Artist Advice

One thing you could try doing is working to music. Set up short playlists, picking music you don’t need to actively listen to, that range from 40 minutes up to 2 hours. When you sit down to work, play it from the start and don’t stop working until it’s done. When it’s over, take a break then start over, either with the same playlist or a different one. Taking breaks are important because you don’t want to burn yourself out but when you sit down to work, make sure all your attention is focused on your work. If you keep letting email, facebook, twitter, or other things distract you, you won’t have the motivation to work. 

-JediPanda

If you feel like you need to work on the basics, work on those first since those are the building blocks to more advanced techniques. And it really is all about what you feel you need to work on. To avoid feeling overwhelmed, just focus on one thing at a time. For one day, just draw spheres or cubes, or draw basic heads and nothing but that. Over and over, in different views and then shapes.  Keep expanding on each one when you feel like you’ve got a handle on it. And if you want to take a break for a bit and finish something, go for it. No one is going to keep track of how long you spend doing one thing over another and reprimand/applaud you for it. It’s all about what you want to and what you feel you need to work on.

-JediPanda

You need to buckle down and force yourself to work, even when you feel like you don’t want to. If you just wait around for when you feel inspired, you might never complete anything or improve. Try sitting down for an hour or two at a time and force yourself to work on one thing. Also try using music to keep time, either through playlists or CDs. Work until the music stops and then take a break, it could help you. 

-JediPanda

We’ve answered this before, but here’s a quick rundown on how to gain attention for your blog.

• Post frequently, but not annoyingly. 1-3 times a day, or atleast space the posts out. People like active blogs, but not ones that will spam their dashboards.
• Advertise your tumblr on other sites you are on. Deviantart, facebook, twitter, etc. Just a quick “Hey, I have a tumblr!” will do.
• Tag your posts. Use a variety of different tags to describe the subject and materials used. Many people search through tags to find interesting posts, and it’s one of the only ways to search for new blogs via Tumblr.
• Make friends through tumblr. Reblog other artwork and comment on them.
• Join other art blogs or groups to submit/reblog your art too. The people follow that blog will then be able to find your blog.

But don’t feel bad if you don’t have a lot of followers. Tumblr isn’t an easy place to gain followers, and even less so if you want feedback. 

-Pencilcat

Everything else.

-FluffyWhite

What if I can’t think of anything?

I’ve said it previously, but I’ll mention it again - do not worry about style.

Your style will change - all the time, especially when you are still learning. You’ll hate it, you’ll love it, and flip-flop inbetween. So it doesn’t matter.

I’d suggest stepping back and re-prioritizing what you think is important. Draw to have fun, but draw with purpose. You can’t rush improvement. The only thing you can do is work towards it.

Draw something you love. Who cares what it’s for or how it looks. Then draw something you are not good at. Hands, faces, birds, buildings etc. Doesn’t matter how bad it looks, so long as you strive to learn. Take it a little at a time. Try to have fun drawing things you are not good at. Tell your inner-critic to shut up for a while and just draw!

It’s only hopeless if you give up. Remember why you love to draw, and just concentrate on that! :)

-Pencilcat

The only way to get through this is to really just keep drawing. The longer you don’t draw, the more frustrated you’ll become. Try drawing things that you enjoy, to remind yourself why you enjoyed drawing in the first place.

-Pencilcat

Always comparing yourself to others is one of the worst things you can do as an artist because everyone is different. You don’t know if your classmates have been drawing for most of their lives or just a couple of years. You need to focus on what you’re doing, what you need to get better at and work on that instead of trying to reach the level of your classmates. Because, even when you get there, there will still be artists better than you. It’s the same for every artist, we all have our strengths and weaknesses and there is always someone better than you. The biggest way you will fail at your dream is thinking it’s impossible and giving up. Because it’s not. Anyone can become an animator, or any kind of artist, as long as they want to and are ready to put in the effort to learn the craft. 

-JediPanda

Stylized drawings are a form of abstraction from reality, so you should most definitely study drawing from real life! There is no shortcut around this.

It’s not like you have to permanently draw realistically forever though. Drawing from life teaches you the laws and elements of design. There is only so much you can learn from tutorials/books. Studying it yourself is the best way to create your own style! So to make it more fun, try drawing one thing from life, as realistically as you can (a light, plant, pet, etc.) and then draw it again in a stylized way. You’ll find what you learned from drawing realistically will translate into your stylized drawing and make it more believable! :D

-PencilCat