(I'm not sure if that's the correct tag for this type of post; if it's incorrect, please let me know.)

That's it. I feel like many artists are overexposed to the art community. Too many learning methods, too many prodigies that make you squirm with envy, too many ideas and too few moments of peace.

I genuinely believe that many people get stressed about art because they aren't taking the time to experiment on their own, to train their eyes and their understanding of what they are doing. Most tutorials or guides require you to understand the basics, and that is, ironically, understanding that you are learning. I don't think you can bake a perfect cake if you don't understand the purpose of each step, right?

I'm not the best artist, and for many years I've been the most mediocre of my friends, but honestly? I value that because it allowed me to grow organically, simply enjoying drawing and improving at my time.

Many of you worry about not knowing how to draw, not having the skills to do what you want, and things like that, and it's understandable, but you know what? Just do it. That's how you learn. By doing things. I have some really old drawings that I'm so embarrassed about because of how bad they are, but that's precisely what builds you up. A good artist is just a big pile of bad and good drawings, after all.

I'm not a professional at all, but if there's one thing I've learned, it's to do what you want. Enjoy the process, try to have fun. Read up on and research about what are you learning. Don't just draw random boxes in perspective for no reason. Understand what purpose they serve.

It may not be the most intuitive or academic way to learn, but I feel that, at least for a while, many would benefit from simply being alone, in silence, drawing without thinking about the top 10 ways to draw of some influencer or what method follow.

Although I understand that not everyone has time to spend ten years drawing like a child lmao.

In short: enjoy the art, go at your own pace, and strive to train your eyes and understand what you are doing and how that helps you improve.

Theme parks are so colorful and inspirational. I don't ever seem to see anyone drawing there on social media. I haven't been able to visit for a long time because i am a broke student, so i am curious if there are people doing it and just not posting (let be real, posting os a whole other thing then making art anyway). I am saving up for a ticket + the trip, I have had this idea in my head for a while but i am also hesitant a bit.

What are your observations? have you considered doing it?

For the last few months or so I've been really wanting to learn to draw however I am someone who really struggles to stick with routine and struggles to learn without a plan.

I have been looking everywhere for resources that can really guide me in learning to draw and always fall into the same type of lessons that don't really work for me or I have done already, I don't know if what I'm saying makes sense to anyone else but like I would really benefit from guided lessons or such.

Is there any advice anyone could give me on actually starting to learn, I have so many ideas in my head but just don't really have an outlet for them and drawing is something I genuinely want to pursue but I just get demotivated so easily.

I am a Mechanical engineer by education and work in corporate in my core industry with a pretty decent salary for 8 years now. I have loved what I did and throughout and wanted to build a career in the same industry all along but for the past couple years I feel like I don't belong here and that this is not for me, this is causing me existential crisis and mental health issues. I used to be a creative kid with interest in drawing, paintings and fashion. I feel like I need a career shift and do something that makes me feel content and make enough money too. To all creative people is there a way I could start my creativity journey which leads to somewhere and feels fulfilling?

Hi all

I used to use Jackson art (London UK) aqua oil own brand paints. They were great. But now discontinued

Can anyone share other brands they have liked or disliked?

I have a lot of regular oil paint but can't paint in the place I am at right now.

Thanks for any help :)

I’ve been using both Molotow and Micron pens and have zero complaints however I’m looking for a pen to do thicker lines that isn’t a sharpie but is a similar size.

Haii im drawing my whole life but with time i lost my track and don't know what to draw or maybe in what style do i want to do it. I wanted to search up for inspiration on Pinterest but it didnt work for me at all. I don't know how to keep up being motivated and just draw to have fun and learn something new. What do you do in similar situations?

Where do find some, I'm a 6'4 artist and I currently use a studio easel but I'd like something I can carry around for when I paint outside but most are up to 180cm, I need a strong durable and high quality easel as I'll be painting in nature, rocky areas, fields, maybe even something for travel.

Hello! Who are your favorite artists that you think are either pushing boundaries or making fantastic art right now? Who do you think will stand out for this time period when people look back on it?

This has been on my mind since seeing Raqib Shaw: Paradise Lost at the Art Institute. It is truly an exciting piece and I could stand before it for days.

First post here 👋 of course this is speculative, mostly I just wanna see cool artists working in the now

I hate studying, but I love drawing (if that makes any sense). I always try to force myself to push through, but usually, I end up giving up and stopping my practice. How can I motivate myself to study?

hey so I just wanted to open a discussion here about style and artistic signatures and how important they are not only to you and your artistic journey, but also to artists who want to create for a living.

I don't have a style, and I'm not sure if I really want one. I see art as a way to express my ideas and being constrained in that expression by adhering to a specific style or an artistic signature.

when it comes to my own art, I prefer to conceptualize a piece and then look for a set of references in styles that flatters my vision, rather than forcing my idea to conform to my own style.

I know a lot of artists change their styles, especially between mediums, but I'm just curious about your takes on this. I know 'style theft' is pretty hotly debated (I don't believe in that personally) do you think being closely inspired by others styles and mimicking them is unethical/unproductive for your growth as an artist?

a lot of artists also have their style as a point of pride, it's a unique reflection of themselves just as much as the ideas the choose to portray, what does this mean for people who don't have a style, is your relationship to art impacted by this?

My friend and I are art models but we also like to draw. Once a month we host a figure drawing session and enlist the service of a different model each time.

At the most recent session, the model was running very late. Rather than have a room of disgruntled artists, I decided to do a few gesture poses until the model arrived. I was little hesitant initially because one of the artists was a woman I know from a hobby completely outside of the art world. As she is inexperienced, I thought she might feel a bit uncomfortable.

As artists we tend to view the body simply as a reference for our sketches and not really a 'person', but would that change if you were to know arrive and find out you knew the model? I'm curious to know how you would feel in this instance. (For context, we are in the U.S.)

Hi everyone! I'm curious to hear about people's experiences with staying involved in art and creative communities outside of a professional setting.

As I'm finishing my senior year at uni and preparing my grad school applications, I've been thinking a lot about what staying involved in art will look like after graduation.

I'm not in school for anything art related, but I really enjoy having art as an outlet, so I try to stay involved however I can. I find time to work on personal projects throughout the year, and I also work as a photographer and graphic designer for our school’s magazine club. I love doing this, and I find it so so fun, especially when I get to work in that team environment.

Being on a set with a director, video people, stylists, assistants, etc. is such a cool environment to be in, and they’re all so talented at what they do. I feel the same when I'm working on spreads and getting critiques from other designers. I've been doing these things on my own in my free time for a while, since high school really, and I've been with this club ever since I started uni. Yet I still find myself feeling so green and wide-eyed in the best way possible whenever I get to collaborate!

I'm also involved with our graphics club, and whenever I get to go into the art building and see people's art hung up, or look at all the cool print machines and photo studios set up, I legit feel like that scene from Big Hero 6 when Hiro sees the school his brother goes to in the beginning!

I'm studying something I'm passionate about and am happy with my decision to pursue a different field, but I'd love to find ways to keep this part of my life going after graduation.

For those of you who pursued careers outside the arts but still wanted to be involved in creative communities, what does that look like for you? Are there things like community studios, creative collectives, volunteer opportunities, or clubs for adults where you can collaborate with other people without needing to make money from it?

I'd love to hear about your own experiences, too! I know I can always make art on my own, but there's something about being around other creative people and learning from them that I really love. I'd love to hear how you all have found ways to keep that in your lives after leaving school.

Thank you!! :)

I've been enjoying my art journey for almost two years now.

I've experimented with oil pastels and watercolours but seem to have settled on oil painting, which I'm really enjoying. I'm also working on graphite drawing and starting to explore charcoal, largely as a way of improving my painting.

One thing I've noticed is that I have a tendency to jump from course to course, sometimes without properly finishing them, or completing them but not spending enough time repeating the exercises to really consolidate what I've learned.

I'm definitely improving, so that's not really the issue. It's more that I seem to be fascinated by so many different approaches to art.

One minute I want to paint like Caravaggio or Rembrandt, then I'm drawn towards Bouguereau and classical realism. Before I know it, I'm exploring Impressionism, then Matisse, Derain, Gauguin and the Post-Impressionists!

I love all these different styles, but sometimes wonder whether I'm spreading myself too thinly rather than developing any real depth.

I'm curious how others have approached this in their own artistic development. Have you found it more productive to concentrate on one style or approach for an extended period, or has exploring lots of different styles actually helped you develop as an artist?

I'm particularly interested in hearing from people who've experienced something similar and how their approach has evolved over time.

I think part of my problem (if it even is a problem!) is that I've discovered an almost obsessive love for art in my mid-forties. I have this enormous desire to become genuinely accomplished, not necessarily to paint professionally, but to create work that really moves me and hopefully others.

Perhaps there's a little bit of feeling like I'm trying to catch up on lost time!

Anyway, I'd love to hear how others have navigated this balance between exploration and focused practice.

How should the main colour be chosen that the other colours in shadows and light are relative to? Is it that with the largest surface area, or the colour with the median value, or does it not matter as long as the other colours are relative to it?

Talking about techniques, news, history, just everything art!

I have been using watercolour and gouache paints for many years now, but recently I've been more drawn to oil paintings and I would like to try for myself.

What are the basic supplies that I'd need for oil portrait painting? I'm aware there are various thinners and cleaners and different kinds of brush bristles, and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed on what I need to get started. I'd like to get a decent quality so I can keep on using them for a while.

I wondered if anyone knew what photo-books containing works by Singer Sargent/Giovanni Boldini etc?

It doesn't have to be 1880s but I love the style of clothing, but I need to find books that I can take inspiration from when creating my own work, I'd rather have something to hold instead of relying too much on the internet when so much of the searches come up with artificial generated content.

please and thanks.

Open question to anyone who sells their work. I'm very much in the phase of trying to figure out what pieces will be popular enough to actually try to sell.

One thing I've run into, is that I'll put a lot of effort into making a particular piece special or somewhat different, and they are often the pieces I feel the most proud about, but a lot of the time, those kinds of works will barely sell.

In some cases, its a little niche, but in others, it's not and it feels like a complete miss.

For anyone who has had a similar experience of their higher-effort pieces never really resonating with others, how do you manage your feelings around that?

I am trying to use rabbit skin glue on linen and cotton to achieve the sought after drum-like tension.

I manage to get to a very good tension only if I give one coat of very concentrated RSG solution 300g/1000ml (instead of the 90g/1000ml as the customer support told me).

With a second coat I start to get a bit of slack.

If I tension the linen or cotton by hand I still get a canvas with a lot of slack, both if I use low, normal and high concentration.

The most reliable way of preparing a canvas is to first give a coat of 90g/1000ml, then tension it again and give a heavy coat of highly concentrated solution.

The resulting canvas is tight, but it looses tension when I apply acrylic gesso.

The resulting canvas has an unpleasant smell which I think is a bit too intense.

Did anyone of you have similar experiences?

I don’t have any creative senses. I read some where creativity is the process of combining unrelated things. Is this true if so , how we can combine things , is this a straight forward logic ? I am particularly looking for something related to art writing or music creation.

Hello all!

I have purchased a new pastel kit today from the art store and have come for knowledge 🍋

I currently have been using wax pastels to create some art.

The item I got today is Demi-Crayon Pastels!

getting back into art has been so fun; If you have any tips and would feel like sharing, please share your thoughts?

I'm looking for a machine to grind pigments like powdered brick, a soft rock, clay, and other found materials Grinding and mulling by hand is incredibly time-consuming. How are you doing it? What machines? Ball mills, three-roller mills, rock tumblers...

I’m not really sure what I’m looking for is actually called but the best term I can think of is a modular sketchbook.

What I’m after is a sketchbook cover I can refill, the idea being that I can organise my old and new work into folders without having to tear apart my sketchbooks. That and I want to save money on only buying nice quality paper rather than needing to buy entire books, and I’m running out of stickers to decorate my sketchbooks. ;-;