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It’s hard to believe another year has passed. I always get a little bit down in the last weeks of the year when I look back and see where I fell short of my goals. But even though I didn’t accomplish everything I set out to do, I’m proud of the fact that I made art a priority in my life again, and tried things outside my comfort zone.
Consistency has always been a struggle for me and I’ve never been very good about keeping to a daily drawing practice routine, even though I know how beneficial it is if you want to improve. But around the middle of the year my daughter challenged me to start keeping a sketchbook, and I surprised myself by actually doing it with–*gasp*– some consistency! It didn’t happen every day but definitely more regularly than I ever had before, so I’m going to put that under wins for the year!
Another goal I had for myself was to branch out a bit from photorealism and try some new styles. One new thing I’ve been learning is how to make digital art using an iPad and Procreate drawing software, and it’s been a game changer for me (hello undo button!). It’s definitely a different process from traditional art and it’s been a struggle trying to get used to it, but now that I’m more familiar with how it works I’m loving it so much! I was even inspired to take on an illustration challenge (which I wrote about in my previous post), and actually completed it! (Wait, is this me showing consistency?! Another for the win column!)
One thing that became painfully clear while attempting the challenge was how weak I am on fundamentals. I hadn’t taken formal drawing classes since college (a looong time ago), and the kind of drawing I’d done since then always relied on copying reference photos exactly, so I didn’t have to think too hard about what I was drawing. Photorealistic drawing definitely helped me develop technical skills and expand my visual library, but I realized that copying references had became a crutch that left me unsure that I could draw anything original.
As I struggled with anatomy and posing (and composition, and lighting, and color, and…), I realized that if I wanted to reach my goals I needed to get back to basics and work on mastering the fundamentals.
So that’s going to be my focus this year. What about you? What goals, artistic or otherwise, are you focusing on in 2023? I’d love to hear about them!