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I got pretty good at drawing, then watercolor, and now oil portraits by starting with the lessons on figure drawing by Stan Prokopenko on YouTube. He's a former

I got pretty good at drawing, then watercolor, and now oil portraits by starting with the lessons on figure drawing by Stan Prokopenko on YouTube. He's a former instructor at Watt's Atelier (and is an excellent painter), but he is very down to earth and funny. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtG4P3lq8RHGuMuprDarMz_Y9Fbw_d2ws https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtG4P3lq8RHGuMuprDarMz_Y9... He's got affordable courses you can buy as well. The figure drawing course is excellent and a great place to start. He does a great job of teaching foundations so you'll be able to branch from just drawing into draftsmanship, painting, or digital art if you want. For other resources see also: https://noahbradley.com/dont-go-to-art-school/ https://noahbradley.com/dont-go-to-art-school/ The recommendation to go to weekly figure drawing is excellent. I've been doing that now for years and it's changed the game for me. Highly recommend doing the same if you can. It really helps the mind to see things in 3D then draw them, vs drawing from reference photos (which I do too, but it's not the same).

silicon2401 4y ago
Interesting; so aside from the cost of supplies, do you think it's reasonable to achieve some level of skill just by self-studying with those videos? By skill here I mean drawing/painting something that suggests some level of artistic skill, rather than the usual results from somebody (like myself) who obviously has no artistic experience lol
- Broken_Hippo 4y ago
  do you think it's reasonable to achieve some level of skill just by self-studying with those videos? Not the person you replied to: But yes. Definitely yes. I've seen adults, in the course of a couple years, go from a complete beginner to selling works that are interesting and fairly original in style. It took work and practice, of course, and most folks are fairly happy well before that. (this was in facebook groups). Look at it this way: If you set off to do woodworking and followed tutorials, do you think you would develop woodworking skills enough to work with them? The answer is probably yes. Art is the same way.
  - silicon2401 4y ago
    Very helpful and encouraging point, thanks for sharing that. My interest is just improving, even if it's little by little, so I'm not too daunted by the process taking a long time if I go at it slowly. Definitely gonna give it a try
- JackMorgan 4y ago
  I think so. I spent maybe 30-90 minutes a day on art for a year or two and got pretty satisfied with my results. Here's a few pieces I did I was pleased with (some NSFW): https://64.media.tumblr.com/9fcc42a5f4867f3588e3677cac68e944/tumblr_p3ova66Dds1tf5fc5o1_1280.jpg https://64.media.tumblr.com/9fcc42a5f4867f3588e3677cac68e944... https://64.media.tumblr.com/a915729ac2c2b0bbba11d1b94c7f249d/tumblr_p2cpwlWwzW1tf5fc5o1_1280.jpg https://64.media.tumblr.com/a915729ac2c2b0bbba11d1b94c7f249d... https://64.media.tumblr.com/0496ee9d307c685c18103e81745e2862/tumblr_owutj5nZSW1tf5fc5o1_1280.jpg https://64.media.tumblr.com/0496ee9d307c685c18103e81745e2862... Here's my whole blog of everything I did: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/tawsy-art https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/tawsy-art The ticket for me was just to grind it every day. I made art just all the time. I'd copy paintings, do figure drawing, practice from still life, make comics, just anything and everything to get better. If I hated a drawing I'd just photograph and it move on, vs get hung up on disliking it.

silicon2401 4y ago

Interesting; so aside from the cost of supplies, do you think it's reasonable to achieve some level of skill just by self-studying with those videos? By skill here I mean drawing/painting something that suggests some level of artistic skill, rather than the usual results from somebody (like myself) who obviously has no artistic experience lol

Broken_Hippo 4y ago
do you think it's reasonable to achieve some level of skill just by self-studying with those videos? Not the person you replied to: But yes. Definitely yes. I've seen adults, in the course of a couple years, go from a complete beginner to selling works that are interesting and fairly original in style. It took work and practice, of course, and most folks are fairly happy well before that. (this was in facebook groups). Look at it this way: If you set off to do woodworking and followed tutorials, do you think you would develop woodworking skills enough to work with them? The answer is probably yes. Art is the same way.
- silicon2401 4y ago
  Very helpful and encouraging point, thanks for sharing that. My interest is just improving, even if it's little by little, so I'm not too daunted by the process taking a long time if I go at it slowly. Definitely gonna give it a try
JackMorgan 4y ago
I think so. I spent maybe 30-90 minutes a day on art for a year or two and got pretty satisfied with my results. Here's a few pieces I did I was pleased with (some NSFW): https://64.media.tumblr.com/9fcc42a5f4867f3588e3677cac68e944/tumblr_p3ova66Dds1tf5fc5o1_1280.jpg https://64.media.tumblr.com/9fcc42a5f4867f3588e3677cac68e944... https://64.media.tumblr.com/a915729ac2c2b0bbba11d1b94c7f249d/tumblr_p2cpwlWwzW1tf5fc5o1_1280.jpg https://64.media.tumblr.com/a915729ac2c2b0bbba11d1b94c7f249d... https://64.media.tumblr.com/0496ee9d307c685c18103e81745e2862/tumblr_owutj5nZSW1tf5fc5o1_1280.jpg https://64.media.tumblr.com/0496ee9d307c685c18103e81745e2862... Here's my whole blog of everything I did: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/tawsy-art https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/tawsy-art The ticket for me was just to grind it every day. I made art just all the time. I'd copy paintings, do figure drawing, practice from still life, make comics, just anything and everything to get better. If I hated a drawing I'd just photograph and it move on, vs get hung up on disliking it.