Draw it again! | First year of the art journey

This is Diletta

This is Diletta. She was my first ever digital portrait painting model.


I think I did her justice this year -- a result of nearly one year of dedicated practice. Like any other days, I always think I could have done better; it's just that at the moment, this is the best I could carry out. And... I'm surprisingly OK with that.

But man. I can only laugh right now in amazement. What a year can do! Have you seen how I painted her last year? It makes me cringe now.

This is that story.

Let's begin with a timeline

My experience in art (drawing, crafts, painting, etc.) dates back to -- drum rolls -- when I was a toddler. I've been drawing as a hobby all throughout my childhood, but had to lie low when I entered college at 16 years old.

In college, I would doodle from time to time and sometimes even engage in vector drawings. But I felt like I wasn't improving. There were many factors that blocked any semblance of improvements, and I was stuck. That one frustrated me, so I stopped.

I returned to drawing when I graduated, during the short period after my graduation and the start of my first full-time job. I took interest in color pencil drawings and had so much fun with it. Then I started working... then I stopped again. This time, for much longer.

It was two years of no drawing or doodling a all. Looking back now, it was a time when I just completely lost interest.

I thought I wouldn't get back to it until the pandemic happened. I suddenly had a lot of time in my hands... and then...

Hive happened

With barely 9 HP in my wallet, I began my art journey again. Of course, my big sister ended up lending me a hundred HP to further boost the experience. At the beginning of last year, I purchased a Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ to help me with work, but I ended up using it for drawing instead.

My first few days with Hive were testing my drawing skills again and trying out different drawing apps. It was difficult and my drawings ended up looking cringey, but I wound up using and falling in love with MediBang Paint for Android. :)

Diletta 2020 vs 2021

I thought it would help me if I start practicing things I actually find interesting: people. Hence, Diletta. I was under the impression that she was interesting to paint, so I did.

At the time, I was proud of the outcome. It even surprised me. MediBang was this weird and difficult to work with app I never thought I would end up loving, but its learning curve was pretty steep.

When I drew Diletta today for the second time, I realized just how insecure I was of how I draw and paint.

The thing was, I was very insecure to the point that I would paint on very many layers. I didn't trust that I could fix any major mistakes I was sure to make.

It was a mess. For some reason, I thought doing that would help me. In the long run, I realize it was pointless. Maybe I should have given myself more credit?

Lately, I've been painting in less layers. I would paint the skin and all details in one layer, the hair in another, and others in another. I wouldn't bother clipping layers for details because...

Well, I think I had more confidence this time. There was the belief that I could maybe just wing it till I make it, and that there's nothing to panic about when I make mistakes.

It was a realization I wouldn't acknowledge before, but am proud to do so now. I didn't trust myself before, but I do now. :)

I'd always known that I suck at choosing my colors, a major reason why I would end up adjusting them after I finish painting. But I've become more bold about my choices... with a margin of sorts. I would still end up adjusting them sometimes, but nothing as major as I would had I still been myself ten months ago.

I found a "style" I was most comfortable in. I found a technique in using MediBang that I thought worked the best for me. There is more control, and I in each drawings I did, I had goals.

In summary

I'm more comfortable with my tools and skills now. I was an anxious mess before, but I've grown more trust in my phone, in MediBang, and in my hands. xD

Of course, this isn't to say I would stop learning, because that is definitely not the case. I just got more motivated to practice more and learn more. It might take a while, but I want to unlearn my bad habits. It's also my goal to love my artwork more.

Notes

That was quite a long post. The changes I saw were exciting, and I just want to try and draw again some of the stuff from last year just to see how I fared. I wonder how much I'll grow in the next twelve months. I would surely want to share that one next time with everyone. :)



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