#vigot

After a good old break from art, here is my take when it comes to improvements

My first tip is to find and invest in a good art book. Get to learn your basics. In January, I decided to buy my first art book from the editor VIGOT - Dessiner, mode d'emploi LE CORPS HUMAIN. It cost about 30€ and that came with an exercise book. I studied the first part of the book for a good while. I have yet to finish but for me it's not a race. I am taking my sweet time because I want to understand the little things first. Things I sadly wasn't able to learn younger. Since I have started, my proportions have gotten so much better. I am happy about the results and even though it doesn't teach anything about color, just improving my technique was enough to have this result.

I say this because, sometimes we're o accustomed to a way of doing things that we don't see how it's not beneficial for us. I had to get rid of my old ways of doing things to learn more. So, even though sometimes it's harder said than done, try something new. Do something different and always keep learning.

My second tip would be "Don't base your skills on others talents": I am someone who feeds on art, I love looking at what others produce. This isn't inherently wrong. It's good, you get to see different styles and get to support fellow artists. The problem comes when you start comparing yourself ... which is exactly what I did and then I ended up giving up for a few months. I had a huge crisis in my capacities after looking at my art and seeing what others could do. One day I broke down. Creating is a part of who I am, putting my love aside just made me feel miserable. My life felt empty and I hated it but, whenever I tried creating, I didn't feel joy anymore.

It's not important if what you make is "sellable". All that matters is creating, when and if you want. Not to make anyone else proud but for yourself. By improving your technique and just having fun during your creative process, you will already see huge changes and this will encourage you to go further. If you're feeling that you're not progressing, learn something new and don't feel like a failure if you need to start from step 1. That's what I learnt and now, I can see the difference. If you're going to compare something, do so between who you are now and who you were 2 months ago. Give yourself time to rest your creative spirit, maybe you need a break and that's okay. Find what makes you happy and don't feel bad because you need to rest, or relearn. We need to be nicer to ourselves.

Find confidence in your style and work on it: This is my tip. Yes, we all have our style and our signature. Some people find it earlier than others, good for them. If you're similar as me, you could spend months, even years looking for what makes your art special. I just barely started to find mines, I am 27 and I've been drawing as long as I can remember. I though I loved manga, then I thought I love renaissance oil paintings, then I thought I loved digital and then came back to painting only to go back to digital. And now, I am looking for new ways to make my digital art better by mixing medias.

All of these requires different techniques.

I never mastered none and I am not ashamed of saying it, I just love learning different styles. Now, I am starting to find mines. My characters always seem to have big eyes, that's because of anime influence from my childhood.. and even though I can draw small ones... I want to keep the big eyes. I love realism so my coloring style is closer to this but not too much because I also love the comic style.

I mean, there is so much we can say. Just look (and I say this loosely) for what makes you unique and work on that. My way is to keep all my art, even the ones I dislike and analyse them. It's easy to pick apart what you didn't succeed. But... I am sure there is something you love about your creation. Find it, and then ask yourself if you'd like to add something similar to your next creation. Then, just keep repeating this process and tweaking your new creations little by little. If you don't like it, no problem, don't do it anymore or find a better way. Soon enough, when you'll take a look at all your recent productions... you will find similarities and soon enough, you'll start figuring out your style. This takes time, practice, experiencing with various medias and taking risks. Trust yourself that you have all the secrets inside you.

Be yourself, let your creativity speak, and have fun most and foremost. You can't skip on training but you can skip on being hard on yourself <3