#portrait accelerator

But, finally - I did pass, right when I finally accepted that I'd probably just be in lesson 1 forever xD I tried to tiptoe into lesson 2 but then found that I could really receive the most ideal feedback unless I submitted the whole study. Another lesson learned.

And this. This was the point of putting in all those hours, taking all those notes, watching all the livestreams and reading as much as I could in the discord and asking other students for their advice. (The community is actually one of the best things about the course, meeting like minded people from all over the world has been an unanticipated perk!) I was finally starting to see progress! However - it got to the point where I'd been in lesson 1 for 6 months! Which - with the course being called "Portrait Accelerator" at the time, I couldn't help but feel like I was an idiot? Like - was I the only one taking THIS long to grasp the most BASIC concepts in lesson 1?! Me... with a bachelor of arts honours degree... in my 30's - there must be something actually wrong with me... However - as time moved on and Angel and the team took note of our feedback and they decided to change the name to "Portrait System" - which, in itself massively took the pressure off of everyone. Regardless, I still felt I was sold the course under a false pretence... as the old name suggested progress at a reasonably fast pace, and that in fact was the reason I decided to go through with the purchase. So far, I had found this whole experience incredibly humbling - ( as someone with ADHD who suffers from RSD, the perceived lack of progress made me feel like giving up ) I remember being so nervous before every weekly livestream, my heart was racing and I felt physically sick awaiting my critiques - what else had I failed to understand now? What else would I have to hear wasn't good enough? ( That phrase "good enough" is actually my 'bottom line' - something I'd learnt this through years of therapy over low self esteem...) So even thought this is just a dumb art course - something for fun and recreation ( well, hopefully something that potentially feeds into my more commercial success as an artist in the future- but that wasn't why I undertook it initially.) I won't go into detail here but, as someone who suffers from a mile long scrolls worth of mental health issues and who can't work - I thought that this would be an awesome creative outlet and something positive in my life - but it was far more nuanced than that! Not to say that it wasn't enjoyable - it was and continues to be more so as I learn and understand about way more than just art.

Honestly, I lost track of any sort of order - I'm sure it says somewhere in the small print. ProCreate is amazing for keeping all the data on when studies where done (date), how long they took - and also capturing an instant replay / speed paint / time-lapse - truly, can't recommend an iPad + ProCreate for beginner digital artists enough - well for anyone really - honestly, so impressive.

It's so cringe / funny looking back at these and remembering that I felt proud of them?! Like I really thought I was ready for the next lesson xD Goshhh, I got humbled SO fast.

So, weirdly I haven't posted anything here from Doodle Warriors? So, last year, back in November, I discovered that YouTuber and artist Angel Ganev had created a portrait course. At the time it was called Portrait Accelerator - the idea of getting better at drawing portraits FAST really appealed to me. But I didn't have 300 big ones, just *spare* to drop on the course. So I binge watched all of his YouTube videos and then subscribed to his Patreon in order to get a kind of taste for what was on offer, and to see what my money would be spent on, if I did decide to commit to this. These were my first attempts whilst listening to his early videos on the subject. I was using my iPad and ProCreate at this point. * Spoiler alert, I did save up and buy the course - but first - bought my very first Pen Display (Huion Kamvas Pro 16 2.5k) - I'd wanted one of these (ideally a WACOM but I'm not Scrooge McDuck) ever since I knew they existed, but they were always HELLA out of my price range - luckily my partner helped chip in, with a view to helping propel me to success in this course. This later meant I'd move on to mainly using Photoshop for my studies - you'll see the gradual improvement. Still LOVE my iPad and Procreate, but seeing as the course was taught via Photoshop, this just made sense to me.*