Art Improvement Meme

[alias_sqbr]

Art Improvement Meme at Tumblr

Beyond the fact that this was fun and people might find it interesting, I want to make a point: it is never too late to improve your art. I wasn't completely terrible at art in my teens and early twenties, but my motivation, dedication, and ability have improved more in the 3-5 years from my late twenties to now than they did in the ten years or so previously (this isn't entirely evident from the meme, since two of the big changes are consistency and the amount of time art takes).

Part of this change came from having nothing better to do but draw, but a lot of it was getting over my self consciousness: being willing to see "failed" art as practice rather than Proof That I Suck, and having the motivation/encouragement of posting my art in public, whether that be on a webcomic or DeviantArt etc.

It used to put me off that I was never going to be a "real artist", but I don't care any more, and it's incredibly freeing. Art is fun! It makes me and other people happy! And that's reason enough for me.

Description/transcript:

Looking up old art for this meme I found some stuff from pre 2003, and decided to change the meme.

1990 age 10: A "lady in waiting" from a victorian melodrama I wrote about a girl whose guardian turned into a vampire and tried to seduce her.

I liked art but thought I sucked and was going to be a Writer.

1995 age 15: Tolkein inspired tree. SO OBSESSED WITH TOLKEIN.
1996 age 16: random guy in a big stone chair looking beat up.

Lots of abstract nature/knotwork influenced designs, sketches of family/the garden etc, crappy original fantasy. Mostly pencils with the odd unsuccessful attempt at paint.

I didn't draw much in my late teens and early twenties, or if I did I threw it all out when I left home. I didn't have a scanner or tablet, so art was either totally traditional, done entirely on the computer with a mouse (I did a lot of tessellating backgrounds), or I photocopied it and sketched over the top of that.

From about 2001 I started colouring images digitally using a camera and mouse. It was pretty dire. I also did a fair amount of craft. I posted occasional art to a now defunct website but nobody looked at it.

2003 age 23: A pencil sketch of a happy looking beheaded woman, and a badly coloured Vash the Stampede as Hellsing digital picture. I was inordinately proud of these. (I'm too embarrassed to show any of the more typical art :))

I had a Phd to procrastinate on and decided to take art a bit more seriously. Based on the sketchpads I could find, I drew more in this year than the previous five combined, though I'm sure I just threw some stuff out when I moved.

2004 age 24: A snippet of a digital comic, a terrible pencil drawing of a dragon.

I had a blog and comics blog, a graphics tablet, and my first (dire) attempt at a webcomic. I actually did some reading/exercises about face structure, comic technique etc.

2005 age 25: Comic of Hermione saying "God I wish I had some female friends", a page from A Circle of Stars.

I started the fantasy webcomic A Circle of Stars. I did some gag comics I still like enough to keep online. I can't find any non comics art from this year, though I'm sure I must have drawn some.

2006 age 26: A digital picture of an angel, a snippet of a lawyer and a body thief

2007 age 27: Sami cosplay outfit, Firefly comic (this was almost 2008, 2007 art is hard to find!)

I was happy and busy but was still happily working on my gag and plotty comics. I appear to have discovered the existence of chins. Art was a minor but satisfying part of my life. Ah, 2007 me, so full of hope and promise...

2008 age 28: A snippet of True love, Atlantis fanart

I started to become horribly horribly ill. Partly to distract myself from this, I started drawing original and then fannish art prompts on my livejournal.

2009 Age 29: Buffy the Jedi Knight (this took roughly a million years and was way too much stress/effort), one of the last pages of ACOS.

Housebound with illness I had nothing better to do than draw a lot of fanart and angst. I posted to one or two communities etc but was too multifannish to make many real connections. I got a DeviantArt Account. I did very few comics, and eventually stopped updating A Circle of Stars.

2010 age 30: A Dragon Age Origins comic, Nikita and Michael.

I clicked with a bunch of fandoms enough to really feel like I was in the fandom, especially Dragon Age Origins. The positive feedback loop and sense of community was very encouraging and my fanart output went way up. Also, I'm not letting myself take more than a day or so to draw anything (and not the whole day at that), it just makes me stressed and fanart is supposed to be helping me rest.

Coming into 2011 I'm trying to expand my range and do some of that boring technical stuff like anatomy, plus maybe a bit more original art.

Comments

[furikku]

It used to put me off that I was never going to be a "real artist", but I don't care any more, and it's incredibly freeing. Art is fun! It makes me and other people happy! And that's reason enough for me.

This is what real art is. It is doing art for the sake of "FUCK YEAH! ART!" :D

I almost want to do this except it seems like a lot of work to track down stuff from each year.

[sqbr]

If I saw myself as an Artist I'd have to take it seriously and I'd rather not :)

I was going to say that the original meme wasn't so long, then remembered I got it from you in the first place!

[furikku]

Well yeah, taking it seriously is definitely not a requirement if you're doing it as a hobby. :) (It is not necessarily a requirement if you're doing it as a profession, even!)

[alias_sqbr]

In theory, but I know from past experience that if I'm being paid to do something I get all neurotic about doing it properly and promptly lose a lot of my enthusiasm for it. I wish I'd realised this before the Phd in maths and job at a general science museum :( I was thus much happier (before I got sick) with my job analysing medical data, something I have never been inclined to do for fun :)

[furikku]

That sounds terribly unhelpful for your general life. :(

[sqbr]

Well, it was more of an issue when I was well enough to work! And it's hard to tell how many of my Issues With Work were a result of me feeling guilty about being increasingly sick and unable to do my job, since that was a worsening issue from the beginning.

[furikku]

I can see how that would complicate things, yes! (It sounds similar to- though obv. more extreme than- my issues at wintertime of "Oh God why can't I do these things I can do the rest of the year if I just tried harder I would be OK.")

[aquaeri]

I'm so pleased you've found a good place with your art.

[alias_sqbr]

Me too!