Like with any hobby, creating art takes time. The proficiency of such a subject, has reports of taking years. It can be dissatisfying as a beginner. This devotion of time can be hard to keep up, not to mention many beginners not knowing where to start. FWPA has many artists, and they all have individual ideas and experiences on how to tackle such a problem.
“Don’t try something too hard at first, try and build up,” says Phoebe Farber. For many, persisting is the hardest part of getting to know a hobby. “Don’t stress if your drawings don’t look perfect,” added Ella Park-Unsworth, “It’s a learning curve.” These statements seem to be reliable when you look at child development. In early elementary school, it seemed like everyone enjoyed scribbling pictures, and then slowly, people stopped. The act of perfecting something can lead to resentment of said thing. A consensus found when asking multiple artists around FWPA is that improvement takes time. Miguel Gonzalez says, “You’re not a bad artist, you just need to work on stuff one step at a time.”
That said, time devotion is one thing, but knowing how/what to improve is another. There are many different tactics, of which have abundant viability. Angeli Luo shares what helps her improve, “Generally, referencing other people’s stuff helped.”
Referring to experienced artists proves to be a popular method. Maya Kimani shares similar sentiments, “Watching YouTube channels and watching peoples art.” Learning from experienced people, or experts on their specific realm of expertise can be a great way to learn. This method can help people develop a preferred art style.
Others found studying specific domains of art helpful. “Learning how to highlight and make shadows helped me,” added Ella.
Different people find different strategies helpful, some even said practice was the main thing that helped them, “Always drawing and working on mistakes,” said Miguel Gonzalez.
Phoebe shares similar thoughts, “Mainly practice and trying different techniques.” There’s a multitude of different ways to improve, these are just a few of many different methods.
Lastly, the process takes time, and at the very least, you should try to enjoy it. Improvement methods are only helpful if you personally find them useful. You could watch YouTube videos like Maya Kimani, or reference other peoples artwork, like Angeli Luo; in the end, you should do what helps you.