How to improve without being overwhelmed?

[Rozume]

I want to improve my art. However, I find the idea of "improvement" overwhelming; there are some many areas to improve on such as anatomy, lighting and shading, colors, etc. I don't know where to start.

The great thing about art is that there's no specific way to do things, but at the same time I get lost trying to find my way of doing things when half the time I don't know even what I'm doing. I'm trying to focus, but I don't know what to focus on. I tried finding a guide, some sort of mentor to help me, but I received no reply. It would've really helped to have someone to help, I don't like trying to figure things out on my own all the time.

I would like some advice here. How do I improve on my art without being so overwhelmed with the idea that there's so much to improve on? How do I focus when my focus is all over the place?

[78909087]

I'm trying to focus, but I don't know what to focus on.

Well, it's great that you know to focus. But not so great that you don't know what to focus on.

I would like some advice here. How do I improve on my art without being so overwhelmed with the idea that there's so much to improve on? How do I focus when my focus is all over the place?

Well, these questions count for something. It's certainly good to see you're thinking. The first thing I believe is good to work on is anatomy. This doesn't require other things to be good in order to see your progress. For example- your lighting and shading will always look a bit off if you aren't happy with your anatomy- understanding the anatomy well enough will also help with understanding lighting and other things. Everything relies on shapes.

So if you're really lost for somewhere to start, I would say anatomy- because once you're happy with that, it's a lot easier to move on.

[nyaatrap]

Throw away all idea as possible as you can, then find the bottom of the basic and focus on it. It's usually sketching a naked human, or a simple geometrical object. No need to move on to higher training before you got enough confident on the basic. I believe "Don't move on further. Just focus on the basic" is the fastest way to learn any arts.

[trooper6]

Control Paint has an entire section in their video library about Study Habits. You could check those out:
http://www.ctrlpaint.com/library/

Sections 18 and 19 at the bottom might be what you are looking for.

As for wanting a mentor but not finding one, have you thought about taking an art class? You could go to your local community college and get in person guidance.

[SundownKid]

I would probably start with the base of your image, the line art or sketching. A nice drawing with no shading is still nice; a poor drawing with shading is still poor. After that working my way up to simple shading, then detailed shading.

[PN04]

Start with anatomy. It's easier to develop a style after you've got the basic structure of a body nailed down.

[Lesleigh63]

I agree with PN04, start with the anatomy. No amount of shading or colour will fix a wonky looking arm. Try to aim to have the current piece you're working on turn out better than the last piece you did.

[ketskari]

Drawing is foundational. Anatomy, design (composition), and perspective are all foundational skills. Shortly following drawing is value ("shading", light and shadow, etc...).

How do I improve on my art without being so overwhelmed with the idea that there's so much to improve on?

Study one thing. Then immediately apply what you learn to a small project. It's usual to start with line, then black and white and work up to color.

A typical Drawing I class in a nutshell: A concept (such as one-point perspective) is introduced, then the students work on a small practice piece of that concept, followed by a more completed work, repeated for however many concepts the course covers. At the end all concepts are combined in a final piece.

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Community college art courses tend to focus on technique, so that's not a bad idea. Check out a professor's portfolio before you take a classes--or check out the syllabus if you can. Figure drawing courses, for instance, that focus on gestures and personal expression are very common, and nearly useless for beginners. Figure drawing classes that focus on gesture drawing with an emphasis on constructive anatomy, however, are perfect for people who want to draw from their imagination (whatever the style).

Mentors can go either way. Beyond basic technique, which can be taught (or learned on one's own... depends on your ability to be objective about your work), the majority of it is self-teaching by exploring one's interests anyway.

[underbliss]

Taken with a grain of salt:
I've found that personally, even in study (because anatomy, lighting, even composition and so forth can all be turned into something eerily resembling math), curbing how much juice you allow your 'left' brain and making sure to allow the 'right' brain to stay at least partially 'in the zone', is the defining difference between overwhelmed and frustrated vs energized and optimistic. Overanalyzing (for me) has been the angry, awkward death of many studies and pictures.

Meanwhile, I'd suggest trying not to look at art as 'I have so much to learn'. You'll really always have more to learn, it's one of those things. Artists who say they have no more to learn are either blind or liars!
So take it in small, bite sized steps and celebrate your progress with each new thing you learn~

[Akai85]

I can upload a copy of Famous Artists Course on Dropbox if you're interested. It's a drawing bible to lots of professional and amateur artists and covers things like animals and fashion as well as drawing humans and shading. It's by a bunch of guys who worked at Disney and some other famous guys. It's the old version which is generally considered the best. It's very cool - good for starting from the fundamentals. I should go through my copy sometime and work through my terrible perspective skills! Google it and let me know if you're interested. I think it's absolutely criminal that so many people will never get the chance to read the full book. (Which is actually course material for a drawing course so it's like a textbook created by geniuses for the average person.)

But really, you don't need a book. Focus on the very fundamentals which would be learning how forms work in real life and replicating them. So basically anatomy and perspective as mentioned earlier. Draw things with the intent to understand them and visualise them in three dimensional space. From there you can work on building a style, colouring, character creation etc. Sorry to tell you this because I know it's frustrating but what will make you better is directed study and practice. Lots and loooots of practice. But, we're all in the same boat.

Also don't be lazy like me and practice without directed study. You should only do that if you want to improve at the pace of a crawling worm or invent brand new mistakes you'll have to eventually unlearn. For directed study materials there's a lot of good resources in the art resource thread and of course self study through keeping a notebook and drawing people/things from real life.

[Rozume]

Thanks everyone for all the advice! I'll take everything into consideration. It looks like "improving anatomy" is a common answer, so I'll work on my anatomy! ^^ Funny enough, when an artist I admire looked at my art, the first thing they said was to work on my anatomy.