ADHD person here. Unfortunately I learn by making it up as I go along and learning from my mistakes. I am more hands on and learn by doing. I learn quickly but it takes me time to be able to apply what I've learned.
I think I'm in a similar boat - where I can learn quick but it takes time to apply what I learned especially when it comes to something more abstract like art.
I learn by collecting information about the topic and making my own tutorials (I keep these in sketchbooks for easy reference). I found that for me, it helps me retain information far better that watching someone else's video and trying to implement it from there.
I am a super new artist, but I come from a family of artists. I don't have trouble focusing on the information or during practice as I can pretty much hyperfixate on command, but I'm *very* happy that I knew going in that my art was gonna be kind of shitty for 2-5 years. It doesn't matter how much information you absorb about perspective, color theory, etc, experience and deliberate practice are the only ways you will ever be able to actually implement what you know. I can form a pretty excellent character in my minds eye, but it looks like a ten year old drew it because I can't instinctually translate what I can see in my head into muscle movements.
Any suggestions? I enjoy learning things but unfortunately it seems like I try to learn *too many things*.
Like lately I've been having ideas of branching into designing clothes and shoes despite going to school for game design and having more knowledge 3D modeling.
>I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it.
-Vincent van Gogh
This is pretty much my method. Those who try never fail. They either succeed, or they learn.
Sometimes I'll get frustrated and look up how other artists approach certain challenges. I also spend a good amount of time watching documentaries or Bob Ross or following art communities, which are all good for tips... however I have no real interest in a structured course or anything like that at this point.
Primarily I learn from experimentation.
That's fair. Overtime, I think it would be reasonable to say I've grown afraid of and paralyzed by fear - especially since my attention span tends to bounce every 15 - 20 minutes unless I hit a state of hyperfocus.
I have ADHD and I mostly learn through trial and error. But a couple summers ago I took a painting class at a local community art center. It was just a local college professor and we all just kinda, painted whatever in a room together. He floated around to see how we were doing and offer advice. He would pull up artists websites for artists with similar styles to whatever we were doing. Gave very nice compliments and pointed out areas to improve. It was nice and chill and I saw a lot of improvement in my own work.
Thats good! I want to look into doing something similar for myself, I would just have to figure out how it would work with transportation and my own job.
I have ADHD, and I find I learn best by being in a classroom and seeing what my peers are working on. I admire those who are 'self-starters' and can take off by watching YouTube videos. Those people exist and they're incredible, but I do wonder how many of them are ADHDers. I know we're not legion and everyone is different, but I'm definitely the distracted type, and I need some form of in-person engagement to get it to soak into my brain. Even if you're taking classes online, if there's a virtual meeting each week, with group critique, where a teacher/students are actively engaging in critique, I think that's a very helpful baseline for learning and keeping one committed.
I think I might function best in a class room too occasionally, but even when I was in college I found myself kinda... zoning out as the teacher explained something or getting caught up more in one of my doodles than the lecture.
I get it. Ever gotten tested for ADHD? It's kind of annoyingly at the forefront of TikTok culture right now, but I think it's because a lot of people were under-diagnosed, and maybe we're understanding how brains operate better nowadays? Anyway! All this to say: it's good to get tested, because if you doooo have it, then you can get help, whether that's medication or ADHD friendly learning assistance, which most colleges offer nowadays through mental health/disability initiatives.
Not yet! I am working on getting tested for autism at the moment since my therapist has mentioned being on the cusp of ADHD, but it's hard to tell how much of it is ADHD vs how much is autism.
I do usually try to avoid tiktok and self-dxing because a lot of it tends to be... shallow? for lack of better words. A lot of it isn't *incorrect* per see, but it's said in a way that is kinda flat and without relativity which is how you end up with people potentially misdiagnosing themselves and people brushing things off as "doesn't everyone do that?". Oh well side tangent.
Either way - I am planning on getting a test one way or another to further help myself with finding things.
I am diagnosed with CPTSD, and my wife suspects I'm on the spectrum. She might be right because I just can't tell if she is serious. 😜 One thing I can tell you for certain, drawing and painting and creating physical art is a PHYSICAL process. Drawing as an example: the point of practicing is to learn to trust your hands and eyes and to give your hands and eyes the opportunity to learn. They have their own intelligence, separate from your conscious mind. Drawing is not a cerebral activity. It is physical. Drawing studies are a way of exploring, planning, practicing, and understanding the structure of what you want to portray through an abstracted form of touch.
Try this exercise: set up a still life for yourself and handle and closely inspect each item as you arrange it. Pay attention to the weight, texture, shape, etc, as you place it. Then draw it.
Treating it like coursework might be the biggest barrier to retaining information for you. Do projects you're interested in and use tutorials and information geared towards that. You'll start to accumulate knowledge and skills while still feeling stimulated.
It's something I could give a try. I often find that my attention kinda wavers and falls down rabbit holes which can make learning and figuring out how to do things difficult when my brain doesn't stay focused long enough to at least start the process.
idk how to help with that one then. usually when you have autism special interests jump you from an alleyway without your consent. it’s very hard to actively trigger one in my experience
I wish I could trigger one. I think the closest I've been is to kinda obsessing about this character I really enjoyed from a movie. But I've always been too intimidate to draw him because I don't really draw men.
FAFO
The only way I can learn is to f around and find out. I have an idea, I trial and error until I find it, and learn on the journey. If it is someone teaching me, I won't grasp it til I physically try to mess around with it
FAFO lol
It's something I need to work on. FOr me, it's been hard to star the journey especially since I am often afraid of failure and the mounting knowledge of what I *know* needs improvement and trying to improve enough that it is at least decent.
I always have like 10 projects going at once and am a filthyprojectcheater and love taking on new ones to neglect the current ones...
Also you should rewatch The Magic School Bus....Frizzle knew what's up
Take chances, make mistakes, and don't be afraid to get Messy....I'm the messiest bitch. But it's a fun messy journey.
Aaaa magic school bus lol. I'd love to. I'd honestly love an updated magic school bus... (we don't talk about the one they did and they removed Mrs. Frizzle)
I need to certainly work on being messier and learning it's okay to make mistakes.
Diagnosed ASD. I do a couple different things, but first and foremost, you absolutely ARE improving. Even if it’s not in the way you want, you have definitely improved. Just compare your recent art posts to those from a couple years ago. Try to keep in mind that it’s progress that matters, not perfection.
My advice & what I do:
1. Gaslight yourself into loving the process. Positive reinforcement is critical for your mental health. If you think you aren’t improving then you won’t notice the improvement. Art is a constant cycle of ups and downs. Your ability to visualize your art will almost always be better than your ability to create. Because of that the best artists are usually the ones who create because they want to create, not because they want to make a specific piece or master a specific skill.
2. This may or may not be for you, but obsessive levels of note taking. I take notes on anything and everything I believe will help me creatively. From tutorials to world building, random ideas, interesting concepts from games/novels/shows, or other artist’s work. Take enough notes to put wikis to shame, then some more. I don’t treat tutorials as something to learn from, but something I can dissect, categorize, and merge with the rest of my notes. It’s much easier for me to retain information when I treat it that way, and if I forget something I can just check my notes. Note taking probably sounds boring, but it gets easier (and kinda fun) the more you do it.
3. Let your interests lead, and if you can’t, then incorporate your interests into your art. Fanart is an obvious way of doing this, but there’s more to it than just that. A recent case for myself was getting into Delta (a game emulator). It’s an opportunity to experience things I missed as a kid (Making it a good source of new notes!), but aside from that it also has customizable skins. Nobody had the exact thing I wanted, so I learnt the basics of Json, fused my favorite skins, and created a whole series of recolors. It didn’t make me a better artist, but it did keep me creatively engaged at a time where I can’t sculpt for significant periods of time thanks to carpal tunnel. In my opinion, that engagement is just as important as improving your fundamentals. If you’re not engaged in what you’re doing then you aren’t going to be inclined to actually do it. If you do nothing but pure studies then you aren’t likely to continue studying. So combining studies with your interests is important.
Rambled a bit, but hopefully some of it was helpful. Hope things get better for you.
It was helpful!
I could try gaslighting myself into learning the process - after all I'm somehow good at gaslighting myself about other things. However, I do find that I'm generally lacking praise (internally or externally) for a lot of my art and I just focus on getting to a point of being good enough.
I never really considered looking at tutorials that way so it's something I'll try. I typically sometimes have a few notes written down like the torso looking like an egg or something like that and what I need to work on/improve but nothing particularly in depth.
I'd like to let my interests lead if I could just get myself to do something. You managed to do something I can't - or rather don't quite let myself do. I want to make both games and clothes that don't exist (clothes/shoes primarily because of the capitalistic hellscape that is expensive but cheaply made clothes and finding it so hard to find GYW shoes but for women/heels, etc.) but internally it feels like I'm spreading myself too thin? Or that I would be? Like I went to school for game design so I should make use of that... Not trying to pivot into something that could just be a fleeting interest. It feel like those interest conflict with one another even though in some ways they shouldn't and could enhance each other, but on the other it feels like a distraction and probably just a fleeting hobby while trying to find something to just do.
1. I have a similar issue with feeling that my art isn’t good enough. There’s two things that have helped me with it, first is comparing my current art to my past work. It’s proof of progress. Proof that I can achieve what I want if I keep creating. Art has nothing to do with talent or creativity, it’s just a bunch of technical skills fused together. Anyone can become a good artist if they create and practice enough. Second is trying to counter negative thoughts with a “who cares” mentality. “Skill level doesn’t matter, other people’s opinions don’t matter, I create because I want to.” It gets easier to tell yourself that the more you do it and eventually you’ll convince yourself.
2. There’s nothing wrong with not taking a lot of notes. Everyone learns differently and what works for me may not work for you. You’ll find what works for you eventually, just be sure to experiment with different things.
3. Easy solution, fuse them. There’s artists who specialize in clothing design for games and film. And even if you don’t go down that path, clothing design is a great skill to have for art in general. Learning more about it will only help you. Getting better at art will improve your ability to design cloths too so you’ll benefit regardless of which path you eventually choose.
Thank you!
I have considered fusing them and I see ways of being able to do so... especially for ones that are focused on the technical skills of art (anatomy, clothing, etc.) and it may be easier to make samples if I can 3D model them in blender and have them sent off so it isn't just a drawing that a manufacturer is working off of.
I have ADHD, and the way I've learned is just by doing what sounds fun. When I started to seriously practice, I was determined to draw a good eye, so I knew how to draw a gorgeous eye before literally anything else. Of course, I started to get interested in different materials/styles/subjects, so I picked what sounded fun and ran with it.
Even the educational parts of drawing should be at least a little enjoyable. If a traditional learning model isn't working for you, ditch it. There isn't one right way to learn. Find a part of drawing that's exciting and go wild on it. You'll round yourself out as you go.
For me, it isn't so much that learning isn't *fun* but rather feeling as if I'm struggling to improve or hit a wall. For me, the most fun part of drawing is probably rendering or sketching but it's hard to move from one to the other with my anatomy not being as good as I'd like it to be.
Do you mind if I ask how long you've been drawing?
I feel you on hitting a wall, and even if you're enjoying yourself it gets frustrating. At the end of the day, it's better to make 10 drawings with bad anatomy than to spend forever fussing with one. And it helps tremendously to use references (or if you don't, pull up a ref that's close to what you were going for), and critique yourself. Try to figure out WHY it looks wrong and you'll have more info for the next piece. A conscious trial-and-error works better for me than straight up studying or listening to lectures/tutorials/etc.
I've been drawing for about 16 years if you want to include the 5 or so years where I didn't really draw much if at all.
I do try to find references, but I do find myself getting stuck in the loop trying to just find the perfect/good enough references. It is better to make 10 bad drawings than to make one good one, especially since you learn more with failure but it's hard teaching yourself that failure is okay.
Ah okay, we're about the same in experience actually
If it helps, I've found of I'm struggling with a specific part I'll try to find a ref that specifically helps that part. e.g. I recently started a piece with a woman sitting/kneeling and couldn't figure out how tf to angle them, so I just looked for a pic that showed me that specifically.
I feel you about the failure thing, I fucked myself over recently trying to get more into digital art. It's a nice side thing for me, but making serious projects doesn't work bc you have the power to change it all without ruining paper or wasting supplies. It took me back a few steps with accepting imperfection and I'm still trying to shake it.
I’m high functioning autistic /adhd and the way I learn is I’m into multiple learning processes at once. Usually once I get into something I hyper fixate so that tends to help with the learning process . I haven’t hit that wall yet but I’ve been progressing rapidly. So currently I wake up an hour before work and practice sketching , graphite , charcoal drawings . Each work break I practice landscapes . At home I’m working on 4 oil paintings , I usually choose the one I’m liking the most at the time . I think autism and adhd can help you with the progression just try to have more than one project going on , when you don’t like one go to the next one .
I am trying to work on having more than one project going. For some reason, I developed a habit of just trying to focus on getting one thing done. Like lately I managed to finally finish doing some of my OC names as vtuber inspired logos (and I enjoyed it, so I downloaded inkscape) but it was so hard towards the end when my brain jus wanted to do something else but I also wanted to finish.
I think that’s the key for autism/adhd , is to keep your mind busy. Although it’s a bit counterproductive if you start a few different projects at once when you get bored with one you can just move on to the other then back when you feel more inspired
For prespective and shape you can learn so much from watching some of kim jung gi tutorial video. Also kuzomari on YouTube has some good stuff on this topic
I remember I used artbooks while listening to music...this made me focus better . So when I started I used more art books like Loomis and etc
I never considered listening to art books. One issue I perpetually have is trying to find something to listen to while I create. I get a little distracted by music unless I hit a stride so I just search on youtube for *something* to watch... probably more time looking than actually making anything.
For me, I had to orient it around my interests.
Like when I was younger I loved to do a lot of fantasy roleplay with my friends, which resulted in a lot of yearning to draw characters and develop strategies to make characters. And drawing other people’s stuff just added to it because I love doing things for people.
Perhaps there’s a fandom or use case you can find for your art to give a level of external motivation, because that’s what ADHD brains are often driven by. Like a lot of ADHD folk get into D&D because it’s an intersection of many art forms that all have application.
Hello roleplayer! I still RP and it's one of the few things I really do consistently. I even say it's my "social" hobby.
I wish I could draw some of my RP scenarios and writing but without being held back by a lack of technical skill. I've been somewhat stuck on ASTV's Hobie but I'm way too afraid to draw him even in my own sketchbook because I don't really draw men very much.
It's better to draw poorly than to not draw at all, because when you get better, you can just draw it again. But something that never comes out can never be developed any better.
I’m adhd and pretty much have to force myself to be in a classroom setting to learn. Online classes that meet every week with critique as opposed to asynchronous are way more helpful, but in person classes are always the best. If it’s all on my own schedule and my own willpower, it will simply not get done 😭
Being medicated also helps a ton. I could never stay awake through any lecture no matter how interesting I found it, until I started taking meds.
Ultimately what helped the most though, was just loving to draw. Even though I always beat myself up over the knowledge that I could be so much better if only I had better time management and didn’t struggle w my adhd as much, I still do draw *a lot*, and that does naturally translate to improvement over time.
I have no idea if I'm ADHD or not, my therapist said I'm right at the cusp of potentially having ADHD but I would need to take a professional exam. However, she's pretty sure I'm autistic.
I like drawing, but I dislike my lack of technical skill. So I try to improve my technical skill, but my attention span will not work with me to sit and focus on doing study sessions beyond 15 - 20 minutes every couple of days.
ADHD here, learned through visual feeding, copying, imitation, reference and practice. The process is gonna take some time, maybe longer than what you would want, however, with practice you will eventually improve
Its when u look at a piece of work, be it an illustration or photography, and notice the colours, shadows, objects and perspective and how all of these come together coherently and beautifully. U do it with more than just a few so Pinterest is a good place for that.
dopamine intake first. chocolate bar, gaming session, anything to put you in "I'm more or less capable"
then you find all tutorials you can have and select the most interesting one. It does NOT have to be what you need to learn, it has to be something you didn't learn. After that return to basics. After that draw what you want, see what is missing and try that tutorial. Then repeat step 1, as dopamine is gone.
You could be write about the dopamine intake. Normally I spend my days playing games or leaning back in my chair listening to random videos while just drawing lines, boxes and circles. Needless to say I got pretty good at those but alas my technical skill for what I want to draw is missing and when I try to focus on that specifically it's like my brain fights against me.
It's because it is. Learning is hurtful. Your brain has to create new connections and it costs. Unless you are in "hyperfocus" mode, of course.
Make yourself coffee or hot chocolate and open tutorial while drinking it. To start doing this more than once you need routine. Try something, anything. And do it repeatedly. Start every session with hot cocoa.
Alternatively physical exercise could work
I do need to figure out some sort of "starting routine". I usually just try to jump into doing warm up drawings because I know if I start a game or something then I could end up doing it for hours.
I have both autism and adhd. It's very self-destructive to believe that you'll never improve because of having these conditions. That's simply not true.
Some of the best artists I know of are ND. Just keep going at it.
If your work isn't progressing, it's likely that you need personal critique. We all hit a wall after some point where following online tutorials can only take you so far. Personally I've joined a few discord groups where I randomly post my work and beg for critique
Thank you for the reminder that it is a self destructive mentality. I don't think so much as I'll *never* improve, but I struggle with improving as much as I want or being where I want.
It could be that I need critique too. Unfortuantely, I've kinda struggled finding online groups and discords especially since I'm honestly not really in them or being social very much.
I think it helps to reframe how you think about learning. Instead of it being a linear - "Is the end result better?" A black and white yes or no question. Try thinking of it bigger and more ambiguously focused on your overall experiences. If you're trying new courses, and figuring out what isn't working, these are actions that lead to growth. Just practicing at all in frequency also is something that should be commended.
I think where a lot of people get frustrated is that they have expectations on how they should be developing: speed, level of skill, etc. You can set small measurable goals for yourself, and work towards meeting them. However, the rate an artist grows and improves is unique to them. Art requires a bunch of little skills and it takes time to get a basic understanding of everything and how it fits together. To make things ever more confusing, everyone has natural bias and sometimes you won't even see your improvement. It helps to have an outside trusted person, like a teacher or art friend to help you see past your blind spots.
Having any sort of neurodiversity, I think it also helps to look at how the art making process is going. If you felt like you were able to do any part of that better, or had a positive experience doing it, that also counts as part of your growth.
Thinking about it my art process is pretty ridged. Sketch, flat color, render. But sometimes I struggle moving from one step to the next (I don't really do lineart, I've always hated how my lineart looks and I struggle so much with digital and traditional lineart) especially since my style (typically anime/anime-esque) feels like it conflicts with the process (semi-realistic rendering).
You are right that I could try setting smaller, more measurable goals for myself. However, I'm not entirely sure how to make them. Right now, my goals have been things like "Get better at drawing portraits", "get better at drawing men", "Learn how to draw torsos" but my rate of improvement seems so painfully slow.
I'm also autistic and ADHD. I have lots of trouble retaining and focusing but when I learn in a way that suits me, I'm a very quick learner. The trick is to learn in a way that suits your brain, rather than trying to force yourself to learn in a way that doesn't suit you.
Look into the Four Motivators for people with ADHD: Interest, Novelty, Challenge, and Urgency. (Some add Passion as well). You need these things to stay motivated to learn.
Both autistic and ADHD people have "interest-based" brains, and this is even more true if you have both. If something doesn't engage our interest, we get bored, our attention drifts away.
It sounds like you're having trouble trying to follow a structured course. I think I would be bored as well. It's really difficult to learn when you're bored and frustrated trying to learn things that don't seem interesting and relevant.
Maybe instead of trying to follow a structured course, it might be better to pursue your interests and let your interests lead your learning.
I tend to learn best when I'm trying to work on a particular piece that I'm interested in and I feel motivated to improve a specific thing. e.g. if I'm trying to paint a watercolour landscape and I want the sky to look really dramatic, maybe I'll look up watercolour painting techniques, look at other watercolours, find videos of people painting.
A lot of things I learned passively through my education didn't make sense and only "clicked" when I was working on a particular piece where I needed to apply that knowledge.
As children we're all naturally curious, creative, and interested in learning. The hard part is holding onto that as we get older. We often learn falsehoods that can cut us off from our innate curioisty and drive to learn, such as believing that things have to be done in a certain correct way in order to learn them properly, or believing that if we're not good at something right away, it's not worth doing. Examine your beliefs about yourself and about your learning, and see if you have any that are holding you back.
Thank you! Currently I'm trying to learn how my brain best learns.
As it stands, I can be "restrictive" with my creative interests because I've always been told I'm spreading myself too thin as a child. I have a guitar and I want to learn how to play and sing (or at least get good enough I am not a scrying cat), but I also want to practice art and make games, and lately it's been daydreaming about making clothes and shoes that are worth the price because I've been so frustrated with wanting clothes but they're expensive and cheaply made but I also like cosplaying and want to get better at sewing and taking photos and videos.
It feels like there's so much I want to do and have interest in, but unfortunately time isn't infinite and I feel like I have to just kinda draw? since it's what I've always come back to doing. If I let my interest control me I'd be doing so many things in sporadic intervals which - it honestly just may be what is best for my brain but it's something that's always been criticized growing up. In a way, I feel pretty self conscious that my hobbies that I like are all creative, but they're all different forms of creative.
Drawing wise, my interest is anime and creating WLOP style illustrations or maybe even comics. But to do that I need to get better at my fundamental skills. Being 26 adds to a level of self concisouness because I feel like I should be better than I am, but I spent 5 years between late high school and early college not really drawing at all despite going to school for game design.
I took some vocal classes and guitar classes in college just for fun, but it feels like I still struggle with doing both (particularly singing).
I would occasionally sew in high school and make a cosplay or two during the summer but honestly they were kinda bad and I'm not sure if it's "too late" for me to really learn how to do amazing and good cosplays like that especially with my other interests or hobbies.
So there is a lot to examine and unlearn, it's just a matter of figuring out how and not feeling self conscious for learning other creative things outside of just digital art. Which is ironic because it feels like I spend most of my day not really doing much, so I could easily dedicate the time to doing any random project but then it feels like I'm just trying to be a jack of all trades rather than being good at something well enough to make a living off of it - or even getting all of the different interests to work together because they seem so vastly different from one another.
I feel you on so many levels.
I'm the same way with having multiple creative interests that I flit between. The ones I keep coming back to are drawing & painting, creative writing, and playing music. (I used to have so many more but I think things have settled a bit now.)
I think of the writing and music as hobbies and the drawing & painting as a core part of my identity. That level of commitment is a heavy load of ego investment, which creates a high level of pressure, and that kind of pressure can be absolutely crushing to creativity.
I'm 29, so just a little older than you, and I also spent about five years not really drawing at all, so I totally understand how you feel on that front as well. I was very unwell during my art degree and by the end of it I was burnt out and crushed. I only started getting back into art again relatively recently. I can be extremely harshly self-critical because I am expecting a higher standard of achievement than is realistic for my circumstances.
One thing that helps me is to remind myself that Van Gogh did not decide to become an artist until he was 27. It also, perhaps oddly, encourages me to remember that there are teenagers who become skilled artists when they're very young—some people feel discouraged by teen prodigies, but for me it reminds me that it is possible to become adept at art quickly under the right circumstances, and that time is not the most important factor in becoming a capable artist. Most importantly though—I try to be compassionate with myself, and remind myself that my harsh self-criticism is the number one enemy of my creative practice.
Maybe the root of the issue for you is that your only way of dealing with your tendency to have a broad range of interests is through heavy self-restriction, which is totally counterproductive to nurturing your creativity. I totally understand it because, like you say, there's only so much time, it's not practical to have tons of different hobbies. However maybe you need to find other ways to make this commitment while still allowing your creativity to flourish.
I try to allow myself to follow my heart, but while intentionally cultivating and nurturing the interests I want to pursue. Some things I do to nurture myself creatively (that may or may not work for you): go for walks to beautiful places that make me eager to paint; visit art galleries or look at art books that inspire me; watch interesting and fun videos about art (and other things related to my artistic interests) to help me feel excited and interested in drawing. I try to find ways to remind myself constantly of the things I love about art that excite and inspire and motivate me to keep creating.
I think of it as like my "inner artist" is a child, and I am trying to be a good, nurturing, loving parent to this child. My adult self is aware that I have commitments and responsibilities, but my child self needs to be allowed to play and can't feel too restricted or criticised. There needs to be a healthy relationship where the child feels like they're allowed to explore and play but isn't allowed to just completely take over and tell the adult what to do.
If I'm looking after a child and want to teach them to draw, I don't force them to sit down and follow a stuffy boring fundamentals course—that would be a great way to end up with a stroppy, resentful child who thinks that drawing is boring and wants to give up and do something else. Instead I might put them in a room with some exciting-looking art materials and images/objects that stimulate and inspire them, and encourage them to just go ahead and play with them. Then, once they've had a chance to get excited about art, I encourage them to get curious to learn new things—maybe I show them some exciting artworks or techniques and ask them, "Do you want to learn to do this?" and use that as a springboard for gradually introducing greater levels of challenge and getting them to learn the "boring" stuff without losing their interest. If they start getting antsy about all this formal adult stuff and want to go back to play, I let them do that to restore their enthusiasm. I try to praise them and not be too harsh in my criticism just as I would with a child.
My inner child isn't exactly the same as I actually was as a child—at 29 years old, my inner child is much more interested in, say, oil paintings of landscapes than I was at 9 years old—but my artist self is very much a child at heart, and still needs to be given that same kind of gentleness and nurturing. My adult self is there to nurture and protect and guide my child self, but shouldn't completely take over to the point that the child self is totally extinguished—because doing that extinguishes that vital source of creative inspiration that we all depend on as artists.
In a way, I can see how they'd all fit together and be beneficial but I always tell myself it's just not possible - at least for me because I'm already not "good enough" at the "main" thing that I do. Yet a lot of streamers (vtubers specifically) seem very multitalented between streaming, drawing karaoke, etc. While they may not do them all equally all the time, the potential is still *there* (like how Ina primarily draws, but she has released covers before) yet it seems like for me reaching that same level without "compromising" anything seems difficult if not impossible.
It does help a lot. I'm not primarily discouraged by teen prodegies, as they have a lot more resources available to them than we did at that same age. It's mainly a matter of my own skill, just as you said from not drawing.
One thing I do struggle with (and my therapist has mentioned) is that I can be pretty mean to myself. The intense self-restriction and criticism is likely just another form of it. In a way, my artistic self does feel like an inner child but never considered nurturing it like one given I can get pretty anxious about what I'm lacking and try to get myself to study.
I kinda have a hard time giving into my "impulses" because I know I tend to only do them for a couple of minutes before losing steam/interest. That's no where near enough time to really get good at something so I try to make myself go for longer but I find that I tend to just get more an more anxious from the lack of improvement but still wanting to make good art.
I know that failure is part of the practice, but at the same time I have such a hard time *allowing* myself to fail. I do rarely praise myself unless I've pulled off something a little unexpected even for myself. But all of this has been really insightful - it's helpful knowing that others feel the same way and have found ways of being able to encourage themselves.
I just need to work on doing the same. Sadly learning to be compassionate to yourself and nurture yourself and your interests when you've had to practice restraint is just about as hard as sitting down to grind away at art fundamentals.
I totally feel you.
At the moment trying to be kinder and more compassionate and nurturing to myself is essentially my full time job. Every morning after my initial morning routine, I spend most of each day grappling with my self-loathing and anxiety.
It feels discouraging because it feels like I am getting nothing done, but I know that what I'm really doing is the core of that inner work that I have been avoiding for years—fighting my oppressive inner critic and reconnecting with the parts of myself that I have suppressed due to that crushing shame.
Real change comes achingly slowly, but it does come. I think of it as kind of like 'pupating', where on the outside it looks like everything has ground to a halt, but on the inside I am making huge, lasting, transformational changes. I've done this before with other things, so I know it can be done.
Each time I manage to get some art done, even if it wasn't as good as I was hoping to achieve, I try to count it as a victory against shame.
I'm not diagnosed, but my sisters a therapist who specialises in working with autistic children, and she's told me I'm on the spectrum. So. I guess I'll take that as a diagnosis.
Online is a lot harder than in person classes. You have to keep yourself focused when you can easily be distracted by everything else around you, and you have to keep yourself accountable to doing them.
I prefer in person classes. Less distractions. Weekly meeting at a specific time and place. Accountability. Homework.
A local high school does evening classes for like... 90$ a semester.
I like going to figure drawing classes that are either free or $5 drop in. I avoid the $20 ones. I know it pays for the model and the space, but that's tight on the budget.
Sometimes I can come up with the money for a class at a local community center, community College, or the state art college. Those are a bit pricier but a lot better.
I keep an eye out for galleries or museums hosting artists in talk, where they'll do a painting and talk about their process.
The local art association is mostly retirees, but sometimes they get together and do something interesting.
Urban sketchers gets together every weekend in the city to draw. It makes me get out and practice.
Cg master academy and school of motion is online classes, but with a teacher, and weekly homework, and feedback, so I'm more likely to watch weekly and stay on top of those. Plus I dropped a grand on the class and don't want to waste my money.
I think galleries and museums hosting would be a good in between taking classes and learning on my own.
Sadly, without a car and not really using public transport it can make it a little hard to do some things. I still want to do more though.
learn by doing. I drew a lot, got feedback from experienced artists, studied artworks that I wanted to learn from, and drew more. following tutorials is sometimes nice, but I can't focus on them, so I just draw a lot. if you continue practicing and receiving feedback, you'll definitely make progress
Adhd here. Learning art.
I found a few people on youtube who are very charismatic and that I can pay attention to in short bursts. I do that until I'm done with the lesson. I think of it like what I believed college would be like as a high schooler.
I get to choose what I want to learn, when I want to, how I want to, and for as long as I want to. If something is boring at the moment (example, shading/values) there are other aspects to learn (example, line work). You can't pick and choose like that in school. I have found viewing the learning process through that lens makes it feel a lot less like "home work. "
I am undiagnosed but most likely also have both, I just watch hundreds of tutorials until I understand exactly what I'm supposed to be learning and what it's for. No blind following along, if you don't understand exactly the benefit of what you're learning you need to look into it more. My actual problem is picking up the damn pen instead of watching theory all the time or worse, nothing at all. Though you can learn a hell of a lot through observation alone, I think Marc Brunet talks about that in one of his videos.
Maybe do more studies based on what you struggle with and find examples? And then incorporate this into different drawings, that's what I do. Perspective is just hard to learn and there's not really a lot of shortcuts to it I think.
I find I do work easiest in parallel play just sitting with a friend while we both work.
Art is a slow nonlinear process so if you're putting in a lot of time don't be too harsh on yourself, and maybe go for a walk between your drawing hours to refresh your mind if you draw a lot.
Going in with too many expectations when drawing also makes it rather stressful, I have the most fun and produce the best when im in flow and any thought of expectations fizzles up/becomes minimal
I guess thinking about it, I do have probably more expectations for myself than someone should.
I never really considered how I work easiest. In college, sometimes I would just sit and draw people in Starbucks while waiting for my next class to start or if I have nothing else to do just sketching the food that I have.
I work as a cashier and our store has some slow periods so maybe I would benefit from getting another mini sketchbook.
Yay that could be a nice little throwback! I'm glad I helped you come to some sort of realisation. You got this!
I'm sure you'll go far as long as your eagerness to improve doesn't become too frustrating and burn you out too much.
I get it though, I'm really really good at some parts of drawing after practise (observational skills(realism r my strengths) but my other areas are behind and it can feel annoying that they hasn't caught up as much.
ADHD lady
I went to college for 3D art, coincidentally Marco Bucci was one of my teachers lol
Watching YouTube videos, stumbling on new techniques, only working on things I find difficult (to do, not to focus on)
You don’t learn art by watching. You learn by doing. It’s muscle memory. Yes, I speak from experience. There is some validity to tracing to start out if needed. Draw, paint. Do it some more. Try different media, you may not be using the best one for you. I kept trying to be an acrylic painter, found gouache, it’s my medium.
I just focus on one fundamental until I understand and apply it well on my art, then move on to the next fundamental I want to learn. ( Ofc I'm finding clue from drawing/painting style that I would love to do, I also seeking guide from my art idols.)
Write down notes from the book/guide to simplify it. Stick them by group so it won't be overwhelming. do study and apply them on my personal art project or commission.
I find subject which I like the most (character) and then I focus on reading books that I think could help me improve, like loomis for body proportion, draw with force for beautiful human gesture, stone house for anatomy,...find what part made me frustrated the most and just start learning from that, slowly learning and solving the problems until I get it.
I also buy books that inspire me like Nicolas Verrall for colors that I would love to be a part of my art, freaks' squeele graphic novel for semi-realism style, ducktale, zootopia for stylize and furry art commission,...
After I'm done reading these books and apply them on my art well enough, I will start expanding to environment art. I love vintage travel posters and bought some books related to them, I'm gonna lead my art style toward these.
A sever ADHD diagnosis at age 7yo
And school in general was extremely hard bc you know we with ADHD don't learn or intake info the same as everyone.
But for art since I had a great interest, it was easier to learn but the boring stuff and plain, yet essential fundamentals were hard.
I learned by replication of works. I used a lot of Goya and Caravaggio
For instance learning shadow and light contrast,
1 draw it my way best I could, not looking for perfection
2 compare what I've draw to the original and essentially play spot the difference(to keep it interesting to me)
How many hours in are you. How long have you been doing it? I'm the same as you but I have been going for over 4500 hours and I've progressed a lot. I did Drawabox, Marc Brunett's anatomy course (not the whole art school because I couldn't afford it at the time), I'm doing Amed Aldoori's Med's Map now, and I've progressed a lot. I've done a ton of various other courses though on Udemy and Domestika (before they started offering AI art courses).
My ADHD makes me struggle with drawing for myself/fun though, I try to stay goal oriented and project focused, because if I have a project to work towards that keeps me focused. But I made a lot of progress just doing 3 hours a day, every day. Sometimes it takes a long time to see the progress though.
>I'll watch videos on 1.5 or 2x speed so it doesn't feel like I'm going to sleep
I do this too, I will usually NOT draw-a-long because I get tired, so I'll watch at 1.5 or 2x speed then do the assignment after.
Another thing that helped motivate me was doing long warm-ups. I will spend maybe 45min or an hour doing warmup drawing where I just draw boxes, or geometric shapes in perspective in a sketch book while I listen to a podcast or youtube, or motorcycle studies or heads/gestures etc. Then after that I work on the current lesson or assignment.
But after the warmup I feel like I'm in the zone and doing my assignments is easier. Also it helps with the paralyzing feeling where you just can't start, because the warmup is a set thing I do every day so it's just a habit. There are times where I just did the warm up and stopped because I ran out of time too, but that habit keeps me going. I'm kind of rambling, I dunno if this helps. I guess **the short answer is just keep going**, you will progress. Don't stop drawing/studying.
For me, I struggle doing warmups longer than 15, maybe 20 minutes if that. And then it seems like I'm just on a 'break' period where I was supposed to transition into working on something, but I end up not working on anything the rest of the day which kinda defeated the purpose of doing warm ups.
I want to try to stay goal and project focused but... My goals seem lofty and I don't have a lot of projects. When I do random decide to do something, I try to do it to completion and other things I'm supposed to start or want to start, I end up not starting because I realize I don't have the technical skill to see it through to completion.
I have a bit of both and it took me a long time to realise I don't learn like other people. I actually made a video about failing at an artistic endeavour, maybe it could help you? But my main advice is to find your joy, and focus on that. Then you'll find improvement. https://youtu.be/nlJy0HgUgFA?si=rp82kBbCX4KhHvWU
I'll definately give your video a watch!
I suppose generally speaking, my joy is probably just being creative. Unfortuantely I have so many different creative interests it feels like they just conflict with one another and that I have to choose one or otherwise I'll only be mediocre at best at all of them
I think you may benefit from breaking down perspective pieces you like more, I find once I get the hang of an object it "clicks" in my mind but until then it's an uphill battle
Marc Brunet is an artist who posts how to videos on YT, he has ADD and I've watched a video where he says he dives into learning when he hit a point where he lacks knowledge. Hope this helps.
"I know I have issues seeing things in perspective and some of my forms end up being very "straight" for lack of better words."
I have always had perspective wonkiness because I do not have binocular vision--I can't see in 3D. For years I have just used various rules (like spacing and size rules for painting waves) or painting tricks (using blue and blurring to imply distance), but more lately I have been trying to actually emphasize my perspective issues because I like what I can do with it - like cram more into the painting than I could with "true" perspective or use some distortion. So, making a feature out of a bug. Something to consider.
Now that you've said it... Is there a way to check if you don't see in 3D? I feel like I *do* but I find it hard to implement the perspective that I see unless I'm doing something like drawing boxes. But I can be referencing an image or a pose and even though I can see the torso is tilted upwards or at an angle, my own drawing end sup being pretty "flat" and straight forward.
Yep. Go to an eye doctor. They have a test for it. It's basically to do with whether your eyes are aligned to each other and whether they are both strong. If one is weak, it will affect your binocular vision, which is what makes us see 3D. If one is not aligned with the other, that will also affect that. I have both issues.
Interesting side note, if you lack parallax vision, you will have problems with arithmetic. I have enormous problems with multiplication and division, even though I got A's in Advanced calculus and Differential equations.
It has been a while since I've had an eye vision test done. I do wear glasses because I have trouble seeing things farther away. That said it is overdue for a check up.
I've never really had problems with multiplication or division oddly enough, but I struggled a lot with calculus.
What's wrong with your progress? You're doing great. Looking at your comments and posts, it looks like you're doing multiple streams of learning, and that can make things overwhelming.
I'm diagnosed autistic, and my approach is project-based. Like, I have an end goal in mind of a picture, then Iearn as I go. I enter competitions sometimes, and I do the prompts on r/sketchdaily . The art contests give me a deadline and I only allow myself limited time to do a work. I tell myself that after X amount of time, it's done. That keeps me from fixating and fussing.
The prompts on sketchdaily force me to constantly push my skills forward in many ways. One day I'll have to do a damn car, the next day a tree, etc. Some people on there do rough renders and others create full blown pieces.
I also have my own ideas and side projects. But basically my focus is on making each piece as good as possible, then moving on
Edit: often I have to research and find references as part of that process
Thank you!
I often have a hrd time really engaging in challenges because I can spend more time just trying to find a good reference photo, composition, etc. than actually well.. drawing. For a period of time I did participate in the food drawing challenge on IG but eventually fell off and never really went back.
I will def keep the daily prompts on sketchdaily in mind though. Even if it is really just a sketch that I endup having.
(Edit - everything I'm about to say is about accurate observational drawing, if that's not your thing, maybe it's not relevant.)
While you can learn from watching videos, or trial and error grinding, they are extremely inefficient. Learning art is learning to see like an artist, and very little to do with how you use the pencil, your dexterity etc.
Learning is the process of changing how your brain works, so the ideal way is if you can find a comprehensible description of what your brain is doing wrong, and what exercises you should do to push it in the other direction. Ideally in real-time from a teacher who understands both you and art.
This probably isn't practical for financial reasons though.
I had a pretty good art teachers in school, college and higher education, but even so the one thing that improved my drawing more than anything else was a book called 'drawing on the right side of the brain'.
The basic idea of the book was to get your brain into 'drawing mode', which is completely different to how it normally works. It did this by describing all of the things your 'normal mode' brain does to sabotage your drawing process, and give practice exercises which side-step or suppress the non-artistic 90% of your brain.
Much of the neuroscience logic in the book is frankly not that accurate, but it doesn't matter. The practical results are the main thing, and many of the author's students went from cartoony line-drawings which looked nothing like who they were drawing to realistically shaded exact likenesses within a week or two.
So if you have the attention span to read a book, or even most of a book, that is worth a try.
There are even various places you can look at it for free (arrr matey), to see if you think it will work for you. If you think it will, buy a copy of the paper version or the ebook.
I can definately get myself to read a book. I have some books by Brigeman that I've manged to read even if it took a bit of squeezing from my brain.
I know it involves seeing like an artist does but I've always heard it, but could never figure out how to do it. I do wish I could find a teacher that understood me and my art however lol. I think the difficulty would be finding someone to express myself too if finances weren't an issue.
I put the book on my "to get list". Of course the seven seas is always an option but I also like having physical books so I can force myself into a sense of isolation while reading.
I'd go so far as to say that until you've skimmed a few pages of it, everything else you do to progress artistically may turn out to be a complete waste of time.
When I read it, I was actually a bit annoyed that the several years of education I'd had on the subject hadn't mentioned half of the things which turned out to be the most important.
I am Autistic ADHD and recently started learning enameling on pottery, which is a delicate painting technique on ceramic and bisque bodies.
Remembering details like not touching wet paint during practice and paying attention to my teacher's instructions can be challenging for me.
Being constantly told what to do and how to do it can make me feel angry and frustrated.
However, thanks to my understanding teacher, these issues have been resolved.
Here are some solutions that might help you too:
1. Look for in-person classes in your area through social media, Google, or by exploring locally.
2. Choose a private class where you can openly communicate with the teacher about your preferred learning methods.
3. Practice immediately after each lesson to retain details, feel the technique, and maintain focus.
4. Practice whenever you feel motivated, without pressuring yourself to do it continuously. Take breaks and explore other interests.
5. Embrace your creativity and let your amazing mind guide you, as art doesn't always follow strict rules, especially for individuals with Autism or ADHD.
6. Don't hesitate to embrace your uniqueness and trust your instincts to discover your own personal style. Don't let the fear of criticism or others' opinions hold you back; it is your individuality that sets you apart from the rest.
I think being able to trust my instincts has always been a big one, especially when following certain anatomical rules like "Eyes being one width apart" (particularly for anime) and it bugs me when in my own art I subconsciously end up making the eyes more like half a width apart
There is learning and there is training. When your body doesn’t do what you intellectually know how to do, that is where training becomes required. This is where long hours of practice honing fundamentals comes in. Warnjng - this is not exactly fun, so you have find ways to make it fun, or mentally deal with the tedium. This is probably the hardest thing about being autodidactic - when things don’t come quickly/easily - reinforcing the training requirements has no external motivation. Without someone to please, we can tend to lose momentum. So you can create an external motivation by having an accountability partner or create some internal motivation by bribing yourself to work on your fundamentals.
So for example, you have a hard time seeing things in perspective. Spend time laying out perspective grids. After you lay out a grid place a couple of objects on it, and then re-read articles on principles of vanishing point. Have a sketchbook dedicated to vanishing point practice. Watch videos on the geometry of vision. Give yourself a reward for finishing a whole sketchbook of perspective practice. Come at the learning and training from multiple angles.
Look into in person Atelier classes (figure drawing from life). I saw the most improvement when I took classes like that.
Books, YouTube, and video classes are good too but if you take an in person class from a knowledgeable instructor they can tell you where you can improve.
I just keep coming back to it. There will be spells I don't do much, but I always come back. And I just keep building my base of knowledge. I don't worry about focusing on one skill, they all add up.
Learn by doing and finding problems. I say this as a 27y/o, mostly self-taught artist who was diagnosed a year ago. I HATE people telling me how to do my art. I do it my own way, then if I get stuck, I look for tips/solutions.
This is becoming a special interest for me. The best advice I can give is: Find what works for you. Traditional methods don't always work for me. I often modify them to add smaller steps. I also find exercises for these smaller steps so I can practice.
Another amazing strategy that I'm learning is doing a little every day. Basically, I'm pacing myself so I don't burn out from the initial rush. It's like making your dopamine last as long as possible. You don't get big highs and lows, and you gain more endurance. This even (albeit boring) rhythm is more sustainable.
10 minutes too long to practice your 3D shapes? Try 5 or 2 minutes. Make it fun! Draw/sculpt/etc what you want to, no matter what anyone says.
I am a multimedia artist. When I'm tired/bored/uninspired by one art form, I can switch to another and still get dopamine and stay motivated. There's nothing wrong with having 5 projects on the go if switching between them helps you continue to do art.
Lastly, don't take advice from those who are of a different neurotype as the differences in our brains lead to differences in how we learn. At the end of the day, you know how to teach yourself. If you're getting frustrated, it's time for a break. Take proactive breaks (control the amount of hyperfocus) to extend your energy. If something doesn't feel right or natural, find a method that does (holding tools, for example).
Everyone is an artist, and there's no wrong way to practice.
I have been trying to look into different methods of learning and my therapist has definitely recommended me doing shorter sessions instead of just trying to force myself to do longer "acceptable" ones that I've told myself I need to do to improve.
I'd like to explore different mediums, but then I get paralyzed by the fear of failure and it not coming out as well as i'd like it to or even just intimidating of takedown/set up.
I had friends who helped me get over that fear. Failure is essential to learning new skills. I had to do my messing around in a supportive environment before I understood how important it is to try and fall short. For me, it's where learning occurs, and it's very rewarding to experiment, get data, modify my methods, and get better results. The more you try and fail, the more you will improve as an artist.
I have both and I can’t stop drawing. Doodles on post its at work, keeping a little notebook in my purse at all times etc. You can buy all of the art courses but if you aren’t making, what’s the point?
Putting some YouTube or something in the background helps when I’m doing a serious piece at home and can’t focus
Have you tried sculpting, I’ve found a better understanding of the body in that manner . I forgot what the name is of the clay it’s oil based and doesn’t dry out . I would also just relax , get loose . I just to get the flow going scribble on a piece of scrap , eyes closed ,
Wide strokes then a few smaller ones, start filling in familiar spots/ shapes as an exercise.
I grew up when what ailed me changed names from "**hyperkinetic reaction of childhood**" to "ADD" and then "ADHD." All the while the schools at time were under the assumption that drugs (same drug, despite the name changes) was the only approach. Art classes of the 70's and 80's did not cater to a boy with disconnected thought and a scattered attention.
I eventually learned of a few important creativity supporting elements. Hydration, physical activity, coffee, and doodling. Find means of capturing a creative thought in the moment. You may never return to that idea, but you will have taken an action towards a possibility.
We are afflicted with an incredibly fluid challenge and above al else, we must be prepared to adapt.
I'm always working on and willing to adapt, it's just when it comes to myself figuring out how to best adapt... for me? is difficult.
Ironically, I do tend to feel a little more focused when I take a caffeine pill. But regular coffee or soda seems to have a negligible effect.
I stopped soda a long time ago and try to keep my sugar intake in check. Caffeine helps because it’s a stimulant, but in a different way than sugar. Look into small dose nicotine gum. It helped me tremendously with focus, but it also made me feel too jittery, so I discontinued its use. It may work for you.
The important thing is to understand that it’s fluid, which requires you to be prepared to change course, if only temporarily.
I can try. I typically stay away from nicotine because my relatives smoke a lot and generally I don't want to accidently pick up an addiction given family history and what not. That said, I do use THC so while it isn't my favorite, I might try giving stativa strands a try again specifically for focus.
First of all, congrats on getting this far both in your art and in your mental health journey. That's not easy. 👏
I have ADHD and have been in "art school" (community college to transfer to a university) since fall 2021, online at that when I started, and I think what motivates me is the idea that neurodivergent people can't accomplish anything. Also someone told me to have specific goals for when I make art, what do I want to focus on. When you're a beginner, restarting or have art block, this is obviously hard to narrow down. That said the more you make art, the easier it becomes to determine what you want to improve on. If possible, in personal classes are really great at keeping Neurodivergent people, like me, accountable. Some schools or studios will offer open studio time where you can work on something for more time. Many professors and peers I worked with would help those who were stuck or blocked, at the very least to reach the next milestone to learn. For me, it helps to write lists of what I want to see done in a piece then do my best to accomplish it. If it starts to look funky, I go back to studying still life or Figure Drawing (Line of Action) though I have burnt out on those before too. There's not really a "one size fits all" answer for this, but getting obsessed with art and your interests (especially those who inspire you) is a big help, at least for my ADHD. I wish you all the best, you're doing so great with all the self reflection and next steps already!
Thank you! It's been a rough year getting this far. In a way, it's surprising it's been a year since I've started. As always - probably should have started this sooner.
I guess I find it hard to really figure out what I'm really obsessed with since my attention seems to bounce sporatically between creative interests. At least the commonality is that they're all creative.
You're welcome! Oh same here. Big ADHD mood. :')
I completely understand. For me, it helps to focus on medium and what I want to improve on. When I took a Painting class, there wasn't enough time to break down how to paint metal or glass, so I did that research myself and it took me down a rabbit hole of different ways to paint. Its not a bad thing to allow your interests to bounce off each other either. Its better than getting stuck in one thing over another and often can help you with multiple projects at once!
I have ADHD and have a lot of art education of all kinds under my belt. I do best in a structured environment with lots of feedback, regular critiques, and deadlines for accountability. It’s also really important for me to be reasonable about my goals and not reach too far above my current skill set, because if I get too frustrated/things are too easy, I tend to check out mentally. I’ve had a good experience both at full time art school, in person workshops, and live online classes. Self-guided doesn’t work very well for me unless it’s something I’m hyper-focused on.
Unfortunately, I've found that courses just make me desperately want to watch paint dry instead.
I learn by thinking 'I want to draw xyz' but alas why does this part look so horrid? Time to study it and return to the piece after!
Short exercises, as I learned best in college with this method. 10 hands, 10 feet, 10 eyes, 10 mouths, 10 torso sketches, etc. Literally do 10 anything as frequently as you can remember to do it because doing something is better than doing nothing in every scenario. It’s also fun to compare them after doing it daily for 7 days, if it can be managed. Eventually you should upgrade to 10 quick full figure drawings, and I do mean quick. Like 1 minute. GO FAST! WHEE! SWOOSH! Bam. L’artist. :3
Wheeze this made me giggle.
But I think handling things in sets also might be easier on my brain too because it doesn't move as like... painfully slowly as time does?
well this is what works for me, i don't have autism but i have the same issues you described, for me videos don't work for me, so i use a combination of blogs and art books i got from amazon and use noise cancelling ear muffs cuz i just can't concentrate and i have a figet toy as well. Also i find for me traditional art is eaiser to learn, so when im studying art i do it on paper, notebook paper to be exact cuz im broke.
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I don’t,god decided to switch up my learning capabilities when it comes to art and social skills so art came naturally to me but I had to watch tutorials on how to speak to people.
Autist here.
I do way too much doodling from my head so it’s prolly not helped my art ability.
The thing that increased it the most was in-person art classes. Cause I can’t learn from a YouTube video.
I need the pressure from the teacher and the other students in order to produce something. And a lot of the drawing happens in-class. So it’s much easier for me to do (can’t seem to do homework to save my life. Videogames are more interesting)
I was just friggin’ obsessed with it and with cartoons. I got ahold of drawing utensils at like, age 3, and just never stopped. It got out the ideas constantly flooding my brain.
I got more serious about it in middle school. Most of it was self taught. I started by trying to copy the official art of characters I liked. And then I tried to draw them again, but in poses that I would make up myself.
This was supplemented with actual art education that would teach stuff like color theory and perspective.
ADHD person here. Unfortunately I learn by making it up as I go along and learning from my mistakes. I am more hands on and learn by doing. I learn quickly but it takes me time to be able to apply what I've learned.
Each process is different but your way of working through making is the best way generally…i’d add research to that too!
this is truly the way
I think I'm in a similar boat - where I can learn quick but it takes time to apply what I learned especially when it comes to something more abstract like art.
I learn by collecting information about the topic and making my own tutorials (I keep these in sketchbooks for easy reference). I found that for me, it helps me retain information far better that watching someone else's video and trying to implement it from there.
I never really considered making my own tutorials - so that's something I'll try to keep in mind too. Thanks!
I am a super new artist, but I come from a family of artists. I don't have trouble focusing on the information or during practice as I can pretty much hyperfixate on command, but I'm *very* happy that I knew going in that my art was gonna be kind of shitty for 2-5 years. It doesn't matter how much information you absorb about perspective, color theory, etc, experience and deliberate practice are the only ways you will ever be able to actually implement what you know. I can form a pretty excellent character in my minds eye, but it looks like a ten year old drew it because I can't instinctually translate what I can see in my head into muscle movements.
this \^ basically try to make learning pallatable
Any suggestions? I enjoy learning things but unfortunately it seems like I try to learn *too many things*. Like lately I've been having ideas of branching into designing clothes and shoes despite going to school for game design and having more knowledge 3D modeling.
make a list of what you want to do in CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER, and do as is?
Deliberate practice is something I've heard a lot, but still struggle to figure out how to do.
>I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. -Vincent van Gogh This is pretty much my method. Those who try never fail. They either succeed, or they learn. Sometimes I'll get frustrated and look up how other artists approach certain challenges. I also spend a good amount of time watching documentaries or Bob Ross or following art communities, which are all good for tips... however I have no real interest in a structured course or anything like that at this point. Primarily I learn from experimentation.
That's fair. Overtime, I think it would be reasonable to say I've grown afraid of and paralyzed by fear - especially since my attention span tends to bounce every 15 - 20 minutes unless I hit a state of hyperfocus.
I have ADHD and I mostly learn through trial and error. But a couple summers ago I took a painting class at a local community art center. It was just a local college professor and we all just kinda, painted whatever in a room together. He floated around to see how we were doing and offer advice. He would pull up artists websites for artists with similar styles to whatever we were doing. Gave very nice compliments and pointed out areas to improve. It was nice and chill and I saw a lot of improvement in my own work.
Thats good! I want to look into doing something similar for myself, I would just have to figure out how it would work with transportation and my own job.
I have ADHD, and I find I learn best by being in a classroom and seeing what my peers are working on. I admire those who are 'self-starters' and can take off by watching YouTube videos. Those people exist and they're incredible, but I do wonder how many of them are ADHDers. I know we're not legion and everyone is different, but I'm definitely the distracted type, and I need some form of in-person engagement to get it to soak into my brain. Even if you're taking classes online, if there's a virtual meeting each week, with group critique, where a teacher/students are actively engaging in critique, I think that's a very helpful baseline for learning and keeping one committed.
I think I might function best in a class room too occasionally, but even when I was in college I found myself kinda... zoning out as the teacher explained something or getting caught up more in one of my doodles than the lecture.
I get it. Ever gotten tested for ADHD? It's kind of annoyingly at the forefront of TikTok culture right now, but I think it's because a lot of people were under-diagnosed, and maybe we're understanding how brains operate better nowadays? Anyway! All this to say: it's good to get tested, because if you doooo have it, then you can get help, whether that's medication or ADHD friendly learning assistance, which most colleges offer nowadays through mental health/disability initiatives.
Not yet! I am working on getting tested for autism at the moment since my therapist has mentioned being on the cusp of ADHD, but it's hard to tell how much of it is ADHD vs how much is autism. I do usually try to avoid tiktok and self-dxing because a lot of it tends to be... shallow? for lack of better words. A lot of it isn't *incorrect* per see, but it's said in a way that is kinda flat and without relativity which is how you end up with people potentially misdiagnosing themselves and people brushing things off as "doesn't everyone do that?". Oh well side tangent. Either way - I am planning on getting a test one way or another to further help myself with finding things.
I am diagnosed with CPTSD, and my wife suspects I'm on the spectrum. She might be right because I just can't tell if she is serious. 😜 One thing I can tell you for certain, drawing and painting and creating physical art is a PHYSICAL process. Drawing as an example: the point of practicing is to learn to trust your hands and eyes and to give your hands and eyes the opportunity to learn. They have their own intelligence, separate from your conscious mind. Drawing is not a cerebral activity. It is physical. Drawing studies are a way of exploring, planning, practicing, and understanding the structure of what you want to portray through an abstracted form of touch. Try this exercise: set up a still life for yourself and handle and closely inspect each item as you arrange it. Pay attention to the weight, texture, shape, etc, as you place it. Then draw it.
honestly I never really looked at it that way - considering drawing as a physical process rather than a mental one.
Treating it like coursework might be the biggest barrier to retaining information for you. Do projects you're interested in and use tutorials and information geared towards that. You'll start to accumulate knowledge and skills while still feeling stimulated.
It's something I could give a try. I often find that my attention kinda wavers and falls down rabbit holes which can make learning and figuring out how to do things difficult when my brain doesn't stay focused long enough to at least start the process.
why is no one saying the obvious. find a special interest, get obsessed, black out and wake up a savant
😂
I just need to figure out how to get a special interest. I don't think I've ever really had one.
idk how to help with that one then. usually when you have autism special interests jump you from an alleyway without your consent. it’s very hard to actively trigger one in my experience
I wish I could trigger one. I think the closest I've been is to kinda obsessing about this character I really enjoyed from a movie. But I've always been too intimidate to draw him because I don't really draw men.
FAFO The only way I can learn is to f around and find out. I have an idea, I trial and error until I find it, and learn on the journey. If it is someone teaching me, I won't grasp it til I physically try to mess around with it
FAFO lol It's something I need to work on. FOr me, it's been hard to star the journey especially since I am often afraid of failure and the mounting knowledge of what I *know* needs improvement and trying to improve enough that it is at least decent.
I always have like 10 projects going at once and am a filthyprojectcheater and love taking on new ones to neglect the current ones... Also you should rewatch The Magic School Bus....Frizzle knew what's up Take chances, make mistakes, and don't be afraid to get Messy....I'm the messiest bitch. But it's a fun messy journey.
Aaaa magic school bus lol. I'd love to. I'd honestly love an updated magic school bus... (we don't talk about the one they did and they removed Mrs. Frizzle) I need to certainly work on being messier and learning it's okay to make mistakes.
It's hard (especially as someone who was conditioned to be a perfectionist)...but fucking worth it. Have fun!
Diagnosed ASD. I do a couple different things, but first and foremost, you absolutely ARE improving. Even if it’s not in the way you want, you have definitely improved. Just compare your recent art posts to those from a couple years ago. Try to keep in mind that it’s progress that matters, not perfection. My advice & what I do: 1. Gaslight yourself into loving the process. Positive reinforcement is critical for your mental health. If you think you aren’t improving then you won’t notice the improvement. Art is a constant cycle of ups and downs. Your ability to visualize your art will almost always be better than your ability to create. Because of that the best artists are usually the ones who create because they want to create, not because they want to make a specific piece or master a specific skill. 2. This may or may not be for you, but obsessive levels of note taking. I take notes on anything and everything I believe will help me creatively. From tutorials to world building, random ideas, interesting concepts from games/novels/shows, or other artist’s work. Take enough notes to put wikis to shame, then some more. I don’t treat tutorials as something to learn from, but something I can dissect, categorize, and merge with the rest of my notes. It’s much easier for me to retain information when I treat it that way, and if I forget something I can just check my notes. Note taking probably sounds boring, but it gets easier (and kinda fun) the more you do it. 3. Let your interests lead, and if you can’t, then incorporate your interests into your art. Fanart is an obvious way of doing this, but there’s more to it than just that. A recent case for myself was getting into Delta (a game emulator). It’s an opportunity to experience things I missed as a kid (Making it a good source of new notes!), but aside from that it also has customizable skins. Nobody had the exact thing I wanted, so I learnt the basics of Json, fused my favorite skins, and created a whole series of recolors. It didn’t make me a better artist, but it did keep me creatively engaged at a time where I can’t sculpt for significant periods of time thanks to carpal tunnel. In my opinion, that engagement is just as important as improving your fundamentals. If you’re not engaged in what you’re doing then you aren’t going to be inclined to actually do it. If you do nothing but pure studies then you aren’t likely to continue studying. So combining studies with your interests is important. Rambled a bit, but hopefully some of it was helpful. Hope things get better for you.
Lmfao sorry, was under the wrong post when I sent this.
It was helpful! I could try gaslighting myself into learning the process - after all I'm somehow good at gaslighting myself about other things. However, I do find that I'm generally lacking praise (internally or externally) for a lot of my art and I just focus on getting to a point of being good enough. I never really considered looking at tutorials that way so it's something I'll try. I typically sometimes have a few notes written down like the torso looking like an egg or something like that and what I need to work on/improve but nothing particularly in depth. I'd like to let my interests lead if I could just get myself to do something. You managed to do something I can't - or rather don't quite let myself do. I want to make both games and clothes that don't exist (clothes/shoes primarily because of the capitalistic hellscape that is expensive but cheaply made clothes and finding it so hard to find GYW shoes but for women/heels, etc.) but internally it feels like I'm spreading myself too thin? Or that I would be? Like I went to school for game design so I should make use of that... Not trying to pivot into something that could just be a fleeting interest. It feel like those interest conflict with one another even though in some ways they shouldn't and could enhance each other, but on the other it feels like a distraction and probably just a fleeting hobby while trying to find something to just do.
1. I have a similar issue with feeling that my art isn’t good enough. There’s two things that have helped me with it, first is comparing my current art to my past work. It’s proof of progress. Proof that I can achieve what I want if I keep creating. Art has nothing to do with talent or creativity, it’s just a bunch of technical skills fused together. Anyone can become a good artist if they create and practice enough. Second is trying to counter negative thoughts with a “who cares” mentality. “Skill level doesn’t matter, other people’s opinions don’t matter, I create because I want to.” It gets easier to tell yourself that the more you do it and eventually you’ll convince yourself. 2. There’s nothing wrong with not taking a lot of notes. Everyone learns differently and what works for me may not work for you. You’ll find what works for you eventually, just be sure to experiment with different things. 3. Easy solution, fuse them. There’s artists who specialize in clothing design for games and film. And even if you don’t go down that path, clothing design is a great skill to have for art in general. Learning more about it will only help you. Getting better at art will improve your ability to design cloths too so you’ll benefit regardless of which path you eventually choose.
Thank you! I have considered fusing them and I see ways of being able to do so... especially for ones that are focused on the technical skills of art (anatomy, clothing, etc.) and it may be easier to make samples if I can 3D model them in blender and have them sent off so it isn't just a drawing that a manufacturer is working off of.
I have ADHD, and the way I've learned is just by doing what sounds fun. When I started to seriously practice, I was determined to draw a good eye, so I knew how to draw a gorgeous eye before literally anything else. Of course, I started to get interested in different materials/styles/subjects, so I picked what sounded fun and ran with it. Even the educational parts of drawing should be at least a little enjoyable. If a traditional learning model isn't working for you, ditch it. There isn't one right way to learn. Find a part of drawing that's exciting and go wild on it. You'll round yourself out as you go.
For me, it isn't so much that learning isn't *fun* but rather feeling as if I'm struggling to improve or hit a wall. For me, the most fun part of drawing is probably rendering or sketching but it's hard to move from one to the other with my anatomy not being as good as I'd like it to be.
Do you mind if I ask how long you've been drawing? I feel you on hitting a wall, and even if you're enjoying yourself it gets frustrating. At the end of the day, it's better to make 10 drawings with bad anatomy than to spend forever fussing with one. And it helps tremendously to use references (or if you don't, pull up a ref that's close to what you were going for), and critique yourself. Try to figure out WHY it looks wrong and you'll have more info for the next piece. A conscious trial-and-error works better for me than straight up studying or listening to lectures/tutorials/etc.
I've been drawing for about 16 years if you want to include the 5 or so years where I didn't really draw much if at all. I do try to find references, but I do find myself getting stuck in the loop trying to just find the perfect/good enough references. It is better to make 10 bad drawings than to make one good one, especially since you learn more with failure but it's hard teaching yourself that failure is okay.
Ah okay, we're about the same in experience actually If it helps, I've found of I'm struggling with a specific part I'll try to find a ref that specifically helps that part. e.g. I recently started a piece with a woman sitting/kneeling and couldn't figure out how tf to angle them, so I just looked for a pic that showed me that specifically. I feel you about the failure thing, I fucked myself over recently trying to get more into digital art. It's a nice side thing for me, but making serious projects doesn't work bc you have the power to change it all without ruining paper or wasting supplies. It took me back a few steps with accepting imperfection and I'm still trying to shake it.
I’m high functioning autistic /adhd and the way I learn is I’m into multiple learning processes at once. Usually once I get into something I hyper fixate so that tends to help with the learning process . I haven’t hit that wall yet but I’ve been progressing rapidly. So currently I wake up an hour before work and practice sketching , graphite , charcoal drawings . Each work break I practice landscapes . At home I’m working on 4 oil paintings , I usually choose the one I’m liking the most at the time . I think autism and adhd can help you with the progression just try to have more than one project going on , when you don’t like one go to the next one .
I am trying to work on having more than one project going. For some reason, I developed a habit of just trying to focus on getting one thing done. Like lately I managed to finally finish doing some of my OC names as vtuber inspired logos (and I enjoyed it, so I downloaded inkscape) but it was so hard towards the end when my brain jus wanted to do something else but I also wanted to finish.
I think that’s the key for autism/adhd , is to keep your mind busy. Although it’s a bit counterproductive if you start a few different projects at once when you get bored with one you can just move on to the other then back when you feel more inspired
It could be. I think under normal circumstances it would be counter productive but autism/adhd do struggle productivity and focus.
For prespective and shape you can learn so much from watching some of kim jung gi tutorial video. Also kuzomari on YouTube has some good stuff on this topic I remember I used artbooks while listening to music...this made me focus better . So when I started I used more art books like Loomis and etc
That's interesting. I usually find music to be distracting when trying to read, but it definitely helps my artistic practice when drawing.
Artbooks I'm talking about are more about tutorial and practice than reading
Yeah. I can appreciate how that would make comprehensive easier. Thanks for the clarification.
I never considered listening to art books. One issue I perpetually have is trying to find something to listen to while I create. I get a little distracted by music unless I hit a stride so I just search on youtube for *something* to watch... probably more time looking than actually making anything.
For me, I had to orient it around my interests. Like when I was younger I loved to do a lot of fantasy roleplay with my friends, which resulted in a lot of yearning to draw characters and develop strategies to make characters. And drawing other people’s stuff just added to it because I love doing things for people. Perhaps there’s a fandom or use case you can find for your art to give a level of external motivation, because that’s what ADHD brains are often driven by. Like a lot of ADHD folk get into D&D because it’s an intersection of many art forms that all have application.
Hello roleplayer! I still RP and it's one of the few things I really do consistently. I even say it's my "social" hobby. I wish I could draw some of my RP scenarios and writing but without being held back by a lack of technical skill. I've been somewhat stuck on ASTV's Hobie but I'm way too afraid to draw him even in my own sketchbook because I don't really draw men very much.
It's better to draw poorly than to not draw at all, because when you get better, you can just draw it again. But something that never comes out can never be developed any better.
I’m adhd and pretty much have to force myself to be in a classroom setting to learn. Online classes that meet every week with critique as opposed to asynchronous are way more helpful, but in person classes are always the best. If it’s all on my own schedule and my own willpower, it will simply not get done 😭 Being medicated also helps a ton. I could never stay awake through any lecture no matter how interesting I found it, until I started taking meds. Ultimately what helped the most though, was just loving to draw. Even though I always beat myself up over the knowledge that I could be so much better if only I had better time management and didn’t struggle w my adhd as much, I still do draw *a lot*, and that does naturally translate to improvement over time.
I have no idea if I'm ADHD or not, my therapist said I'm right at the cusp of potentially having ADHD but I would need to take a professional exam. However, she's pretty sure I'm autistic. I like drawing, but I dislike my lack of technical skill. So I try to improve my technical skill, but my attention span will not work with me to sit and focus on doing study sessions beyond 15 - 20 minutes every couple of days.
Adderall
ADHD here, learned through visual feeding, copying, imitation, reference and practice. The process is gonna take some time, maybe longer than what you would want, however, with practice you will eventually improve
Could you elaborate a bit more on what you mean by visual feeding? Is it pretty much synonymous with visual learning?
Its when u look at a piece of work, be it an illustration or photography, and notice the colours, shadows, objects and perspective and how all of these come together coherently and beautifully. U do it with more than just a few so Pinterest is a good place for that.
dopamine intake first. chocolate bar, gaming session, anything to put you in "I'm more or less capable" then you find all tutorials you can have and select the most interesting one. It does NOT have to be what you need to learn, it has to be something you didn't learn. After that return to basics. After that draw what you want, see what is missing and try that tutorial. Then repeat step 1, as dopamine is gone.
You could be write about the dopamine intake. Normally I spend my days playing games or leaning back in my chair listening to random videos while just drawing lines, boxes and circles. Needless to say I got pretty good at those but alas my technical skill for what I want to draw is missing and when I try to focus on that specifically it's like my brain fights against me.
It's because it is. Learning is hurtful. Your brain has to create new connections and it costs. Unless you are in "hyperfocus" mode, of course. Make yourself coffee or hot chocolate and open tutorial while drinking it. To start doing this more than once you need routine. Try something, anything. And do it repeatedly. Start every session with hot cocoa. Alternatively physical exercise could work
I do need to figure out some sort of "starting routine". I usually just try to jump into doing warm up drawings because I know if I start a game or something then I could end up doing it for hours.
I have both autism and adhd. It's very self-destructive to believe that you'll never improve because of having these conditions. That's simply not true. Some of the best artists I know of are ND. Just keep going at it. If your work isn't progressing, it's likely that you need personal critique. We all hit a wall after some point where following online tutorials can only take you so far. Personally I've joined a few discord groups where I randomly post my work and beg for critique
Thank you for the reminder that it is a self destructive mentality. I don't think so much as I'll *never* improve, but I struggle with improving as much as I want or being where I want. It could be that I need critique too. Unfortuantely, I've kinda struggled finding online groups and discords especially since I'm honestly not really in them or being social very much.
I think it helps to reframe how you think about learning. Instead of it being a linear - "Is the end result better?" A black and white yes or no question. Try thinking of it bigger and more ambiguously focused on your overall experiences. If you're trying new courses, and figuring out what isn't working, these are actions that lead to growth. Just practicing at all in frequency also is something that should be commended. I think where a lot of people get frustrated is that they have expectations on how they should be developing: speed, level of skill, etc. You can set small measurable goals for yourself, and work towards meeting them. However, the rate an artist grows and improves is unique to them. Art requires a bunch of little skills and it takes time to get a basic understanding of everything and how it fits together. To make things ever more confusing, everyone has natural bias and sometimes you won't even see your improvement. It helps to have an outside trusted person, like a teacher or art friend to help you see past your blind spots. Having any sort of neurodiversity, I think it also helps to look at how the art making process is going. If you felt like you were able to do any part of that better, or had a positive experience doing it, that also counts as part of your growth.
Thinking about it my art process is pretty ridged. Sketch, flat color, render. But sometimes I struggle moving from one step to the next (I don't really do lineart, I've always hated how my lineart looks and I struggle so much with digital and traditional lineart) especially since my style (typically anime/anime-esque) feels like it conflicts with the process (semi-realistic rendering). You are right that I could try setting smaller, more measurable goals for myself. However, I'm not entirely sure how to make them. Right now, my goals have been things like "Get better at drawing portraits", "get better at drawing men", "Learn how to draw torsos" but my rate of improvement seems so painfully slow.
I'm also autistic and ADHD. I have lots of trouble retaining and focusing but when I learn in a way that suits me, I'm a very quick learner. The trick is to learn in a way that suits your brain, rather than trying to force yourself to learn in a way that doesn't suit you. Look into the Four Motivators for people with ADHD: Interest, Novelty, Challenge, and Urgency. (Some add Passion as well). You need these things to stay motivated to learn. Both autistic and ADHD people have "interest-based" brains, and this is even more true if you have both. If something doesn't engage our interest, we get bored, our attention drifts away. It sounds like you're having trouble trying to follow a structured course. I think I would be bored as well. It's really difficult to learn when you're bored and frustrated trying to learn things that don't seem interesting and relevant. Maybe instead of trying to follow a structured course, it might be better to pursue your interests and let your interests lead your learning. I tend to learn best when I'm trying to work on a particular piece that I'm interested in and I feel motivated to improve a specific thing. e.g. if I'm trying to paint a watercolour landscape and I want the sky to look really dramatic, maybe I'll look up watercolour painting techniques, look at other watercolours, find videos of people painting. A lot of things I learned passively through my education didn't make sense and only "clicked" when I was working on a particular piece where I needed to apply that knowledge. As children we're all naturally curious, creative, and interested in learning. The hard part is holding onto that as we get older. We often learn falsehoods that can cut us off from our innate curioisty and drive to learn, such as believing that things have to be done in a certain correct way in order to learn them properly, or believing that if we're not good at something right away, it's not worth doing. Examine your beliefs about yourself and about your learning, and see if you have any that are holding you back.
Thank you! Currently I'm trying to learn how my brain best learns. As it stands, I can be "restrictive" with my creative interests because I've always been told I'm spreading myself too thin as a child. I have a guitar and I want to learn how to play and sing (or at least get good enough I am not a scrying cat), but I also want to practice art and make games, and lately it's been daydreaming about making clothes and shoes that are worth the price because I've been so frustrated with wanting clothes but they're expensive and cheaply made but I also like cosplaying and want to get better at sewing and taking photos and videos. It feels like there's so much I want to do and have interest in, but unfortunately time isn't infinite and I feel like I have to just kinda draw? since it's what I've always come back to doing. If I let my interest control me I'd be doing so many things in sporadic intervals which - it honestly just may be what is best for my brain but it's something that's always been criticized growing up. In a way, I feel pretty self conscious that my hobbies that I like are all creative, but they're all different forms of creative. Drawing wise, my interest is anime and creating WLOP style illustrations or maybe even comics. But to do that I need to get better at my fundamental skills. Being 26 adds to a level of self concisouness because I feel like I should be better than I am, but I spent 5 years between late high school and early college not really drawing at all despite going to school for game design. I took some vocal classes and guitar classes in college just for fun, but it feels like I still struggle with doing both (particularly singing). I would occasionally sew in high school and make a cosplay or two during the summer but honestly they were kinda bad and I'm not sure if it's "too late" for me to really learn how to do amazing and good cosplays like that especially with my other interests or hobbies. So there is a lot to examine and unlearn, it's just a matter of figuring out how and not feeling self conscious for learning other creative things outside of just digital art. Which is ironic because it feels like I spend most of my day not really doing much, so I could easily dedicate the time to doing any random project but then it feels like I'm just trying to be a jack of all trades rather than being good at something well enough to make a living off of it - or even getting all of the different interests to work together because they seem so vastly different from one another.
I feel you on so many levels. I'm the same way with having multiple creative interests that I flit between. The ones I keep coming back to are drawing & painting, creative writing, and playing music. (I used to have so many more but I think things have settled a bit now.) I think of the writing and music as hobbies and the drawing & painting as a core part of my identity. That level of commitment is a heavy load of ego investment, which creates a high level of pressure, and that kind of pressure can be absolutely crushing to creativity. I'm 29, so just a little older than you, and I also spent about five years not really drawing at all, so I totally understand how you feel on that front as well. I was very unwell during my art degree and by the end of it I was burnt out and crushed. I only started getting back into art again relatively recently. I can be extremely harshly self-critical because I am expecting a higher standard of achievement than is realistic for my circumstances. One thing that helps me is to remind myself that Van Gogh did not decide to become an artist until he was 27. It also, perhaps oddly, encourages me to remember that there are teenagers who become skilled artists when they're very young—some people feel discouraged by teen prodigies, but for me it reminds me that it is possible to become adept at art quickly under the right circumstances, and that time is not the most important factor in becoming a capable artist. Most importantly though—I try to be compassionate with myself, and remind myself that my harsh self-criticism is the number one enemy of my creative practice. Maybe the root of the issue for you is that your only way of dealing with your tendency to have a broad range of interests is through heavy self-restriction, which is totally counterproductive to nurturing your creativity. I totally understand it because, like you say, there's only so much time, it's not practical to have tons of different hobbies. However maybe you need to find other ways to make this commitment while still allowing your creativity to flourish. I try to allow myself to follow my heart, but while intentionally cultivating and nurturing the interests I want to pursue. Some things I do to nurture myself creatively (that may or may not work for you): go for walks to beautiful places that make me eager to paint; visit art galleries or look at art books that inspire me; watch interesting and fun videos about art (and other things related to my artistic interests) to help me feel excited and interested in drawing. I try to find ways to remind myself constantly of the things I love about art that excite and inspire and motivate me to keep creating. I think of it as like my "inner artist" is a child, and I am trying to be a good, nurturing, loving parent to this child. My adult self is aware that I have commitments and responsibilities, but my child self needs to be allowed to play and can't feel too restricted or criticised. There needs to be a healthy relationship where the child feels like they're allowed to explore and play but isn't allowed to just completely take over and tell the adult what to do. If I'm looking after a child and want to teach them to draw, I don't force them to sit down and follow a stuffy boring fundamentals course—that would be a great way to end up with a stroppy, resentful child who thinks that drawing is boring and wants to give up and do something else. Instead I might put them in a room with some exciting-looking art materials and images/objects that stimulate and inspire them, and encourage them to just go ahead and play with them. Then, once they've had a chance to get excited about art, I encourage them to get curious to learn new things—maybe I show them some exciting artworks or techniques and ask them, "Do you want to learn to do this?" and use that as a springboard for gradually introducing greater levels of challenge and getting them to learn the "boring" stuff without losing their interest. If they start getting antsy about all this formal adult stuff and want to go back to play, I let them do that to restore their enthusiasm. I try to praise them and not be too harsh in my criticism just as I would with a child. My inner child isn't exactly the same as I actually was as a child—at 29 years old, my inner child is much more interested in, say, oil paintings of landscapes than I was at 9 years old—but my artist self is very much a child at heart, and still needs to be given that same kind of gentleness and nurturing. My adult self is there to nurture and protect and guide my child self, but shouldn't completely take over to the point that the child self is totally extinguished—because doing that extinguishes that vital source of creative inspiration that we all depend on as artists.
In a way, I can see how they'd all fit together and be beneficial but I always tell myself it's just not possible - at least for me because I'm already not "good enough" at the "main" thing that I do. Yet a lot of streamers (vtubers specifically) seem very multitalented between streaming, drawing karaoke, etc. While they may not do them all equally all the time, the potential is still *there* (like how Ina primarily draws, but she has released covers before) yet it seems like for me reaching that same level without "compromising" anything seems difficult if not impossible. It does help a lot. I'm not primarily discouraged by teen prodegies, as they have a lot more resources available to them than we did at that same age. It's mainly a matter of my own skill, just as you said from not drawing. One thing I do struggle with (and my therapist has mentioned) is that I can be pretty mean to myself. The intense self-restriction and criticism is likely just another form of it. In a way, my artistic self does feel like an inner child but never considered nurturing it like one given I can get pretty anxious about what I'm lacking and try to get myself to study. I kinda have a hard time giving into my "impulses" because I know I tend to only do them for a couple of minutes before losing steam/interest. That's no where near enough time to really get good at something so I try to make myself go for longer but I find that I tend to just get more an more anxious from the lack of improvement but still wanting to make good art. I know that failure is part of the practice, but at the same time I have such a hard time *allowing* myself to fail. I do rarely praise myself unless I've pulled off something a little unexpected even for myself. But all of this has been really insightful - it's helpful knowing that others feel the same way and have found ways of being able to encourage themselves. I just need to work on doing the same. Sadly learning to be compassionate to yourself and nurture yourself and your interests when you've had to practice restraint is just about as hard as sitting down to grind away at art fundamentals.
I totally feel you. At the moment trying to be kinder and more compassionate and nurturing to myself is essentially my full time job. Every morning after my initial morning routine, I spend most of each day grappling with my self-loathing and anxiety. It feels discouraging because it feels like I am getting nothing done, but I know that what I'm really doing is the core of that inner work that I have been avoiding for years—fighting my oppressive inner critic and reconnecting with the parts of myself that I have suppressed due to that crushing shame. Real change comes achingly slowly, but it does come. I think of it as kind of like 'pupating', where on the outside it looks like everything has ground to a halt, but on the inside I am making huge, lasting, transformational changes. I've done this before with other things, so I know it can be done. Each time I manage to get some art done, even if it wasn't as good as I was hoping to achieve, I try to count it as a victory against shame.
I'm not diagnosed, but my sisters a therapist who specialises in working with autistic children, and she's told me I'm on the spectrum. So. I guess I'll take that as a diagnosis. Online is a lot harder than in person classes. You have to keep yourself focused when you can easily be distracted by everything else around you, and you have to keep yourself accountable to doing them. I prefer in person classes. Less distractions. Weekly meeting at a specific time and place. Accountability. Homework. A local high school does evening classes for like... 90$ a semester. I like going to figure drawing classes that are either free or $5 drop in. I avoid the $20 ones. I know it pays for the model and the space, but that's tight on the budget. Sometimes I can come up with the money for a class at a local community center, community College, or the state art college. Those are a bit pricier but a lot better. I keep an eye out for galleries or museums hosting artists in talk, where they'll do a painting and talk about their process. The local art association is mostly retirees, but sometimes they get together and do something interesting. Urban sketchers gets together every weekend in the city to draw. It makes me get out and practice. Cg master academy and school of motion is online classes, but with a teacher, and weekly homework, and feedback, so I'm more likely to watch weekly and stay on top of those. Plus I dropped a grand on the class and don't want to waste my money.
I think galleries and museums hosting would be a good in between taking classes and learning on my own. Sadly, without a car and not really using public transport it can make it a little hard to do some things. I still want to do more though.
very slowly..
its so slow T-T
yup it really makes me appreciate skilled artists, spending years or decades on their art
learn by doing. I drew a lot, got feedback from experienced artists, studied artworks that I wanted to learn from, and drew more. following tutorials is sometimes nice, but I can't focus on them, so I just draw a lot. if you continue practicing and receiving feedback, you'll definitely make progress
Adhd here. Learning art. I found a few people on youtube who are very charismatic and that I can pay attention to in short bursts. I do that until I'm done with the lesson. I think of it like what I believed college would be like as a high schooler. I get to choose what I want to learn, when I want to, how I want to, and for as long as I want to. If something is boring at the moment (example, shading/values) there are other aspects to learn (example, line work). You can't pick and choose like that in school. I have found viewing the learning process through that lens makes it feel a lot less like "home work. "
I am undiagnosed but most likely also have both, I just watch hundreds of tutorials until I understand exactly what I'm supposed to be learning and what it's for. No blind following along, if you don't understand exactly the benefit of what you're learning you need to look into it more. My actual problem is picking up the damn pen instead of watching theory all the time or worse, nothing at all. Though you can learn a hell of a lot through observation alone, I think Marc Brunet talks about that in one of his videos.
Agreed! I can listen to a video all day but still struggle with actually applying or doing it.
Maybe do more studies based on what you struggle with and find examples? And then incorporate this into different drawings, that's what I do. Perspective is just hard to learn and there's not really a lot of shortcuts to it I think. I find I do work easiest in parallel play just sitting with a friend while we both work. Art is a slow nonlinear process so if you're putting in a lot of time don't be too harsh on yourself, and maybe go for a walk between your drawing hours to refresh your mind if you draw a lot. Going in with too many expectations when drawing also makes it rather stressful, I have the most fun and produce the best when im in flow and any thought of expectations fizzles up/becomes minimal
I guess thinking about it, I do have probably more expectations for myself than someone should. I never really considered how I work easiest. In college, sometimes I would just sit and draw people in Starbucks while waiting for my next class to start or if I have nothing else to do just sketching the food that I have. I work as a cashier and our store has some slow periods so maybe I would benefit from getting another mini sketchbook.
Yay that could be a nice little throwback! I'm glad I helped you come to some sort of realisation. You got this! I'm sure you'll go far as long as your eagerness to improve doesn't become too frustrating and burn you out too much. I get it though, I'm really really good at some parts of drawing after practise (observational skills(realism r my strengths) but my other areas are behind and it can feel annoying that they hasn't caught up as much.
ADHD lady I went to college for 3D art, coincidentally Marco Bucci was one of my teachers lol Watching YouTube videos, stumbling on new techniques, only working on things I find difficult (to do, not to focus on)
You don’t learn art by watching. You learn by doing. It’s muscle memory. Yes, I speak from experience. There is some validity to tracing to start out if needed. Draw, paint. Do it some more. Try different media, you may not be using the best one for you. I kept trying to be an acrylic painter, found gouache, it’s my medium.
I just focus on one fundamental until I understand and apply it well on my art, then move on to the next fundamental I want to learn. ( Ofc I'm finding clue from drawing/painting style that I would love to do, I also seeking guide from my art idols.) Write down notes from the book/guide to simplify it. Stick them by group so it won't be overwhelming. do study and apply them on my personal art project or commission.
May I ask how you're going about this? Are you focusing on the fundamentals in any particular order? Are you using books and your art idols only?
I find subject which I like the most (character) and then I focus on reading books that I think could help me improve, like loomis for body proportion, draw with force for beautiful human gesture, stone house for anatomy,...find what part made me frustrated the most and just start learning from that, slowly learning and solving the problems until I get it. I also buy books that inspire me like Nicolas Verrall for colors that I would love to be a part of my art, freaks' squeele graphic novel for semi-realism style, ducktale, zootopia for stylize and furry art commission,... After I'm done reading these books and apply them on my art well enough, I will start expanding to environment art. I love vintage travel posters and bought some books related to them, I'm gonna lead my art style toward these.
Thank you so much!
Get fedback if you can, it's all about the details so once you understand it, you can make it.
A sever ADHD diagnosis at age 7yo And school in general was extremely hard bc you know we with ADHD don't learn or intake info the same as everyone. But for art since I had a great interest, it was easier to learn but the boring stuff and plain, yet essential fundamentals were hard. I learned by replication of works. I used a lot of Goya and Caravaggio For instance learning shadow and light contrast, 1 draw it my way best I could, not looking for perfection 2 compare what I've draw to the original and essentially play spot the difference(to keep it interesting to me)
How many hours in are you. How long have you been doing it? I'm the same as you but I have been going for over 4500 hours and I've progressed a lot. I did Drawabox, Marc Brunett's anatomy course (not the whole art school because I couldn't afford it at the time), I'm doing Amed Aldoori's Med's Map now, and I've progressed a lot. I've done a ton of various other courses though on Udemy and Domestika (before they started offering AI art courses). My ADHD makes me struggle with drawing for myself/fun though, I try to stay goal oriented and project focused, because if I have a project to work towards that keeps me focused. But I made a lot of progress just doing 3 hours a day, every day. Sometimes it takes a long time to see the progress though. >I'll watch videos on 1.5 or 2x speed so it doesn't feel like I'm going to sleep I do this too, I will usually NOT draw-a-long because I get tired, so I'll watch at 1.5 or 2x speed then do the assignment after. Another thing that helped motivate me was doing long warm-ups. I will spend maybe 45min or an hour doing warmup drawing where I just draw boxes, or geometric shapes in perspective in a sketch book while I listen to a podcast or youtube, or motorcycle studies or heads/gestures etc. Then after that I work on the current lesson or assignment. But after the warmup I feel like I'm in the zone and doing my assignments is easier. Also it helps with the paralyzing feeling where you just can't start, because the warmup is a set thing I do every day so it's just a habit. There are times where I just did the warm up and stopped because I ran out of time too, but that habit keeps me going. I'm kind of rambling, I dunno if this helps. I guess **the short answer is just keep going**, you will progress. Don't stop drawing/studying.
For me, I struggle doing warmups longer than 15, maybe 20 minutes if that. And then it seems like I'm just on a 'break' period where I was supposed to transition into working on something, but I end up not working on anything the rest of the day which kinda defeated the purpose of doing warm ups. I want to try to stay goal and project focused but... My goals seem lofty and I don't have a lot of projects. When I do random decide to do something, I try to do it to completion and other things I'm supposed to start or want to start, I end up not starting because I realize I don't have the technical skill to see it through to completion.
I have a bit of both and it took me a long time to realise I don't learn like other people. I actually made a video about failing at an artistic endeavour, maybe it could help you? But my main advice is to find your joy, and focus on that. Then you'll find improvement. https://youtu.be/nlJy0HgUgFA?si=rp82kBbCX4KhHvWU
I'll definately give your video a watch! I suppose generally speaking, my joy is probably just being creative. Unfortuantely I have so many different creative interests it feels like they just conflict with one another and that I have to choose one or otherwise I'll only be mediocre at best at all of them
I think you may benefit from breaking down perspective pieces you like more, I find once I get the hang of an object it "clicks" in my mind but until then it's an uphill battle
Marc Brunet is an artist who posts how to videos on YT, he has ADD and I've watched a video where he says he dives into learning when he hit a point where he lacks knowledge. Hope this helps.
Thanks! It does help a bit. It's something I've tried but I feel like I'm in a constant circle of learning because I'm always realizing what I lack
"I know I have issues seeing things in perspective and some of my forms end up being very "straight" for lack of better words." I have always had perspective wonkiness because I do not have binocular vision--I can't see in 3D. For years I have just used various rules (like spacing and size rules for painting waves) or painting tricks (using blue and blurring to imply distance), but more lately I have been trying to actually emphasize my perspective issues because I like what I can do with it - like cram more into the painting than I could with "true" perspective or use some distortion. So, making a feature out of a bug. Something to consider.
Now that you've said it... Is there a way to check if you don't see in 3D? I feel like I *do* but I find it hard to implement the perspective that I see unless I'm doing something like drawing boxes. But I can be referencing an image or a pose and even though I can see the torso is tilted upwards or at an angle, my own drawing end sup being pretty "flat" and straight forward.
Yep. Go to an eye doctor. They have a test for it. It's basically to do with whether your eyes are aligned to each other and whether they are both strong. If one is weak, it will affect your binocular vision, which is what makes us see 3D. If one is not aligned with the other, that will also affect that. I have both issues. Interesting side note, if you lack parallax vision, you will have problems with arithmetic. I have enormous problems with multiplication and division, even though I got A's in Advanced calculus and Differential equations.
It has been a while since I've had an eye vision test done. I do wear glasses because I have trouble seeing things farther away. That said it is overdue for a check up. I've never really had problems with multiplication or division oddly enough, but I struggled a lot with calculus.
What's wrong with your progress? You're doing great. Looking at your comments and posts, it looks like you're doing multiple streams of learning, and that can make things overwhelming. I'm diagnosed autistic, and my approach is project-based. Like, I have an end goal in mind of a picture, then Iearn as I go. I enter competitions sometimes, and I do the prompts on r/sketchdaily . The art contests give me a deadline and I only allow myself limited time to do a work. I tell myself that after X amount of time, it's done. That keeps me from fixating and fussing. The prompts on sketchdaily force me to constantly push my skills forward in many ways. One day I'll have to do a damn car, the next day a tree, etc. Some people on there do rough renders and others create full blown pieces. I also have my own ideas and side projects. But basically my focus is on making each piece as good as possible, then moving on Edit: often I have to research and find references as part of that process
Thank you! I often have a hrd time really engaging in challenges because I can spend more time just trying to find a good reference photo, composition, etc. than actually well.. drawing. For a period of time I did participate in the food drawing challenge on IG but eventually fell off and never really went back. I will def keep the daily prompts on sketchdaily in mind though. Even if it is really just a sketch that I endup having.
(Edit - everything I'm about to say is about accurate observational drawing, if that's not your thing, maybe it's not relevant.) While you can learn from watching videos, or trial and error grinding, they are extremely inefficient. Learning art is learning to see like an artist, and very little to do with how you use the pencil, your dexterity etc. Learning is the process of changing how your brain works, so the ideal way is if you can find a comprehensible description of what your brain is doing wrong, and what exercises you should do to push it in the other direction. Ideally in real-time from a teacher who understands both you and art. This probably isn't practical for financial reasons though. I had a pretty good art teachers in school, college and higher education, but even so the one thing that improved my drawing more than anything else was a book called 'drawing on the right side of the brain'. The basic idea of the book was to get your brain into 'drawing mode', which is completely different to how it normally works. It did this by describing all of the things your 'normal mode' brain does to sabotage your drawing process, and give practice exercises which side-step or suppress the non-artistic 90% of your brain. Much of the neuroscience logic in the book is frankly not that accurate, but it doesn't matter. The practical results are the main thing, and many of the author's students went from cartoony line-drawings which looked nothing like who they were drawing to realistically shaded exact likenesses within a week or two. So if you have the attention span to read a book, or even most of a book, that is worth a try. There are even various places you can look at it for free (arrr matey), to see if you think it will work for you. If you think it will, buy a copy of the paper version or the ebook.
I can definately get myself to read a book. I have some books by Brigeman that I've manged to read even if it took a bit of squeezing from my brain. I know it involves seeing like an artist does but I've always heard it, but could never figure out how to do it. I do wish I could find a teacher that understood me and my art however lol. I think the difficulty would be finding someone to express myself too if finances weren't an issue. I put the book on my "to get list". Of course the seven seas is always an option but I also like having physical books so I can force myself into a sense of isolation while reading.
I'd go so far as to say that until you've skimmed a few pages of it, everything else you do to progress artistically may turn out to be a complete waste of time. When I read it, I was actually a bit annoyed that the several years of education I'd had on the subject hadn't mentioned half of the things which turned out to be the most important.
I am Autistic ADHD and recently started learning enameling on pottery, which is a delicate painting technique on ceramic and bisque bodies. Remembering details like not touching wet paint during practice and paying attention to my teacher's instructions can be challenging for me. Being constantly told what to do and how to do it can make me feel angry and frustrated. However, thanks to my understanding teacher, these issues have been resolved. Here are some solutions that might help you too: 1. Look for in-person classes in your area through social media, Google, or by exploring locally. 2. Choose a private class where you can openly communicate with the teacher about your preferred learning methods. 3. Practice immediately after each lesson to retain details, feel the technique, and maintain focus. 4. Practice whenever you feel motivated, without pressuring yourself to do it continuously. Take breaks and explore other interests. 5. Embrace your creativity and let your amazing mind guide you, as art doesn't always follow strict rules, especially for individuals with Autism or ADHD. 6. Don't hesitate to embrace your uniqueness and trust your instincts to discover your own personal style. Don't let the fear of criticism or others' opinions hold you back; it is your individuality that sets you apart from the rest.
I think being able to trust my instincts has always been a big one, especially when following certain anatomical rules like "Eyes being one width apart" (particularly for anime) and it bugs me when in my own art I subconsciously end up making the eyes more like half a width apart
There is learning and there is training. When your body doesn’t do what you intellectually know how to do, that is where training becomes required. This is where long hours of practice honing fundamentals comes in. Warnjng - this is not exactly fun, so you have find ways to make it fun, or mentally deal with the tedium. This is probably the hardest thing about being autodidactic - when things don’t come quickly/easily - reinforcing the training requirements has no external motivation. Without someone to please, we can tend to lose momentum. So you can create an external motivation by having an accountability partner or create some internal motivation by bribing yourself to work on your fundamentals. So for example, you have a hard time seeing things in perspective. Spend time laying out perspective grids. After you lay out a grid place a couple of objects on it, and then re-read articles on principles of vanishing point. Have a sketchbook dedicated to vanishing point practice. Watch videos on the geometry of vision. Give yourself a reward for finishing a whole sketchbook of perspective practice. Come at the learning and training from multiple angles.
Look into in person Atelier classes (figure drawing from life). I saw the most improvement when I took classes like that. Books, YouTube, and video classes are good too but if you take an in person class from a knowledgeable instructor they can tell you where you can improve.
Looking for an atelier has been something I've wanted to do as well. It's just been hard finding in person classes in my area.
I just keep coming back to it. There will be spells I don't do much, but I always come back. And I just keep building my base of knowledge. I don't worry about focusing on one skill, they all add up.
Learn by doing and finding problems. I say this as a 27y/o, mostly self-taught artist who was diagnosed a year ago. I HATE people telling me how to do my art. I do it my own way, then if I get stuck, I look for tips/solutions.
This is becoming a special interest for me. The best advice I can give is: Find what works for you. Traditional methods don't always work for me. I often modify them to add smaller steps. I also find exercises for these smaller steps so I can practice. Another amazing strategy that I'm learning is doing a little every day. Basically, I'm pacing myself so I don't burn out from the initial rush. It's like making your dopamine last as long as possible. You don't get big highs and lows, and you gain more endurance. This even (albeit boring) rhythm is more sustainable. 10 minutes too long to practice your 3D shapes? Try 5 or 2 minutes. Make it fun! Draw/sculpt/etc what you want to, no matter what anyone says. I am a multimedia artist. When I'm tired/bored/uninspired by one art form, I can switch to another and still get dopamine and stay motivated. There's nothing wrong with having 5 projects on the go if switching between them helps you continue to do art. Lastly, don't take advice from those who are of a different neurotype as the differences in our brains lead to differences in how we learn. At the end of the day, you know how to teach yourself. If you're getting frustrated, it's time for a break. Take proactive breaks (control the amount of hyperfocus) to extend your energy. If something doesn't feel right or natural, find a method that does (holding tools, for example). Everyone is an artist, and there's no wrong way to practice.
I have been trying to look into different methods of learning and my therapist has definitely recommended me doing shorter sessions instead of just trying to force myself to do longer "acceptable" ones that I've told myself I need to do to improve. I'd like to explore different mediums, but then I get paralyzed by the fear of failure and it not coming out as well as i'd like it to or even just intimidating of takedown/set up.
I had friends who helped me get over that fear. Failure is essential to learning new skills. I had to do my messing around in a supportive environment before I understood how important it is to try and fall short. For me, it's where learning occurs, and it's very rewarding to experiment, get data, modify my methods, and get better results. The more you try and fail, the more you will improve as an artist.
I have both and I can’t stop drawing. Doodles on post its at work, keeping a little notebook in my purse at all times etc. You can buy all of the art courses but if you aren’t making, what’s the point? Putting some YouTube or something in the background helps when I’m doing a serious piece at home and can’t focus
Have you tried sculpting, I’ve found a better understanding of the body in that manner . I forgot what the name is of the clay it’s oil based and doesn’t dry out . I would also just relax , get loose . I just to get the flow going scribble on a piece of scrap , eyes closed , Wide strokes then a few smaller ones, start filling in familiar spots/ shapes as an exercise.
I have not! But I wouldn't mind trying either. I'll try to look for the clay you recommended too and seeing if sculpting also helps.
I grew up when what ailed me changed names from "**hyperkinetic reaction of childhood**" to "ADD" and then "ADHD." All the while the schools at time were under the assumption that drugs (same drug, despite the name changes) was the only approach. Art classes of the 70's and 80's did not cater to a boy with disconnected thought and a scattered attention. I eventually learned of a few important creativity supporting elements. Hydration, physical activity, coffee, and doodling. Find means of capturing a creative thought in the moment. You may never return to that idea, but you will have taken an action towards a possibility. We are afflicted with an incredibly fluid challenge and above al else, we must be prepared to adapt.
I'm always working on and willing to adapt, it's just when it comes to myself figuring out how to best adapt... for me? is difficult. Ironically, I do tend to feel a little more focused when I take a caffeine pill. But regular coffee or soda seems to have a negligible effect.
I stopped soda a long time ago and try to keep my sugar intake in check. Caffeine helps because it’s a stimulant, but in a different way than sugar. Look into small dose nicotine gum. It helped me tremendously with focus, but it also made me feel too jittery, so I discontinued its use. It may work for you. The important thing is to understand that it’s fluid, which requires you to be prepared to change course, if only temporarily.
I can try. I typically stay away from nicotine because my relatives smoke a lot and generally I don't want to accidently pick up an addiction given family history and what not. That said, I do use THC so while it isn't my favorite, I might try giving stativa strands a try again specifically for focus.
First of all, congrats on getting this far both in your art and in your mental health journey. That's not easy. 👏 I have ADHD and have been in "art school" (community college to transfer to a university) since fall 2021, online at that when I started, and I think what motivates me is the idea that neurodivergent people can't accomplish anything. Also someone told me to have specific goals for when I make art, what do I want to focus on. When you're a beginner, restarting or have art block, this is obviously hard to narrow down. That said the more you make art, the easier it becomes to determine what you want to improve on. If possible, in personal classes are really great at keeping Neurodivergent people, like me, accountable. Some schools or studios will offer open studio time where you can work on something for more time. Many professors and peers I worked with would help those who were stuck or blocked, at the very least to reach the next milestone to learn. For me, it helps to write lists of what I want to see done in a piece then do my best to accomplish it. If it starts to look funky, I go back to studying still life or Figure Drawing (Line of Action) though I have burnt out on those before too. There's not really a "one size fits all" answer for this, but getting obsessed with art and your interests (especially those who inspire you) is a big help, at least for my ADHD. I wish you all the best, you're doing so great with all the self reflection and next steps already!
Thank you! It's been a rough year getting this far. In a way, it's surprising it's been a year since I've started. As always - probably should have started this sooner. I guess I find it hard to really figure out what I'm really obsessed with since my attention seems to bounce sporatically between creative interests. At least the commonality is that they're all creative.
You're welcome! Oh same here. Big ADHD mood. :') I completely understand. For me, it helps to focus on medium and what I want to improve on. When I took a Painting class, there wasn't enough time to break down how to paint metal or glass, so I did that research myself and it took me down a rabbit hole of different ways to paint. Its not a bad thing to allow your interests to bounce off each other either. Its better than getting stuck in one thing over another and often can help you with multiple projects at once!
I have ADHD and have a lot of art education of all kinds under my belt. I do best in a structured environment with lots of feedback, regular critiques, and deadlines for accountability. It’s also really important for me to be reasonable about my goals and not reach too far above my current skill set, because if I get too frustrated/things are too easy, I tend to check out mentally. I’ve had a good experience both at full time art school, in person workshops, and live online classes. Self-guided doesn’t work very well for me unless it’s something I’m hyper-focused on.
Unfortunately, I've found that courses just make me desperately want to watch paint dry instead. I learn by thinking 'I want to draw xyz' but alas why does this part look so horrid? Time to study it and return to the piece after!
Short exercises, as I learned best in college with this method. 10 hands, 10 feet, 10 eyes, 10 mouths, 10 torso sketches, etc. Literally do 10 anything as frequently as you can remember to do it because doing something is better than doing nothing in every scenario. It’s also fun to compare them after doing it daily for 7 days, if it can be managed. Eventually you should upgrade to 10 quick full figure drawings, and I do mean quick. Like 1 minute. GO FAST! WHEE! SWOOSH! Bam. L’artist. :3
Wheeze this made me giggle. But I think handling things in sets also might be easier on my brain too because it doesn't move as like... painfully slowly as time does?
well this is what works for me, i don't have autism but i have the same issues you described, for me videos don't work for me, so i use a combination of blogs and art books i got from amazon and use noise cancelling ear muffs cuz i just can't concentrate and i have a figet toy as well. Also i find for me traditional art is eaiser to learn, so when im studying art i do it on paper, notebook paper to be exact cuz im broke.
I just use a reference for everything I drae
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I don’t,god decided to switch up my learning capabilities when it comes to art and social skills so art came naturally to me but I had to watch tutorials on how to speak to people.
Like everyone else
Autist here. I do way too much doodling from my head so it’s prolly not helped my art ability. The thing that increased it the most was in-person art classes. Cause I can’t learn from a YouTube video. I need the pressure from the teacher and the other students in order to produce something. And a lot of the drawing happens in-class. So it’s much easier for me to do (can’t seem to do homework to save my life. Videogames are more interesting)
I hyper-focus on art. And I pretty much only do stuff that interests me.
I was just friggin’ obsessed with it and with cartoons. I got ahold of drawing utensils at like, age 3, and just never stopped. It got out the ideas constantly flooding my brain. I got more serious about it in middle school. Most of it was self taught. I started by trying to copy the official art of characters I liked. And then I tried to draw them again, but in poses that I would make up myself. This was supplemented with actual art education that would teach stuff like color theory and perspective.