channel on youtube
I just really love the way you talk and the words you choose.
Truth is truth my friend. We all expect so much from ourselves. I find my best works are done when i am enjoying myself. In the last few months i have become more prolific, creating more art and increasing my skill levels. But i could never do that before until i let go of that villain inside of me. Now i let him sit back and be awed at what i do and i am blowing my own mind with what i am accomplishing. The best i have felt and the best art i have done has been when i am relaxed and enjoying what im drawing. Funny thing is that since i learned to relax let go and enjoy ideas and images have been flooding my brain because i am not pressuring myself and choking myself with that villain and my self critic.
Life is short and not always easy. Dont let your own self critic stand there with hands on hips like an angry stern teacher making snide remarks at you and putting you and your art work down.
That person hasnt even got good advise because if they did you would be doing amazing work all the time. Get out of your own head and fears. That critic is not you it is a stumbling block on your road to success. Ignore it and try not to listen and learn on your own what is a good technique or bad.
I am a self taught artist and im pretty sure that most of the masters were also. I dont know if there were real art schools around back then but i am pretty sure they didnt have degrees hanging on their walls. They did what they loved and let their hearts feel joy when they created. That was their drive. The love of the art. And yes they used it as a way to survive but they still loved what they did to be able to do it.
Let go and love your life, and stop letting the critic steal your time and energy and ideas from you. ❤️
You're spot on about the fact that we don't actually have free will. Our motivation is highly curated by our environments and our natural temperaments and physical state of body and mind (all of which are hard to decode for our own use and purposes).
What I thought was a video about putting "effort" into improvement at art was actually a much needed life lecture on acceptance of self (even if we have no free will in the end), acceptance of reality, and the distance of the truth and existence of nirvana from everyone's mental grasp --- that is to say, it has never been very far out of reach.
Thank you for this. I needed it.
Been running the idea of passionless perseverance in my head alot lately and been worrying if I've become a victim of it. This video didn't put a ease to that and may have agitated the idea even more but i'm glad to have heard this. Great art work and thanks for sharing!
Having the technical skills itself is a toiling task to perfect, but the work ethics are the factor that stimulates an artist's product. Productivity is stemmed from one's mental attitude and having the mindset to "work" kind of disappoints the idea of drawing as a passion. Please keep up the good work, your videos really are comforting to dreading artists.
I wasnt convinced until you called an arrogant rat at 18:09. After that i hid in my whole eating cheese and contemplating.
Thank you for always getting me back in the flow
Your storytelling and humour is… incredible. ❤️
Incredible video! I completely agree with the idea that "working hard" at art is a vast and vague conspiracy. I'm a fiction writer myself and picked up drawing as a hobby a month ago, because I lost the effortlessness I used to have in my writing. I absolutely suck at drawing and I have a lot of fun just failing every day. And slowly I've noticed that my joy at writing is returning, and the practice of drawing has a lot to do with that. It just reminded me how to detach from the outcome and just enjoy the process. I'm bingeing your channel. So much good stuff...
"You're already home" hit way too hard. Thank you for making these :)
Thanks!
Its a fascinating thing how artists can self abuse themselves the worst and be caught in a situation that feels like stockholm syndrome to yourself. I know very well that as I essentially did this to myself for almost 9 years with art. It gave me such a long and love and hate relationship with art and what felt like extreme sacrifices to my personal life and wellbeing for what I hoped was a reward to the end.
I didn't get that reward. So I slipped into not doing art as everything I did for those years was to serve a 'purpose' of being a useful asset to somebody and after trying for so many years it didn't amount to anything I just burned out.
It's crazy how it quite easy to fall into this mindset, especially so when there's no guidance whatsoever. When we see artist have 'fun' or do things effortlessly we automatically treat it as 'talent' or better yet they're working 'harder' that we are.
It as at this point I feel the most important thing is to understand what you want. What the actual person who sums up who are right now desire to make in art.
Anyways i've gone a bit of a rant here, thank you Steven for bringing this topic up. Its something that always was on my mind since recently retreading the path of self discovery for art.
Thank you for thoughts, very interesting.
i realized this lately. how studio work and listening to others too much has clouded my personal flow and process.
the time i removed the voices of my peers inside my head, i went back to being relaxed in production. no doubt, no hesitation, everything came out natural.
it was peer pressure that kept me from being my self. Thank you again sir, for putting these thoughts into words!
This man definitely knows Watts. Love love love to hear this.
I love the painting!
Does anyone else giggle like a madman when they listen to these talks? :D
yes
😭 You speak the thoughts I think of but not able to put into words. Thanks 💙
I needed to hear this, thank you!
This hit me pretty hard a few days ago: Outside factors can very easily influence blockages to the relaxed state needed to create.
That's why I am actively working to find a job that will give me the necessary breathing room financially, and time-wise to fully chase and indulge my creative pursuits.
I needed this! Thank you so much!
Thank you for this man!
Thank you for your wise words funny art man.
I needed this talk today, thank you. Beautiful work as always too.
I love this artist and you
Really needed to hear this. Thank you so much.
I've been thinking a lot about the sort of thing you talk about in this video. Both not having free will, and whether or not I'm working hard enough at improving the fundamentals of my art. I practice a little bit every day, but it's not perfect practice. I'm not studying as much as I think I should in order to get better. I've been drawing for about 5 months now, I've yet to really delve deep into studying shading, value, painting, etc etc.. Studying all the complex things that art requires makes my head spin and makes me feel like it's hopeless to even try, after all I'm picking up art late in life at 30. But my goals with art are just to improve, and to eventually make pieces that I enjoy the look of.
Maybe one day I'll start seriously studying and putting more effort in. But I think that's mostly out of my control. 90% of the time I don't feel like drawing. But I practice and improve for that 10% of the time that I do feel really inspired to make art. If it so happens that I start taking it more seriously and start studying more, then it will manifest as a necessity of reality. If it doesn't, then that is not what was destined to happen. All I know is that I want to draw. I can't control the outcome of that work, all I can do is do what my will is to do. And my will is to one day create art that I enjoy creating.
Thanx man. It's like message from universe for me) I noticed when I want to create something "cool" and big and industry related I feel already exhausted even before started to paint it. But without thinking about how good it must be I can draw something. The idea is very related to ideas of Vadim Zeland
You speak like the guiding quiet voice in the mind ! 😇 thank you! And very Taoist philosophically 💙💙
I feel like this video is just for me and hits me hard to the heart,I love you man!
i have never heard anyone whit a similar idea so clearly maaan thank u sir!!! i have a lot of thinking to do oh boy
Man, i can get through this, in the deep I knew there was a better way to do the thing that i actually enjoy, not being frustated every time that i put the pencil in the paper, i know this is a constant trip and my way I work is unique
I'm starting to accept it.thank you for drawing with me 2day
I’m so glad the voice in my head is back
was expected motivation and got an existential crisis on the side
Amazing thanks for sharing! Wonderful art! Stay safe! 👍👍👍
People do have free will. Right now you can choose to do absolutely anything. The question is “Am I doing the right thing?”.
Very interesting video, I enjoyed listening to your thoughts.
Even though we have the free will to believe we don't have free will, I respect your CHOICE to not believe certain aspects of reality. I hope people respect my choice, due to the fact I have free will, to stop doing the easy thing and running away from art and turn into it, because even though it's hard and without free will we would do the easy, sure thing, I have finally turned it into a passion and wish I hadn't been afraid to for so long
*Veers across 5 lanes of traffic* - Totally in your lane!!! LOL j/k Awesome talk, it's always a pleasure to hear you when I paint. Thanks for getting my brain thinking :)
great video as always & amazing work right here would love to see more in this style
This painting looks like it's been inspired by Stormlight Archive series.
A Shardbearer and a Rhyshadium isn't it?
@@edwardteach1992 Exactly what I thought, this painting might by the only painting perfectly depicting the the looks and color of a shard plate and a shard blade.
Came out the day I'm feeling burned out. I feel like I'm not improving fast enough. Thanks man, I really need this.
Thanks coach. 😀
I don't know if the idia of "work harder" is actually usefull. I think about working smarter, or better. You can allways put more hours, more time, but that's not working harder, just working more. As well, you can put more atention, more intention on not distracting yourself. That's working more focused, not harder. Working "hard" is a really loose concept. You could run pumping more force into each step, that wouldn't be running harder, but faster.
If you evaluate your effort on how much time you can run, it doesn't matter the speed but the resistance. So i think that if you want to work harder, you first need to clarify what "harder" means. If harder means that you learn faster you could allways search for strategies to maximize the learning, if it means producing more in less time, on can search for ways to doit.
so..can someone make art "harder"?
I think yes, but first clarify what harder is, then you can probably find ways to accomplish what you seek.
Thanks for this video
Thank you Steven
I love your work
I love you very much Steven
Thank you so much!
A lot is brought up in this video and I enjoyed many of your points. Honestly, I didn't make it all the way through; your cadence has a 'spoken word' type quality that just isn't for me. But anyway, you seem to deny the benefits of speed here. Working harder may not be advantageous but working faster in many disciplines is a huge deal. I'm a comic book artist and generally speed is one of the only factors that makes or breaks doing the job professionally. Just something to consider.
I like what you've said. Please do it in podcast too, i think you will gain a lot of listener too.
change nothing. got it.
thanks man
I visit this video every so often to hear Steven call me an arrogant rat
damn I just found the most interesting channel on youtube
Steven, I love you.
thank you for this video
Canibus : "Since it became a lucrative profession, there's a misconception that a movement in any direction is progression."
1 minute in and I love the discussion already. I loved Sam Harris Book on the ideas.
Hi steven! Your artworks are astonishing man. Are you also a traditional painter?
Sometimes! Most of my traditional time is spent drawing with pencil. When I paint it’s usually watercolors or casein.
i think this video might’ve broke me in a good way. thank u lmaooo
Thank you
Thank YOU for existing my friend
This is what i imagine dalinar kholin from the stormlight series looks like riding his ryshadium horse to battle
Really appreciate this video. Guilty of everything you talked about and it just sounds silly when you put it the you did.
Hi, love your videos and drawings. I was just wondering if it’s possible to join the online drawing workshops?
holy shit thank you
Yes
To be honest Steve, I unfortunately think that this is something consistent with me for a long time already. I get anxious and agressive when I’m not scribbling, drawing on paper. Then I get horrified that I have not spent enough time doing so. It’s like I have this anxiety obsessive compulsion that trips me up every time in the pit of exhaustion and rage. Somehow both strongest in the same time. But, I do hit these lights which illuminate my working in the dark. It seems to make all so clear I feel like a creature of epic proportions swimming in this giant crystal lake bathed in light. I call them art ecstasies, when it feels so significant and sacred what is happening to you, what you are happening. Ecstasy in immersion.
I came à long way. And god I’m tired. But I think I finally realised something important about time: I killed that god, Chronos, who devours all new. Life triumphs the sacred, and I can evolve as wildly and freely as I wish. I also just draw better now, so there is less friction involved.
My biggest takeaway was to make sure I’m having fun
who or what is "sergeant"? 4:58 and what is "virtuosic"?
haha that one with a fruit was good:)
my favourite
Let's gooooo
*falls into into the abyss that is free will* 😂😂😂 “help”
Drawing like a child , absulately zero effort, just happilly sitting there, flowing with what u doing and do,ng good pieces - bad pieces. I forgot You remembered me this is why I left physics engineering abd chosen Art. I wanted to just create.
I tried studying anatomy every day without sketching anything freely , burns you out . That can count , I guess ?
yeah that counts, ive been there
thanks for saving me
Even though we don’t have free will, we think we do and so the prisons remained locked:)
If only we had the free will to change or make choices XD
I always remember Zeno's Paradox--the one about how nothing moves. How you can infinitely keep dividing a distance in half. A mile becomes a 1/2 mile; then a 1/4 mile, 1/8th, 1/16th, etc, etc, all the way to the .0000000000000000000000000000000001th mile that still has many infinite zeroes left to divide itself into. And how according to that logic, if you got on a plane and headed to France, you shouldn't ever get there--infinitely stands in the way. But you most definitely do arrive. So it seems like just because something makes sense logically, doesn't mean it makes sense out in the world.
And so I think logic and reason can really help explain things and can help us create very helpful tools. But it doesn't really capture all of the world's complexity. And that's where the free will thing sort of falls for me. Logically, I can see how we most certainly don't have "free will." But Zeno's paradox also makes sense to me logically.
As for the idea that "I'm already home"--it's very beautiful and lovely. But I have to sort of "reject God's ticket" like Ivan Karamazov did. And for the same reason too. If we are not free, then existence seems like some hellish thing that conjures up certain beings and creatures only to make them suffer greatly. I can't ever be at peace in a world that causes innocent people that much pain. Or it makes some innocent soul grow up in a cruel environment they didn't choose and turns them into someone harsh and even crazy.
And so I always feel great sympathy with people who feel alienated by the world, who truly never feel "home" anywhere.
I also really resonate with the last stanza of the Robert Frost poem, "Reluctance."
Ah, when to the heart of man
Was it ever less than a treason
To go with the drift of things,
To yield with a grace to reason,
And bow and accept the end
Of a love or a season?
But I really love the video. I am a very controlling person who has an impossible time accepting things. And sometimes--just like the poem above--I feel it is "treason" to just gladly or sadly accept certain things.
So I really struggle listening to Taoist thoughts and Zen teachings. But they are always so thought-provoking and arresting to me.
Anyway, there's a lot to think about. This is mostly so I can express what I'm feeling and I don't forget it because it's a jumble of unexpressed emotion. Thank you for your great and quite moving thoughts.
I personally feel like we have free will, but not exacly in things most people think we have. Hmm i think its like - we are shaped by world around but also we decide what parts of the world will shape us? And we have the free will of change i think - i feel like for person to change they need more to influence of others or need and subconcius decisions of mind, true change needs that small part of us to say - i choose to change in that way ... what do you think?
@@piotrlatuszek171 Thank you for your response. I have often thought about "free will" like you do too--that I can influence what influences me. I can choose to put myself in certain environments over others. I can water certain "seeds" (alcoholism) that can then grow into huge, untamable plants. But the thing is, I think there's a certain limit to the mind that's beyond argument. Despite all of the treatises and thousands of years of conversations, I can move my arm however I'd like. That's the common sense "bedrock" that no argument will take away from me. And even my thoughts are not completely beyond my control. People like Sam Harris say I am helpless to think what I want. He says something like, "I want you to think of a movie from the 90's." And the mind will dig and come up with a movie. And I can't help that process. I can't help that my mind thinks of "Pulp Fiction." Ok. But let me influence it more. Let me think of technology and spaceships and something more gadget-y. Now I am thinking of "Twelve Monkeys." Now I am thinking of Bruce Willis. Now I am thinking of Die Hard. Can I ease my mind into thinking of something more sci-fi? Bruce Willis was a big action star, so was Will Smith. Now I am thinking of Independence Day. See? I can exert willpower over how that stream of consciousness moves. Finally, whenever I read about the lives of Taoist and Zen monks, I am filled with a sad feeling of resignation. Like an acceptance of sad things. But when I read the biography of someone truly great like Beethoven, my spirit sours. And when I listen to his music and it is filled with great anger and power and triumph, and I know he is composing this DEAF, and I know that anyone else would interpret it as a sign from God that he is NOT SUPPOSED TO BE A COMPOSER ANYMORE, but he still does it--he overcomes all of that and becomes not only a GREAT composer, but perhaps the greatest composer, and just greatest artist period--it fills me with so much awe and strength and urge to fight and overcome. I don't get that from treatises on meditation and acceptance and the lack of having freedom. It is undeniable that the human spirit recoils under shackles. Whatever argument is out there against free will, there is a returning feeling that can never be argued away.
@@anzolomyer4584 I think the whole point of meditation is to face reality. With slow enough progress the oncoming emotions can be met, while treating yourself with acceptance and compassion, love you could say. Whether or not we want to face reality, reality doesn't care. But I see it as a better option than letting my mind do its tricks, deluding me of what is real and what's just my mind's creation. Letting my mind shield me from every negative emotion is not what life should be about. Not having to deal with an additional layer of bullcrap from my mind also frees me to see what really matters to me in life.
What Beethoven's music, or any touching art to that matter, probably taps to is this deep place that is ordinarily hard to reach because our minds, and all its layers, are in action. Meditation shuts off the mind for a while.
@@matsu820 Thank you for your response.
I was going to write this whole big long thing, but it was just big and sad and long and unnecessary.
Thank you for your thoughts. Whenever someone gives you a neat idea, it's a real gift, I think. The mind is a dog, and some ideas are big bones that are fun to chew on for hours and days.
I will say this, though:
Imagine someone pointing at the infinity that separates 3 and 4. And they say, "That is the largest infinity." And someone else says, "No. The distance infinite distance between 5 and 10 is larger."
Meanwhile, the cicada buzz outside and the sun shines and life continues on with no trace of infinity anywhere.
I think people can argue endlessly about mental concepts such as "free will" and "reality." But I think the world is much, much greater and more complex than anything anyone can really argue about.
And some philosopher will come along and say that everything is an illusion. Meanwhile, 2,000 years later, the illusion continues and people grow up through the ages and have great joys and terrible sorrows, and feel all sorts of seemingly non-illusory things. Some philosopher comes along and says, "You're not actually in control of your legs. There is no 'you' and you have no 'will'." The person stares at them blankly, walks away, and out pops more children, and the centuries continue.
Some other philosopher comes along and says, "The will is very real. And it loves those who are untamable lions and who can't help but be themselves in every situation, and so everywhere they go, they exert their unfettered power and might, and they are not sorry if they step on any ant, because they are always looking up and ahead with their full attention." Meanwhile, some kind charity worker does much more good for the world than some mighty and heady person stomping around, convincing themselves they have a star inside of them the shape of a heart.
I think how you live your life is your greatest argument. For instance--you have 3 children and are planning to have 4? You must not think that "existence" is some great "burden" or other pessimistic and heady thing.
In any case, I have replaced one long thing with another long thing.
Before I erase all of this and type out yet another long thing, I will just stop here lol.
It is very hard to argue against argumentation if you don't actually buy into argumentation.
@@anzolomyer4584 That's an eloquent write-up!
What I understood from it is that you find that living on this earth is indescribable in the way that would warrant the use of the term "reality". That what I call reality, or someone else calls reality, is different and ultimately a consensus can't be reached, thus we can't call any one thing "reality". That's what I gathered from your writing.
But I, in a way, disagree here. What I mean by reality is not some grand unified theory of physics, but simply what is left after we remove our own erroneous judgements from the situation. For example, insecure people go and compensate for their insecurity by doing things that their mind comes up to make them feel better, most often without their awareness of what's driving their behaviour. It is totally understandable, it's just human, but it is also problematic. This is where the mind just runs rampant and comes up with whatever that makes the person feel better, effectively deluding their world view in the process. It also doesn't lead to a better place in the end, cycle just repeats.
Instead we should work on our insecurities, or whatever else it is that causes us turmoil or suffering. This is what I would call facing reality, confronting your beliefs and feelings without resorting to altering your worldview to fit your inner troubles.
Should’ve thanked the dog first at that acceptance speech, later all we hear is the dog in the background telling you off!
Eye opening
I loved every second of this video (I sound like a bot Haha)
9:03 you didn’t have to read me like this Steven
Super bro
You had me at 9:23!
I need to stop being lazy : / the thing is that I also like doing nothing as much as I like drawing if it makes sense…. I just need to push myself more if I really want to get good and find motivation somewhere 😩
WILSON!!!!!
Yup.