I’m continuing with my skull drawing. Actually, it’s kind of funny.
You wouldn’t believe how long it took me to reach the point where I could post this image. It’s not that I’ve been drawing only skulls all this time.
At some point, I saw a nice drawing of a horse. I find horses amazing creatures, so I started drawing them. I studied their skulls and anatomy and drew a horse. It took quite an intense amount of focus. Because I’m a man with other responsibilities, my daily drawing sessions couldn’t always happen on my own terms, which is extremely hard.
Discipline and dedication are simply not enough! On top of that, I seemed to have forgotten how to draw hands, which I had been practising just before spending a month on horses.
I started to worry that I would always forget the knowledge and thinking I had developed while drawing.
So I decided to change tactics. I draw, take notes, and create a whole process. I write it down the way books explain things, so I’m creating my own art book.
After practising only hands for months, I can refresh my horse drawing by going back to the horse chapter in my “book.” I’m starting to see the benefits and make progress. By now, I have a huge collection of documented progress and skills!
Well, the same thing is happening with the skull. I started a year ago after seeing people doing caricatures and character designs. I wanted to do that too.
Then I saw somebody post a very crisp planar representation of a skull, and I wanted to do that too.
I studied and drew around my bike commute to work or while travelling to the dentist by train. Bit by bit, I was able to push it further. Eventually, I could at least draw a kind of robot head resembling a human face.
Then I left it for a few months, came back to it, and pushed it further again, until I reached the point where I could post this. And I’m still nowhere near where I want to be. I realised that I don’t know anything about painting techniques. When should I use smudge?
When should I use an oil or bristle brush? A wet brush? Dry bristles? What is actually bristle? Is not the same cast brush?! , and what makes one brush different from another?
I don’t want to end up doing random things. Whenever I do something, I don’t care about the result as much as I care about learning something new and developing a workflow that works for me.
Now I’m stuck with painting. Instead of editing my planar work, I used it as a map, randomly picked a brush without knowing how to use it, and just painted.
This is where I ended up. I had a little bit of fun i learnt a tiny bit- not happy with that. Because this time I was focus on outcome. So I wasted lots of time! But i think in a sense it was progressing a bit, but I’m still not in control, and it isn’t expressive at all!
I am starting to believe I may not end up as a freelance artist but more as an educator and teach through my work.
Any help at this stage will be very helpful. Thanks | Artwod Feedback