Hello again! I hope everyone's year is settling in, and that things are going well for everyone. I apologize for the hiatus, but there's been a lot of real-life things going on lately that I needed to prioritize. That being said, part of that real-life stuff happened to be working on my creative journey. I find it really exciting, and I just had to share it with you.
Many people want to learn to draw, but find it intimidating when others around them seem to effortlessly produce masterful drawings. I probably am not alone in thinking that these people have magical, mystical talents and that I could never draw like that because I am not blessed with such a talent.
I have to say that a series on the Twitch channel Critical Role, has been an inspiration, and even a sort of lifeline. I've been contemplating my creative journey--more like bemoaning lack of progress--and had thought that I was doomed to be a failure in all the goals I had set. It felt as though no matter how much I read, studied, or practiced that I was no closer to the goals I wanted to achieve.
This was a defeatist attitude, but it seemed as though I might have to throw my hands up and admit that there were just some things that I would never be able to do to my satisfaction. That may still be the case, but I finally decided that it was still worthwhile to keep trying. The Critical Role channel, which began mainly for a Dungeons and Dragons game (think storytelling and role playing), decided to create some additional shows. One of those shows is called Pub Draw.
There is so much information crammed into a few episodes of Pub Draw that it makes my head spin, in the best of ways. I have watched all the episodes, and continue to re-watch them. Babs Tarr (you may know the name from DC Comics Batgirl comics), in a delightful way shares her knowledge and years of training to help anyone, regardless of skill, learn some of the most important basics to see improvement right away. I had no art throughout High School, and very limited art during Middle School. What I learned about drawing, was solely from watching the girl in front of me in class, work on amazing face sketches during class.
I learned a lot of things from watching these fantastic episodes with Babs Tarr. She revealed that her classes in college for drawing were hours long...like, an entire workday long. I think that's one of the moments that things clicked. College was training her to treat drawing like a job. If you do something everyday, all day, you're eventually going to get better at it. I do think, for people like myself--with only self-taught drawing knowledge--that you can improve, but when the fundamentals aren't there, you're still going to struggle. The Pub Draw show is a nugget of gold for anyone with the desire to draw. The best thing is, even though the season just ended for Pub Draw, all the videos are available on YouTube. That means, that if you have EVER wanted to learn to draw, now is the time. You'll have time to go through the videos and practice before season 2 of Pub Draw begins. Even if you don't feel like going professional with your drawing skills, it can be a very relaxing and fulfilling hobby. It's very satisfying to be able to put on paper, something you visualize in your mind.
Don't be afraid to use more resources too, some other great drawing resources are available on YouTube or through classes on sites like Skillshare, Udemy and even possibly your local library. Check out Proko on YouTube, and if you've found additional resources, feel free to leave them in the comments. :) (Be advised that the resources I've mentioned above are not necessarily suitable for children, they're geared to adults.)