This series has been a great impetus to get me practicing consistently and often. I do feel that my progress each week is measurable; or at least that I can confidently say I've learned and improved upon my skills from the week previous, even if I can't focus on specific examples.
I've started to find a healthy balance between my other hobbies/responsibilities and my self-practice in the visual arts. I'm growing increasingly surprised by how confident I feel in sketching and shading subjects that I never would have attempted a couple of months ago.
I spent some time drawing with my wife this weekend, and I came to the realization that a big part of my overall artistic improvement really comes from the progress I've made in personal persistence.
My starting sketches still aren't anything special. They are rough, messy, and often staggeringly inaccurate.
However, where I once would've given up at this point and called it a finished sketch, I've instead started returning to such pieces and bringing them to a more complete state.
And although these (more) finished products are still rather crude and unpolished, the extra 20% of time I spend cleaning up and refining probably gives me the greatest mileage -- in both learning and enjoyment. It forces me to push myself to observe the finer details of my subject and recreate them accurately.
Becoming actively aware of the power of patience has allowed me to stop rushing through my sketches just to say that I've completed them. I've gotten much more comfortable with letting rough sketches sit and revisiting them once I feel ready.
I've also gotten more familiar with the smudge brush. I do think I need to work on retaining some hard edges. Being aware of it is the first step to improving upon it.
I don't have too much to expound on this week. My work has been a steady blend of construction, value, gesture, and blending. I'm quite happy with my progress! I now rarely feel the dread that comes with a blank canvas. Part of the reason is that I've taken to saving any reference that piques my interest, giving me access to a lot of intriguing images that I might want to use for practice whenever I open up Procreate.
One thing I have been focusing on is getting more complete gestures in under a minute. The past couple of weeks, I've had an issue with the extremities especially. I can tell I'm getting better at putting down more accurate lines initially and moving on to other shape.
Extended figure drawing has been a bit of a blind spot for me this week. I did attempt one, and I'm still having trouble with proportions. I definitely want to make it a point to do more of them in the upcoming week. I also want to spend some time drawing from imagination, if I can!
Have a beautiful week!
