Whats going on with my art???

  • I'm doing this 21 day master study challenge and i'd say that the first 3 days were great. But for some reason I'm seeing a major drop off in the quality of the art I'm producing. I'm on day 5 now so that's already 2 bad master copies, I know it's only 2 pieces I'm dissatisfied with but from the quality of the last two its a bit of a bummer to see such a regression in quality.

    "Oh how success only strengthens the sting of failure!"

    What do you guys think I'm doing wrong? I don't mind harsh criticism and in fact encourage it so feel free to rip the images apart if you have to. Do you guys have anything you could point me to that I might find helpful?
    Seriously, what is going on with my art???
    The images are presented in chronological order, so really it is thee last 2 images I am worried about.

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    Maybe it's because I started using a smaller monitor or something?

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    @Alligatarz I think what you should ask yourself is why are you doing master copies? Are you working on your tone awareness, proportions? Foreshortening? Rendering? Lighting? Colour?

    I know they all cross into each other a bit but if you pick something to work on your sketches will have a purpose. I think your doing great by the way. 🎨 👌

  • @Alligatarz It’s only day 5! Changing the size could affect you but I’d think that’d be minimal unless it was a drastic size change. If you have the rules laid out for the challenge and are keeping variables consistent (such as spending the same time on each or an appropriate amount) you’ll see some progress when you are done.

    It’s a three week challenge and you haven’t even finished the first one. That’s like going to the gym for five days and wondering why you haven’t gotten stronger. Not every piece will exceed the last, but you’ll be able to see an overall improvement if you keep at it and finish. Sometimes the thing is to do the work the whole way through.

  • Moderator

    Second, third, and fourth attempts at things are always harder than the first. Because the first happens almost by accident. How to keep replicating what you've done--repeating the process--is what you're figuring out with every one that comes after.

    After the first, the subsequent ones will always be more challenging and feel to you like they're not as strong. That's natural. That's actually growth. That's a good thing. You have to keep plowing forward to make the process your own internally, in your heart and mind. That plowing and trudging and working and making of mistakes is actually where the magic happens. You can't skip that or make it easier--it has to be hard and disappointing for it to do what it's supposed to: come out the other end with a better idea of how to do things.

    Don't worry too much. Just bravely keep going. It'll evolve. And you're early in your challenge. Just keep swimming!! 🙂

  • the glass is half full, more than half actually! You have three out of five that you really like, that's awesome! Focus on that. You have more amazing work to come 🙂

  • Is it possible you're starting to burn out a little bit? I sometimes find that when I'm getting distressed about a piece I'm not liking if I put it away for a few days it doesn't seem as bad to me.

    In other words I'm having a hard time seeing what you are distressed with 🙂

  • @Alligatarz Great thoughts from everyone else.

    All I would say is just keep going. You'll have ups and downs, that's the nature of the thing, and the reason doing a challenge like this is so valuable. Any creator has good days and bad days. What's hard about being a creator of any kind is weathering the bad days! It's easy to keep going when you feel like what you're doing is really good, or you feel like you're growing and learning, and so so hard to keep going when you inevitably feel like you're sliding backwards.

    All it really means is that you're doing something RIGHT, you're challenging yourself and pushing into uncomfortable and new territory.

    It's all just part of the process, keep going!

  • @Jason-Bowen Thanks for the suggestion, I think specifying what I want to get out of these studies will really help me.

  • @Braden-Hallett I think your right, looking at yesterday piece now it's as bad as it was when I did it. At the very least I was able to get something done.
    Burn out is a possibility, I did find my self rushing a bit with the last 2 in effort to be done with it as soon as possible.

  • @robgale @Coley @Coreyartus @Teju-Abiola Thanks for the encouraging words, they are much appreciated!

  • I think that a challenge like a 3 week one is good and can push you and help you level up. My advice would be not to reflect on the challenge until it is done. When its finished you will possibly notice that the quality will go up over the challenge but it will not be a linear progression may go up and down but overall it should be better than when you start.

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