Grave Talks: Things I Wish I Knew Before I Started Drawing (Patreon)

((This is a series of text tutorials I'll be releasing here on Patreon- The more basic ones/ones I've posted on my reddit before will be available for free, and the ones that are full of more "trade secrets" and detailed explanation will be behind the $3 tier!))

My earliest surviving piece of digital art, from when I was 10 years old

Age doesn't matter.

I used to compare myself to my peers at X age, and get upset when they were better while being younger than me. Now that I'm in my 20s, I look back on those days and seriously facepalm. First off, what I thought was "amazing" as a 16 year old, produced by other 16 year olds, was... In the grand scheme of things... Some pretty amateur stuff. Most people plateau somewhere, and once you hit 20 or so, you really stop thinking of age as a factor in your art quality and just start trying really hard not to plateau in your skill level. You now start focusing on producing work that is professional enough for your chosen field- Be it casual drawing, or career artwork. 

A lot of people get scared it might be too late to start, but the age you start is completely a non-factor as well (unless I guess you're like 100 years old on your deathbed...) Some of my favorite artists started drawing in their 20s and became absolute gods before they even hit 30. It's never too late and it's never too early, and everyone has a different pace.

Draw whatever the hell you want. Be self indulgent.

I had a literature teacher when I was younger really pound into me, "Don't draw anime or fanart!", and... Oh god... She turned out to be so, so wrong.... Drawing something is ALWAYS better than drawing nothing, so if you want to draw your two original characters making out for the 15th time, frickin do it. At least you're drawing something. And on that vein,

Browsing art is just as important as drawing art

I like to call the technique of browsing art to get better at drawing your own art, "expanding your visual library" - Always be looking at new art. You'll observe their techniques and pick up new visual styles and aesthetics that you will end up subconsciously implementing into your own work.

Accept critique

Your art has errors. Especially if you're just starting out. The thing that will be best for your improvement is admitting this, and taking all critique. I used to respond to critique with, "Oh I intended that" - Like hell I intended for a girl's arm to be broken, I just would say that because my pride was too large to admit my art looked bad. I would have improved so much faster if I just took the critique, and I think I've lost years of improvement because of how stubborn I was over this.

The tools do NOT make the artist

God, I used to be OBSESSED with getting Photoshop 7.0 because all my favorite artists used it. I ended up getting Photoshop 4.0, and blamed my lack of skill on the program not having a pen tool. The program had nothing to do with my terrible skill haha, but it was a convenient scapegoat.  A good artist can draw good art on concrete with dog shit. It doesn't matter if you're drawing on a napkin or painting with molten gold, your skill will be the pure determiner of how good the piece comes out.

Its okay to not finish projects

I used to start TONS of projects. "Project draw every BLEACH character," "Project create 50 chibis," "Project draw a new comic", etc. Most turned out unfinished, but that is OKAY. You need to have unfinished projects to build up the stamina to finish them. When you start a new project, inch a little closer to the finish line, but don't feel bad if you end up wanting to pull teeth rather than continue it. Just do better next time!

Surround yourself with good people

This is more general life advice, but it goes for art too since you'll end up having a lot of artist friends. Drop people that make you feel bad about your work like hot potatoes. We've all had friends who are absolute downers, and just want to bring down other people with them. If you have someone who looks at your work and goes "Wow I wish I was as good as you but I'm garbage I should just kill myself :(", they are not your friend. You don't deserve that- You deserve friends who will be excited at every little bit of improvement you make, and in turn, you can be excited for them as well.

Good artists are just shitty artists who never gave up.