Thursday
Feb092012
What Should I Draw Today?
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 9:20AM Feeling blocked up? Lacking motivation? Hopefully this video will put the challenge in a differnt light, and get your stylus moving again.
in Theory
Theory
Reader Comments (22)
That's really a nice approach. Thank you Matt, I needed it :)
What could be on a list for say Concept Art if we break it down? Great Video as always Matt!
nice video matt thnx for the morale boost.
@lisa concept art? hmm vehicle siloughetes and then pick up the best siloughette and try to draw it into a 3 dimensional finished concept.
3 quarters view work great for vehicles or drones. you could make charater concepts too start srawing animals from photos for that.
I find it hard to find photos on things im trying to get better at drawing. Have you any suggestion or site where will solve the problem?
A method I use aswell, or atleast starting, is to buy a simple lined book. Nothing fancy but something that you can keep in your bag at all times (usually a hard back one.) I then slowly over time as I see something which I think is cool or intersting I just add it into a catergory. I have one for anatomy, clothing, fantasy, environments and it's really helpful for times when I can't think of something to draw or something just looks bland. Take a quick look at my book and more often than not I can use something from that to spruce things up. It's helping me a lot and I hope it can for anyone else.
Thanks for the video Matt. I was really feeling low on inspiration today and this video really picked me right back up !
Looking forward to more videos !
genius but practical matt, thanks for your video
I also prefer a few random options to spark interest:
1) Some Idea Generators I built or modified.
a. Tattoo Art Generator (WIP)
b. Concept Art Generator (borrowed)
c. Other - 3CH, or Words
2) "Eye-Spy" / "Image in the Clouds" type things
a. Layer random brushes in black and white and vary opacity and contrast until forms begin to pop out.
b. Alchemy
im always tnx for your teaching
sooo cool! thank you!
Your vids are so amazing and helpful! Thanks for posting
God you are just the greatest you beautiful man you.
Another thing I do, Projects
Slow-paced back-up projects to be exact.
Think of a story or a world, Fantasy, Sci-fi, some characters and creatures that dwell there. Something you'd want to find in a book.
You are creative enough if you are reading this here on Ctrl-Paint.
Take some characters, set up a mood and you will find that adding things to something existing is way easier that thinking up whole new concepts.
If all else fails just draw some fan-art to break that art-block.
:)
Hey Matt Thanks for a great video once again. I'm always having a tough time when I need to draw to improve a specific skill. I can never get myself to just study anatomy and draw something very specific. I have a good way to get around this though. When I am sketching for fun I always try to make something that looks good. And in that drawing I will focus on something I need to improve. This way I never get bored of learning and keep drawing fun at all times.
Thanks and keep up the great work with the video's! Always looking forward to them on tuesdays and thursdays.
I hang with children's book illustrators but everything you say is just as applicable to our community. Which is why I mentioned you in my latest blog post ( http://helgaharrumphs.blogspot.com/2012/02/digital-tablet-newbie-learning-in.html ) because I'm a tablet newbie and your site has been an invaluable resource for me and I'm sure others will feel the same. Thank you again for being so generous with your time and knowledge.
Hi Matt. Your videos are phenomenal; don't let some of these posters get to you. I'm hardly a beginner, and if you have a new video I'll drop everything to see what you have to say.
I'd really like to see (or, it would help me personally anyways) any intensive exercises or projects you use or know of that helps to internalize perspective. I don't just mean videos about the basic ideas or principles of perspective, I mean I'd like to see you focus on attacking one's ability to use these themes naturally - sort of broaden one's horizons so that they might notice more opportunities to use what they know perspective-wise, instead of just using guesswork.
I think another video would have been a better place to post this, but I know you're busy and I wanted you to see it. Anyways, keep up the good work, I hope this venture is earning you the exposure and financing you hoped it would.
Hei, Matt. I have been watching all your videos since June, when I first discovered the website. Bought all you have in the store and I think you truly have a gift for explaining things. I understood from your videos things i had been hearing over and over in art school but never really internalized. Including color schemes :). You have created kind of a niche here and I hope you stick to it. I mean creating short videos that deal with one small thing at a time. I was so happy that someone made all those rules finally make sense to me that I was like "Good God, I gotta either marry this guy or rent him as my private teacher". *not a stalker message :)). I do have a suggestion for the next videos. It's a bigger topic and you are basically covering it constantly, but it would be great to have maybe a series dedicated to that. I'm talking about working efficiently, faster, not wasting your time on things that can be done in other ways. For example I just realised how much time you can save with custom brushes and using more and more hotkeys (thanks for that btw). But sometimes I tend to paint and take a long time on things that could be done in simpler ways (like using some textures, photos etc. Would be nice to hear more about that. So...that's it. And you're awesome :D
This website is super awesome! Thanks Matt. You have made this tutorials short, simple, easy to follow, and easy to implement. I am telling all my friends.
Just wanted to share my knowledge of a really cool soft : http://al.chemy.org/ It's a "randomness generator", perfect for filling blank pages with idea starters.
And a modest small site, providing daily theme and challenges : http://www.wysp.ws
Enjoy =)
I am simply in awe how simple things actually are! You have no idea (though, you probably do) how many times have I wondered what should I paint at that given moment, and how many times have I let that demotivate me and I eventually end up not painting at all. And of course, how much time have I lost, that I chould have otherwise invested in learning how to paint better.
Thank you for reminding me on how to break large goals down to smaller ones, even baby steps. I guess that's just what I needed to hear :)
I have a few questions though. How does one deal with the impatience to paint something huge and memorable? How does one find the time and inspiration to paint after a full day in the office doing something else? Would be nice to have your (actually, every single fellow artist's) 2 cents on that matter.
Thank you for the video, and thank you for the wonderful blog that I actually just found and am about to dive deeper in once I get home!
hello. how are you? please do a video about finding style in your work. does copying someone style make it difficult later to find your own style. i dont know if i express myself correctly. my english isn't very good.