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(IMPORTANT: This post is mostly for people who want to make money off of their art some day and therefore need to be on a professional level. Hobbyist can still get something out of this for sure, but just know that this post is not intended to cater to that group).

Anyways, It’s no secret that this sub is pessimistic as could be when it comes to learning how to become a good artist. Anyone could just write it off as, “well the journey is difficult and yada-yada-yada…”.

And it is, don’t get me wrong! But there are things that you should know and you can do in order to make this a lot more easier! and fun! than you might think at the moment. Hear me out.

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On Fundamentals:

Overcoming the plateu that is the fundamentals is a steep learning curve that will by default leave many individuals behind who don’t like the concept of repetition. After you’re kinda proficient at figures, heads, perspective, landscapes, still lifes’, animals, or whatever it may be that you want to get good at, there are many other challenges ahead.

It’s a life-long “struggle” as many like to say, but I would rather call it an opportunity to have something in your life that is not monotenous or boring every day, but rather fun! and challenging!. Many of you probably rolled their eyes at this point, because you’re not experiencing this “fun” and only the challenge (and this on a grueling level). You don’t see it as an opportunity, but I hope you will after this post. More to this later.

On Talent:

There are several things beginners just get wrong about the learning process in art. Yes, you can always easily brush any lack of progress off with “Oh, well… these artists I admire are just crazy talented anyways! You can’t get on that level If you’re not talented!”. Come on now. Be real with yourself. Your favourite artist didn’t get where they are after decades of learning because they were gifted with the ability of doing so by God. They’re just highly driven people who can concentrate on one goal/task at a given time and do that every day without a hint of boredom whatsoever. Or somewhere along those lines. It literally doesn’t matter. The only thing that is true is that there are some Individuals who retain Information quicker than others, thus progressing faster. That’s 1 out of roughly 100 students on average though (or so I heard). The rest has to shluck it out, like everyone else. And that’s fine. The sooner you accept this as a fact, the easier it will be for you to pull up your big boy pants and put in the hours. Moving on.

There is no “Magic Pencil”:

This actually goes hand-in-hand with ‘On Talent’, but is often just brushed off. There is no magic pencil, no hidden technique, no trick, no shortcut, no workaround or anything else to get good. Fact is:

Becoming a good artist is (objectively) nothing but hard work. If we overlook the fun part of it for a second, the only thing that will get you up there to the skill level of your favourite Grandmaster of representational Art, is doing the work. (If possible) daily.

“Yeah! BUT…!!” might be your first response. Thing is, art doesn’t care about your excuses or age. Art has bulletproof, tight rules that are simply non negotiable. A beautifully drawn hand by Michelangelo in 1480 will be a beautifully drawn hand today, and a thousand years from now. This is because the rules of art don’t bend to you, you bend to them. And I’m not talking about style here, but the fundamental, universal rules that make up representational art, and ultimately our reality. A good drawing is made up of hard eges, soft edges, hard edges on the firm side/on the soft side, soft edges on the firm/soft side, darker values, lighter values, thick lines, thin lines, perspective, and so on. And this will not change. Ever.

So again, art doesn’t care If you’re being left behind. If you’re struggling like all the other human beings who have done it before. It is just standing there, like a mountain waiting to be overcome by the ones who dare raise to the challenge. Like Painter Jeff R. Watts said:

Practicing in the arts is gonna do two things for you: either It’s gonna make you good, or It’s gonna make you quit. There is no inbetween.

Sooner or later one of those two things will come true, even If it takes 2 years, or 40 years.

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That said, what can you do to make this Journey more pleasant? More structured? Less feeling like It’s entirely up to the random forces of the universe? Well, I’m going to give a few tips and pointers to resources. (Note: I don’t claim this to be perfect, but rather what I consider works for me and others I’ve seen do the same).

• Make a weekly schedule – for when you practice, what you practice and hang it on the wall where you draw/paint. (This helps tremendously with structure & accountability wether you are learning in a school environment, or without). Note: You don’t have to always hit 100% every week, If you miss a day, don’t beat yourself up over it. Just go on with the schedule like it says. (Example: head drawing practice Tuesday/Thursday, figure drawing practice Wednesday/Friday/Saturday, from 6pm-9pm, etc.)

• If you are in art college or intend to go: Not ideal for a lot of reasons (high tuition, inconsistent teaching or lack thereof, outdated grading system, can’t study with favourite teacher when you want/all the time, etc.. There are upsides to going this route, but If you’re a student you already know them all.

• If you are learning “on your own” at home: Not ideal either. You’re in danger of ingraining bad habits If you don’t have a professional critiquing your work, takes much longer to get good, no peers to compete with or look up to as well as no feedback from better students in the same class, danger of getting too much into your own head (most common problem), etc. The list goes on.

• If you are studying at an Atelier either Online or in Person: I personally consider this route Ideal. You have low tuition, a highly skilled teacher (or several), consistency in the methods of teaching, small classes, peers who range from absolute beginner to even better than the teachers, constant feedback from professionals, no 4 year time limit on your training, you can train with every teacher how much you want & when you want, repeat classes as will (since they’re cheap and terms are short), etc.

• A “non overwhelming” Book list for self learning (only gonna list the ones I’d recommend to beginners):

Human Anatomy

– Anatomy for the Artist by Sarah Simblet, Artistic Anatomy by Dr. Paul Richer, Atlas of Human Anatomy by Steven Rogers Peck, and Human Anatomy for Artists by Eliot Goldfinger.

(Tip: Study Human Anatomy like this If you can: Each one once per year for 3 Months. Torso Front and Back, or Skulls, or Arms and Legs, or Hands and Feet. This makes it less overwhelming and more of a task you can actually pull off over years).

Animal Anatomy

– Animal Anatomy for Artists by Eliot Goldfinger

(Tip: In the beginning this will be enough. You’ll branch out from here anyways).

Head Drawing

– Drawing the Head and Hands by Andrew Loomis, Asaro Booklet (comes with the Head from John Asaro), Drawing the Human Head by Burne Hogarth, and Figure Drawing: Design and Invention by Michael Hampton.

(Tip: The more solid your skull and construction drawing is, also called Lay-In, the better your heads are going to come out. Focus on getting the big shape right in the beginning. Then you can place features on it. The Asaro Head & Reilly Rhythms of the Head are both Systems to get familar with how and where to place the features).

Figure Drawing

– Glenn Vilppu Drawing Manual by Glenn Vilppu, Figure Drawing for All It’s Worth by Andrew Loomis, Figure Drawing: Design and Invention by Michael Hampton, The Nude (Female) Figure: A Visual Reference for the Artist by Mark Edward Smith, The Figure by Walt Reed, Mastering Drawing the Human Figure by Jack Faragasso.

(Tip: If you struggle with Gesture Drawings, try using a System like The Reilly Rhythms for Figure Drawing. Also, slow down. Don’t do 20 second gestures anymore. You’re going to benefit much more from going to 2 minutes, 3 minutes and then 5 minutes, then going back to 2 minutes. You will feel like you have all the time in the world!).*Example Structural Quicksketch approach & Example Highly Advanced Quicksketch

Animal Drawing

– anything from Joe Weatherly

(Tip: Getting good at drawing humans will make learning to draw Animals easier).

Landscapes

– On Drawing Trees and Nature by James Duffield Harding, Carlson’s Guide to Landscape Painting by John F. Carlson, anything from Edgar Payne

Perspective & Picture Making

– Creative Illustration by Andrew Loomis, Perspective Drawing Handbook by Joseph D’Amelio, Creative Perspective for Artists and Illustrators by Ernest Watson, Framed Perspective Vol. 1 by Marcos Mateu-mestre, Framed Ink by Marcos Mateu-mestre, (If you can get it) Rockwell on Rockwell: How I make a Picture by Norman Rockwell.

(Tip: You will essentially learn perspective from many different sources until it completely “clicks”, don’t hang your head up on one source or book. Repeating these concepts will only make you stronger. This applies to the entire art learning concepts as well).

Painting

– Alla Prima II: Everything I know about Painting by Richard Schmid, Color and Light by James Gurney.

On Learning Art

– The Art Spirit by Robert Henri, Mastery by George Leonard, The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin, The Talent Code: Greatness isn’t born, It’s grown by Daniel Coyle.

(Tip: The Art Spirit is an absolutely fantastic read. Try to go to the back of the book and choose a chapter that you like instead of reading it in one go. That’s how you really utilize 100% out of that book).

Ateliers

Watts Atelier of the Arts (Online, Streaming & In- Person)

(Tip: ‘Nuff said. The one and only for me. This Atelier literally changed my life from floundering in art for the past 10 years (since I was a little teenager) to being on the right path to Greatness. And this is after going through almost all the struggles that people post on r/ArtistLounge all the time! I can’t say enough great things about it. Teachers are fantastic, Online Program is challenging but structured and probably the most solid one on the planet, and the price is unbeatable compared to a College in the US).

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There are many other resources that people like, many other tips people know and books to list, but please note that this is all personal opinion & preference on how to go from a beginner to way on your way to professionalism. Most of these books will be relevant even 30 years into your career and you will constantly go back to them. I’m sure of it.

Since this post was so huge, I don’t expect everyone to read through it… still, I will not do a TL;DR since I believe that everything is important.

Remember: You Fight the Good Fight every day. Yes It’s tough, but It’ll be worth it I you go in a more structured and intelligent manner about your journey.

I’ll leave you with a quote from Instructor & Watts Atelier Owner, Jeff Watts:

“When your ideas in your brain start coming out better on paper & canvas than they were in your head, something changes. There’s a tipping point that occurs that just says: “Man, I can’t get enough of this. I wanna do more of it. This is what I was born to do. I wanna share my vision with the world and it could be any number of visions, but It’s my vision.”

(exerpt from How to Train to Become a Succesful Working Artist on Youtube).

EDIT: Goodness gracious me! I almost forgot the “making it fun” part. Fortunately, the solution is quite simple:

Finding the Fun

Learn to enjoy the mere process of drawing. People say “It’s all about the Journey” and it really is. The sooner you realize this, the sooner you can enjoy the actual practice of art, instead of only the making of it… or worse: not enjoying both.

Get a skechbook, experiment a lot with mediums & supplies, but don’t think of them as scribble books, or books for your concepts only. Try to think of them almost as little fine art pieces. It’s not a bad idea to have one sketchbook to each of your study practices (like one for figure drawing, one for animal anatomy, one for head drawing, etc…).

Learn to love repetition. Really dig deep into that. If you can learn to enjoy drawing the same eyeball for the 50th time, you’re golden. Repetition is the Mother of Skill.

Anyways, that’s it! The post is not perfect, but after all… what is, haha.