My advice for learning is to always practice anything you want to stick after you learn it. With a lot of ‘tip’ videos especially, I think ‘I’ll keep that in mind’ but will I really? Utilizing it soon after will better help it be worked into your mind. Most people know this but some of us struggle to apply it if we have confidence in things like memorization skills etc. Don’t fall for it.

this video encapsulates ALL of learning in the internet age - it really takes a lot of discipline to even just hold yourself back from the "advanced levels" that are so easily available

I can't tell you how much I appreciate this video. I was feeling so confused by watching various KZfaq artist demos. I was actually regressing. I knew that there was something missing in my art journey. Your insight on this matter is spot on. It all makes so much sense to me now. Thank you!

Im just finishing a cert 3 course totally unrelated to my art. You are absolutely correct. I feel im ready to be a productive student just now, 6 months later. It has improved what content i actually consume because im approaching my self taught learning with focus. Last couple of months has been compositition mainly with values in addition. I have been learning productively and effectively. Thanks very much for confirming what ive just learnt. 😊

I was also a high school English teacher (British Lit). I should have known by the way you explain everything. Kindred spirit! Thank you so much for all you do. This was particularly appreciated. Thank you!

All you say applied to me until I discovered your video's ! I have always done a bit of pencil sketching but when I saw your amazing pen drawings, I knew that this is what I want to learn and where I want to be ! My efforts are improving all the time, and this is because I enjoy the relevant content and tons of information in every FREE video ! (have I mentioned how much I appreciate it that you offer these valuable lessons without charging even 1 dollar !? I don't do paypal etc so even a small fee is a no-go for me!) I am very happy to have found you ! You speak my "language" !!!😊

You described my feelings perfectly. I started drawing very recently and at a very late age. No prior experience whatsoever, my school did not taught me anything as well. I found a tutorial series, aimed for complete beginners. Drawing straight lines, circles, boxex, building basic objects from boxes and so on. And when it was over - i was completely at loss what to do next. I searched was some more stuff, but it was too advance for me and only made me feel terrible and discouraged from proceeding further. Understading what i need to learn is hard. For now i stick mostly to redrawing other peoples art and trying to "learn to see", i click on a very few guides as they usually only make me confused and anxious. Marc Brunet was not helpful at all. He has entertaining videos that promises to teach you every thing in the world but he really only advertises his payed course.

Another excellent video. People also learn in many different ways, some by watching, some through repetition, some by jumping in and doing. When I was doing my engineering qualifications I struggled with the maths, the teacher had a certain way of teaching which I struggled with. He just assumed everyone knew what he was talking about and the pace was at those who did understand. When challenged or asked to slow down and explain why he did certain things we were told we should know by now. I just managed to scrape through with help from work colleagues. The following year a different teacher, different methods and it all started to make sense. Learning to draw by teaching yourself is also about finding the right way for you. I am one who learns more from watch then having a go maybe with a lot of trial and error. When confronted with something in a drawing I an uncertain of, pick up a sketch book and do a trial run, maybe several times tweaking techniques until I get the look I want. Then I go back to the main piece and try and replicate it using what I had learnt. I have always wanted to draw, having that desire to do something also made the learning process easier. Learning should also be fun rather than a chore.

This video is so very thoughtful and considerate! I have fallen into the trap of watching so many videos that probably don't relate to the skills I need to be developing because the artists are so good and/or their art is so extraordinary! After 3 years of binging various artists' videos, I have decided that strong drawing skills are what is going to help me create the kind of art I want to make. I am glad I found you!

I can't believe I've only just been reccommended this video, it is so relevant to what I'm going through. I have struggled with improvement for such a long time and that is because I wasn't aware of how to learn in and of itself, part of learning art is learning how to educate yourself and how to use the tools in your toolbox, unfortunately I still struggle, I still think my art is awful and the conflicting art advice is so difficult to get around, there is also very little criticism you can get even if you join spaces that are predominantly for that, because even if your art is bad the consensus is to always be kind and that unfortunately clouds peoples judgment, even when asking for very harsh criticism I wasn't able to get very much out of it at all because it was sadly sugarcoated in order to not hurt my feelings, and if it's not this kind of situation it's just that there are not enough people who are skilled enough to give you the advice that is personalized for your current issues. A good teacher knows where their student is lacking, social groups don't have that kind of awareness and it's why people pay for the courses, because the feedback you get is personalized to your specific issues. When you were talking about the conflicting information and thinking something is wrong with you... I really felt that, that's what I always default to. I have autism and ADHD and so I always tend to think that either I am too stupid or not intelligent enough or normal enough to understand the material and I always felt like it was an issue within myself, I still have these thoughts and very often, because I can't find what I need or be a good enough judge of my own work to improve. Unfortunately for me, art is always going to be a consistent painful struggle, I will still go through it because I love art and it's innate. There are not enough resources for people with autism or ADHD who have these struggles that are clear and straightforward, the main things I struggle with are perspective and foreshortening, because the reference material and videos are almost never straightforward, even after 8 years I still have no concept of what 1 point, 2 point and 3 point mean. I still don't understand foreshortening.... because it's not explained well, it's not simplified in a way that people with these learning disabilities can understand, but it's my goal to understand them and simplify them beyond what is given so that I can go on to teaching others and helping them overcome those struggles that I have had to face.

Immensely affirming video. Thank you! I've been an artist since childhood yet only attended a semester of art school. I'm now a psychotherapist attending KZfaq University since 2020 to improve my watercolor skills. I've stuck with qnd feel great wanted to learn my about drawing with pen as when I've tried recently it ruined my watercolors. I have only been watching your videos for the past two months. Extremely helpful in understanding watch my challenges have been in not only understand perspective but how to create depth with pen. Thank you Thank you, thank you. No more bold one dimensional black lines. I listen our vides before work, like now. I'm running late. Then layer I watch the full video again. 🙏🏽🌷🌿

Thank u so much! Your video appeared on my feed just when I was getting overwhelmed about creating a module for myself! This calmed me down and made me focus on my present journey. I’m so grateful!

Sooo helpful to everyone. I sort of figured this out, I thought, but the hard way. This is a priceless video. Thank you, STEPHEN!

As a want to be, beginning drawer, you are spot on with how to get started and who to follow.

This advice is exactly what I needed because I just started my art journey and I subscribe to any channels that i see are related to art and followed so many artists and it is all so overwhelming like where to exactly start and what I want my end goal to be and all. thanks for this video very much😊

It feels good that someone understands what I am going through😢. Thank you for creating this video ❤

Oh my! I have a BS in Psychology, and fortunately, I know how I learn. But I did not know where to find the resources until I found your videos! THANK YOU so much 😊

This is a very helpful vid for me, trying to figure out my style for a long time. This is gonna be a new start for me. Thank you so much..

Absolutely. Once again such sage advise. I have spent almost 3 years searching out and critiquing art instruction videos in my quest to become a watercolour artist. So why do I feel so indebted to you for improving my art? Number 1: You give such sage advice about the process of learning to be a visual artist. Number 2: Your insight into teaching some baseline skills that every artist can benefit from such as perspective, effective mark making and values. I am constantly asking what have I learned from Stephen that will help me with this next step. Another of my favorite instructors has been essential in my understanding of composition and he is a oil painter. These things are essential no matter what the media so don't be afraid to go cross medias to learn the essentials. Thank you as always.❤

Wow! So powerful and true. That explains a lot. Thank you for sharing.

I totally appreciate you. I have learned so much.

What you say was definitely true before the age of the internet. But now we have some great artists showing us how they paint, step by step. And classes depend very much on the teacher. If I went to a class given by the esteemed artist Ian Roberts I would come away thinking shape is everything in art, while mood and atmosphere are vital elements for me. Therefore I can seek out my teacher, the one who resonates with me and who I can learn from.

You're an excellent teacher! Thanks.

Well said! Brilliant!

Thanks Stephen, I'm listening to your back catalogue of videos to drown out the awful gym music - the ones like this are sooo useful to me. I am that person that collects tutorial videos like it's my job 😅. But after a year or so, I realise that I definitely need to stick to only a few artists otherwise I don't really get deeper than 5 tips for this or that. I thought I had found a course on drawing figures, but I think it's too advanced (even though they say it's for beginners), so I'm going back to the other course 😂 and sticking it out. Plus getting back to life drawing which actually was really helpful in getting rid of perfectionism. Thanks for these and keep doing them - with or without the mike 😂

Be a self-taught teacher and then a self-taught artist. Then self-teach yourself to be a good student! Research, direct observation, emotional/motivational intelligence, and most of all common sense. Apply these to all three... and you've got a chance. No teacher is going to "fix you"!

Loved the realization at 14:37 had me genuinely laughing

Very interesting, in a way you are right and wrong too. I trained as a architect studied Urban designed and worked as a landscape architect and an urban designer, now i have taken an interest in urban sketching so i watch your videos as they contains a lot of architectural content and other watercolour artists who i feel will help me get to what im seeking and this is a interesting challenge, Im critical of my work but it dosent pull me down. as i know i have improved in the last 6 months Most of my work is archetectural but i have improved my plant and portrait drawing skills too. Most importantly while a course may helo me in some aspects but need not necessarily give me what im looking for. In the end im confident in my direction, however what may help me is if someone like yourself looks at what im doing and suggest ways to improve. Thanks is you get to read and respond to my concerns.

I found this channel recently and everything just sort of clicked for me. in the parts of the Internet i frequent, there's a focus on character design and portraits but that just doesn't appeal to me. Your art has been a huge inspiration for me to focus my efforts on what i genuinely enjoy drawing, that being architecture, and the past few weeks have been the most fun ive ever had making art. thank you so much for all this amazing content!

Love your videos. Will you be coming out with an online course?

I think there is a caveat to the suggestions in the video. If you are a beginner, it's hard to know your goals because you haven't even experimented with materials enough to know what you enjoy. I think beginners should feel freedom in experimentation and play to find out what they like to do in the first place.

Thanks!

Thank you.

Great so I am going all over the place and not getting perspective, composition and vanishing points at all! So now....I choose you . I am going to start fresh. Which playlist should a beginner watch? How long to keep watching and when to turn off the watching and practice on my own? To just draw over and over cubes/box's or try to print simple landscapes to practice perceptive? better to draw from real life ( like my living room couch or outside) or a printed photo? I end up watching a ton and not drawing so much because it does not seem to translate and I feel bad about iitI know it is a lot of questions !! THANK YOU

Thank you

I wish I found your videos years ago. I have wasted so much time on acrylic, watercolor and abstract painting clips. Just as you warn... Have bought lots of expensive artist supplies over the years.... just to copy other people's work. Now I only follow you😅😊

"ahh, this is rubbish, I'm hopeless"...how did You know?

I enjoyed this video. Excellent points to consider. I have wondered what exactly self taught actually meant. I'm still not sure. What is the opposite of self taught?

It's like this...I have a friend whose dad had a long-time dream of designing his own home when he retired. He had no formal education in architectural drawing, nor did he find this a problem. Eventually his dream became a (nightmare) reality. He somehow found a builder who agreed to build his truly awful house. He had a bad perspective and no real understanding of dimension. Once finished, I visited and was horrified. The house was all off. There was a teeny tiny rectangular kitchen that two people couldn't get past each other even by turning sideways. The living room, on the other hand, was enormous and looked like a warehouse. The dining room was stuck on to the enormous living room. He then had a wall on the far side of the living room with doors that went to a tiny bathroom and three bedrooms. No hallway. He was quite proud of this thing, thankfully. At least he didn't have to feel stupid. I felt second-hand embarrassment for him, though, and I also learned a second-hand lesson. The heart of the story is that you're not going to be Rembrandt or Michelangelo or Frank Lloyd Wright or any famous architect, artist, etc.without formal education in these fields. Almost all famous artists were classically trained. Just as phycisists require education, chemists have to go to years of college as well as mathematicians, doctors, etc. You won't get there by watching youtube artists.

Love your videos. Will you be coming out with an online course?