How I began my Art Journey

 

Years ago, nevermind how long ago, but, before the internet and social media, I purchased books on drawing cartoons and illustrations.

The instructions were not all that step by step. I drew the outline of the shape, added the framework  then the next step went from a basic outline to the finished form. My drawing didn’t even come close to looking like the one in the book.

I thought what happened? Where are the rest of the instructions? Were there some pages missing? I started drawing the forms again and again. I was hoping the artistic god would bestow upon me a finished piece.  Nope, no mystic power, no muse, just a bad looking drawing on the page.

To say the least, I was not happy

I remember taking art classes in grammar school but I can’t remember if they taught drawing or not. We colored a lot and made paper mâché hats but that was it. As I matured, I wanted to draw life-like portraits and human figures. By that time I was convinced that I needed talent to draw those subjects so I never pursued art and drawing.

Luckily the age of online learning reawakened my passion to draw. I started watching online art instruction covering portraits, cartoons, and perspective drawing. The instructors were so positive and proved to me that anyone can learn, I changed my attitude and began to do the lessons. Soon, I was drawing quality pieces of 3D art.

I picked up Mark Kistler’s book Learn to Draw In 30 Days and began the journey again. After a few weeks, I drew this picture.

After that, I was hooked and wanted to continue on. So here I am convincing you good people that you can do the same.

What REALLY Makes Me Especially Qualified To Teach Beginners?

Call me “the enlightened beginner”

I am a beginner with a little advanced knowledge.  I am going through the learning process just like you.

And just like you, I am struggling with the more advanced pieces like portrait and figure drawing.

The good news is I have some success which you can see here.

And I can provide you some helpful tips that worked for me. Or I can direct you to tutorials that offer a different approach.

Why Did I Create an Art Website Dedicated to Beginner Artist?

I want to give testimony to the truth that anyone can learn to draw in 3D.

All it takes is practice and desire.

Ok, I’ll admit lots of practice.

I’m not saying that you’ll become the next portrait artist of the year or an all-star animator at Pixar studios but who knows? Never say never. Career experts say that there are 3 or 4 careers in all of us. We will cover in future topics how to pursue an artistic career.

If I can do it you can do it, and we will do it together.

Why consider me the ideal beginner art instructor?

I know what you are going through as a beginner and I have overcome some of the obstacles that you are facing. I can show how to overcome them and draw quality pieces of art. I don’t care what your skill level is or abilities, when I started out I couldn’t even draw a stick figure let alone a 3D image. After reading Mark Kistler’s book Learn to draw in 3o days a light switch turned on and I was drawing quality 3D images! I was so excited I wanted to learn more and more.

 

The Problem with Expert Instruction

Some of the experts are not sure how they draw so well. They just pick a pencil and viola a perfect drawing. Mozart just looked at the piano and knew exactly what to do.  Tiger Woods just steps up to the ball and swings.

 The experts teaching the craft on YouTube don’t show how they started.

What was their journey like?

Did the art fairies bop them on the head and viola they are master artists?

Or did they struggle just like any other beginner?

Sometimes I think it’s helpful to see an expert struggle with a drawing to show that you are not alone.

A lot of times I’ll be following a YouTube video trying to keep up with the instructor and maybe coming out with a drawing that’s decent but not quite right.

I am amazed at how fast they fly through the lesson. Their drawings are perfect including the fine details. Honestly, how did they do it? Sometimes the drawing takes me twice as long to complete or longer. I have to stop the video numerous times to keep up with the lesson.

These expert instructors forgot what’s it like to be a beginner. And we beginners wonder how it can be done.

 We will cover different forms of practice, setting up a time, and how much is too much practice.

Be sure to share your art story in the comments below.

Check out the lessons here

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